No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Bilingual Effects on Cognitive and Linguistic Development: Role of Language, Cultural Background, and Education
Abstract
A total of 104 six-year-old children belonging to 4 groups (English monolinguals, Chinese-English bilinguals, French-English bilinguals, Spanish-English bilinguals) were compared on 3 verbal tasks and 1 nonverbal executive control task to examine the generality of the bilingual effects on development. Bilingual groups differed in degree of similarity between languages, cultural background, and language of schooling. On the executive control task, all bilingual groups performed similarly and exceeded monolinguals; on the language tasks the best performance was achieved by bilingual children whose language of instruction was the same as the language of testing and whose languages had more overlap. Thus, executive control outcomes for bilingual children are general but performance on verbal tasks is specific to factors in the bilingual experience.
... The existing studies focus on understanding the relationship between number of languages spoken and executive functioning using two broad approachesthrough linguistic and non-linguistic based tasks (Czapka et al., 2019). Multilinguals (those who speak more than one language) have been shown to perform better at various non-linguistic cognitive tasks which involve skills like attentional control (Bialystok, 2008), response inhibition (Poarch & Hell, 2012b), task switching (Barac & Bialystok, 2012) and working memory (Oschwald, et al., 2018). However, they perform at par or sometimes worse than their monolingual (those who speak one language) counterparts on linguistic tasks (Bialystok, 2009;Slot & Suchodoletz, 2018). ...
... Research into other factors such as cultural background (Bialystok and Barac, 2012;Treffers-Daller et al., 2020), age at which the languages were learned (Boumeester et al., 2019), socioeconomic status (Bialystok and Calvo, 2014), educational level, similarity and dissimilarity of the languages learned and proficiency in each language (Poarch, 2018;Espi-Sanchis, & Cockcroft, 2021) show that impact the relationship between multilingualism and executive functions. ...
... Researchers investigating the effects of similarity or dissimilarity of the languages spoken are yet to find a clear answer. Barac & Bialystok (2012) found that similar languages allow for better performance in lexical tasks. It seems to enhance rapid recall abilities of the individuals (Oschwald et. ...
Multilingualism has both advantages and disadvantages. Past research has highlighted this dichotomy by exploring the impact of linguistic ability on individuals’ executive functioning. This study explores the relationship between individuals’ linguistic ability (number of languages spoken) and their executive functioning, specifically, working memory – measured using the Corsi Block-Tapping task (Mueller, 2011a), inhibitory control – measured using the Go/No-Go task (Mueller, 2011b) and problem solving – measured using the Tower of London task (Mueller, 2011c) among bilingual, trilingual and quadrilingual Indian colleges students. Results from a Kruskal Wallis test indicated non-significant results for problem solving among the three groups. However, significant differences were found between groups for working memory (p = 0.050) (particularly between bilinguals and quadrilinguals, and trilinguals and quadrilinguals) and inhibitory control (p = 0.020) (particularly between trilinguals and quadrilinguals). The mixed results indicate a need for further research in this domain within the vast and diverse population of India.
... A number of studies have investigated the effects of bilingualism on task switching (e.g., Barac & Bialystok, 2012;Garbin et al., 2010;Gold et al., 2013;Prior & Gollan, 2011;Prior & MacWhinney, 2010;Wiseheart et al., 2016), with mixed findings. The ability to task switch hinges on the extent to which a participant can allocate attention to one single task when faced with two possible options, so that only one correct alternative can be chosen, a skill which is considered to fall within the executive control capacity (Lemire-Rodger et al., 2019;Sylvester et al., 2003). ...
... Following previous research (e.g., Barac & Bialystok, 2012;Wiseheart et al., 2016), in this study, global switch costs (GSC; a.k.a. mixing cost) and local switch costs (LSC; a.k.a. ...
... Following previous research (e.g., Barac & Bialystok, 2012;Wiseheart et al., 2016), we used a computerized task switching paradigm consisting of switch and nonswitch blocks. The methodology was very close to Monsell's (2003) alternating-runs version of the task switching paradigm. ...
It is not clear whether bilingualism leads to task switching benefits in single-language nonimmigration contexts, as in dual-language and code-switching immigration contexts. Ninety young Persian-speaking monolingual and bilingual adults reported their language proficiency and use, with the early bilinguals indicating a balanced rating for their L1 and L2, and late bilinguals reporting slightly higher ratings for L1, relative to L2. Concerning the onset age of bilingualism, the bilinguals were classified as early and late bilinguals according to whether they initiated active regular use of the two languages before or after the age of eight. A nonverbal alternating-runs task switching paradigm was used to measure global switch cost (GSC) and local switch cost (LSC). The findings revealed a slight nonsignificant GSC but a significantly lower LSC for early bilinguals, compared to monolinguals, suggesting that bilingualism effects on task switching do not transpire uniformly across different contexts.
... Social benefits include opening doors in the job market, social networking, community relations, and heritage descent bonding (e.g., A. De Houwer 2009). Cognitive benefits, extensively documented by bilingual researchers, include improved executive functioning at an early age, enhanced recognition memory among older bilinguals, delayed cognitive function decline due to aging, and delayed onset of Alzheimer's disease (Bialystok 2010;Bialystok et al. 2014;Barac and Bialystok 2012;Barac et al. 2014;Kroll and Bialystok 2013). ...
... While multilingualism was widely accepted in the 19th century (Fitzgerald 1993;Pavlenko 2002), the U.S. gradually became less supportive of HLs after the 1920s. Immigrant children started losing their HL, partly due to insufficient environmental support for families to teach their HL to their children (Leeman and Serafini 2016;Barac and Bialystok 2012). By the third generation, immigrant children tend to shift to English dominance or monolingualism (Hoff 2018). ...
A dearth of research concerning Turkish immigrant families in the United States exists, prompting this study’s focus. This research aims to illuminate the influence of parental language attitudes among Turkish immigrants on their motivation to foster the preservation of their heritage language (HL) in their children, alongside an exploration of the strategies employed for HL retention. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 parents (16 mothers and 4 fathers), with each interview spanning 15–20 min. The interviews, conducted individually by the primary author in Turkish and later translated into English, unveiled a spectrum of parental language attitudes, impacting their motivation to uphold HL. Variances in motivation were observed, intertwined with factors such as home and community environments, parental acculturation experiences, perceptions regarding the relationship between culture and language, and the perceived advantages of bilingualism for children’s cognitive development and future prospects. Despite differing motivations, all parents expressed a desire to preserve HL, prompting the deployment of diverse Heritage Language Management Strategies (HLMS). This study significantly contributes to the understanding of how parental attitudes shape HL preservation efforts within families, offering insights crucial to the field of HL and family language policy, thereby highlighting implications for practice and further research.
... Another study approached the intersection of language and culture by comparing bilingual children of different cultural backgrounds associated with their language backgrounds. Specifically, English monolinguals were compared to Chinese-English bilinguals, French-English bilinguals, and Spanish-English bilinguals, each with differing languages and cultures for their non-English language (Barac & Bialystok, 2012). This study demonstrated that all three bilingual groups reacted faster than their monolingual peers, and there was no difference based on the different cultural backgrounds of the bilingual groups (Barac & Bialystok, 2012). ...
... Specifically, English monolinguals were compared to Chinese-English bilinguals, French-English bilinguals, and Spanish-English bilinguals, each with differing languages and cultures for their non-English language (Barac & Bialystok, 2012). This study demonstrated that all three bilingual groups reacted faster than their monolingual peers, and there was no difference based on the different cultural backgrounds of the bilingual groups (Barac & Bialystok, 2012). While this study and this approach supports the idea of bilingualism in general being responsible for the bilingual advantage, it does not provide a complete picture in terms of disassociation of language and culture. ...
Language and culture are important constructs linked to many other areas of mental processing. An emerging body of empirical research supports the idea that speaking multiple languages and/or experiencing multiple cultures may have a positive impact on social-cognitive processing. In this study we sought to better understand these associations by carrying out a large-scale meta-analysis and review. We pooled the results of 38 empirical studies focused on the association between either bilingualism or multicultural experience with social-cognitive processing. We observed a significant estimated pooled effect for bilingualism (d = 0.404, p < 0.0001) as well as for multicultural experience measures (r = 0.222, d ≈ 0.455, p < 0.0001). These findings indicate that both language and culture are important factors related to social cognition, especially within the domain of intergroup perceptions. Implications of these findings are discussed, including suggestions for future research.
... From the linguistic angle, a bilingual child not only gets to acquire two languages but is also able to switch between them automatically and effortlessly (Barac and Bialystok 2012;Hoff 2015). Some studies suggest that bilingual upbringing can cause higher cognitive flexibility and metalinguistic awareness in bilingual as compared to monolingual children (Barac and Bialystok 2012;Bialystok, Craik, and Luk 2012) Regarding the social aspects of communication, Fan et al. (2015) showed that both bilingual children and children who have multilingual exposure communicate more effectively: compared to monolingual children, they are more successful in their interlocutor's perspective taking than the monolingual children. ...
... From the linguistic angle, a bilingual child not only gets to acquire two languages but is also able to switch between them automatically and effortlessly (Barac and Bialystok 2012;Hoff 2015). Some studies suggest that bilingual upbringing can cause higher cognitive flexibility and metalinguistic awareness in bilingual as compared to monolingual children (Barac and Bialystok 2012;Bialystok, Craik, and Luk 2012) Regarding the social aspects of communication, Fan et al. (2015) showed that both bilingual children and children who have multilingual exposure communicate more effectively: compared to monolingual children, they are more successful in their interlocutor's perspective taking than the monolingual children. Taken together, the findings reflect that multilingualism may lead to a higher degree of acceptance of non-typical language renditions, including non-native accents (Souza, Byers-Heinlein, and Poulin-Dubois 2013). ...
The way a talker speaks influences how they are socially perceived. Social preferences based on language are present already in early childhood: children generally prefer to interact with those who speak the child's native language or native accent. Prior findings are inconclusive as to whether the accent-based social biases could be reduced by more varied language experience, including bilingual upbringing. This study reports a friendship-choice task administered to forty-nine 5-to 6-year-old children acquiring Czech (26 monolinguals and 23 bilinguals). The results showed that both monolingual and bilingual children had a preference for native-accented peers. In bilingual children, however, this native-speaker preference was reliably smaller than in monolingual children. These findings demonstrate that foreign accent is a strong cue for friendship choice even in the linguistically homogeneous, Czech-speaking society, and that the effect of foreign accent is attenuated by a child's bilingual language experience.
... What is 1 Languages 2022, 7,214 striking about the research on cross-language activation and its consequences for regulation and control is that the findings are largely similar across many different pairs of languages. There are modulations that result from language distance, but the overarching picture is one of greater similarity than the difference (Degani et al. 2018; see also Barac and Bialystok 2012). Critically, the role of contextual factors has been shown to be as or more important than language distance (e.g., Beatty-Martínez et al. 2020 found effects of contextual factors in Spanish-English bilinguals that are comparable to those found in Chinese-English bilinguals by Zhang et al. 2015Zhang et al. , 2021. ...
... As indicated earlier, over the years, multiple studies have emerged where bilinguals were found to have a global advantage in tasks of executive control (Bialystok 1999;Bialystok and Viswanathan 2009;Bialystok et al. 2010;Barac and Bialystok 2012;Tran et al. 2015Tran et al. , 2018Yang et al. 2011;. Nevertheless, an effect of culture was found despite it not overriding the effect of bilingualism in many of these articles (see Appendix A for a breakdown of the bilingual or cultural effects reported among key studies). ...
