Recruiting

Bilingual Word Learning

Sponsor:

Boston University Charles River Campus

Code:

NCT07600242

Conditions

Bilingualism

Vocabulary Acquisition

Late Talkers

Network Science

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 2

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Large Semantic Category Condition

Small Semantic Category Condition

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this clinical trial is to understand how different types of word categories, along with the language children hear from their parents, support bilingual toddlers' word learning. This study will address two main questions: (1) How are the words toddlers know related to the words their parents use? and (2) How does what toddlers already know help them learn new words in two languages? The investigators will compare bilingual toddlers with typical development to those with language delay to determine whether they learn new words in similar ways.

Children's vocabulary knowledge will be assessed using standardized parent-report checklists. To examine how different types of categories support learning, the study will focus on two early-acquired categories: animals and clothing. The investigators will compare what parents report about their children's vocabulary with how children learn new words within each category.

To understand the role of parent input, children and their parents will engage in shared book reading and play activities using materials from one of the target categories. Parent-child interactions will be video recorded. Children will also complete an eye-tracking task in which they learn new words in two languages within the same category.

Conditions

Bilingualism

Vocabulary Acquisition

Late Talkers

Network Science

Study ID

NCT07600242

Start date

Dec 16, 2025

Status verified date

May, 2026

Completion date

Jul 31, 2029

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Jul 31, 2028

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 2

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • At least 10% exposure to both English and Spanish or at least 90% exposure to English and another language

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Hearing impairment
  • Uncorrected visual impairment
  • Neurological impairment
  • Genetic syndromes
  • Neurodevelopmental disabilities (e.g. autism)
  • More than 10% exposure to a language other than English or Spanish

Study Design

Enrollment

80 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Basic Science

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Toddlers with typical language development

Children who have typical vocabulary sizes and do not have a history of hearing or vision impairment, neurodevelopmental disorders, or neurological or cognitive delays/disorders.

experimental: Toddlers with language delay

Children whose vocabulary size is atypically small for their age in the absence of hearing impairment, neurodevelopmental disorders, or other cognitive delays.

Interventions

Large Semantic Category Condition

Participants will learn new words that refer to objects that belong to a category from which toddlers know many words (i.e., animals). They will learn new animal words in two different language conditions: a single language context and a dual language context. In the single language context, they will learn new English-like words in a learning environment where they only hear one language (i.e., English). In the dual language context, they will learn new English-like and Spanish-like words in a learning environment where they only hear both languages.

Participants and their parents will also read books about animals and play with animal toy sets.

Small Semantic Category Condition

Participants will learn new words that refer to objects that belong to a category from which toddlers know few words (i.e., clothing). They will learn new clothing words in two different language conditions: a single language context and a dual language context. In the single language context, they will learn new English-like words in a learning environment where they only hear one language (i.e., English). In the dual language context, they will learn new English-like and Spanish-like words in a learning environment where they only hear both languages.

Participants and their parents will also read books about clothes and play with toy sets that include clothing.

Primary outcome measure

  • Word learning [ Time Frame: Day 1 ]
  • Vocabulary Network Properties [ Time Frame: Day 1 ]
  • Parent Language Input [ Time Frame: Day 1 ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Locations

Boston University

Recruiting

Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02215

Contacts

Kimberly Crespo, PhD, CCC-SLP

(617) 358-0790kcrespo@bu.edu

Principal Investigator:

Kimberly Crespo, PhD, CCC-SLP

More Information

Sponsor

Boston University Charles River Campus

Last update posted

May 20, 2026

Last verified

May, 2026

Keywords

  • bilingualism
  • late talkers
  • parent input
  • toddlers
  • word learning
  • vocabulary

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Boston University Charles River Campus on 2026-05-20.