Results: Accuracy across all samples was over 90% for all
sound classes except fricatives and increased for all sound
classes across time. Whole-word accuracy was high and
increased across time. With the exception of cluster
reduction, stopping, and final consonant deletion, the
frequency of occurrence for phonological patterns was less
than or equal to 5% at every time point. Sociolinguistic
variables such as age of arrival, age of exposure, and age
were significantly related to phonological skills.
Conclusions: The results were consistent with the hypotheses
outlined in Flege’s (1995) speech learning model in that the
phonological skills of ELLs increased over time and as a
function of age of arrival and time. Thus, speech-language
pathologists (SLPs) also should expect phonological skills in
ELLs to increase over time, as is the case in monolingual
children. SLPs can use the longitudinal and connected-speech
results of this study to interpret their assessments of the
phonological skills of ELLs.