For multilinguals, acquiring and processing language is similar to other cognitive skills: they are grounded in mechanisms of sensory processing and motor control (Paradis, 2019). Recent clinical and experimental research on multilingualism have introduced innovative neuroimaging measures and psychological methods that have significantly shed light on what we know (and do not know) about how multiple languages are processed, represented, and controlled in the mind/brain (Schwieter, 2019).
Since the 1990s and 2000s, a plethora of behavioral and neurological research has demonstrated that for multilinguals, all languages are active to some degree in the mind, even when only using one. Furthermore, the need for the mind to manage the ongoing competition that arises from this parallel activation has been shown to affect cognition (e.g., executive functioning) (Giovannoli et al., 2020), modify the structure and functioning of the brain (e.g., changes in the areas where language control and executive control overlap) (Costa and Sebastian-Galles, 2014), and slow the onset or progression of cognitive and neural decline (Bialystok, 2017).
The goal of “Multilingualism: Consequences for brain and mind” is to bring together state-of-the art papers that examine the cognitive and neurological consequences of multilingualism through an exploration of how two or more languages are processed, represented, and/or controlled in one brain/mind. The included peer-reviewed papers are either theoretically or empirically oriented and present new findings, frameworks, and/or methodologies on how multilingualism affects the brain and mind.
... Although recent studies have found mixed results, many have found a connection between bilingualism and EFs among children (e.g., Barac & Bialystok, 2012;Barac et al., 2016;Park et al., 2018;Yang & Yang, 2016;Yurtsever et al., 2023). In young adults, particularly when EF is at its peak, the cognitive consequences of bilingual language experience are often not apparent, as demonstrated in Bialystok's foundational study (Bialystok et al., 2008). ...
In processing their two languages, bilinguals have to selectively attend to the target language and reduce interference from the non-target language. This experience may have specific cognitive consequences on Executive Functions (EF) through bilingual language processing. Some studies found cognitive consequences in executive functioning skills. However, other studies did not replicate these findings or found a bilingual disadvantage. The aim of this study was to test for the cognitive consequences of bilingualism in EF among a large number of young adults using a latent variable approach, to rule out non-EF task differences as an explanation for inconsistency across studies. Also, we were interested in testing the EF structure using the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) approach. The results did not support a cognitive consequence of bilingualism and also the EF structure was the same for both groups. We discuss other possible variables that might contribute to the mixed results across studies.
... The colour-shape switching task was adapted from Yim and Bialystok (2012) and Barac and Bialystok (2012) to measure participants' domain-general shifting ability. Participants in this task saw three pictures at a time presented on the screen. ...
The Adaptive Control Hypothesis and the Control Process Model propose that bilingual language use in different interactional contexts requires control processes that can adapt in different ways to linguistic demands. This study explored the effects of language experience on cognitive flexibility and inhibition among 41 Chinese–English bilingual adults. In particular, it aimed to investigate the relationship between spontaneous language production (i.e., bilingual conversation and narration tasks) and cognitive control. Participants’ inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility efficiency was measured through verbal and spatial Stroop tasks, and a colour-shape switching task. Overall, it showed that frequent practices of intersentential switching in speech production resulted in significant facilitatory effects in both verbal and nonverbal inhibitory control. This study provides new evidence for the importance of bilingual language experience in adaptive cognitive control in naturalistic speech production and furthers our theoretical knowledge of the relationship between the language system and crucial domain-general cognitive processes.
... The hypothesis of an EF bilingual advantage was initially strongly supported by a substantial number of studies: showing that unimodal bilingual children, using two spoken languages, outperform monolingual peers on tasks demanding working memory (WM) (e.g. Morales, Calvo, and Bialystok 2013), cognitive flexibility (Barac and Bialystok 2012) and conflict resolution (e.g. Poarch and van Hell 2012;for review: Bialystok 2015). ...
... Bilingual autistic children are a growing population in the United States who would benefit from tailored support that includes their cultural and linguistic backgrounds (Trelles & Castro, 2019), and research in this area is needed . In non-autistic populations, researchers have demonstrated how bilingualism may confer benefits (Barac & Bialystok, 2012;Ware et al., 2020). Research exploring bilingual autistic child outcomes is growing, and thus far, evidence suggests that, like in nonautistic children, bilingualism has no known negative impacts, and may have some benefits (Conner et al., 2020;Gilhuber et al., 2023). ...
Autistic children from heritage-language-speaking homes in the United States are a growing group that would benefit from tailored support that honors their linguistic heritage. Bilingual autistic adults share benefits of their bilingualism abilities and report childhood learning environments as necessary for facilitating language learning or maintenance. Caregivers of young autistic children also report the desire to maintain their heritage languages but sometimes struggle to do so due to misconceptions and a lack of resources such as bilingual personnel. This study was the first to explore U.S.-based bilingual providers’ ( N = 16) experiences and perceptions of providing bilingual care for autistic children. Data analysis was conducted using reflexive thematic analysis, and resulted in five themes, including (a) You Don’t Have to Change Who You Are: Experiences and Beliefs About Bilingualism, (b) Having the “Other” Perspective: Empathy and Intersectionality, (c) Services as a Gateway: Beliefs Rooted in Social Justice, (d) He Was Like a Different Child: Impacts of Receiving Heritage-Language Support, and (e) It Was Just Business: Impacts of Not Receiving Same Language Support. Findings from this study suggest that autistic children and their families benefit from heritage language care, and the recruitment and retention of a linguistically diverse workforce is recommended. Additional implications for research and practice are discussed.
Lay abstract
In the United States, many people have heritage languages they speak in their homes other than English, such as Chinese or Spanish. Autistic children whose families speak different languages could benefit from support and teaching in their heritage languages. Still, caregivers have reported that it is challenging to do so. Many autism professionals make suggestions that are not based on research. To date, researchers have not examined the perspectives of the small group of bilingual professionals in the United States who provide bilingual support for autistic children. Therefore, this study explored how bilingual autism providers in the United States talked about their work, bilingualism, and the impacts their bilingual work has on autistic children and families. The bilingual providers in this study reported many positive outcomes for autistic children when they can learn and use their heritage languages and some negative outcomes when providers cannot communicate in the same language. Recommendations from this study highlight the need to recruit more bilingual providers in the field of autism.
... The recent study of Stadtmiller et al. (2021) provides a more detailed insight into the interaction of working memory and language and scrutinize for this purpose omissions in a sentence repetition tasks of 5-year-old Russian-speaking bilinguals. In contrast, the studies of Bialystok (1986Bialystok ( , 1988 and Barac and Bialystok (2012) show that while cognition in bilingual individuals does have an impact on, for example metalinguistic awareness, it is the level of linguistic knowledge, but not cognitive control, which influences grammaticality judgment tasks. ...
... This agreement acknowledges that children growing up with two or more languages should not exclusively be tested in only one of their languages in order to determine the presence of a developmental language disorder. It is well documented that multilingual, typically developing children often perform below average in standardized tests compared to monolingual children, especially regarding their vocabulary [26]. Therefore, using monolingual norms for multilingual children leads to a significantly increased rate of false positives in diagnosing developmental language disorders [27]. ...
In recent years, there have been intense international discussions about the definition and terminology of language disorders in childhood, such as those sparked by the publications of the CATALISE consortium. To address this ongoing debate, a Delphi study was conducted in German-speaking countries. This study consisted of three survey waves and involved over 400 experts from relevant disciplines. As a result, a far-reaching consensus was achieved on essential definition criteria and terminology, presented in 23 statements. The German term ‘Sprachentwicklungsstörung’ was endorsed to refer to children with significant deviations from typical language development that can negatively impact social interactions, educational progress, and/or social participation and do not occur together with a potentially contributing impairment. A significant deviation from typical language development was defined as a child’s scores in standardized test procedures being ≥ 1.5 SD below the mean for children of the same age. The results of this Delphi study provide a proposal for a uniform use of terminology for language disorders in childhood in German-speaking countries.
... For example, Bialystok et al. (2003) showed that Spanish-English bilinguals (i.e., speaking two Indo-European languages) outperformed monolinguals on a phoneme segmentation task, whereas Chinese-English bilinguals (different language families) did not show a similar advantage. This pattern aligns well with findings reported by Barac and Bialystok (2012), where Spanish-English bilinguals demonstrated better metalinguistic performance than their Chinese-English peers, despite having similar second language (L2) exposure. Further confirming these results, Blom et al. (2020) reported that LD influences receptive vocabulary outcomes in L1-Dutch bilingual children, with better performance emerging in children speaking L2s closer to the native Dutch (Frisian, Limburgish) than more distant ones (Turkish, Afro-Asian, Slavic). ...
To better explain various neurocognitive consequences of bilingualism, recent investigations have adopted continuous measures of bilingual experience, as opposed to binary bi/monolin-gual distinctions. However, few studies have considered whether bilingualism's effects on cog-nition are modulated by the linguistic distance (LD) between L1 and L2, and none of the existing studies has examined cognitive consequences of LD in aging populations. Here, we investigated the modulatory role of LD on the relationship between bilingualism, executive performance, and cognitive reserve (CR) in a sample of senior bilinguals. Our results show a dynamic trajectory of LD effects, with more distant language pairs exerting maximum effects at initial stages of bilingual experience-and closer language pairs at advanced stages. Bilingualism-related CR effects emerged only in the individuals with closer language pairs, suggesting that the language control stage of bilingual experience may play a key role in CR accrual, as compared to the L2 learning stage.
... What should be noted is that for example in immigrant situations, parents may not have a good command of the standard designed language of the host countries. If these parents nevertheless choose to use that standard language with their children, this may in fact have adverse consequences, with children entering school with low proficiency in any language (Barac and Bialystok, 2012). In general, it seems that raising children bi-or multilingually from birth is possible and generally beneficial for them, but only if those that use the different speech registers with the children are themselves highly proficient users of those registers. ...
The relationship between student performance in education and medium of instruction needs to be investigated in a systems-oriented way, comparing what educational systems are able to achieve given different medium of instruction policies. This article combines data on language, medium of instruction, participation in education and effectiveness of education to propose a new categorization of educational systems: colonial systems, decolonial systems and systems in transition. It shows that there is an evolution towards decolonial systems, but that such an evolution will require a transition to indigenous languages as medium of instruction. It briefly discusses the pitfalls and possibilities of such a transition.
... Hartanto et al. (2019) also found a bilingual advantage in their study using ECLS-K data for children in Kindergarten and Grade 1, reporting results that show bilingualism significantly attenuated the negative effects of SES on components of EF and self-regulatory behaviors. These findings support the Cognitive Advantage Hypothesis which posits that learning two languages produces cognitive advantages over monolingual speakers (Barac and Bialystok, 2012;Bialystok et al., 2012). Because this is an emerging area of research with gaps, inconsistent findings, and little understanding of underlying processes (Grote et al., 2021), further examination focused on young children's DLL status and associations among neighborhood vulnerability, family risk, and child outcomes is warranted. ...
Introduction
Research has documented that home and neighborhood contexts of children from low-income families are associated with lower cognitive and social–emotional skills than their higher-income peers. Even though over a third of young children growing up in poverty are dual language learners (DLLs), little research has examined how contextual effects differ between DLL and monolingual children. The current study examines how these two contexts, neighborhood vulnerability and family socioeconomic risk, impact executive function (EF) and social–emotional skills in DLL and monolingual preschoolers.
Methods
A secondary analysis was completed on data from two Head Start programs. A series of cross-classified models with interactions were conducted to examine the moderating role of DLL status on associations between neighborhood vulnerability and family risk and preschoolers’ EF and social-emotional skills.
