International Journal of Bilingualism最新文献

{"title":"Revisiting bilingual foreign language learning advantages: The role of extramural exposure","authors":"Elena Tribushinina, Betül Boz, Vera Aalbers, Elma Blom","doi":"10.1177/13670069231224542","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069231224542","url":null,"abstract":"Aims and objectives:Prior research shows that bilingual pupils may have foreign language learning advantages over monolinguals, but evidence is controversial. Investigating English as a foreign language (EFL) in the context of the Netherlands, we hypothesized that the conflicting findings may be partly explained by differences in extramural EFL exposure. We further predicted that amount and length of EFL exposure might moderate the effects of bilingualism on EFL learning and cross-language relationships between English and the previously acquired languages.Approach:Twelve- to 14-year-old Turkish–Dutch bilinguals ( n = 30) and Dutch monolinguals ( n = 31) participated. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test was used to measure receptive vocabulary in English, Dutch, and Turkish. Grammatical ability was measured with a sentence repetition task. A questionnaire was used to obtain information on children’s language exposure.Data and analysis:Data were analyzed by means of multilevel linear regression. Amount and length of extramural exposure were used as control variables in the analyses comparing EFL skills of bilinguals and monolinguals. The role of exposure as a moderator of bilingual effects and cross-language relationships was also tested.Findings/conclusions:If differences in exposure were not taken into account, the bilinguals were outperformed by the monolinguals on EFL vocabulary, but not on grammar. However, the between-group difference disappeared once exposure measures were controlled for. Bilinguals with little exposure to English performed worse than monolingual peers, but at higher exposure levels, bilinguals outperformed monolinguals. In the bilingual sample, Dutch vocabulary predicted English vocabulary, but Turkish proficiency did not predict English skills.Originality:This is the first study to include measures of extramural exposure in investigating the effects of bilingualism on EFL learning. Significance/implications: This research shows that differences between monolingual and bilingual EFL learners can be either concealed or inflated if exposure is not controlled for. Furthermore, exposure moderates bilingual effects in EFL learning.","PeriodicalId":47574,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Bilingualism","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139949012","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Outlier speakers and apparent effects: The case of variable subject placement in Spanish","authors":"Philip P. Limerick","doi":"10.1177/13670069231219157","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069231219157","url":null,"abstract":"The current paper utilizes corpus data to examine variation and potential language contact effects regarding pronominal subject placement among first-generation immigrants in Atlanta, with particular attention paid to the individual speaker. The research questions that guide the study are the following: What linguistic and social predictors govern subject placement in Mexican Spanish spoken in Roswell, GA? What role, if any, does English contact play in the overall preverbal rates and/or constraints that govern subject placement? Do the data show any substantial individual differences with regard to rates of subject placement? If so, how might the inclusion versus exclusion of these speakers influence the overall interpretation of the results? This study employs a variationist sociolinguistic framework, and the speakers comprise 20 first-generation Mexican immigrants living in Georgia. Descriptive statistics are employed for purposes of overall as well as individual usage rates of postverbal subjects. In addition, linguistic (e.g., person/number, priming) and social predictors (e.g., sex, English proficiency, preferred media language) were incorporated into logistic regression analyses using Rbrul. Pronominal subject placement is most strongly influenced by person/number. Third-person singular pronouns favor postverbals while other pronouns favor preverbal position. Regarding social predictors, both sex and preferred media language appeared to play significant roles in the initial analysis; however, upon considering outlier speaker effects, the apparent effect of sex disappeared. The media language effect shows that those with a preference for English media favor preverbal subjects, suggesting a potential language contact effect. The current study is the first to analyze this phenomenon in southeastern U.S. Spanish. The findings have implications for the study of language contact and change, demonstrating the importance of considering how individual speakers could misrepresent the overall data, interpretations of results, and conclusions in sociolinguistic studies of bilingualism.","PeriodicalId":47574,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Bilingualism","volume":"10 41","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139380221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bilingualism, like other types of brain training, does not produce far transfer: It all fits together","authors":"Ken Paap, John B Majoubi, Nithyasri Balakrishnan, Regina Anders-Jefferson","doi":"10.1177/13670069231214599","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069231214599","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of this review is to integrate an important new synthesis of the literature examining the effects of cognitive training on far transfer tests of cognitive ability with the expansive literature testing for bilingual advantages in executive functioning (EF). The secondary meta-analysis of cognitive training on far transfer reported by Gobet and Sala is compared and contrasted with the many recent meta-analyses for bilingual advantages in EF. The Gobet and Sala secondary meta-analysis is based on ten independent meta-analyses with a median of 24 samples per analysis. The meta-analyses of the bilingual advantage in EF are partitioned into nine analyses that focus on inhibition, switching, working memory capacity, and general EF. Both cognitive