title: Novel Morpheme Learning in Monolingual and Bilingual Children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of the present study was to examine the utility of a novel morpheme learning task for indexing typical language abilities in children characterized by diverse language backgrounds.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three groups of 5- to 6-year-old children were tested: monolingual speakers of English, native speakers of Spanish who also spoke English (Spanish-L1 bilinguals), and native speakers of English who also spoke Spanish (English-L1 bilinguals). All children were taught a new derivational morpheme /ku/ marking part-whole distinction in conjunction with English nouns. Retention was measured via a receptive task, and sensitivity and reaction time (RT) data were collected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All three groups of children learned the novel morpheme successfully and were able to generalize its use to untaught nouns. Furthermore, language characteristics (degree of exposure and levels of performance on standardized measures) did not contribute to bilingual children's learning outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Together, the findings indicate that this particular version of the novel morpheme learning task may be resistant to influences associated with language background and suggest potential usefulness of the task to clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
authors.forename: Margarita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaushanskaya
authors.affiliation: Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gross
authors.affiliation: Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
authors.forename: Enanna
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sheena
authors.affiliation: Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Roman
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005793:Generalization, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D019303:Multilingualism; D010700:Phonetics; D011930:Reaction Time; D012153:Retention, Psychology