Results
Proficient bilingual children’s EF skills were not impacted by neighborhood risks, suggesting that proficient bilingual children may have more opportunities to grow their EF skills when switching between English and Spanish regardless of neighborhood context. An unexpected result occurred for emergent bilingual children who were reported to demonstrate fewer behavior problems regardless of family risk, highlighting the importance of ensuring all DLL families have access to resources to promote their children’s social–emotional skills; and teachers have the proper training to support the behaviors of children in their classroom with varying levels of English proficiency.
Discussion
Although speaking two languages may be a protective factor for young DLLs growing up in poverty, little research has examined how contextual effects differ between DLL and monolingual children. The current study contributes by examining how DLL status, especially two different DLL statuses (i.e., Proficient Bilinguals and Emergent Bilinguals), may vary as a buffer in moderating the negative associations between collective neighborhood vulnerability, individual family risk, and children’s EF and social–emotional skills.
... While some proposals are straightforward (e.g., attributing differences between monolinguals and bilinguals to cognitive processes related to general conflict-monitoring and goal-orienting abilities; Costa et al., 2009;Hernández et al., 2013), other factors are variably treated as pertaining to the sociolinguistic or the cognitive component. For example, differences in cultural knowledge may be attributed to the cognitive component or not (Barac & Bialystok, 2012). For the purpose of this systematic review, we employ one specific criterion (following de Cat, 2020) in classifying the origin of bilingual effects as either cognitive or sociolinguistic: if the results of a study suggest that any observed differences between monolinguals and bilinguals are due to INDIVIDUAL-INTERNAL cognitive processes (e.g., sharpened monitoring or switching abilities, different use of neural markers, enhanced control of attentional resources, weakened retrieval capacity), this is classified as cognitive origin. ...
Being bilingual confers certain behavioral effects. Determining their precise origin is of utmost importance given the need to avoid unjust misattribution of labels such as “bilingual (dis)advantage” to people's bilingual experiences. To this end, this systematic PRISMA-based review aims to shed light on the social and sociolinguistic origins of bilingualism-related behavioral effects. Analyzing 368 studies, we find that 73.41% of the 267 studies that report such effects attribute them either to sociolinguistic factors alone or to the interaction of sociolinguistic and cognitive factors. Linking the two fronts, type of effect and origin of effect, we find a previously unreported correlation: Studies that find evidence for bilingual disadvantages are more likely to claim a sociolinguistic origin, while studies that report advantages are more likely to link their findings to a cognitive origin. We discuss these results and present the key components of a sociolinguistic theory of the origin of bilingual effects.
... For instance, Budi shifts to Bahasa Indonesia in Excerpt 20 after conversing in English with his father. As posited by Barac and Bialystok (2012), cognitive flexibility can be assessed through tasks or conditions necessitating attention shifting and inhibitory control. ...
Motivation is an essential aspect of students' success in their learning, and an investigation into the factors that could deteriorate their motivation could shed light on that issue. This study investigates amotivation during the application of artificial intelligence technology in EFL classrooms or AI-injected learning. As artificial intelligence is still a relatively new technology, but its application is becoming increasingly more prevalent in language classrooms, this study aims to explore factors that could negatively affect EFL students’ motivation to use technology in their learning. This study included questionnaires and interviews to collect data from 133 EFL students in an Indonesian higher education institution. The students had experience working with AI applications in their learning. The statistical analysis of the questionnaire data suggested that, although not dominant, amotivation was evident among the students. More than 25% of the students experienced amotivation while learning using the AI apps. The qualitative analysis of the interview data revealed three factors that could give rise to amotivation among the students when working with the AI apps: intelligence, user interface, and lesson design. Intelligence and user interface were internal to the AI apps, while lesson design was associated with the teachers' pedagogical competence in preparing the lessons for their students. This study suggests that app design and lesson design are two motivational factors that could affect students’ motivation in AI-injected learning.
... For instance, Budi shifts to Bahasa Indonesia in Excerpt 20 after conversing in English with his father. As posited by Barac and Bialystok (2012), cognitive flexibility can be assessed through tasks or conditions necessitating attention shifting and inhibitory control. ...
The phenomenon of code-switching manifests as the practice of seamlessly oscillating between two or more distinct languages or language variations within the confines of a singular exchange, be it a sentence or a conversation. Children reared in environments rich with linguistic diversity frequently acquire the ability to proficiently maneuver between languages as a mechanism to convey meaning to varied interlocutors or within disparate situational contexts. This study presents a qualitative case study of two children from mixed marriage parents, one of whom is an Indonesian native speaker and the other is an English native speaker. The aim of the study is to explore the use of code-switching and its impact on the language development and proficiency of children from mixed-marriage families. Interviews were conducted with the parents, while observations were made of the children's language use at home. The results suggest that code-switching facilitates the development of children's language skills in different contexts; however, it also hinders their ability to separate and utilize different languages effectively. Furthermore, code-switching enables children to maintain a connection to their cultural heritage and fosters a sense of comfort in multicultural environments.
... At the level of behavioral cultural intelligence, multilingual primary schoolers are more successful than their bilingual peers, which yields similar results to the study of Barac and Bialystok (2012), which focused on six-year-old children and showed that speaking additional languages enables young learners to perform higher on both verbal and nonverbal tasks. The ability of multilingual participants to utilize culturally appropriate words and gestures is, in fact, an expected result as they grasp linguistic and social cues to maintain their com-munication effectively by taking into consideration cross-cultural differences and similarities (Ang & van Dyne 2008). ...
There have been numerous studies conducted on the importance of multiple intelligence levels of learners and the significance of language learning. By contrast, this study dwells on exploring cultural intelligence, its components and the relationship between cultural intelligence and language learning. To achieve this aim, bilingual and multilingual primary school students were selected and administered a cultural intelligence questionnaire to detect whether or not there is a relationship between these two aspects. The results yield the fact that multilinguals have higher scores in cultural intelligence, showcasing that those who are open to other cultures and can easily adapt to new patterns of thinking are likely to learn languages with ease.
... Kaushanskaya, Marian e Blumenfeld (2007) utilizou a ressonância magnética funcional (fMRI) para examinar e analisar a atividade cerebral das crianças bilíngues durante diversas atividades propostas para os participantes da pesquisa e os resultados apontaram que pessoas bilíngues possuem uma atenção mais seletiva em comparação às outras, além do fato das conexões cerebrais mais ativas para a questão linguística e a cognição de modo geral.Outros estudos apontaram uma maior plasticidade neural nas crianças bilíngues, ou seja, essas crianças têm uma maior capacidade de adaptabilidade e reorganização quando há a troca de língua em uma socialização, indo de uma língua para outra praticamente de modo instantâneo. A pesquisa deBarac e Bialystok (2012) demonstra um maior controle cognitivo de crianças bilíngues quando comparadas às monolíngues, afinal por serem adaptadas a duas línguas simultaneamente, essas crianças possuem uma reorganização cerebral mais avançada e desenvolvida, afinal elas trocam o idioma em fração de segundos quando é preciso. Pode-se dizer que o cérebro dessa criança está condicionado a um repetitivo e complexo exercício de se adaptar à língua ambiente, fazendo com que os estímulos cerebrais sejam ativados mais frequentemente e com mais vigor, do que àquelas que só se habituam ao idioma nativo, não tendo contato, ou pouco contato com qualquer outro idioma.A teoria da Gramática Universal proposta por NoamChomsky (1959) desempenha um papel fundamental na compreensão do desenvolvimento da fala em crianças bilíngues. ...
Nesse artigo, com temática voltada ao bilinguismo, serão investigados aspectos cognitivos da criança bilíngue e desdobramentos que a segunda língua pode trazer a sua vida acadêmica e social. Amparadas pelos Estudos Gerais de Linguística de Saussure, pelo Desenvolvimento Cognitivo das Crianças de Piaget, na Gramática Geral de Chomsky e na exposição sociocultural de Vygotsky, versamos sobre como crianças bilíngues desenvolvem mais atenção, além de discutir a questão de crianças no Espectro Autista, que apesar de nunca terem tido contato com uma segunda língua antes, são capazes de falar ambas línguas fluentemente. O artigo tem como base a observação de crianças haitianas e portadoras do Transtorno do Espectro Autista (TEA), com ou sem dificuldade de fala e linguagem de uma escola municipal de uma cidade do interior de Santa Catarina e como as práticas pedagógicas e as vivências sociais das crianças enquadradas no contexto escolar beneficiaram o desenvolvimento, tornando-as bilíngues. As crianças em questão foram observadas durante dois anos em atividades cotidianas nas quais eram expostas ou apresentavam algum tipo de interação em uma língua estrangeira, de forma que pudesse ser observado o processo de aquisição de língua estrangeira de cada indivíduo. Palavras-chaves: Desenvolvimento cognitivo. Bilinguismo. Neurolinguística. Desenvolvimento linguístico. Processos cognitivos. ABSTRACT In this article, focused on bilingualism, we will investigate the cognitive aspects of bilingual children and the implications that the second language can have on their academic and social life. Drawing on Saussure's General Linguistics Studies, Piaget's Cognitive Development of Children, Chomsky's Universal Grammar, and Vygotsky's sociocultural exposition, we discuss how bilingual children develop increased attention and also explore the issue of children on the Autism Spectrum, who, despite never having been exposed to a second language before, are capable of speaking both languages fluently. The article is based on the observation of Haitian children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), with or without speech and language difficulties, in a municipal school in a city in the interior of Santa Catarina, and how the pedagogical practices and social experiences within the school context contributed to their bilingual development. The children in question were observed for two years during everyday activities in which they were exposed to or engaged in some form of interaction in a foreign language, allowing us to observe the process of foreign language acquisition for each individual. Keywords: Cognitive development. Bilingualism. Neurolinguistics. Linguistic Development. Cognitive processes.
... With the interaction between language and cognition, individual forms a pattern of knowing, understanding, and explaining the objective world. It was found that when using a particular language bilinguals could activate its corresponding cultural knowledge and meanings (Barac & Bialystok, 2012). Even though Antoniou et al. (2016) statistically controlled the bilinguals' and bidialectals' lower language proficiency in Greek, the participants in their study came from Cyprus and Greece. ...
The present study was carried out to investigate whether bidialectals have a similar advantage in domain-general executive function as bilinguals and if so whether the phonetic similarity between two different dialects can modulate the executive function performance in the conflicting-switching task. The results showed that the latencies for switching trials in mixed block (SMs) were longest, non-switching trials in mixed block (NMs) were medium, and non-switching trials in pure block (NPs) were the shortest in the conflict-switching task in all three groups of participants. Importantly, the difference between NPs and NMs varied as a function of phonetic similarity between two dialects with Cantonese-Mandarin bidialectal speakers being the minimum, Beijing-dialect-Mandarin bidialectals medium, and Mandarin native speakers maximum. These results provide strong evidence that there is an advantage in balanced bidialectals's executive function which is modulated by the phonetic similarity between two dialects suggesting that phonetic similarity plays an important role in domain-general executive function.
... Findings on non-verbal executive functions also showed corresponding behavioral gains as children attain improving bilingual proficiency through immersion education Nicolay & Poncelet, 2013, 2015. For example, Barac and Bialystok (2012) investigated both metalinguistic awareness and non-verbal executive functions with children enrolled in an immersion program (aged 4-7; n = 104). Whereas metalinguistic awareness was predicted by second language fluency, non-verbal executive functions were predicted by both the degree of bilingualism (ratio of home language proficiency to language of education proficiency) and the number of years spent in the bilingual environment. ...
