Cross-linguistic transfer in Vietnamese-English speech

Congratulations to Dr Kate Margetson who has just had this paper accepted for publication

Margetson, K., McLeod, S., & Verdon, S. (2025). Cross-linguistic transfer in Vietnamese-English speech. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools.

Here is the abstract

Purpose
Typically developing multilingual children’s speech may include mismatches and phonological patterns that are atypical in monolingual peers. One possible reason for mismatches is cross-linguistic transfer, when structures unique to one language are used while speaking another language. This study explored cross-linguistic transfer in Vietnamese-English–speaking children’s and adults’ speech at phoneme and syllable levels. 
Method
Children (n = 66) aged between 2;0 and 8;10 and adult family members (n = 83) completed single word speech assessments in Vietnamese and English. Cross-linguistic transfer of non-shared consonants was analyzed in terms of frequency, patterns and direction of transfer. Syllable structure patterns in English consonant clusters (cluster reduction, cluster simplification, epenthesis) were identified, as consonant clusters do not occur in Vietnamese. 
Results 
Cross-linguistic transfer of non-shared consonants occurred in most children’s speech at least twice (75.76%; n = 66), tended to happen when the target was non-shared and occurred at a low frequency. During Vietnamese speech assessment, 21.82% of children’s and 26.30% of adults’ mismatches were due to cross-linguistic transfer of English consonants. During English speech assessment, 2.84% of children’s and 24.33% of adults’ mismatches were due to cross-linguistic transfer of Vietnamese consonants. Direction of cross-linguistic transfer was significantly associated with children’s age and language proficiency. Bi-directional cross-linguistic transfer only occurred in the youngest children (2;6 - 4;5 years). English consonant clusters were impacted by syllable structure patterns for both children (35.76%) and adults (22.95%), indicating these mismatches in Vietnamese-English-speaking children’s speech may be due to development, cross-linguistic transfer of Vietnamese syllable structure to English and/or ambient phonology. 
Conclusions
Cross-linguistic transfer occurred in Vietnamese-English–speaking children’s and adults’ speech. These findings highlight the importance of assessing multilingual children’s speech in each language, considering interaction between languages,  and identifying reasons for mismatches to ensure accurate diagnosis.

Book chapter accepted

 This morning we learned that the following book chapter has been accepted for publication

Margetson, K., Tran, V. H., Blake, H. L., Verdon, S., Phạm, B., & McLeod, S., (2025, in press March). Speech and language of Vietnamese-English-speaking children and their families. In Y. Holt, K. N. Washington, & E. Babatsouli (Eds.) Linguistic varieties in North America: A primer for speech and language practitioners. Multilingual Matters.

Congratulations team!

Congratulations Associate Professor Ben Phạm

Associate Professor Ben Phạm with her family
at the Temple of Literature

I am so proud of my colleague Dr Ben Phạm who was promoted to Associate Professor by the Vietnamese Office of Professorship Council.

In 2024 there were only 27 candidates in Education Sciences who were promoted to Associate Professor across the whole of VietNam. Ben was the only one who specialized in Special Education for children with speech and language disorders. 

She received the certificate from the Vietnamese Government on 29 November 2024 at the 1000 year old Temple of Literature in Ha Noi, Viet Nam, the first University in Vietnam.

Ben and I visited the Temple of Literature together in 2016 and dreamed of this day when she would receive an award there https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-temple-of-literature-in-ha-noi_2.html

Congratulations Ben.

I am so honoured to continue collaborating with Ben in many ways since she began her PhD with me in 2014. Here is a paper that we wrote together that has just been published 

Phạm, B., & McLeod, S. (2024). Considerations of dialect on the identification of speech sound disorder in Vietnamese-speaking children. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 59(6), 2208-2216. https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.12992

CONGRATULATIONS KATE M - PhD submission today

Congratulations to Kate Margetson who submitted her PhD today. 

Her PhD is titled: "Moving Beyond Monolingual Practices with Multilingual Children: Learning from Vietnamese-English–Speaking Children, Families, and Professionals"

Congratulations Kate!

A/Prof Sarah Verdon and I have been very honoured to be Kate's supervisors for her PhD. Kate started working with us when she joined our VietSpeech (ARC Discovery Grant https://www.csu.edu.au/research/vietspeech/overview) research team as our Project Office. Once the grant finished, Kate re-analysed some of the very rich VietSpeech data to answer new questions for her PhD. 

