Reading Comprehension of Sentences in Kannada-English Bilingual Individuals with Aphasia

Abstract

The present study aimed at exploring the sentence comprehension proficiency in Kannada-English bilingual individuals with aphasia in L1 and L2 using accuracy and reaction time measures. 20 Kannada-English bilingual individuals with aphasia followed by CVA in the age range of 26 to 75 years participated in the study. Western Aphasia Battery – Kannada was used to diagnose the type of aphasia and measurement of aphasia quotient. International Second Language Proficiency Rating Scale (ISLPR) was used to assess proficiency in the two languages. A total of 50 correct sentences, 50 semantically violated and 50 syntactically violated sentences in each language were presented randomly using DMDX software. All the subjects were asked to read the sentences and judge whether the sentence was correct in meaning and form and press the appropriate response keys. Accuracy and reaction time were measured for all three types of sentences in each language and statistical analysis was done. Results of both accuracy and reaction time measurements revealed significant deficits in sentence comprehension in Kannada as well as English. Mean accuracy scores were better and longer reaction times were seen in Kannada than in English although they were statistically not significant. The results are discussed in terms of variables affecting the sentence comprehension in individuals with aphasia such as proficiency levels, age of second language acquisition and exposure/usage levels. KEYWORDS: Accuracy and reaction time measures, Bilingual aphasia, Language processing in bilingual aphasia, Reading comprehension of sentences, Syntactic and semantic processing.