Bilingualism is a ubiquitous global phenomenon. Beyond being a language experience, bilingualism also entails a social experience, and it interacts with development and learning, with cognitive and neural consequences across the lifespan. The authors of this volume are world renowned experts across several subdisciplines including linguistics, developmental psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. They bring to light bilingualism’s cognitive, developmental, and neural consequences in children, young adults, and older adults. This book honors Ellen Bialystok, and highlights her profound impact on the field of bilingualism research as a lifelong experience. The chapters are organized into four sections: The first section explores the complexity of the bilingual experience beyond the common characterization of “speaking multiple languages.” The next section showcases Ellen Bialystok’s earlier impact on psychology and education; here the contributors answer the question “how does being bilingual shape children’s development?” The third section explores cognitive and neuroscientific theories describing how language experience modulates cognition, behavior, and brain structures and functions. The final section shifts the focus to the impact of bilingualism on healthy and abnormal aging and asks whether being bilingual can stave off the effects of dementia by conferring a “cognitive reserve.”
... Social factors include social interactions, cultural influences, and peer interactions (Ibda, 2015;Fitriani & Maemonah, 2022;Sundari & Fauziati, 2021;Kuhl, 2021). Of course, there are several other opinions regarding factors that influence children's language development (McCarthy, 1946;Sameroff, Seifer et al., 1982;McCartney, 1984;Largo, Molinari et al., 1986;Taylor, 1996;Pungello, Iruka et al., 2009;Barac and Bialystok, 2012;Muluk, Bayoğlu et al., 2014). ...
Multiethnic and multilingual demographic composition influences the use of language in the family. The first language received by children under five in the family is closely related to the inheritance of local languages. This research is focused on the problem of inheritance of the local language —the Tapung Malay dialect (TMD) — in Tapung Hilir by identifying the first language of native children under five, the reasons parents/families choose that first language, and its relation to the process of inheritance of the local language. This research uses the case study method with data collection techniques through in-depth interviews, observation, and focus group discussions. Data analysis was carried out by reducing, categorizing, analyzing, interpreting, and concluding research results. The research results show that (1) only 4.5% of families teach local languages as the first language for children under five; 88.5% teach Indonesian; and another 7% teach Indonesian and local languages, (2) the percentage of reasons parents (families) use Indonesian in interacting with children under five seems more prestigious/classy by 56%, so that children can socialize easily in a heterogeneous environment by 23%, preparing children towards schooling by 18%, and other reasons by 3%, and (3) language attitudes and local language competence of children and adolescents who speak Indonesian for the first time can be described as follows: shy of speaking the local language, not motivated to be proficient in the local language, the majority not fluent in local languages, the majority do not understand local language rules, and the majority do not know the extralinguistic elements of local languages. The process of inheritance of local languages is considered weak because there is no strong effort to pass on local languages to the next generation and the weakening of the use of local languages in various situations. One area of language use that is still strong enough to use local languages is the realm of customs.
... Theoretically, much of this work draws on aspects of Gombert's taxonomy of metalinguistic development (1992), investigating phonological, morphological, lexical and syntactic awareness, and to a lesser extent, pragmatic awareness. There is a large parallel body of studies on second and bilingual language learning ( Cisero & Royer, 1995 ;Norbert, 1999 ;Roehr, 2008 ;Ellis, 2009 ;Barac & Bialystok, 2012 ). Although there is some research on early writing development ( Camps & Milian, 1999 ;Martello, 2001 ;Lin et al., 2011 ), attention has tended to focus on orthographic and transcriptional components, rather than broader compositional and rhetorical issues or Gombert's textual taxonomic category. ...
Students’ metalinguistic understanding of the written academic argument is important both to increase writer independence and inform writing instruction. This article draws on a study which investigated undergraduate students’ metalinguistic understanding of the metadiscourse features in their own written arguments. The specific focus of the paper is to determine what metalinguistic understanding students express about the use of pronouns in written argument as engagement or stance markers to build a relationship with the reader. The analysis indicates many students believed the use of reader pronouns were inappropriate in written argument, often because this was what they had been taught. Students’ metalinguistic understanding was shaped more by notions of formality and objectivity than by understanding of how pronouns play a role in reader engagement. The article argues that greater emphasis on the function of pronouns rather than the form, drawing on metadiscourse theory, and on generating metalinguistic understanding of the differing ways that pronouns function in written argument might better support writers in agentic linguistic decision-making.
... Bilingual children learn a new language more easily than their monolingual peers (Barac & Bialystok, 2012). In addition, early bilingualism may provide some cognitive advantages for students in learning a new language (Adesope, Lavin, Thompson, & Ungerleider, 2010). ...
Language teaching is a dynamic field that is constantly evolving with new methodologies and approaches being developed and refined over time. The teaching of English as a second or foreign language (ELT) is no exception, and it is crucial for language teachers to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and techniques in the field. When it comes to evaluating the effectiveness of our teaching, it's important to not get bogged down in the details of our day-to-day classroom practices. Instead, taking a step back and examining our teaching more broadly can offer valuable insights. In order to do this, it's helpful to have a consistent framework to work with.
This book, "The Methodologies and Approaches in ELT Classrooms", offers such a framework by exploring the distinctions between approach, method, and technique. These terminological distinctions provide a useful way to understand the different options available to teachers in the field of ELT. By summarizing some of the most influential approaches and applying these distinctions to a variety of current and historical approaches, this book offers teachers a comprehensive overview of the field. While the list is not exhaustive, it is intended to help teachers contextualize their own teaching practice within the broader context of ELT methodologies and approaches. From traditional methods like Grammar-Translation and Audio-Lingualism to newer approaches like Communicative Language Teaching and Task-Based Language Teaching, this book covers a wide range of ELT methodologies and approaches. Each chapter is written by an expert in the field, who draws upon their own experiences and research to provide insights and practical advice.
Whether you are a seasoned language teacher or new to the field, this book is a valuable resource that will deepen your understanding of ELT methodologies and approaches, and help you to become a more effective and reflective practitioner. By examining different options for teaching and considering how they fit within a larger framework, you will be able to make informed decisions about your own teaching practice and help your students achieve their language learning goals
EDITOR
Süleyman KASAP
... Based on a Language and Social Background Questionnaire completed by the parents, the participants were divided into two groups, with 130 Turkish-Persian L3 learners of English (72 males and 58 females) in the first group and 122 Persian monolinguals in the second group (68 males and 54 females). To ensure that bilingualism effects would be separated from cultural and socioeconomic factors (Barac & Bialystok, 2012), we recruited the sample of monolingual and bilingual children from the same school catchment area, i.e., Shahrekord, thus the sample could be assumed to share similar socioeconomic background and comparable education. This was also confirmed by participants' responses on the questionnaire. ...
This study compared school-aged monolingual and bilingual English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) learners in terms of understanding metaphors on recall, multiple-choice, and reasoning tasks. It also examined the relationship between cognitive capacity and understanding metaphors on different measures. A hundred and thirty Persian–Turkish early bilinguals and 122 monolingual Persian-speaking EFL learners took three different tests of metaphor comprehension and the Figural Intersections Test, a test of cognitive capacity. Bilinguals outperformed monolinguals in terms of cognitive capacity and understanding metaphors on two of the tasks, though with a small effect size. Furthermore, there was a significant positive relationship between cognitive capacity and the scores on the multiple-choice and reasoning tests, but not the recall test. Results suggest that bilingual L3 learners have an edge in understanding metaphors, reflecting a cognitive advantage.
Aims and objectives
Limited attention has been paid to whether and how bilinguals’ multiple language status is related to their well-being. Thus, this research aims to explore whether and how bilingual proficiency interacts with the relationships between personality, emotions, and happiness in bilinguals.
Methodology
This study employed a survey questionnaire approach.
Data and analysis
A sample of 277 bilingual college students in the United States participated in the project. Mediation and moderation analyses were conducted.
Findings and conclusion
Results suggested that positive emotion fully mediated the relationship between openness to experience and happiness, and bilingual proficiency moderated the relationship between openness to experience and emotions.
Originality
This study unpacked the link between openness to experience and happiness through mediators of different emotions. Importantly, this study highlighted the different moderating impacts of bilingual proficiency on the relationship between openness to experience and emotions.
Implications
This study presents several implications related to positive language education practices.
Bu araştırmanın amacı, Türkiye’de yaşayıp Türk kökenli ve bebeklik dönemindeki çocuklarını ikinci yabancı dille büyüten ebeveynlerin görüşlerini incelemektir. Çalışmada, ebeveynlerin neden çocuklarını farklı bir dil kullanarak büyüttükleri açıklanmaya çalışılmıştır. Bütüncül tek durum desenindeki bu vaka çalışmasında, bebeklik döneminde çocuğa sahip iki aile ele alınmış, anne ve babalarla bireysel olarak görüşme yapılmıştır. Verilerin toplanmasında kullanılan yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme formunda kişisel bilgiler ve çalışmanın alt amaçlarına yönelik açık uçlu sorular yer almıştır. Görüşme kayıtlarından doğrudan alıntılarla yapılan değerlendirme sonucunda, ebeveynlerin çocukların ikinci dil edinimine doğumdan itibaren başlanması gerektiği görüşünde olduğu belirlenmiştir. Ebeveynlerin çocuklarıyla İngilizce konuşmalarında dil edinmeyle ilgili geçmiş yaşantılarının etkili olduğu, çocuklarına doğal akış içerisinde dil edindirmeye çalıştıkları ve TV programlarından yararlandıkları görülmüştür. Ebeveynler, çevreden olumlu ve olumsuz geri bildirimler alsalar da hedeflerine ulaştıklarını düşünmektedirler. Ebeveynlerin, çocuklarını olabildiğince İngilizceye maruz bırakmak kararında oldukları ve diğer ebeveynlere de bu durumu önerdikleri belirlenmiştir.
Language portraits have been used by scholars to study the language awareness of multilingual people. In this study, we use the definitions of language awareness coined by (Jessner, 2008) as codes to analyse selected language portraits within a DMM and DLC approach. A total of 55 language portraits created by multilingual South African students were included in the analysis. The main finding is that the approach (using language portrait data from a DMM and DLC perspective) did not result in many references to metalinguistic awareness. However, the approach yielded a fine-trained analysis of crosslinguistic awareness and its functioning in specific DLCs for identity and communication if approached from the DMM framework. The findings provide new insights into the tacit awareness of the interaction of languages in the repertoires of the participants. Participants are aware about the “size” of the languages in their repertoires, different levels of proficiency and contexts of acquisition and learning, the hierarchy of languages in the repertoires, the functions and roles performed by languages in the repertoires and an awareness of the “size” or share of the language in the society. The approach overall enabled a more fine-grained analysis of the crosslinguistic awareness of these language portrait participants.
Providing access to a culturally diverse environment is an important aspect of meeting gifted students’ special needs. Although the New Zealand educational context has placed added emphasis on culturally differentiated instruction for Māori and Pasifika gifted students over the last few years, New Zealand primary schools’ implementation of approaches to address the learning needs of Chinese students has been largely unexplored. This chapter aims to explore the impact of heritage culture and language learning in nurturing Chinese gifted students. For this purpose, two Chinese gifted students, and their parents were engaged in interviews about how Chinese language and cultural learning impacted on their perceptions of gifted and talented education. It found that cultural differences had a significant impact on the participants’ perceptions of gifted students’ learning needs. It also identified some difficulties faced by Chinese families in nurturing Chinese gifted students. This chapter concludes by providing suggestions for educators who work with gifted Chinese students and their families.KeywordsHeritage language learningGifted and talented educationChinese heritage learners
Article info This research aims to investigate the effects of multilingualism in primary schools and its implications for pupils' language proficiency and cognitive development. It seeks to provide insights into effective educational strategies that harness the benefits of multilingualism in the Algerian primary school settings. This study has a mixed method research design. The research instruments were implemented include questionnaire, classroom observation, and test. The results were analyzed with the regard to the statistical elements (means, standard deviations) and the percentages presented. The findings highlight the positive effects of multilingualism on the linguistic and cognitive development, emphasizing the potential advantages it offers. Multilingual individuals demonstrate enhanced language skills, such as improved vocabulary acquisition, greater metalinguistic awareness, and heightened language-processing abilities. Moreover, the study explores the potential cognitive advantages associated with multilingualism, including enhanced executive functions, improved attention control, and cognitive flexibility.
