# Clinical markers of DLD in bilingual and monolingual Vietnamese children

> **NIH NIH R01** · SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $380,522

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Developmental language disorder (DLD: 7% prevalence), defined by low language despite otherwise normal
development, puts children at greater risk for reading problems and lower vocational attainment. There exist
language-based disparities in the identification of DLD. Bilingual children are more likely over- or under-identified with DLD (Samson & Lesaux, 2009): Under-identification delays access to intervention, while over-identification misappropriates already scarce resources. DLD identification is particularly challenging during the
initial school years, when many bilinguals are in the processing of learning English as a second language.
Assessing children’s first language substantially improves diagnostic accuracy. The proposed project focuses
on Vietnamese, an understudied yet widely spoken language (1.5 million in the US, 100 million worldwide).
Vietnamese is highly distinct from English: Finding common clinical markers across contrastive languages
contributes to theoretical accounts of underlying mechanisms of the disorder. Our research team has the
expertise and local and global partnerships to search for clinical markers of DLD in Vietnamese. We have
pioneered the study of DLD in Vietnam by establishing a multi-method classification system for DLD in
kindergarten and by measuring language-reading development from kindergarten through second grade. In the US, we have defined parameters for typical development (TD) in Vietnamese bilinguals in the early school
years. The proposed study will recruit Vietnamese-speaking children, ages 4-6 years, in the US (bilingual
TD=100, DLD=25) and Vietnam (monolingual TD=160, DLD=40). Central hypothesis: There are Vietnamese
clinical markers that will confirm the presence or absence of DLD at the individual level, whether children are
learning Vietnamese alone or in combination with English. Aim 1 establishes the diagnostic accuracy of
nonword repetition and sentence repetition for Vietnamese monolinguals. We extend our prior work on these
tasks to a younger age (include 4yo) and a larger DLD sample. Aim 2 systematically compares four groups
(N=80, 20/group) of bilinguals (TD, DLD) and monolinguals (TD, DLD) matched by age, gender, and maternal
education, to capture emerging skills that can serve as grammatical markers of Vietnamese DLD. Aim 3
calculates the diagnostic accuracy of all clinical markers - grammar (accuracy, diversity, productivity), sentence
repetition, and nonword repetition- for bilinguals (n=125), monolinguals (n=200), and combined total sample
(N=325), which will serve as the most rigorous test of diagnostic accuracy. Impact: This project will help to
transform clinical language assessment procedures to serve our increasingly diverse society. Tools produced
from this project will improve diagnostic accuracy for Vietnamese-speaking children in the US and worldwide,
particularly Vietnamese-speaking children in the US who start school with minimal English proficiency, for
...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10421307
- **Project number:** 5R01DC019335-02
- **Recipient organization:** SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Giang Thuy Pham
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $380,522
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-07-01 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10421307

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10421307, Clinical markers of DLD in bilingual and monolingual Vietnamese children (5R01DC019335-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10421307. Licensed CC0.

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