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Does Twin Language Affect Language Later

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Submitted By chloewilborn
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Research Paper: Does Twin Language as child effect language later
Chloe Wilborn
B00745993
October 4, 2013

Introduction To me personally Twins is an interesting topic because I have a twin sister. Although we are not identical, we are so much alike. Language and communication are also important because they are the foundation of a society. A society must have credible and solid language. I wanted to research the communication between twins, because I wanted to know if being so close to one person effected their communications with others. Does the bond that twins have restrict them from closely communicating with someone that is not their twin? It’s suggested that growing up all twins have a twin language that they use to only talk to one another and no one else can understand it. I also wanted to know if that language between the twins ultimately would cause problems in language later for them. My sister and I did have a twin language and I also wanted to know if that could have had an effect on us.
Article Summaries
Thorpe, K. (2006). Twin children's language development. Early Human Development, 82(6), 387-395. doi:10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2006.03.012
The purpose of this experiment was to study the delay in language in comparison between twins and single born children. On average, twins have scored lower than single born children on range of tests of verbal understanding. This was especially true in male twins though. Thorpe (2006) used twins from 20 months to 11 years old but didn’t think that had anything to do with the outcome of the experiment. The twins and single children were volunteers and were mostly male. All the children were given test that would measure their language competence. The scores were then average and compared. The language delay in twins compared with singletons, where it is expressed in a time unit, ranges from 1.7 to 8 months.
Thorpe (2006) stated that twins could have lower language rates because of many factors. They are more at risk for higher premature birth rates. Also twins are more likely to be born with a disability more than a single born child. Thorpe (2006) thinks that language delay is a reflection of three main biological issues. The first she thinks is inter-twin transfusion which is when identical twins share a placenta and causes one of the twins to have a lower blood supply than the other and may cause birth defects. The second is prenatal complications, which can cause learning disabilities. And last but not least is the Twin language. It says that twins create a language that impedes the progress of regular language.
Overall this study was essential for my topic. It gave me all the right information and was a credible source. The study was worth the time because many people don’t suspect that twin language can have an effect on the progress of regular language. This study could have been more organized though and more narrow. She could have had twin that were around the same age. Also she could have had twins that had an established language and twins that didn’t. Lastly I think it could have been narrowed down even more by race. We knew that from the study, males had more of a delay but I would be interested to know if race had anything to do with language delay in twins as well.
Sebastian, S., Chengappa, S., & Ballraj, A. (2012). Language learning disability in identical twins. Language in India, 12(7), 580. The purpose of this study was to evaluate if idioglossia, which is a language disability affected writing skills and pronunciation. Late onset of speech, and speech and language difficulties, including stuttering, are more common in twins than in single born children. This study was about whether the article was about whether environmental or biology causes delay in language. Sebastian (2012) thinks that environmental factors such as talking to parents and interacting, is more detrimental in language development than twin language. This study used one set of twins that were sixteen years old. The twins were right handed and they were identical. They were both given verbal and performance I.Q. test. Twin A scored 87.3 and 86.8. Twin B scored 86.5 and 83.2. Both twins were said to have been good in mathematics. When they were tested however, they had similar writing and pronunciation errors. The people conducting the study concluded that twin language should be intervened as soon as possible. They also connected language problems in twins to writing and speech problems later on in life. I found this study to not be all that helpful. It was very broad and not detailed. It did indeed help me understand that language problems in twins can lead to other complications. Though it was not detailed, I do think that the study was worth the time. But there are some things that could be done differently. Firstly they could have had more than one set of twins in the experiment. Replication is essential in conducting an experiment. Secondly, they could have had more information about what kind of test they administered. Lastly, I would have chosen younger twins to be in the experiment because, language develops over time; and by the time you are sixteen, you have learned a lot and may have some type of language development.
Compare/ Contrast Thorpe (2006) and Sebastian (2012) both approached the topic very clearly. They both stayed on topic and proved what they believed to be true. They were different however by what they connected the language delay to. One article leaned toward biological factors while the other leaned towards environmental factors. The first journal written by Thorpe (2006) believed that biological factors were the cause of the delays in language. Some of those factors included prenatal complications and inter-twin transfusion. The second journal written by Sebastian (2012) leaned towards the environmental factors. He thought that things like not talking to parents as a toddler and not interacting with other kids that you didn’t have a language with yielded language delays. Also Sebastian (2012) found that language delays caused other problems in speech and writing.
Both agreed on the fact that Twin Language was the main problem in the delay of language in twins. They both also agreed the males were always delayed in the language when compared against females. The strength of the first paper by Thorpe (2006) was that it was very detailed, and it was a replication because they used more than one set of twins. The strength of the second journal was that it connected language to other things and it was easy to follow. Both of them had the weaknesses because both of the studies could have been better.
Conclusion
For me Academic research was difficult. This was my first time using APA style of citing. I am inexperienced and I had trouble finding up to date sources. With that being said, I think that more research should be done on this topic. I am a twin and I had no idea that something as simple as Twin Language could delay my intelligence. If there is more research on this topic, finding sources would not have been hard to find. Also I believe that this research on this topic should be more publicized. We should make expectant mothers aware of how to make their children not delayed. Overall I learned a lot from my research. I now know what causes delays in language and what could prevent it.

References
Sebastian, S., Chengappa, S., & Ballraj, A. (2012). Language learning disability in identical twins. Language in India, 12(7), 580.
Thorpe, K. (2006). Twin children's language development. Early Human Development, 82(6), 387-395. doi:10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2006.03.012

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