Kate's family and our Speech-Language-Multilingualism team joined to support Kate from across Australia and Ben joined from Viet Nam!

 

Here is Kate's PhD abstract:

Multilingual children’s speech assessment and differential diagnosis of speech sound disorders can be challenging for speech-language pathologists (SLPs), especially if they do not speak the same language as the children they are working with. While best practice recommendations include assessing children in all the languages that they speak, in many English-dominant contexts SLPs often rely on English assessments for diagnostic decision-making. There are few guidelines for how SLPs can assess, transcribe, and analyse speech in children’s home languages. This doctoral research aimed to explore assessment, transcription, speech analysis, and diagnosis of speech sound disorders in multilingual children involving direct speech assessment of children’s home languages. Vietnamese-English–speaking children and their families were the focus of this research.

The thesis contained four parts, which included five publications. Part One, Monolingual Speech-Language Pathologists in Multilingual Contexts (Chapter 1), included an orientation to the thesis, situated the researcher, presented a literature review, and outlined methodology. Linguistic multicompetence (Cook, 2016) and the emergence approach (Davis & Bedore, 2013) were presented as the theoretical frameworks underpinning the research.

Part Two, Vietnamese-English–speaking Children’s Speech described similarities and differences between Vietnamese and English phonology, Vietnamese-English–speaking children’s speech acquisition, and current resources available to SLPs for assessment and intervention with Vietnamese-English–speaking children (Chapter 2). The interaction between Vietnamese and English phonology was explored in a cross-sectional study (n = 149) of Vietnamese-English–speaking children’s and adult family members’ speech in Vietnamese and English (Chapter 3) and found that direction of cross-linguistic transfer in children’s speech was significantly associated with children’s age and language proficiency. 

Part Three, Diagnosis of Speech Sound Disorders in Vietnamese-English–speaking Children presented in-depth case studies of Vietnamese-English–speaking children’s speech. Case studies of four children considered the impact of assessing both languages on differential diagnosis (Chapter 4). All four children appeared to have speech sound disorder based on English assessment only, but analysis of children’s speech in both languages revealed that only two children had a speech sound disorder. A longitudinal case study explored four influences on a Vietnamese-English–speaking child’s speech over time (Chapter 5) and found that most speech mismatches could be explained by development, dialect, cross-linguistic transfer, and ambient phonology, and that cross-linguistic transfer reduced over time.

Part Four, Moving Beyond Monolingual Speech-Language Pathology Practices with Multilingual Children presented an evidence-based research protocol, the VietSpeech Multilingual Transcription Protocol, for assessing and transcribing multilingual children’s and adults’ speech, that ensured consistent and reliable transcription (Chapter 6). A clinical protocol, the Speech Assessment of Children’s Home Languages, was proposed, for SLPs to assess, transcribe, and analyse multilingual children’s speech, to account for the idiolects of children, their families, and their SLPs (Chapter 7). The Speech Assessment of Children’s Home Languages will enable SLPs to collaborate with family members and interpreters to assess speech in children’s home languages, providing opportunities to consider children’s entire phonological repertoires during diagnostic decision-making. Finally, conclusions, contributions of the doctoral research, limitations, and future directions were presented (Chapter 8).

This doctoral research sought to bridge a gap between research and practice in multilingual children’s speech assessment by demonstrating the importance of speech assessment of home languages, describing ways of analysing multilingual children’s speech to identify four potential mismatches (development, dialect, cross-linguistic transfer, ambient phonology), and outlining how SLPs move beyond monolingual practices in the way they assess, transcribe, and analyse multilingual children’s speech using the VietSpeech Multilingual Transcription Protocol and the Speech Assessment of Children’s Home Languages.

 

Congratulations Kate on your important work - and the huge impact that it is already having on professional practice. We are excited that you will continue working with us to translate this work for rural speech pathology practice during your postdoc.