There has been a shift in receiving countries and their education programs for adult immigrants around the world. A complete focus on immigrants' cultural integration and learning of the language of the country has shifted to an understanding that supporting heritage language maintenance benefits adults with little or no formal schooling in that language, including a more nuanced sense of identity, stronger second language (L2) and literacy learning, and confidence in supporting the schooling of the younger members of their communities. Teachers and tutors need, but lack, professional development focused on implementing instructional approaches that incorporate this new focus and on using reading materials in learners' languages. This chapter describes a new Online Heritage Language Resource Hub, which gives teachers, tutors, adult learners, and younger members of the community access to materials in hundreds of immigrants' languages. It also provides teachers ways to use the reading materials in the Hub in their classes with adult learners.
This chapter explores how trauma, such as forced displacement, is manifested in the children and grandchildren of refugees. After a brief discussion of what generational trauma is, the chapter focuses on what teachers and school leaders can do when they are working with students whose families have been displaced. A framework is provided.
New Zealand is known as a nation of immigrants with increasing cultural diversity. Currently, in Auckland, almost a quarter of residents identify with an Asian ethnicity, the largest subgroup of which is Chinese. In the field of gifted and talented education, providing access to a culturally diverse environment is an important aspect of meeting gifted students’ special needs. Although the New Zealand educational context has placed added emphasis on culturally differentiated instruction for Māori and Pasifika gifted students, New Zealand primary schools’ implementation of approaches to address the learning needs of Chinese students has been largely unexplored. In this article, we present a summary of research which explored the beliefs and perceptions of Chinese gifted and talented students, their parents, and teachers of gifted and talented students within New Zealand using interviews and Q methodology. Our Q methodology consisted of 48 statements which were sorted by 10 Chinese students, their parents, and 10 New Zealand teachers. The data were analyzed using factor analysis. By drawing on the voice of the participants and on the results of the Q methodology, a culturally responsive theoretical framework was developed. This framework aims to contribute to our understanding of the learning needs of gifted Chinese students in New Zealand and to promote an ongoing partnership between Chinese families and the school. We also explain how these elements can be translated into partnership practices within the school context. The importance of listening to voices of minority groups and immigrant families is emphasized.
Kalikani ukuni, qanrut’kaput qaillun kingunengqellra cali ayuqucia mat’um eglertellerkaa Cup’igtun qaneryaraq, aturluki civuliamta nallunritellrat qaillun cillamta ayuqucia, cali cuyaraput. Ayagnengellruuq man’a ukut-ggun skuulartet ikayurtaitneng Cupigneng calilrianeng skuulartengurtengnaqluteng cali tegumiaqilrianeng Cupiuyarameng. Tang’rruarutiit cali eriniit ayagnirillruuq Cugtun elicaritulineng cali malrugneng skuulartegneng calilrigneng makuneng Cugtun elicarissutneng qaillun nunamteni ayuqellrit (Science), technology-llu, caneng-llu caliluni naparciyaraq (Engineering), Piliyaraq (Arts), cali kec’ciluni naaqiyaraq (Math: STEAM) aturluki Cupiit nerangnaqsarait cali caciryarait. Kalikani ukuni manimauq qaillun ukut kalikaneng calilriit calilgutekluki pillrit teggenret, mikelnguut angayuqait cali skuularat. Cali maniaput qaillun kalikaneng calilriit pillratneng calillermeggni wall’uq eglertellrat pairutelrigni ukugni nunacauraq cali Kass’at elicarvigpiatni. Calillermeggni nunamegni, ukut calilriit skuularvigmi elitellruut qaillun petuutellerkakek malruk, cass’akek, pinarqelriarutek, cali piukumayarakek ayuqenrilengrata, taugken elgangqaluki piurcicimallrat, naugem caqaumavkenateng ilakutellriit. Cugtun elicautekat kalikat naparcillruut qaillun Cupiit elicarciqellratneng cali civuqvaremi skuulartekat elicarillerkatneng. Cali maniiyutnguuq qaillun qipcit’llerkaa Cugtun qaneryaraq maggun elitnauriluni. Neryuniurutkaput qanemcillemta maryartellerkait allat calilriit calivimeggni qaillun aipaimta elicariyaraata piunrircitetullrat caciryaraput cali cucirput wall’uqa qaillun elicaritullrat. Mat’um caliam mania qaillun nunacuaraam ingluturyuumallra aipaimta elicariyaraat, cali elicarrsuutai imutun ayuqelria pililria calilrianeng calivigpagmi cuuyaraunateng wall’uq cucinateng kinkulteng-llu nalluluku. Mat’um caliam qukani Cup’ik Mikelnguq cali Cupiuyaraq – Qaillun Cupiulput.A través de este manuscrito compartimos los detalles de un esfuerzo en el cual la comunidad esta a la vanguardia de un proyecto curricular que busca revitalizar la cultura, el conocimiento ancestral y el idioma Cup’ik. La idea del proyecto fue generada por un grupo de asistentes didácticos miembros de la etnia Cup’ik, quienes cursaban estudios universitarios en el programa de docencia. Fue su visión y voz quienes inspiraron al equipo de docentes de la escuela de inmersión de lenguaje y a dos profesoras del programa de formación de maestros de primaria, a crear el currículo de ciencias, tecnología, ingeniería, arte, y matemáticas (CTIAM) basado en practicas culturales tradicionales y de subsistencia. El manuscrito describe las interacciones entre los miembros del proyecto y los ancianos, padres, y estudiantes. Por medio de este proyecto de enlace con la comunidad, los participantes aprenden a navegar entre dos contextos en los cuales la medida del tiempo, los sistemas de valores, y las prioridades son totalmente diferentes y aun así coexisten como paradigmas de realidades casi inconmensurables. El proyecto curricular creo una estructura para guiar la educación de estudiantes Cup’ik de primaria y la formación de sus maestros.Este proyecto a la vez representa un ejemplo de reclamación de la lengua y la cultura a través del proceso educativo. Esperamos que la historia que compartimos sirva de guía a otros equipos que laboran en contextos donde la educación occidental pone en peligro de extinción la cultura y la transmisión de conocimiento. Para concluir, queremos enfatizar que nuestro trabajo es un ejemplo de una comunidad se revela en contra de la educación hegemónica occidental con un currículo guiado por la agenda del sistema neoliberal enfocado en la producción de trabajadores de fabricas sin conocimiento de su identidad, individualidad, y raíces culturales. La esencia de este proyecto son los niños Cup’ik y el Cupiuyaraq — la manera de ser Cup’ik.In this manuscript, we share the details of a community driven curriculum project designed to revitalize Cup’ik language, ancestral knowledge of science, and culture. This initiative was engendered by the Cup’ik paraprofessionals who were also preservice teachers and culture bearers. Their vision and voice sparked a team of language immersion teachers and two elementary education faculty members to create a Cup’ik science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) curriculum based on subsistence and cultural practices. The manuscript describes the interactions between members of the curriculum team and Elders, parents, and students. Through this community engagement process, the faculty members learn how to bridge two contexts in which time, priorities, and values differ and yet coexist as nearly incommensurable reality paradigms. The curriculum project created a structure that would inform the education of Cup’ik students and their future teachers. It also represents an example of reclamation of the language and culture through the process of schooling. We hope the story we share will serve to guide other teams who work in contexts where western education threatens cultural and knowledge transmission. This project exemplifies how a community stands against the hegemony of western education and curriculum guided by a neoliberal agenda that aims at producing factory workers devoid of a firm cultural identity and individuality. At the center of this project is the Cup’ik child and the Cupiuyraq—the way we are Cup’ik.KeywordsLanguage revitalizationIndigenous knowledgeCurriculumAlaska nativeCommunity engagement
Teaching in multilingual classrooms requires careful consideration of the type of learners, their background languages, acquisitional paths and current usage patterns in those languages. Morphosyntactic features causing errors for some learners can be assets for others at the same time.
We begin by illustrating several different scenarios present with heterogeneous learners, as well as influential factors associated with the acquisition and teaching of multiple languages. Next, we focus on the existing models of morphosyntactic transfer in third language acquisition to be able to discuss how these can be applied to actual teaching in the third language classroom. Then, we discuss the role of contrastive analysis and review classroom-based and classroom-relevant implications for instructed third language acquisition. In conclusion, we outline corresponding teaching- and research-related calls for action and implications for language teaching in multilingual classrooms with the main goal of bridging the gap between these current fields.
This article reports on a study conducted in October 2019 by the interpreters in the research portfolio of Stellenbosch University’s interpreting service. The study tested student perceptions of interpreting in authentic interpreted lectures amongst two subsets of users: those listening to interpreting in English, mostly out of necessity, and those who listen to interpreted lectures in Afrikaans, largely by choice.[1] The research project was undertaken to gain a better understanding of the value that student users take from the service, and how it helps or hinders their learning. Interpreters wanted to gain insight into their users’ evolving needs and into the role that they themselves can play in addressing these. The article concludes by recommending practical measures to support students who feel lost and helpless due to a language deficit in the language of instruction. The outcome of the investigation shows the value of interpreting for some, but also the complications and frustration experienced by users in interpreted lectures. It highlights the necessity of thinking differently about our practices and about how these may be adapted in order to meet our users’ needs. Significantly, the results suggest the need for an expanded and more active role for interpreters in and outside the classroom. It also calls for closer collaboration between interpreters, their users and lecturers, which is necessary to negotiate and formalise the terms of a shared learning space. If interpreters are to facilitate meaning-making and understanding for their users in an increasingly remote online application, then innovative measures and in-depth planning will be needed to determine how to achieve this. Through these measures, what is currently a mainly theoretical objective can be converted into the reality of multilingual teaching and learning practices at South African universities. [1] This phenomenon is supported by the data and is discussed in par. 4.1.
What happens in the brain when learning a second language? Can speaking more than one language provide cognitive benefits over a lifetime? What implications does an increase in bilingualism have for society? And what are the factors that can promote and support bilingualism in children and adults? This book – a translated and adapted version of Il Cervello Bilingue (2020) - answers these questions and more, providing the reader with a comprehensive yet concise guide on different topics related to bilingualism. Based on the results of the most recent studies conducted internationally, it discusses recent research findings, explains terminology, and elaborates on the current state of the field, with the aim of providing families and society with suggestions about how to encourage bilingualism. Written in an engaging and accessible style, it takes both academics and readers with no prior knowledge of the field on a journey into the bilingual brain.
Several studies have pointed to beneficial effects of bilingualism on executive functioning. However, observations of these beneficial effects have at times proven difficult to reproduce. Moreover, findings of studies on cognitive effects of bilingualism have been contested altogether. These contradictory outcomes leave the research field of bilingualism at unease. In the present review article, we aim to give a systematic overview of previous research on bilingual advantages in inhibition and switching in children up to the age of 12. Particular attention is paid to the experimental tasks that have been applied and the persistence of possible effects throughout critical and post-critical periods for cognitive development in children. In doing so, the review gives an insight in both the validity and robustness of possible domain-general cognitive effects of bilingualism in children. Terminological issues are also discussed.
