The English Development of Past Tense Verbs in Spanish-English Bilingual Children
Date of Submission
Spring 2025
Document Type
Closed Research Project
Degree Name
Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology
Department
Speech-Language Pathology
First Advisor
Lourdes Martinez-Nieto, PhD
Abstract
Background: Morphological development including the use of past-tense forms, is a key aspect of language acquisition. In English, this involves mastering both regular -ed and irregular verbs. Monolingual children often follow a well-documented trajectory marked by omissions and overregularization errors (e.g., goed for went). However, the developmental patterns of Spanish-English bilingual children are less understood. Due to the dual language exposure and varying levels of English input, bilingual children may show similar patterns to monolinguals but acquire them later with greater variability. Purpose: This study aimed to examine the development of regular and irregular past-tense verb production in Spanish-English bilingual children over three years. Methods: 10 Spanish-English bilingual children were selected from the larger Language and Reading Research Constortium (LARRC, 2015) dataset. English narrative retell tasks were collected using wordless picture books and transcribed using ther SALT software. Past-tense usage was coded for accuracy and errors. Findings: Overall past-tense verb production increased over time. Regular verb usage decreased proportionally, while irregular verb usage increased. Accuracy for regular past-tense rose from 51.6% to 89% over the three years. Omission errors were most frequent in the early years but decline overtime. Overregularization errors increased, reflecting developmental trajectory. Conclusions: Spanish-English bilingual children exhibit developmental patterns in past-tense morphology similar to monolingual peers but at a slower pace. The rise in overregularization errors indicate rule generalization, while persistent irregular verb challenges suggest a need for extended exposure. These findings support the view that omission and overregularization are typical in bilingual development and should not be mistaken for language impairment.
Recommended Citation
Vincej, Alexandria, "The English Development of Past Tense Verbs in Spanish-English Bilingual Children" (2025). Speech-Language Pathology Research Projects. 14.
https://scholarworks.atsu.edu/slp-researchprojects/14