1. EFFECT OF SPANISH ON ENGLISH CLUSTER REDUCTION IN SPANISH-ENGLISH BILINGUALS Melissa L. Gutierrez, B.A.; Caroline H. Johnson, B.A.; Haley E. Schmitt, B.A.; and Lori N. Tyler, B.A., M.A. Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Communication Disorders Department 1900 Gravier St., New Orleans, LA 70112

2. Biographical Sketches

3. MELISSA LORENA GUTIERREZ Melissa Lorena Gutierrez is a Speech-Language Pathology Masters student at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge in December 2012. In the fall of 2012, she assisted Dr. Janet Norris with a language study at a Baton Rouge elementary school. She is a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success and the National Student Speech-Language Hearing Association. Melissa is a bilingual Spanish-English speaker with interest in bilingual speech therapy.

4. CAROLINE HADDOX JOHNSON Caroline Haddox Johnson earned a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics and French at Tulane University. She worked as an assistant teacher at a French immersion school in New Orleans and as a teacher at French immersion camps. After obtaining a TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) certificate from Oxford Seminars, she taught English as a Second Language (ESL) to Hispanic adults in New Orleans, to Russian children and adults in Russia, and then returned to the United States to pursue a degree in Speech-Language Pathology. She is currently a graduate student at Louisiana State University- Health Sciences Center pursuing a Masters in Communication Disorders with an emphasis in Speech-Language Pathology.

5. HALEY ELIZABETH SCHMITT Haley Elizabeth Schmitt obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge in May 2012. Haley was a member of Chi Omega and Rho Lambda Leadership Society. She is working with school-age children on various subjects including Spanish and English in the Greater New Orleans metropolitan area. She is an active member of National Student Speech Language Hearing Association. She is currently attending Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, Louisiana where she is studying to become a certified speech language pathologist.

6. LORI N. TYLER Lori N. Tyler is currently a graduate student at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, Louisiana where she is pursuing a Masters in Communication Disorders in Speech Language Pathology. She received a Masters of Arts in Spanish Philology from St. Louis University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish from Loyola University New Orleans. She is a former teacher who has worked with the Hispanic community in the Greater New Orleans metropolitan area for six years in translation and interpretation, research assistance, social justice, and journalism.

7. Abstract

8. ●Between 1980 and 2010, there has been an influx of Hispanics in the population of the Greater New Orleans metropolitan area of Louisiana (U.S. Department of Commerce, United States Census Bureau, 2013). ●As a result, more children of Hispanic descent are learning English at school. ●According to the National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition (2011): “Spanish-speakers constitute more than 80% of EL students.” ●More research is needed to aid speech-language pathologists in treating speech-language disorders in this population. ●Most research evaluating the language development of bilingual Spanish- English children focus on syntactic or lexical development. ●However, there are few studies on the phonological process of cluster reduction in bilinguals (Goldstein, 2004).

9. Abstract The purpose of this study is to analyze cluster reduction in Spanish-English bilinguals. Researchers expect to find that the lack of clusters in Spanish will increase cluster reduction in English in bilingual children. Using a mixed-methods single-subject and qualitative design, researchers will assess the language skills of twenty typically developing second grade students in both English and Spanish by administering the Contextual Probes of Articulation Competence Spanish (CPAC-S) and Secord Contextual Articulation Test (S-CAT). Data for five categories (word initial, word final, word medial, sentence level, spontaneous speech) will be collected through assessment and language samples by two researchers. Results will be displayed in a graph to identify trends in data collection. Researchers will also take any cluster reductions from the language sample into account.

10. Background and Significance

11. The number of Spanish-speakers increased 60% from 1980 to 2010 respectively from 19,135 to 84,138. “The use of a language other than English at home increased by 148% between 1980 and 2009 and this increase was not evenly distributed among languages” (Ortman & Shin, 2011, p. 1). The growth of multiple languages being spoken in the United States has caused an increase in the number of bilinguals. For the purposes of this study researchers define bilingualism as proficiency in two languages.