Bilingualism is a ubiquitous global phenomenon. Beyond being a language experience, bilingualism also entails a social experience, and it interacts with development and learning, with cognitive and neural consequences across the lifespan. The authors of this volume are world renowned experts across several subdisciplines including linguistics, developmental psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. They bring to light bilingualism’s cognitive, developmental, and neural consequences in children, young adults, and older adults. This book honors Ellen Bialystok, and highlights her profound impact on the field of bilingualism research as a lifelong experience. The chapters are organized into four sections: The first section explores the complexity of the bilingual experience beyond the common characterization of “speaking multiple languages.” The next section showcases Ellen Bialystok’s earlier impact on psychology and education; here the contributors answer the question “how does being bilingual shape children’s development?” The third section explores cognitive and neuroscientific theories describing how language experience modulates cognition, behavior, and brain structures and functions. The final section shifts the focus to the impact of bilingualism on healthy and abnormal aging and asks whether being bilingual can stave off the effects of dementia by conferring a “cognitive reserve.”
Bilingualism is a ubiquitous global phenomenon. Beyond being a language experience, bilingualism also entails a social experience, and it interacts with development and learning, with cognitive and neural consequences across the lifespan. The authors of this volume are world renowned experts across several subdisciplines including linguistics, developmental psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. They bring to light bilingualism’s cognitive, developmental, and neural consequences in children, young adults, and older adults. This book honors Ellen Bialystok, and highlights her profound impact on the field of bilingualism research as a lifelong experience. The chapters are organized into four sections: The first section explores the complexity of the bilingual experience beyond the common characterization of “speaking multiple languages.” The next section showcases Ellen Bialystok’s earlier impact on psychology and education; here the contributors answer the question “how does being bilingual shape children’s development?” The third section explores cognitive and neuroscientific theories describing how language experience modulates cognition, behavior, and brain structures and functions. The final section shifts the focus to the impact of bilingualism on healthy and abnormal aging and asks whether being bilingual can stave off the effects of dementia by conferring a “cognitive reserve.”
Bilingualism is a ubiquitous global phenomenon. Beyond being a language experience, bilingualism also entails a social experience, and it interacts with development and learning, with cognitive and neural consequences across the lifespan. The authors of this volume are world renowned experts across several subdisciplines including linguistics, developmental psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. They bring to light bilingualism’s cognitive, developmental, and neural consequences in children, young adults, and older adults. This book honors Ellen Bialystok, and highlights her profound impact on the field of bilingualism research as a lifelong experience. The chapters are organized into four sections: The first section explores the complexity of the bilingual experience beyond the common characterization of “speaking multiple languages.” The next section showcases Ellen Bialystok’s earlier impact on psychology and education; here the contributors answer the question “how does being bilingual shape children’s development?” The third section explores cognitive and neuroscientific theories describing how language experience modulates cognition, behavior, and brain structures and functions. The final section shifts the focus to the impact of bilingualism on healthy and abnormal aging and asks whether being bilingual can stave off the effects of dementia by conferring a “cognitive reserve.”
The ongoing debate regarding the effects of bilingualism on executive functions warrants a deeper investigation into sample characteristics, and the likelihood of performance differences between monolinguals and bilinguals despite the variability in samples. The present paper provides an updated quantitative analysis of studies comparing bilingual and monolingual children on executive function tasks. We report a Bayesian analysis of 147 studies that provides evidence that bilingual children outperform monolinguals on tests of executive functions (e.g., attention, inhibition, working memory, shifting) far more often than chance, with a Bayes Factor classified as “extreme” evidence for the alternative (BF10 = 4.08 x 108). This effect is even larger than previously reported with younger adults. These effects are independent of task, publication bias, publication year, and sample size. Furthermore, we uncovered a great deal of heterogeneity and missingness of bilingual sample characteristics across studies. Our findings highlight the need to measure and report bilingualism more consistently across studies which will allow future researchers to identify the specific characteristics and circumstances that predict changes in executive functions.
Бид энэхүү судалгаандаа хос хэл (билингвализм), түүний шинжлэх ухааны болон практик ач холбогдол, хэрэглээг судлахыг эрмэлзлээ. Эрдэмтэд хос хэлийг хэзээ, хаана, хэрхэн эзэмшсэнээс нь хамааран өөр өөр бүлэгт ангилан авч үздэг ч дийлэнх судлаачдын үзэж буйгаар хос хэлээр харилцах гэдэг нь хоёр хэлээр ижил түвшинд чөлөөтэй харилцах явдал юм. Хос хэл эзэмших нь дэлхий нийттэй зэрэгцэн хөгжин дэвших, олон соёлын орчинд харьцах, улмаар даяаршиж байгаа
нийгмийн нөхцөл байдалд дасан зохицох боломжийг олгох зэрэг практик давуу талтайгаас гадна хувь хүний танин мэдэхүйн хөгжилд эерэгээр нөлөөлөх, альцгемер, зөнөгрөл зэрэг өвчний явцыг удаашруулах гэх мэт шинжлэх ухааны ач
холбогдолтой болно.
This study compares metalinguistic awareness of students in a one-way partial Spanish immersion (IMM) program to that of their English-only (ENG) counterparts at the same school. Students in grades 3 and 5 from each program completed a sentence grammaticality judgment task in English delivered orally. Measures of IMM students’ Spanish proficiency were included to examine the relationship between L2 Spanish ability and metalinguistic awareness. Grade 5 IMM students outperformed ENG students on the grammatically anomalous sentences, but no difference was found at grade 3. For the semantically anomalous sentences, IMM students outperformed their ENG counterparts at grade 3, but the reverse was true for grade 5. In summary, IMM studentś performance on the anomalous sentence tasks did not show a robust bilingual advantage when compared to their ENG students at the same school, nor did there appear to be a strong relationship between L2 Spanish proficiency level and metalinguistic awareness.
We report a systematic review and exploratory meta-regression to investigate the hypothesis that the effects of bilingualism on cognitive aging are modulated by the linguistic distance (LD) between the pair of languages a bilingual uses. The protocol was pre-registered on PROSPERO (CRD42021238705) and the Open Science Framework (DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/VPRBU). Results suggest that healthy bilingual seniors speaking more distant language pairs show improved monitoring performance on cognitive tasks. Evidence regarding a modulatory influence of LD on the age of dementia diagnosis was inconclusive due to the small number of published studies meeting our inclusion criteria. We recommend more detailed reporting of individual differences in bilingual experience to assess the impact of LD and other variables on typical cognitive aging and the development of dementia. Linguistic differences in samples should also be considered as a constraint on bilingual advantage in future studies.
Cette étude porte sur le français langue première et vise deux objectifs : comparer la conscience morphologique (CM) de bilingues et monolingues ; déterminer la contribution de la CM à la lecture et préciser si elle est modérée par le bilinguisme. La CM est mesurée par des tâches de complètement de phrases par une forme fléchie ou dérivée et d’extraction de la base, et la lecture par des tests standardisés (EVALEC et Alouette). Soixante-neuf bilingues français-portugais en 1 re , 3 e et 5 e année ont été comparées à 69 monolingues. Les résultats montrent systématiquement une supériorité bilingue en CM et une contribution de celle-ci à la lecture-fluence en 1 re année et à la lecture-précision aux niveaux suivants, pour les bilingues comme pour les monolingues. Ces résultats approfondissent la notion d’avantage bilingue et le rôle de la CM en lecture en particulier sur la précision en lecture.
A theory is proposed to account for some of the age-related differences reported in measures of Type A or fluid cognition. The central hypothesis in the theory is that increased age in adulthood is associated with a decrease in the speed with which many processing operations can be executed and that this reduction in speed leads to impairments in cognitive functioning because of what are termed the limited time mechanism and the simultaneity mechanism. That is, cognitive performance is degraded when processing is slow because relevant operations cannot be successfully executed (limited time) and because the products of early processing may no longer be available when later processing is complete (simultaneity). Several types of evidence, such as the discovery of considerable shared age-related variance across various measures of speed and large attenuation of the age-related influences on cognitive measures after statistical control of measures of speed, are consistent with this theory.
Vowel and tone monitoring tasks were used to investigate the role of tone information in processing Mandarin. In Experiment 1, participants monitored for a tone-plus-vowel combination (tone 2-/a/). Both existent (known) and non-existent syllables contained targets and monitoring reaction times showed faster monitoring times for existent syllable carriers. Non-target bearing existent syllables mismatched on either the vowel or the tone and showed faster responses for vowel mismatch stimuli. This finding supports a perceptual advantage for vowel information. In Experiment 2, separate vowel and tone monitoring tasks were used for target syllables that occurred phrase-finally in idiomatic (highly constraining) phrases or neutral semantic context. In the neutral context, vowel monitoring was faster than tone monitoring. In contrast, highly predictive contexts showed a tone advantage. Experiment 3 used idiomatic contexts that did or did not contain a mismatching tone in the penultimate syllable. Mismatching tones were very similar to or highly distinct from the intended tone and both tone and vowel monitoring reaction times showed graded effects based on similarity of the mismatch. A modified version of the TRACE model for tone languages that includes a separate level or representation for tones that permit graded activation and highly interconnected syllable representations is discussed.
In two masked priming experiments with Chinese characters, orthographic priming effects were observed in lexical decision and naming tasks despite the fact that the primes were phonologically unrelated to the target characters. In contrast, phonological priming was found only in naming, a task that explicitly required a vocal response. No additional priming effects were obtained for masked primes that were simultaneously visually similar and phonologically identical to the targets. The data suggest that the recovery of lexical information for Chinese characters does not depend on the prior activation of phonological information.
Asian and Euro-American parents of preschool-aged children were interviewed concerning their beliefs about the nature and purpose of play; they also completed two questionnaires and a diary of their children’s daily activities. The children’s teachers were interviewed and provided information about the behaviour of the children in preschool. The Euro-American parents were found to believe that play is an important vehicle for early development, while the Asian parents saw little developmental value in it. On the other hand, the Asian parents believed more strongly than the Euro-Americans in the importance of an early start in academic training for their children. These contrasting beliefs were instantiated in parental practices at home regarding the use of time and the provision of toys. At preschool, the Asian children were similar to the Euro-Americans on a standardised behavioural measure but they were described by their teachers as initially more academically advanced than the Euro-American children, and as showing different patterns of play and social interaction. The implications of these results for home–school relations and the design of early education programmes are discussed.