training and bilingualism yield overall effects that are not distinguishable from zero when corrected for publication bias. Furthermore, both clusters of meta-analyses show that study quality moderates performance, but that type of experience/training does not. In the absence of a compelling reason for considering bilingual language-language to have a special status in cognitive training, these two conclusions mesh. Although brain training and the bilingual advantage in EF are both instances of the general hypothesis that practicing cognitive tasks can produce far transfer, they have not been considered as two tests of the same general hypothesis. However, the twin null results resonate and strengthen each other. If bilingualism does not enhance EF in children and young adults (or maintain it in older adults), the argument that bilingualism enhances EF and/or delays the onset of dementia is substantially weakened. However, it is clear and indisputable that, more broadly, there are important advantages to being able to communicate and connect with more people.","PeriodicalId":47574,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Bilingualism","volume":"3 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139381002","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Literacy instruction and lexicon size determine bilingual reading development of Russian-German children","authors":"Sophia Czapka, Nathalie Topaj, Natalia Gagarina","doi":"10.1177/13670069231210716","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069231210716","url":null,"abstract":"How does Russian and German reading comprehension develop during the first 3 years of primary school in Russian heritage speakers and which factors predict performance in each language? 40 Russian-German children were tested annually from first to third grade (age in grade 1 M = 7; 1 years). Reading was assessed with comparable Russian and German word and sentence reading comprehension tests. The Russian test was available in Cyrillic and Latin script (the latter for children who could not read Cyrillic letters). Potential predictors included lexicon size in Russian and German and rapid automatized naming (RAN) of numbers (both assessed in primary school). Other factors were assessed in kindergarten, that is, nonverbal reasoning and, derived from a parents’ questionnaire, their socioeconomic status and language input in the family. Linear regressions were used to compare the development of Russian and German. Stepwise regression analyses identified predictors for reading comprehension in each language. German reading ability improved faster than that of Russian, likely due to the increasing amount of German input outside the family, literacy instruction in German at school, and the large variance in Russian literacy abilities. Children who could read Cyrillic script, who likely received some form of Russian literacy instruction, and who had a larger Russian lexicon size exhibited better reading performance. These results are discussed regarding the divergent attainment trajectories. Decisive factors for German were German lexicon size and RAN. This longitudinal study tracked Russian and German reading development over 3 years in primary school, assessed Russian reading in Cyrillic and Latin scripts, and identified predictors for bilingual reading development in both languages. To become proficient readers in their heritage language, children need to have a substantial lexicon size and receive literacy instruction.","PeriodicalId":47574,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Bilingualism","volume":" 40","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139142957","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comprehension of who- and which-questions in monolingual and bilingual acquisition: Explicating the difficulty of set restriction","authors":"Efrat Harel, Sharon Armon-Lotem, Irena Botwinik","doi":"10.1177/13670069231217183","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069231217183","url":null,"abstract":"Object wh-questions are more difficult for monolingual children to comprehend than subject questions. Especially difficult are object- which questions that appear to be significantly more difficult than both (object/subject) who and subject- which questions. Our research examines the manifestation of this difficulty among bilingual preschool children (L1-English, L2-Hebrew) as compared with their Hebrew monolingual peers, exploring the two languages of the bilinguals. Using a character selection task, the empirical goal of the study is to analyze the differences between monolinguals and bilinguals and between the languages of the bilinguals. The theoretical goal is to explain the difficulty which cuts across the two populations, namely, the comprehension of object- which questions. A total of A total of 55 preschool children, aged 4.4–6.4, participated in the study: 20 monolinguals and 35 bilinguals. A mixed linear model analysis, a general linear model, multiple linear regression analyses, and chi-square tests were used to analyze the data. (1) Monolingual and bilingual children (in their L2) have similar trajectories: object- which questions present difficulties to all participants, and their comprehension systematically follows the comprehension of object- who questions; (2) similar trajectories are also found in the two languages of the bilingual children, with L1-English object- which questions lagging behind L2-Hebrew object- which questions. The comparison between the two populations, and especially between the two languages of the bilinguals, led us to take a closer look at the syntactic processing of which-questions. We explored the possibility that the set restriction computation is the source of children’s difficulty, overloading their working memory resources. Our research demonstrates that monolingual and bilingual (syntactic) development is essentially the same. However, when syntactic processes interact with additional factors, such as working memory resources and language-specific properties, as is the case in object- which questions in Hebrew versus English, the gap between the two populations might widen.","PeriodicalId":47574,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Bilingualism","volume":"2006 24","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-12-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139160074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"‘Difficulties