12. Background and Significance Most of the research on bilingual children focuses on syntactic or lexical development; however, there is a dearth of information about the phonological development and disorders of bilingual children (Goldstein, 2004). According to current research (Barlow & Enriquez, 2007; Goldstein & Gildersleeve-Neumann, 2007), there are three models of phonological development in children who are bilingual: o Unitary Systems Model o Dual Systems Model o Interactional Dual Systems Model Researchers will adhere to the Interactional Dual Systems Model in this study.

13. Background and Significance ●Bilingual children acquire language differently (Barlow & Enriquez, 2007) ●Certain phonological errors may exist only for bilinguals and not by monolinguals ●It is not appropriate to use assessments normed for monolingual speakers (Goldstein, 2004) with this population ●If a bilingual child has a phonological disorder, s/he will exhibit phonological processes in both languages; although they will not necessarily be the same errors in both (Barlow & Enriquez, 2007)

14. Background and Significance A person is considered to have a phonological disorder if s/he experiences difficulties acquiring a target sound system in language (Barlow & Enriquez, 2007). “There is some evidence that the phonological system of bilingual speakers develops somewhat differently from that of monolingual speakers of either language” (Goldstein & Washington, 2001, p. 153). Therefore, limited phonological proficiency in one of the two languages should not be considered a disorder. “If a child has a fundamental language-learning problem, delay, or disorder, it will be apparent across both languages” (Fabiano, 2007, p. 23). Research shows that a similar rate of achievement of developmental milestones exists in language acquisition for bilinguals and monolinguals.

15. Background and Significance A lower level of competency in one of the two languages might be a reflection of language dominance rather than phonological development (Barlow & Enriquez, 2007). “The skills of bilinguals are commensurate with, although not identical to, those of their monolingual peers” even for children with language disorders (Goldstein & Gildersleeve-Neumann, 2007, p. 14).

16. Background and Significance The prevalence of phonological disorders in Spanish-English bilingual children is approximately 10% in the preschool and school-age population. Examples of phonological processes that affect Spanish-English bilinguals are cluster reduction, final consonant deletion, gliding, initial consonant deletion, and fronting (Fabiano, Goldstein, & Washington, 2005). In this study, researchers will home in on cluster reductions in Spanish- English bilingual children.

17. Background and Significance According to the Manual of Articulation and Phonological Disorders, cluster reduction is an error pattern in which a consonant or consonants in a consonant cluster are deleted (Bleile, 2004, p. 212). Consonant clusters are rare in Spanish, yet common in English (Gillam & Gorman, 2003). The results of research (Chávez-Peón et. al., 2012) showed that two Spanish- English bilingual children exhibited few or no consonant clusters The research of Davis, Gildersleeve-Neumann, Kaster, and Pena (2008) explains that this occurs due to a low rate of closed syllables and clusters, as well as more constrained cluster types in Spanish. The gaps in research on cluster reduction are increasingly important to consider because of the expansion of the Spanish-English population in the United States.

18. Specific Aim The purpose of this study is to focus on bilingual phonological disorders, specifically cluster reduction in bilingual Spanish-English speakers. To determine the effect of the Spanish language of the English language in cluster reduction, a mixed-methods single-subject and qualitative design will be implemented in a Spanish-English immersion program at a local elementary school. The following question was addressed: o Do Spanish-English bilingual children have difficulty producing clusters in English due to limited clusters in the Spanish lexicon?

19. Methods

20. Researchers ●All four researchers will be graduate students. ●Two of the researchers will be bilingual Spanish-English speakers. ●A clinical supervisor from the Communication Disorders department will ensure interrater reliability.

21. Participants Researchers will survey the Greater New Orleans area for ideal bilingual school campuses. Researchers anticipate that J.C. Ellis, a local elementary school which offers a track in Spanish immersion, will meet qualifiying criteria. Inclusion/exclusion criteria includes that: o Student be a first generation native Spanish speaker o Proficiency in English for at least a year o Experiences 40-60% English-Spanish input and output o Hearing within normal limits According to Pearson, Fernandez, Lewedeg, and Oller (as cited in Barron- Hauwaert, 1997), a balanced bilingual needs 40-60% exposure in each language. A minimum of 20 participants for the study

22. Procedures Study Design: mixed-methods single-subject and qualitative design o to measure the amount of cluster reduction exhibited in English by bilingual Spanish-English speakers A comparison of cluster reduction errors in both English and Spanish will be obtained. Researchers will collect data from the participants via the Contextual Probes of Articulation Competence (CPAC) in both languages to describe this phonological process as it exists within their individual language skills.