Longitudinal prediction of English and Spanish reading skills was examined in a sample of 249 Spanish-speaking English-language learners at 3 time points in kindergarten through Grade 1. Phonological awareness transferred from Spanish to English and was predictive of word-identification skills, as in previous studies. Other variables showing cross-linguistic transfer were letter and word knowledge, print concepts, and sentence memory. Expressive vocabulary tended to show language-specific relationships to later reading. Oral-language variables predicted reading comprehension more highly than word identification. Classification of good and poor readers in 1st grade was found to be comparable with studies that used monolingual readers. Results broadened the range of variables showing cross-linguistic transfer, at the level of both predictor and outcome variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
English-speaking children (N = 122) in French immersion classes participated in a 1-year longitudinal study of the relation between phonological awareness and reading achievement in both languages. Participants were administered measures of word decoding and of phonological awareness in French and in English as well as measures of cognitive ability, speeded naming, and pseudoword repetition in English only. The relation of phonological awareness in French to reading achievement in each of the languages was equivalent to that in English. These relations remained significant after partialing out the influences of speeded naming and pseudoword repetition. Phonological awareness in both languages was specifically associated with 1-year increments in decoding skill in French. These findings support the transfer of phonological awareness skills across alphabetic languages. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Several scholars have claimed that childhood
bilingualism may enhance development of linguistic awareness. In the present investigation,
metalinguistic ability is studied in terms of the dual skill components outlined by Bialystok and
Ryan (1985): control of linguistic processing and analysis of linguistic knowledge. A total of 38
English–Swedish bilinguals, assigned to two groups according to relative proficiency, and
16 Swedish monolinguals, all aged 6 to 7 years, received three tasks: symbol substitution,
grammaticality judgment, and grammaticality correction. Effects of general bilingualism were
found on tasks requiring a high control of linguistic processing, thus replicating previous
findings. The results indicated that a high degree of bilinguality may also enhance the
development of linguistic analysis. Moreover, it was found that certain metalinguistic skills
– especially control of processing – were more readily applied in the
subjects' weaker language.
This study examined compound awareness in relation to Chinese children's vocabulary acquisition and character reading. Two
aspects of compound awareness were investigated: the ability to identify the head of a compound noun and the ability to construct
a new compound word from familiar morphemes. The compound awareness tasks, along with rapid automatized naming (RAN) and phonological
awareness tasks, were administered to 29 first graders and 30 second graders in Mainland China. Results show that (1) compound
awareness develops relatively early among Chinese children and improves with age, (2) compound awareness explains unique variance
in vocabulary and character reading, after controlling for age, RAN, and phonological awareness, and (3) the contribution
made by compound awareness to vocabulary is much larger than the contribution made by phonological awareness. These results
demonstrate that compound awareness plays a central role in Chinese children's literacy development, particularly in vocabulary
acquisition.
Bilingual children's language and literacy is stronger in some domains than others. Reanalysis of data from a broad-scale study of monolingual English and bilingual Spanish-English learners in Miami provided a clear demonstration of "profile effects," where bilingual children perform at varying levels compared to monolinguals across different test types. The profile effects were strong and consistent across conditions of socioeconomic status, language in the home, and school setting (two way or English immersion). The profile effects indicated comparable performance of bilingual and monolingual children in basic reading tasks, but lower vocabulary scores for the bilinguals in both languages. Other test types showed intermediate scores in bilinguals, again with substantial consistency across groups. These profiles are interpreted as primarily due to the "distributed characteristic" of bilingual lexical knowledge, the tendency for bilingual individuals to know some words in one language but not the other and vice versa.
The effect of bilingualism on the cognitive skills of young children was investigated by comparing performance of 162 children who belonged to one of two age groups (approximately 3- and 4½-year-olds) and one of three language groups on a series of tasks examining executive control and word mapping. The children were monolingual English speakers, monolingual French speakers, or bilinguals who spoke English and one of a large number of other languages. Monolinguals obtained higher scores than bilinguals on a receptive vocabulary test and were more likely to demonstrate the mutual exclusivity constraint, especially at the younger ages. However, bilinguals obtained higher scores than both groups of monolinguals on three tests of executive functioning: Luria's tapping task measuring response inhibition, the Opposite Worlds task requiring children to assign incongruent labels to a sequence of animal pictures, and reverse categorization in which children needed to reclassify a set of objects into incongruent categories after an initial classification. There were no differences between the groups in the ANT flanker task requiring executive control to ignore a misleading cue. This evidence for a bilingual advantage in aspects of executive functioning at an earlier age than previously reported is discussed in terms of the possibility that bilingual language production may not be the only source of these developmental effects.
A theory is proposed to account for some of the age-related differences reported in measures of Type A or fluid cognition. The central hypothesis in the theory is that increased age in adulthood is associated with a decrease in the speed with which many processing operations can be executed and that this reduction in speed leads to impairments in cognitive functioning because of what are termed the limited time mechanism and the simultaneity mechanism. That is, cognitive performance is degraded when processing is slow because relevant operations cannot be successfully executed (limited time) and because the products of early processing may no longer be available when later processing is complete (simultaneity). Several types of evidence, such as the discovery of considerable shared age-related variance across various measures of speed and large attenuation of the age-related influences on cognitive measures after statistical control of measures of speed, are consistent with this theory.
A study was conducted to examine changes in executive control processes over the life span. More specifically, changes in processes responsible for preparation and interference control that underlie the ability to flexibly alternate between two different tasks were examined. Individuals (N = 152) ranging in age from 7 to 82 years participated in the study. A U-shaped function was obtained for switch costs (i.e., the time required to switch between tasks compared with a repeated-task baseline), with larger costs found for young children and older adults. Switch costs were reduced with practice, particularly for children. All age groups benefited from increased preparation time, with larger benefits observed for children and older adults. Adults benefited to a greater extent than children when the interval between the response to one task and the cue indicating which task to perform next was lengthened, which suggested faster decay of interference from the old task set for adults than for children. A series of hierarchical analyses indicated that the age-related variance in task-switching performance is independent, at least in part, from the age-related variance in other cognitive processes such as perceptual speed and working memory. The results are discussed in terms of the development and decline of executive control processes across the life span.
A computerized test of preparedness for effortful processing (alerting attention), response to orienting cues (orienting attention), and response to the interference of competing demands (executive attention) was administered to a diverse sample of 249 children (47% female, 4.96 to 7.27 years) to assess developmental properties and sociodemographic correlates of task performance. Older children and socially advantaged children demonstrated greater proficiency in overall accuracy and speed of responding. Boys and socially advantaged children improved more in response to alerting cues. Older children improved more in response to orienting cues. Older children, socially advantaged children, African American, and Hispanic children resisted the interference of competing demands better. Findings are discussed in the context of developmental and sociodemographic factors relevant to attention and executive functions.
This study explored the development of children's early understanding of visual and orthographic aspects of print and how this is related to early reading acquisition. A total of 474 children, ages 48 to 83 months, completed standardized measures of phonological awareness and early reading skills. They also completed experimental tasks that tapped their understanding of what constitutes "readable" print. The parents of participants completed a questionnaire regarding their children's home literacy experiences. The data showed systematic development in children's understanding of print conventions and English orthography and spelling. Regression analyses indicated that print knowledge was related to early reading skill, even after accounting for variance due to age and phonological awareness. Furthermore, parents' ratings of the extent of their children's involvement in activities that led to practice in reading and writing most consistently predicted the development of emerging literacy skills, including understanding of the conventions of the English writing system. Little relation between print knowledge and the frequency of storybook reading by adults was observed.
Two studies are reported that assess differences associated with aging and bilingualism in an executive control task. Previous work has suggested that bilinguals have an advantage over monolinguals in nonlinguistic tasks involving executive control; the major purpose of the present article is to ascertain which aspects of control are sensitive to the bilingual experience. Study 1 used an antisaccade task and found no effects of aging or bilingualism. Study 2 used the identical visual display but coupled to keypress responses. The results showed that bilinguals resolved various types of response conflict faster than monolinguals and that this bilingual advantage generally increased with age. A speculative interpretation of this pattern of results is offered in conclusion.
Introduction Bernard Comrie 1. Indo-European Languages Philip Baldi, Pennsylvania State University 2. Slavonic Languages Bernard Comrie 3. Russian Bernard Comrie 4. Polish Gerald Stone, University of Oxford 5. Czech and Slovak David Short, University of London 6. Serbo-Croat Greville Corbett, University of Surrey 7. Greek Brian D. Joseph, Ohio State University 8. Uralic Languages Robert Austerlitz, Columbia University 9. Hungarian Daniel Abondolo, University of London 10. Finnish Michael Branch, University of London 11. Turkish and the Turkic Languages Jaklin Kornfilt, Syracuse University Language Index
Metalinguistic ability is defined in terms of the development of 2 language skill components-the analysis of linguistic knowledge and the control of linguistic processing. Two studies are presented that examine the role of these skill components in the structure of a metalinguistic task and children's success with this task as a function of age and bilingualism. Different versions of a grammaticality judgment and correction task, each involving a different level of analysis of knowledge and control of processing, were presented to children between 5 and 9 years old who were monolingual or bilingual. The results showed that higher demands for analysis or control increased problem difficulty, that age was primarily related to increasing ability to solve problems involving high levels of analysis, and that bilingualism was primarily related to increasing ability to solve problems involving high levels of control.
The study explores the relationship between phonological awareness and early reading for bilingual children learning to read in two languages that use different writing systems. Participants were 57 Cantonese–English bilingual 6-year-olds who were learning to read in both languages. The children completed cognitive measures, phonological awareness tasks, and word identification tests in both languages. Once cognitive abilities had been controlled, there was no correlation in word identification ability performance across languages, but the correspondence in phonological awareness measures remained strong. This pattern was confirmed by a principal components analysis and hierarchical regression that demonstrated a different role for each phonological awareness factor in reading performance in each language. The results indicate that phonological awareness depends on a set of cognitive abilities that is applied generally across languages and that early reading depends on a common set of cognitive abilities in conjunction with skills specific to different writing systems.
Three experiments were conducted to compare the development of orthographic representations in children learning to read English, French, or Spanish. Nonsense words that shared both orthography and phonology at the level of the rhyme with real words (cake-dake, comic-bomic), phonology only (cake-daik, comic-bommick), or neither (faish, ricop) were created for each orthography. Experiment I compared English and French children's reading of nonsense words that shared rhyme orthography with real words (dake) with those that did not (daik). Significant facilitation was found for shared rhymes in English, with reduced effects in French. Experiment 2 compared English and French children's reading of nonsense words that shared rhyme phonology with real words (daik) with those that did not (faish). Significant facilitation for shared rhyme phonology was found in both languages. Experiment 3 compared English, French, and Spanish children's reading of nonsense words (dake vs. faish) and found a significant facilitatory effect of orthographic and phonological familiarity for each language. The size of the familiarity effect, however, was much greater in the less transparent orthographies (English and French). These results are interpreted in terms of the level of phonology that is represented in the orthographic recognition units being developed by children who are learning to read more and less transparent orthographies.
Three studies are reported that examine the development of phonological awareness in monolingual and bilingual children between kindergarten and Grade 2. In the first study, monolingual and bilingual children performed equally well on a complex task requiring phoneme substitution. The second study replicated these results and demonstrated a significant role for the language of literacy instruction. The third study extended the research by including two groups of bilingual children and a range of phonological awareness and reading tasks. Spanish-English bilinguals performed better than English-speaking monolinguals on a phoneme segmentation task, but Chinese-English bilinguals performed worse. Other measures of phonological awareness did not differ among the three groups. The results are discussed in terms of a limit on the effect that bilingualism exerts on metalinguistic development.
Studies often report that bilingual participants possess a smaller vocabulary in the language of testing than monolinguals, especially in research with children. However, each study is based on a small sample so it is difficult to determine whether the vocabulary difference is due to sampling error. We report the results of an analysis of 1,738 children between 3 and 10 years old and demonstrate a consistent difference in receptive vocabulary between the two groups. Two preliminary analyses suggest that this difference does not change with different language pairs and is largely confined to words relevant to a home context rather than a school context.