when learning, easiness when fighting’: Why do families in Latvia choose (pre)schools with a language of instruction other than their L1?","authors":"Sanita Martena, H. F. Marten","doi":"10.1177/13670069231193024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069231193024","url":null,"abstract":"Language debates in Latvia often focus on the role of Latvian as official and main societal language. Yet, Latvian society is highly multilingual, and families with home languages other than Latvian have to choose between different educational trajectories for their children. In this context, this paper discusses the results of two studies which addressed the question of why families with Russian as a home language choose (pre)schools with languages other than Russian as medium of instruction (MOI). The first study analyses family narratives which provide insight into attitudes and practices which lead to the decision to send children to Latvian-MOI institutions. The second study investigates language attitudes and practices by families in the international community of Riga German School. The paper discusses data gathered during two studies: for the first, semi-structed interviews were conducted with Russian-speaking families who choose Latvian-medium schools for their children. For the second study, a survey was carried out in the community of an international school in Riga, sided by ethnographic observations and interviews with teachers and the school leadership. Interviews and ethnographic observations were subjected to a discourse analysis with a focus on critical events and structures of life trajectory narratives. Survey data were processed following simple statistical analysis and qualitative content analysis. Our data reveal that families highly embrace multilingualism and see the development of individual plurilingualism as important for integration into Latvian society as well as for educational and professional opportunities in the multilingual societies of Latvia and Europe. At the same time, multilingualism and multiculturalism, including Russian, are seen as a value in itself. In addition, our studies reflect the bidirectionality of family language policies in interplay with practices ineducational institutions: family decisions influence children’s language acquisition at school, but the school also has an impact on the families’ language practices at home. In sum, we argue that educational policies should therefore pay justice to the wishes of families in Latvia to incorporate different language aspects into individual educational trajectories. Language policy is a frequent topic of investigation in the Baltic states. However, there has been a lack in research on family language policy and school choices. In this vein, our paper adds to the understanding of educational choices and language policy processes among Russian-speaking families and the international community in Latvia.","PeriodicalId":47574,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Bilingualism","volume":"16 12","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138604377","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Parental language practices and children’s use of the minority language: The mediating role of children’s language attitudes","authors":"Camille Humeau, Philippe Guimard, Isabelle Nocus, Jean-Michel Galharret","doi":"10.1177/13670069231207326","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069231207326","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines the mediating role of children’s language attitudes in the relationship between parental language practices and children’s use of the minority language. This cross-sectional study uses questionnaires filled out by children individually, focusing on their and their parents’ language attitudes and practices. The study was conducted with 135 children ( Mage = 10.76 years) living in a bilingual family in France. We tested our hypotheses using regression analyses (logistic and linear) and a mediation analysis. Our findings indicate that (1) parents’ use of the minority language significantly predicts children’s; (2) children’s attitudes towards their minority language significantly predict its use; and (3) children’s language attitudes mediate a more important part of the relationship between their own and their parents’ use of the minority language when both parents use the majority language and only one uses the minority language. Reinforcing children’s positive attitudes towards their minority language can foster its use. Children have a role in the development of their bilingualism. When the child’s bilingual development is not supported by active language use by both parents at home, the children’s attitudes are crucial and decisive. This study focuses on the role of 10-year-old children’s perceptions of their bilingual development. This study provides interesting new insights into children’s agency in minority languages maintenance.","PeriodicalId":47574,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Bilingualism","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-11-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139264216","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Bilingual children display comparative strength using prosodic cues for pragmatic word learning","authors":"Isabelle Lorge, Napoleon Katsos","doi":"10.1177/13670069231204139","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069231204139","url":null,"abstract":"Aims/objectives/research questions: Previous studies indicate differences in the way children who grow up with two languages use socio-pragmatic cues to help them identify referents and learn new words, yet the nature of these differences (executive control, better attention to social cues, or pragmatic reasoning) has not been investigated. Design/methodology/approach: This study examined 270 monolingual and bilingually exposed 4–6-year-old children’s performance in 2 tasks using different prosodic cues (contrastive stress and emotional affect) for fast mapping. It avoids a design where children have to inhibit an irrelevant cue, which would enhance the role of differences in executive control. Data/analysis: We performed statistical analyses using a logistic regression mixed model. Findings/conclusions: The