Here are Kate's PhD publications to date (more to come):

1. Margetson, K., McLeod, S., Verdon, S., Tran, V. H., & Phạm, B. (in press). English + Vietnamese speech development. In S. McLeod (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of speech development in languages of the world. Oxford University Press. 
2. Margetson, K., McLeod, S., Verdon, S. (in press). Diagnosing speech sound disorder in bilingual Vietnamese-English–speaking children: Are English-only assessments sufficient? In E. Babatsouli (Ed.), Multilingual acquisition and learning: An ecosystemic view to diversity. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
3. Margetson, K., McLeod, S., & Verdon, S. (2023). Cross-linguistic transfer and ambient phonology: Impact on diagnosis of speech sound disorders in a longitudinal bilingual case study. Journal of Monolingual and Bilingual Speech, 4(3), 311-339. https://doi.org/10.1558/jmbs.23672 
4.  Margetson, K., McLeod, S., Verdon, S. & Tran, V. H. (2023). Transcribing multilingual children’s and adults’ speech. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 37 (4-6), 415-435. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699206.2022.2051073

Special issue on Speech Sound Disorders in International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders

Over the past few years in my role on the Child Speech Committee of IALP I have initiated a discussion about terminology surrounding "speech sound disorders". This has resulted in a special issue on speech sound disorders that will soon be published in International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders. Here are the papers that have already been published in early view:

• Considerations of dialect on the identification of speech sound disorder in Vietnamese‐speaking children - Ben Phạm & Sharynne McLeod - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1460-6984.12992 
• Speech sound disorder or DLD (phonology)? Towards a consensus agreement on terminology - Helen Stringer, Joanne Cleland, Yvonne Wren, Rachel Rees, Pam Williams - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1460-6984.12989
• How differences in anatomy and physiology and other aetiology affect the way we label and describe speech in individuals with cleft lip and palate - Valerie J. Pereira &  Debbie Sell - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1460-6984.12946
  

Considerations of dialect on the identification of speech sound disorder in Vietnamese-speaking children

The following manuscript has been accepted for publication in a special issue regarding terminology for children with speech sound disorder that was initiated by Prof Yvonne Wren as chair of the Child Speech Committee of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics. 

Phạm, B. & McLeod, S. (2023, accepted November). Considerations of dialect on the identification of speech sound disorder in Vietnamese-speaking children. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders. 

Here is the abstract: 

Background. The dialect spoken by children influences diagnostic decision-making regarding identification and severity of speech sound disorder. 

Aims. The primary objective was to review papers that examined the influence of dialect on the identification of speech sound disorder in Vietnamese-speaking children. 

Methods: Five studies of monolingual and multilingual Vietnamese-speaking children living in Vietnam and Australia were reviewed to examine the influence of dialect on assessment and analysis children’s speech. The main Vietnamese dialects (Standard, Northern, Central, Southern) differ in the production of consonants, vowels, and tones. 

Main Contribution. Most speech assessments define correct production using the standard dialect of a language. Insights from recent studies of Vietnamese provide recommendations for also considering dialect in diagnostic decision-making. Firstly, we recommend adding column(s) to the assessment score sheet that includes the dialectal variants spoken by adults in the child’s family or community. Secondly, calculate accuracy of production twice, based on the standard form and dialectal form. Thirdly, report percentage of consonants correct – standard (PCC-S) and percentage of consonants correct – dialect (PCC-D). 

Conclusions. Diagnostic decision-making is influenced by dialectal variation in children’s speech, so speech and language therapists (SLTs) need to compare standard and dialectal productions when undertaking assessments, analysis, and diagnostic decision-making.

Honours research - the last month before submission

Sarah Faulks has been working with A/Prof Sarah Verdon and myself on her honours research. She has one month before submission and is completely on track. Congratulations Sarah and best wishes for the final stretch before you finish your degree.

Bilingual Vietnamese-English children's language honours research

Sarah Faulks is undertaking her honours degree and is analysing some of the data from our VietSpeech ARC Discovery Grant. Her supervisors are A/Prof Sharynne McLeod, Dr Van Tran and myself. She is almost finished scoring the children's English data from the Renfrew Action Picture Test (RAPT). We had a great discussion about scoring the Vietnamese Language Scale (VLS) since a number of the children were code mixing their responses in Vietnamese and English.

A/Prof Sarah Verdon, Prof Sharynne McLeod, Sarah Faulks, Dr Van Tran

Vietnamese refugees remembered

Last week I caught up with Emeritus Professor Lindy McAllister in Brisbane. In addition to discussing many issues, we visited the statue that states

IN MEMORY

Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese boat people perished at sea on their journeys seeking freedom from 1975-1995.

IN GRATITUDE

In the hour of our greatest need - you were there. We thank you Australia.

