Assessment of vocabulary comprehension in Bilingual Qom - Spanish Indigenous children in Northern Argentina: Evidence for education, language preservation, and psycholinguistic theory

CELIA R ROSEMBERG; OJEA, G.; ALAM F.; GARBER, L.; STEIN, A.; DE BENEDICTIS, C.; JACKSON MALDONADO, D.; FRIEND, M.

Cognitive development

Elsevier

Año: 2024 vol. 71

0885-2014

In this study we adapted the Computerized Comprehension Task (CCT), to be used in rural nativecommunities with bilingual children learning Qom Indigenous language and the Chaco dialect ofArgentinean Spanish. The main objectives were (a) to test the utility of this task, which providesaccuracy and response time measures of decontextualized vocabulary, for use with children fromthree to seven years in schools and rural settings; (b) to assess Qom children’s vocabulary learningtrajectories in both languages. The adaptation of the CCT was based on extensive fieldworkestablishing language usage patterns, word frequency, and age of acquisition. Eighty-three children from three to seven years of age living in Chaco Province were assessed in Qom and Spanish,employing the CCT adaptation. Findings provided evidence of attrition of children’s heritagelanguage (which is on par with vocabulary in the majority language up until age five), beginningas children approach elementary school.