bilingually exposed group performed lower than monolinguals in a control condition involving structural language (0.83 vs. 0.92). However, they performed on par with monolinguals in a pragmatic condition when considering only semantically correct answers in both groups (0.55 vs. 0.58), and even displayed significant comparative strength in the task once control performance and demographic variables were taken into account. This effect appeared when the task required reasoning about the speaker’s communicative intentions (contrastive stress) but not when children merely had to recognise a communicative cue (emotional affect). Originality: No study has so far investigated the socio-pragmatic abilities of bilingual children using a task that did not require inhibiting an irrelevant cue. Implications: These findings have implications for bilingual education and a better understanding of the impact of being educated in two languages. We also draw attention to implications regarding the existence of different types of pragmatic skills which may have differing developmental timelines and rely on different sets of abilities.","PeriodicalId":47574,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Bilingualism","volume":"47 17","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136348049","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Investigating the role of bilingualism and gender on theory of mind using mouse-tracking and self-report","authors":"Rowena J. Xia, Brian W. Haas","doi":"10.1177/13670069231208120","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069231208120","url":null,"abstract":"Aims and Objectives: Although there exists empirical support for the idea that bilingualism is associated with improved social cognition, the presence and the structure of this link remains inconclusive. There is currently a need to clarify the specific contexts in which these benefits may tend to emerge. Methodology: We sought to advance the field of bilingualism by examining the link between bilingualism and a specific form of social cognition, theory of mind. We measured theory of mind processing in a sample of adult bilinguals and monolinguals and measured patterns of decision-making using several different methods; task performance (accuracy and reaction time), implicit decision-making patterns (mouse-tracking), and self-report. We collected mouse-tracking data during two different tasks (false belief and cognitive–affective theory of mind) and self-report was measured using the perspective-taking (PT) subscale of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Data and Analysis: For each behavioral task, we compared reaction time, accuracy, and both mouse-tracking metrics between language groups. For self-report, we compared PT scores between language groups. We also tested for interactive effects of gender and language group on each dependent variable. Findings: Across all participants, bilingualism was not associated with any statistically significant improvements in theory of mind. However, we did observe that gender interacted with language group to affect maximal deviation values (mouse-tracking) during the false belief task and self-reported PT scores. Bilingualism tended to confer some improvements in self-reported theory of mind (PT subscale of IRI) in men, but not women. Originality: It is currently unknown if bilingualism is associated with improved theory of mind processing when measured using several different types of tasks and using mouse-tracking. Significance/Implications: These findings contribute to a growing body of evidence elucidating the complex relationship that exists between multiple language acquisition and social cognition.","PeriodicalId":47574,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Bilingualism","volume":" 947","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135186736","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Acoustic adjustments of clear speech in Korean heritage vowel production","authors":"Seung-Eun Chang","doi":"10.1177/13670069231209814","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069231209814","url":null,"abstract":"Aims and objectives: This study aims to explore the segmental and suprasegmental acoustic adjustments in the clear speech of Korean vowels produced by English-dominant Korean-heritage speakers and native Korean speakers. Methodology: Native Korean students at a university in the United States and Korean-American students enrolled in an intermediate Korean language course at the same university read isolated sentences featuring three representative Korean vowels (i.e., /i, a, u/), once in casual speech, and once in clear speech. They repeated this sequence five times. Data and analysis: The vowel space of the first and second formants (F1 and F2) in the clear speech was expanded for both heritage and native speakers, and the heritage vowel space was more fronted than the native vowel space, suggesting the influence of English among heritage speakers. However, the peripheral extent and direction in the clear speech and the dominant language effect in heritage speakers were inconsistent across the vowels. Also, pitch dynamics were highly significant in clear speech, exhibiting the salient fundamental frequency (F0) rising at the syllable offset for both heritage and native speakers. The vowel length enhancement in the clear speech was also confirmed in both native and heritage Korean vowels. Conclusions: The results confirmed the cross-language tendency in clear speech to induce the modification of vowel quality, pitch, and duration, which also applies to Korean heritage vowel production. Furthermore, the asymmetrical acoustic modifications across the vowels in heritage clear speech support the Speech Learning Model (SLM) prediction. Originality and implications: The findings present new data for the clear speech effects of Korean heritage vowel production and a further enhancement strategy of syllable offset pitch raising in clear speech for both native and heritage groups. The results contribute to the theoretical implication of bilingualism by connecting the SLM premise and heritage clear speech.","PeriodicalId":47574,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Bilingualism","volume":" 968","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135186847","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}