IALP Child Speech Committee Online Panel Series - SSD and speech difference in diverse communities

Tonight (11pm - 12:30am) was the final IALP Child Speech Committee Online Panel Series 2021- 2022

Panel 4 - SSD and speech difference in diverse communities 

Available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pG8wPr-3Sw

Panel Speakers: 

• Dr Annette Fox Boyer, University of Lubeck 
• Dr Yolanda Holt, East Carolina University 
• Dr Ben Pham, Hanoi National University of Education 

About this panel: For many years we have debated terminology for describing the needs of children with communication impairment across the globe. Researchers, specialists, clinicians, parents and individuals with lived experience of the conditions have contributed to these discussions. The IALP Child Speech Committee have organised a series of panel meetings to discuss the overlap and distinctions between the label ‘Speech Sound Disorder’ and other closely related conditions. We invite you to join these meetings which will consist of short presentations by key figures in the field. You will have an opportunity to submit questions which will be considered by the panel on the day. In this fourth panel, invited speakers Dr Annette Fox-Boyer, Dr Yolanda Holt and Dr Ben Pham will discuss how SSD differs from speech difference - but also how this varies for different communities. For example, what may be considered a disordered feature of speech production for one person may be considered a difference in speech production for another.

Online launch of the free bilingual book "VietSpeech: Multilingual Children/Trẻ em Đa ngữ"

Today, the VietSpeech team hosted an online launch of the free bilingual book titled "VietSpeech: Multilingual Children/Trẻ em Đa ngữ". The 52-page book aims to support Vietnamese-Australian children and families to maintain their home language and enhance speech skills in Vietnamese and English. It contains many strategies to support families’ teaching of Vietnamese every day at home. 

The free book is available here: https://www.csu.edu.au/research/vietspeech/info 

Capstan Le

Dr Duong Nguyen

Sheila Pham

Dr Van Tran

 

This book is the culmination of our VietSpeech research project funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery ARC Discovery Grant is titled Vietnamese-Australian children's speech and language competence (DP180102848) that began in 20218 and concluded in December 2021. VietSpeech team members are here: https://www.csu.edu.au/research/vietspeech/team

More details https://about.csu.edu.au/community/events/upcoming/online/vietspeech-book-launch

The CSU media release is here: https://news.csu.edu.au/in-brief/research-delivers-free-bilingual-book-vietspeech-to-be-launched-online  

I have provided radio interviews on ABC Goulburn Murray and 2BS Bathurst regarding the launch. 

ABC published a news story https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-07/new-book-encourages-survival-of-vietnamese-language-in-australia/

VietSpeech team - bilingualism is a superpower

Dr Van Tran and Sheila Pham will mention the book on their SBS radio programs and podcasts.

We hope that it is a useful resource for the world. 

Wow! Our research published by ABC was featured in the Qantas Club!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-07/new-book-encourages-survival-of-vietnamese-language-in-australia/

SBS Radio Program "Let's Maintain Vietnamese Together"

Dr Van Tran from our VietSpeech team is hosting a weekly radio program on SBS titled "Maintaining Vietnamese together". It is broadcast on SBS Vietnamese for 15 minutes every Sunday evening (7-9pm). The first show was titled: "Why do you want to maintain Vietnamese for your children?" 

The aims of the program include: 

• Providing the Vietnamese community in Australia and overseas with information and guidance related to the maintenance of mother tongue when living abroad 
• Raising awareness of the importance of Vietnamese maintenance among the Vietnamese community in Australia and enhancing understanding of and raising interest in Vietnamese language and culture
• Promoting Australia’s multilingualism and multiculturalism 

These aims will be addressed through interviews and focus-group discussions on topics including: 

• Reasons for maintaining home language
• Challenges in maintaining home language
• Strategies and Support in maintaining home language
• Recommendations for support
• Features of Vietnamese language in relation to culture (dialects, grammar, expressions, folk language and culture) 
• Models of successful Vietnamese maintenance

Here is the URL link to one of the programs:

https://www.sbs.com.au/language/vietnamese/audio/ha-y-cu-ng-giu-tie-ng-vie-t-cho-con?cid=lang:socialshare:facebook&fbclid=IwAR16ViKCWHNmpaoA2c-whIoNDohb5zaeq9MvRcnk08Yxp4q46Vjat24gib0

 

Here is another program: https://www.sbs.com.au/language/vietnamese/audio/cu-ng-giu-tie-ng-vie-t-bo-me-co-don-thuong-doc-ma-khi-giu-tieng-viet-cho-con?fbclid=IwAR1X1GpbnleCCJIUVX6KPnD2oATWKeFeFJg3x2T_OzqacGka_77z-njP9cY

 

Family language policies of Vietnamese-Australian families

The following article has just been accepted for publication. 

