title: Speech in same- and different-sex twins 4 and 5 years old.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the sex makeup of pairs of twins on language acquisition. Past research indicated that this variable plays a role in speech problems of twin children. The questions raised were whether being a boy or a girl and having a boy or girl co-twin affected linguistic performance. A language test was given to 30 pairs of boy-girl twins, 16 pairs of boy twins, and 16 pairs of girl twins whose average age was 4 years 8 months. Their test scores confirmed our hypotheses. The poorest performance was obtained by the boy twin pairs and the best performance, by either the girl twin pairs or the different-sex pairs. The results were interpreted in the light of findings on language learning differences between girls and boys, and also in terms of Vygotsky's zone of proximal development.
authors.affiliation: Université Paris-X, SPSE, France. catherine.garitte@libertysurf.fr
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Garitte
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Almodovar
authors.forename: Eliane
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Benjamin
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Canhao
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D014427:Twins / Q000523:psychology*