23. Procedures Researchers will administer the CPAC portion of the Secord Contextual Articulation Test (S-CAT) to the participants to evaluate the production of clusters in English. The S-CAT will analyze the production of English language phonemes across phonetic and phonological contexts, examine performance across different speech production levels, and plan intervention. It will consist of three probes: The Contextual Probes of Articulation Competence (CPAC), Storytelling Probes of Articulation Competence (SPAC), and Target Words for Contextual Training (TWCT). For the purposes of this investigation, researchers will only employ the use of CPAC, which will test persons aged 4;0 into adulthood.

24. Procedures ●The CPAC cluster reduction probe will elicit 96 responses ○72 word-level cluster reductions: ■ 28 initial clusters ■ 28 medial clusters ■ 16 final clusters ○24 sentence-level cluster reductions ●The probe will elicit most of the ways in which phonemes can combine with each other across all manners of articulation ●The probe will include several types of clusters: ○prevocalic and postvocalic clusters ○prevocalic and postvocalic syllable junctures

25. Procedures Researchers will provide a visual and verbal model of probe items. visual: picture card of spoon verbal: spoon The participant will repeat the model. Responses will be recorded on the test protocol. A “1” will be recorded for correct responses and a “0” for incorrect responses. Incorrect responses will be noted if a participant receives a “0.

26. Procedures The researchers will then administer the Spanish equivalent, the Contextual Probes of Articulation Competence-Spanish (CPAC-S) to the participants to evaluate their articulation skills and phonological patterns in Spanish. The CPAC-S, a norm-referenced test designed for ages 3;0-8;11, will probe the production of all Spanish phonemes in a variety of phonetic and phonological contexts. The researchers will administer only the cluster reduction probe of the CPAC-S. The administration and scoring procedures of the CPAC-S will correspond to that of the CPAC.

27. Procedures Researchers will obtain brief language samples from each participant in English. The samples will be analyzed for Percentage of Consonants Correct (PCC) and Type Token Ratio (TTR). o The PCC will measure the accuracy of the consonant cluster production. o The TTR will verify that the student’s speech includes a variety of consonant clusters.

28. Data Analysis Investigators will create a comprehensive bar graph that will summarize the data of all participants to determine the frequency of cluster reduction o Will include data from CPAC and CPAC-S The data will be organized into the following categories: o initial, medial, and final at the word level o sentence level Researchers will note any cluster reductions from the language sample.

29. Instruments Data will be obtained by researchers during administration of both the CPAC and CPAC-S in order to determine in which contexts students will present cluster reduction errors.

30. Reliability and Validity Reliability o Evaluations and language samples will be videotaped. o 20% of the tests will be compared to ensure reliability. o The clinical supervisor will affirm interrater reliability of 99% for English and Spanish assessments. Validity o Verbatim transcription of the language sample from a video recording o Archive questionnaires completed by parents and teachers.

31. References

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33. References Fabiano, L. C. (2007). Evidence-based phonological assessment of bilingual children. Perspectives on Communication Disorders and Sciences in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Populations, 14(2), 21-23. doi:10.1044/cds14.2.21 Fabiano, L., Goldstein, B., & Washington, P. (2005) Phonological skills in predominantly English-speaking, predominantly Spanish-speaking, and Spanish-English bilingual children, 36, 201-218. doi: 10.1044/0161-1461 (2005/021). Genesee, F., Nicoladix, N., & Paradis, J. (1995). Language differentiation in early bilingual development. Journal of Child Language, 22, 611-631. Gierut, J. (1998). Treatment efficacy: functional phonological disorders in children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 41, S85-S100. Gillam, R. & Gorman, B. (2003). Phonological awareness in Spanish: A tutorial for speech language pathologists. Communication Disorders Quarterly, 25, 13-22. doi: 10.1177/15257401030250010301.

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