Tran, V. H., Verdon, S., McLeod, S., & Wang, C. (2021, in press March). Family language policies of Vietnamese-Australian families. Journal of Child Science. 

This paper forms part of Van Tran's PhD within our ARC VietSpeech research project. Congratulations Van.

Here is the abstract:

Aim: To investigate reported family language policies (quy tắc sử dụng ngôn ngữ cho gia đình) and language maintenance practices among Vietnamese-Australian parents. Methodology: This mixed-methods study draws upon 151 Vietnamese-Australian parents’ responses to closed and open-ended questions within an online questionnaire that was available both in English and Vietnamese.
Data and Analysis: Bivariate analyses and logistic regression were conducted to explore associations between family language policies and factors related to demographics and Spolsky’s language policy theory. Content analysis was undertaken in NVivo to investigate family language policies.
Findings/Conclusions: A third of the participants (35.6%) reported to have a family language policy and 72.5% of those with a policy indicated that they consistently implemented their policy. Significant factors associated with having a family language policy were parents’ higher Vietnamese proficiency, more Vietnamese language use with their children, and intention of future residence in Vietnam. The four identified language policies were: using Vietnamese with the nuclear family (FLP1), Vietnamese outside the nuclear family (FLP2), English at home (FLP3), and English outside the home (FLP4). Some families used more than one of these concurrently.
Originality: This is one of the first large-scale mixed-method studies to explore family language policies, and the first to explore this issue with Vietnamese-speaking families in Australia.
Significance/Implications: Many Vietnamese-Australian families do not explicitly have a family language policy aimed at maintaining Vietnamese at home; therefore, the Vietnamese-Australian community is at risk of a shift towards English language dominance and home language loss. As a result, the benefits of multilingualism within the Vietnamese-Australian community may be lost without support from the government and community to maintain their home language.

Profiles of linguistic multi-competence in Vietnamese-English speakers

The following manuscript has just been accepted for publication. It presents work from Study 1 undertaken by our VietSpeech team:

Wang, C., Verdon, S., McLeod, S., & Tran, V. T. (2021, in press). Profiles of linguistic multi-competence in Vietnamese-English speakers. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. 

Here is the abstract 

Purpose: Speech-language pathologists work with increasing numbers of multilingual speakers; however, even when the same languages are spoken, multilingual speakers are not homogenous. Linguistic multi-competence considers competency across all languages and is associated with multiple demographic, migration, linguistic, and cultural factors.
Method: This paper examines the linguistic multi-competence of adults with Vietnamese heritage living in Australia (n = 271) and factors associated with varying profiles of multilingualism. Participants completed a self-report questionnaire (available in English and Vietnamese) regarding their language proficiency and associated factors.
Results: Participants were largely (76.6%) first generation migrants to Australia. Three distinct profiles of linguistic multi-competence were statistically identified using a cluster analysis: (1) Vietnamese Proficient (n = 81, 31%), (2) Shared Proficiency (n = 135, 52%), and (3) English Proficient (n = 43, 17%); that is, half were proficient in both languages. Multinomial logistic regression analyses compared participants profiled as Shared Proficiency with those who were more dominant in one language. Factors associated with the Vietnamese Proficient group (compared with the Shared Proficiency group): used Vietnamese much more than English with different people across different situations, were more likely to believe that maintaining Vietnamese helped them communicate in English, and earned less. Participants in the English Proficient group: used English more than Vietnamese with different people across different situations, were more likely to have lived in English-speaking countries longer, were younger in age, and were less likely to believe that maintaining Vietnamese helped improve academic study than those with Shared Proficiency.
Conclusion: Undertaking a comprehensive language profile is an important component of any multilingual assessment to enable speech-language pathologists to develop an understanding of different presentations of linguistic multi-competence, engage in culturally responsive practice, and to acknowledge that high levels of competence can be achieved across multiple languages. 

