Cross-language generalization of language treatment in multilingual people with post-stroke aphasia: A meta-analysis

Mira Goral; Monica I Norvik; Jan Antfolk; Ioulia Agrotou; Minna Lehtonen

doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105326

Cross-language generalization of language treatment in multilingual people with post-stroke aphasia: A meta-analysis

Brain Lang. 2023 Nov:246:105326. doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105326. Epub 2023 Oct 31.

Authors

Mira Goral¹, Monica I Norvik², Jan Antfolk³, Ioulia Agrotou⁴, Minna Lehtonen⁵

Affiliations

¹ Lehman College, The City University of New York, Bronx, NY, USA; The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, New York, NY, USA; MultiLing Center for Multilingualism in Society Across the Lifespan, Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: mira.goral@lehman.cuny.edu.
² MultiLing Center for Multilingualism in Society Across the Lifespan, Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; Department of Acquired Brain Injury, Statped, Oslo, Norway.
³ Department of Psychology, Abo Akademi University, Turku, Finland.
⁴ The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
⁵ MultiLing Center for Multilingualism in Society Across the Lifespan, Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; Department of Psychology and Speech-Language Pathology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland; Turku Brain and Mind Center, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.

PMID: 37994828
DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105326

Abstract

Studies on the efficacy of language treatment for multilingual people with post-stroke aphasia and its generalization to untreated languages have produced mixed results. We conducted a systematic review and a meta-analysis to examine within- and cross-language treatment effects and the variables that affect them. We searched PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Google Scholar (February 2020; January 2023), identifying 40 studies reporting on 1573 effect sizes from 85 individuals. We synthesized effect sizes for treatment outcomes using a multi-level model to correct for multiple observations from the same individuals. The results showed significant treatment effects, with robust within-language treatment effects and weaker cross-language treatment effects. Age of language acquisition of the treatment language predicted within-language and cross-language effects. Our results suggest that treating multilingual people with aphasia in one language may generalize to their other languages, especially following treatment in an early-acquired language and a later-learned language that became the language of immersion.

Keywords: Aphasia; Bilingual; Cross-language generalization; Intervention; Meta-analysis; Multilingual; Treatment.

Publication types

Systematic Review
Meta-Analysis
Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aphasia* / etiology
Aphasia* / therapy
Humans
Language
Language Development
Multilingualism*
Treatment Outcome