Journal Article

The Complex Role of Utterance Length on Grammaticality: Multivariate Multilevel Analysis of English and Spanish Utterances of First-Grade English Learners

Iglesias, Aquiles, Castilla-Earls, Anny, Francis, David J.

2022

Overview

Purpose: This study examined the relationship between utterance length, syntactic complexity, and the probability of making an error at the utterance level. Method: The participants in this study included 830 Spanish-speaking first graders who were learning English at school. Story retells in both Spanish and English were collected from all children. Generalized mixed linear models were used to examine within-child and between-children effects of utterance length and subordination on the probability of making an error at the utterance level. Results: The relationship between utterance length and grammaticality was found to differ by error type (omission vs. commission), language (Spanish vs. English), and level of analysis (within-child vs. between-children). For errors of commission, the probability of making an error increased as a child produced utterances that were longer relative to their average utterance length (within-child effect). Contrastively, for errors of omission, the probability of making an error decreased when a child produced utterances that were longer relative to their average utterance length (within-child effect). In English, a child who produced utterances that were, on average, longer than the average utterance length for all children produced more errors of commission and fewer errors of omission (between-children effect). This between-children effect was similar in Spanish for errors of commission but nonsignificant for errors of omission. For both error types, the within-child effects of utterance length were moderated by the use of subordination. Conclusion: The relationship between utterance length and grammaticality is complex and varies by error type, language, and whether the frame of reference is the child's own language (within-child effect) or the language of other children (between-children effect).

• Publisher: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
• Subject: Accuracy / Averages / Child / Child Language / Children / Children & youth / Contrastive Linguistics / Correlation / Elementary School Students / English (Second Language) / English as a second language / English as a second language learning / English language / English Language Learners / Error analysis / Error Analysis (Language) / Errors / Grade 1 / Grammar / Grammar, Comparative and general / Grammaticality / Humans / Language / Language Acquisition / Language disorders / Language Skills / Language Tests / Linear analysis / Multilevel Analysis / Multilingualism / Native Language / Phonology / Probability / Second Language Instruction / Spanish / Spanish language / Speech / Speech Communication / Story Telling / Study and teaching / Subordination / Subordination (Grammatical) / Syntactic complexity / Syntax / Tribunals & commissions / Utterances