Here is the plain English summary: 

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) work with increasing numbers of multilingual speakers. Each multilingual speaker is different, even if they speak the same language. Linguistic multi-competence considers competency across all languages and is associated with demographic, migration, linguistic, and cultural factors. This paper examined linguistic multi-competence of 271 adults with Vietnamese heritage living in Australia and factors associated with varying profiles of multilingualism. Participants completed a self-report questionnaire (available in English and Vietnamese). Participants were statistically sorted into three distinct profiles of linguistic multi-competence: (1) English Proficient (17%), (2) Vietnamese Proficient (31%), (3) Shared Proficiency (52%). Participants in the English Proficient group: used English more than Vietnamese, were more likely to have lived in English-speaking countries longer, were younger in age, and were less likely to believe that maintaining Vietnamese helped improve academic study than those in the Shared Proficiency group. This study demonstrates the importance of undertaking a comprehensive language profile during a multilingual assessment to enable speech-language pathologists to develop an understanding of different presentations of linguistic multi-competence, engage in culturally responsive practice, and to acknowledge that high levels of competence can be achieved across multiple languages.

Consonant accuracy and intelligibility of Southern Vietnamese children

The following manuscript has been accepted for publication: 

Le, X. T. T., McLeod, S. & Phạm, B. (2021, in press). Consonant accuracy and intelligibility of Southern Vietnamese children. Speech, Language and Hearing. 

It will be published in this journal: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/yslh20

Here is the abstract: 

Understanding typically developing children’s speech acquisition is useful to assist speech-language pathologists’ diagnosis and intervention planning for children with speech sound disorders. The aim of this research was to investigate Southern Vietnamese-speaking children’s speech accuracy and intelligibility. Participants were 132 children aged 3;0-5;11 living in Southern Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City) whose consonants, semivowels, vowels, and tones were assessed using the Vietnamese Speech Assessment (VSA) and parent-reported intelligibility was assessed using the Vietnamese version of the Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS-VN). Participants’ percentage of consonants correct (PCC) was significantly lower for the younger children compared with the other age groups. Mean PCC was 89.19 (SD = 7.83) at 3;0-3;5 years and 99.31 (SD = 1.33) at 5;6-5;11 years. Percentage of semivowels correct was higher than the percentage of initial and final consonants correct. Participants produced tones and vowels accurately even from the youngest age group. On average, the participants were reported to be usually to always intelligible and were more intelligible with their parents than other communication partners. There was a positive, weak correlation between speech accuracy (PCC) and intelligibility (ICS-VN). There was no sex effect for PCC and no significant effect for age or sex on intelligibility. These data provide information about typical speech acquisition to support the emerging speech-language pathology profession in Vietnam. 

This work was supported by a grant from Trinh Foundation Australia to the first author, an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant (DP180102848) to the second author, an Australian Awards Scholarship to the third author, Charles Sturt University, and Ninh Dang Vu who provided data entry support. 

We began working on this paper in 2017. 

https://speakingmylanguages.blogspot.com/2017/11/xuans-visit-re-southern-vietnamese.html

The work had to be put on hold in 2018 due to my health issues as well as a few other reasons - so it is really exciting to have it accepted for publication today.

 

Xuan Le, Ninh Dang Vu, Ben Pham and Sharynne McLeod in 2017

I have just learned that our paper was accepted on "Kitchen God Day" which is just before Tet: https://vietnamtimes.org.vn/how-vietnamese-people-celebrate-kitchen-god-day-across-the-regions-27895.html

 

Speech acquisition within a 3-generation Vietnamese-English family

The following article has been accepted for publication: 

McLeod, S., Margetson, K., Wang, C., Tran, V. T., Verdon, S., White, K., & Phạm, B. (2020, in press December). Speech acquisition within a 3-generation Vietnamese-English family: The influence of maturation and ambient phonology. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics. 

Here is the abstract: 

The emergence approach to speech acquisition (Davis & Bedore, 2013) theorises the influence of intrinsic capabilities (e.g. maturation), interactional capabilities, and extrinsic contexts (e.g. ambient phonology). Intrinsic and extrinsic influences were examined via a case study of a 3-generation Vietnamese-English family with two brothers (C1 aged 5;6 and C2 aged 3;10), their mother (M), grandfather (GF) and grandmother (GM). Their speech was assessed using the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (DEAP, Dodd et al., 2002) and the Vietnamese Speech Assessment (VSA, Phạm et al., 2016). Standard Australian English/Standard Vietnamese productions were defined as ‘correct’, even though the adults spoke different Vietnamese dialects. Their percentage of standard consonants correct (PSCC) was: C1 (English:92.27%, Vietnamese:89.05%), C2 (E:86.47%, VN:86.13%), M (E:90.34%, VN:96.35%), GF (E:82.61%, VN:97.81%), GM (VN:99.27%). Percentages were higher when dialectal variants were included. C1 and C2 had more pronunciation matches with English (86.96%) than Vietnamese (79.56%). C1’s pronunciation matched: M (E:85.02%, VN:83.94%), GF (E:79.23%, VN:77.37%), GM (VN:73.72%) and C2’s pronunciation matched: M (E:79.23%, VN:73.72%), GF (E:73.91%, VN:75.18%), GM (VN:72.26%). There was evidence of ambient phonology influences and cross-linguistic transfer. For example, in Vietnamese ‘r’ is produced as /ʐ/ or /r/, but was produced by C1 as [ɹ] (English approximant) and by C2 [w] (age-appropriate /ɹ/ substitution). The children demonstrated maturation influences for late-occurring English consonants (e.g. English /θ/→[f]). This study found evidence for the emergence approach and recommends knowledge of the ambient phonology augments traditional child-focused understandings of children’s speech acquisition.

Congratulations Dr Ben Pham - Outstanding Researcher of the Year

We were so excited to hear Dr Ben Pham's news. On 20th November 2020 (Vietnamese Teachers' Day) she was:

• Promoted to Senior Lecturer 
• Awarded "Outstanding Researcher of the Year" at Ha Noi National University of Education (HNUE).

Here is the link about her award: https://hnue.edu.vn/KHCN/ThongtinKHCN/tabid/446/Category/21/News/8404/ThongbaoketquaGiaithuongKhoahocCongnghecapTruongnam2020.aspx

She wrote the following words to our Speech-Language-Multilingualism SLM) team:

I could not have achieved this without your support. I am very grateful to be a member in our SLM team and each of you has contributed to my success (though I am very humbled to use the word 'my success'). I would like to say thankyou to all of you. 

I am currently leading a group of Vietnamese researchers in Speech and Language at my university. We are keen on learning from you about research methods for conducting good quality research projects in children's speech, language and communication. I hope the SLM team members could share your experience with our group here.

Congratulations Dr Ben - we are so proud of you - and look forward to our ongoing collaborations.

Feeedback about VietSpeech SuperSpeech (after week 2)

Only 2 weeks after our VietSpeech's SuperSpeech program started, we received lots of positive feedback and queries on how to enrol in the program. Below are some of them:

• Right after the 1st session, I noticed my son got more interested in Vietnamese, he asked me more questions like What is it in Vietnamese, what does it mean, etc...
• My kid asked more about things around him, commenting on the Vietnamese and English meaning of the words.
• My son likes the activities and homework in the children's workbook and he can't wait to join the program every Thursday afternoon. I have also learnt so many useful information on how to teach and help children learn Vietnamese. I really like the resources that the program offers.
• I have learnt how to help my children learn and use Vietnamese. More importantly, I have chance to spend more time with my boys, which I didn't notice could be so meaningful. I feel warm when reading books with them every evening, explaining to them the meaning of the words or answering their questions. The program is not just about maintaining Vietnamese but also about strengthening the bond between parents and children.
• I now spend more time with my daughter, I have learnt simple ways of how to make Vietnamese learning fun, you can teach your children Vietnamese in everyday activities.
• This is a very meaningful program. My kids enjoy the book reading activities every night. It's fantastic to read books to them and hear their responses in Vietnamese. Thank you SuperSpeech.
• Thank you for the great effort you guys put in. These lessons are both helpful for both myself and my daughter especially because Vietnamese is not my first language.

"We are so delighted to hear this wonderful feedback from VietSpeech SuperSpeech families. Thank you all and we hope we will together have more fun exploring ways to maintain Vietnamese and develop bilingualism for your children.

As there are many queries about how to enrol in the program, we do hope we can run this program or similar programs in the future again.

Viet Speech

's SuperSpeech program is part of an ARC-funded project on Vietnamese-Australian children's speech and language competence. The program is led by Prof Sharynne McLeod and Dr Sarah Verdon with contributions from linguists, speech pathologists, and psychologists." (written and translated by Dr Van Tran) 

VietSpeech SuperSpeech SuperHeros
who have given permission to have their photos on social media

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Muốn con giữ tiếng Việt và giúp con phát triển song ngữ cần 2 yếu tố cơ bản: 1) Thái độ tích cực với ngôn ngữ và văn hóa Việt, 2) Bản thân bố mẹ cần phải tham gia và đồng hành với con!

Với phương châm này, dự án nghiên cứu về năng lực ngôn ngữ của trẻ nói tiếng Việt ở Úc mang tên VietSpeech đã thực hiện chương trình SuperSpeech để giúp bố mẹ biết các cách để hỗ trợ con giữ tiếng Việt và phát triển song ngữ. Dự án do GS Sharynne McLeod và TS Sarah Verdon chủ nhiệm đề tài và có đội ngũ nghiên cứu viên gồm các chuyên gia ngôn ngữ, chuyên gia âm ngữ trị liệu và chuyên gia tâm lý.

Chương trình đã bước vào tuần thứ 3 trong lịch trình dài 8 tuần và đã nhận được phản hồi rất tích cực của các gia đình tham gia chương trình.

Trong số các bố mẹ tham gia chương trình, có những người mong muốn giúp con giữ tiếng Việt nhưng chưa biết làm thế nào hiệu quả, có những người đã làm tốt rồi nhưng muốn học hỏi và chia sẻ thêm kinh nghiệm. Một số phản hồi sau 2 tuần đầu chương trình nhận được như sau:

• Sau ngay tuần đầu tham gia tôi nhận thấy con tôi quan tâm đến tiếng Việt hơn, luôn hỏi: Cái này tiếng Việt là gì?
• Con tôi hỏi nhiều câu hỏi về các đồ vật xung quanh, nhận xét về tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt của các từ đó
• Con tôi tích cực làm bài tập về nhà và mong đến thứ 5 hàng tuần
• Tham gia chương trình, tôi không chỉ biết các cách hỗ trợ con phát triển cả hai ngôn ngữ Việt-Anh mà còn dành nhiều thời gian đọc truyện với con hơn, điều mà trước đây tôi không nghĩ quan trọng đến như vậy. Tôi thấy một sự ấm áp mỗi tối 2 bố con ngồi đọc truyện với nhau, tôi thích việc giải thích cho con, hay giúp con làm các hoạt động về ngôn ngữ.
• Tôi dành nhiều thời gian với con hơn và biết cách làm thế nào để giúp con học tiếng Việt tự nhiên, vui vẻ trong các sinh hoạt hàng ngày.
• Cám ơn sự nhiệt tình và nỗ lực của nhóm nghiên cứu VietSpeech đã để thực hiện chương trình này. Tôi không nói tiếng Việt nhiều với con ở nhà, tôi không biết bắt đầu từ đâu. Sau 2 tuần tham gia chương trình, giờ tôi đã dần thấy các cách giúp con nói tiếng Việt và làm quen với cách viết từ ngữ tiếng Việt.
• Cám ơn những nỗ lực tuyệt vời của nhóm nghiên cứu để tổ chức chương trình. Cả tôi và con gái tôi đều học được rất nhiều, đặc biệt vì tiếng Việt không phải là tiếng mẹ đẻ của tôi.

Không gì vui bằng được nghe những phản hồi chân thành và tích cực như vậy. Mong là các bố mẹ và các con sẽ tiếp tục thấy thích thú trong các tuần tiếp theo của chương trình!!!!

Dưới đây là một số hình ảnh về chương trình được phép đăng trên phương tiện thông tin xã hội.

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Kate Margetson, Sharynne McLeod, Sarah Verdon, Van Tran

Our VietSpeech SuperSpeech program began today

14 excited 4- to 6-year-old children and their parents joined 4 excited VietSpeech researchers online for week 1 of our VietSpeech SuperSpeech program today. The children had received their capes and Vietnamese books in the mail, and were eager to begin. Our team has worked so hard to be ready for today. Thank you so much to Dr Van Tran, Kate Margetson, Sarah Verdon and Katherine White. Week 1 went really well. One father wrote: 

Thank you for the great effort you guys put in. These lessons are both helpful for both myself and my daughter especially because Vietnamese is not my first language.

VietSpeech SuperSpeech Group planning

Next week our VietSpeech SuperSpeech Group will commence. This program is Study 4 in our Australian Research Council Discovery Grant. We have a superhero theme, encouraging the young children to see themselves as having a superpowers if they can speak both English AND Vietnamese. The VietSpeech team who have been working hard to prepare the resources and undertake pre-intervention assessments include: Kate Margetson, Dr Van Tran, Katherine White, Dr Sarah Verdon, (with assistance from Dr Ben Pham and Dr Audrey Wang, Lily To, Cassandra Dray, etc...). Thanks everyone - it's going to be great.

Dr Van Tran wearing her SuperSpeech cape
with some of the children's resources

Cassandra Dray from CSU is our creative graphic designer for our VietSpeech SuperSpeech workbooks and resources