In the present study, morphological structure processing of Chinese compounds was explored using a visual priming lexical decision task among 21 Hong Kong college students. Two compounding structures were compared. The first type was the subordinate, in which one morpheme modifies the other (e.g., 籃 球 [laam4 kau4, basket-ball, basketball]), similar to most English compounds (e.g., a snowman is a man made of snow and toothpaste is a paste for teeth; the second morpheme is the “head,” modified morpheme). The second type was the coordinative, in which both morphemes contribute equally to the meaning of the word. An example in Chinese is 花 草 (faa1 cou2, flower grass, i.e., plant). There are virtually no examples of this type in English, but an approximate equivalent phrase might be in and out, in which neither in nor out is more important than the other in comprising the expression. For the subordinate Chinese compound words, the same structure in prime and target facilitated the semantic priming effect, whereas for coordinative Chinese compound words, the same structure across prime and target inhibited the semantic priming effect. Results suggest that lexical processing of Chinese compounds is influenced by compounding structure processing.
In the analysis and control framework, Bialystok identifies analysis (representation) and control (selective attention) as components of language processing and has shown that one of these, control, develops earlier in bilingual children than in comparable monolinguals. In the theory of cognitive complexity and control (CCC), Zelazo and Frye argue that preschool children lack the conscious representation and executive functioning needed to solve problems based on conflicting rules. The present study investigates whether the bilingual advantage in control can be found in a nonverbal task, the dimensional change card sort, used by Zelazo and Frye to assess CCC. This problem contains misleading information characteristic of high-control tasks but minimal demands for analysis. Sixty preschool children, half of whom were bilingual, were divided into a group of younger (M = 4,2) and older (M = 5,5) children. All the children were given a test of English proficiency (PPVT-R) and working memory (Visually-Cued Recall Task) to assure comparability of the groups and then administered the dimensional change card sort task and the moving word task. The bilingual children were more advanced than the monolinguals in the solving of experimental problems requiring high levels of control. These results demonstrate the role of attentional control in both these tasks, extends our knowledge about the cognitive development of bilingual children, and provides a means of relating developmental proposals articulated in two different theoretical frameworks, namely, CCC and analysis-control.
Four groups of children in first grade were compared on early literacy tasks. Children in three of the groups were bilingual, each group representing a different combina-tion of language and writing system, and children in the fourth group were monolin-gual speakers of English. All the bilingual children used both languages daily and were learning to read in both languages. The children solved decoding and phonolog-ical awareness tasks, and the bilinguals completed all tasks in both languages. Initial differences between the groups in factors that contribute to early literacy were con-trolled in an analysis of covariance, and the results showed a general increment in reading ability for all the bilingual children but a larger advantage for children learn-ing two alphabetic systems. Similarly, bilinguals transferred literacy skills across languages only when both languages were written in the same system. Therefore, the extent of the bilingual facilitation for early reading depends on the relation between the two languages and writing systems. Learning to read is indisputably the premier academic achievement of early schooling. It prepares children for their educational futures and is the key to the possibilities that their futures hold for them. Thus, if knowing two languages at the time that literacy is introduced, or learning to read in a language that is not the child's dominant one, or acquiring literacy simultaneously in two languages af-fects the outcome of literacy instruction, then it would be important to know that. These possibilities affect a sizable portion of the world's children: A significant number are bilingual at the time they begin reading, many are instructed in a lan-guage they do not speak at home, and some number of those are expected to ac-quire this skill in two languages.
Previous research has shown that bilingual children excel in tasks requiring inhibitory control to ignore a misleading perceptual cue. The present series of studies extends this finding by identifying the degree and type of inhibitory control for which bilingual children demonstrate this advantage. Study 1 replicated the earlier research by showing that bilingual children perform the Simon task more rapidly than monolinguals, but only on conditions in which the demands for inhibitory control were high. The next two studies compared performance on tasks that required inhibition of attention to a specific cue, like the Simon task, and inhibition of a habitual response, like the day-night Stroop task. In both studies, bilingual children maintained their advantage on tasks that require control of attention but showed no advantage on tasks that required inhibition of response. These results confine the bilingual advantage found previously to complex tasks requiring control over attention to competing cues (interference suppression) and not to tasks requiring control over competing responses (response inhibition).
The present study investigated the relationship of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) to academic achievement. The PPVT-R was correlated with the Wide Range Achievement Test-Revised (WRAT-R) and the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R). The subjects consisted of 181 children referred for special education evaluation in Arkansas. The PPVT-R correlated significantly with the Reading, Spelling, and Arithmetic subtests of the WRAT-R. Correlations between the PPVT-R and WISC-R were significant, the WISC-R Verbal score correlating the highest with the PPVT-R. It was concluded that the PPVT-R could be used to screen students for academic underachievement.
Morton and Harper (2007) argue that research presented in support of a bilingual advantage in the development of executive control has been confounded with social class, the actual mechanism for group differences. As evidence, they report a study in which a small group of monolingual and bilingual 6- and 7-year-olds performed similarly on a Simon task. The present paper points to weaknesses in their experimental design, analysis, and logic that together undermine their criticism of the conclusion that bilingualism is responsible for the reported group differences.
The present study used a behavioral version of an anti-saccade task, called the 'faces task', developed by [Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I. M., & Ryan, J. (2006). Executive control in a modified anti-saccade task: Effects of aging and bilingualism. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 32, 1341-1354] to isolate the components of executive functioning responsible for previously reported differences between monolingual and bilingual children and to determine the generality of these differences by comparing bilinguals in two cultures. Three components of executive control were investigated: response suppression, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility. Ninety children, 8-years old, belonged to one of three groups: monolinguals in Canada, bilinguals in Canada, and bilinguals in India. The bilingual children in both settings were faster than monolinguals in conditions based on inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility but there was no significant difference between groups in response suppression or on a control condition that did not involve executive control. The children in the two bilingual groups performed equivalently to each other and differently from the monolinguals on all measures in which there were group differences, consistent with the interpretation that bilingualism is responsible for the enhanced executive control. These results contribute to understanding the mechanism responsible for the reported bilingual advantages by identifying the processes that are modified by bilingualism and establishing the generality of these findings across bilingual experiences. They also contribute to theoretical conceptions of the components of executive control and their development.
Much of the evidence from the West has shown links between children's developing self-control (executive function), their social experiences, and their social understanding (Carpendale & Lewis, 2006, chapters 5 and 6), across a range of cultures including China. This chapter describes four studies conducted in three Oriental cultures, suggesting that the relationships among social interaction, executive function, and social understanding are different in these cultures, implying that social and executive skills are underpinned by key cultural processes.
A study was conducted to examine the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive development, as predicted by threshold theory. This theory maintains that there may be levels of linguistic proficiency which bilingual children must attain in order to avoid cognitive deficits and to allow the cognitive benefits. On the whole, the results were consistent with the theory, in that an overall bilingual superiority was found only for those children who had attained a high degree of bilingualism. An overall bilingual superiority was not found for those children who had attained lower degrees of bilingualism. These results are discussed further in relation to Bialystok's model.
This individual differences study examined the separability of three often postulated executive functions-mental set shifting ("Shifting"), information updating and monitoring ("Updating"), and inhibition of prepotent responses ("Inhibition")-and their roles in complex "frontal lobe" or "executive" tasks. One hundred thirty-seven college students performed a set of relatively simple experimental tasks that are considered to predominantly tap each target executive function as well as a set of frequently used executive tasks: the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Tower of Hanoi (TOH), random number generation (RNG), operation span, and dual tasking. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the three target executive functions are moderately correlated with one another, but are clearly separable. Moreover, structural equation modeling suggested that the three functions contribute differentially to performance on complex executive tasks. Specifically, WCST performance was related most strongly to Shifting, TOH to Inhibition, RNG to Inhibition and Updating, and operation span to Updating. Dual task performance was not related to any of the three target functions. These results suggest that it is important to recognize both the unity and diversity of executive functions and that latent variable analysis is a useful approach to studying the organization and roles of executive functions.
This research examined the relation between individual differences in inhibitory control (IC; a central component of executive functioning) and theory-of-mind (ToM) performance in preschool-age children. Across two sessions, 3- and 4-year-old children (N = 107) were given multitask batteries measuring IC and ToM. Inhibitory control was strongly related to ToM, r = .66, p < .001. This relation remained significant controlling for age, gender, verbal ability, motor sequencing, family size, and performance on pretend-action and mental state control tasks. Inhibitory tasks requiring a novel response in the face of a conflicting prepotent response (Conflict scale) and those requiring the delay of a prepotent response (Delay scale) were significantly related to ToM. The Conflict scale, however, significantly predicted ToM performance over and above the Delay scale and control measures, whereas the Delay scale was not significant in a corresponding analysis. These findings suggest that IC may be a crucial enabling factor for ToM development, possibly affecting both the emergence and expression of mental state knowledge. The implications of the findings for a variety of executive accounts of ToM are discussed.
Two studies addressed the role of representation ability and control of attention on solutions to an appearance-reality task based on two types of objects, real and representational. In Study 1, 67 preschool children (3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds) solved appearance-reality problems and executive processing tasks. There was an interaction between object type (real vs. representational) and question type (appearance vs. reality) on problem difficulty. In addition, representational ability predicted performance on appearance questions and inhibitory control predicted performance on reality questions. In Study 2, 95 children (4- and 5-year-olds) who were monolingual or bilingual solved similar problems. On appearance questions, groups performed equivalently but on reality questions, bilinguals performed better (once language proficiency had been controlled). The difference is attributed to the advanced inhibitory control that comes with bilingualism.
In a previous study, a bilingual advantage for preschool children in solving the dimensional change card sort task was attributed to superiority in inhibition of attention (Bialystok, 1999). However, the task includes difficult representational demands to encode and interpret the task stimuli, and bilinguals may also have profited from superior representational abilities. This possibility is examined in three studies. In Study 1, bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on versions of the problem containing moderate representational demands but not on a more demanding condition. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated that bilingual children were more skilled than monolinguals when the target dimensions were perceptual features of the stimulus and that the two groups were equivalent when the target dimensions were semantic features. The conclusions are that bilinguals have better inhibitory control for ignoring perceptual information than monolinguals do but are not more skilled in representation, confirming the results of the original study. The results also identify the ability to ignore an obsolete display feature as the critical difficulty in solving this task.
Two studies are reported in which monolingual and bilingual children, approximately 6 years old, attempted to identify the alternative image in a reversible figure. In both studies, bilingual children were more successful than monolinguals in seeing the other meaning in the images. In the first study, there was no relation between the ability to reverse the interpretation and performance on the children's embedded figures task, a task that superficially appeared to involve similar processes. The second study replicated this finding but showed that performance was strongly related to success in the post-switch phase of the dimensional change card sort task. In both cases, the meaning of an image must be reassigned, and bilinguals were better in both these tasks.
Preschoolers' theory-of-mind development follows a similar age trajectory across many cultures. To determine whether these similarities are related to similar underlying ontogenetic processes, we examined whether the relation between theory of mind and executive function commonly found among U.S. preschoolers is also present among Chinese preschoolers. Preschoolers from Beijing, China (N= 109), were administered theory-of-mind and executive-functioning tasks, and their performance was compared with that of a previously studied sample of U.S. preschoolers (N= 107). The Chinese preschoolers outperformed their U.S. counterparts on all measures of executive functioning, but were not similarly advanced in theory-of-mind reasoning. Nonetheless, individual differences in executive functioning predicted theory of mind for children in both cultures. Thus, the relation between executive functioning and theory of mind is robust across two disparate cultures. These findings shed light on why executive functioning is important for theory-of-mind development.
The need of bilinguals to continuously control two languages during speech production may exert general effects on their attentional networks. To explore this issue we compared the performance of bilinguals and monolinguals in the attentional network task (ANT) developed by Fan et al. [Fan, J., McCandliss, B.D. Sommer, T., Raz, A., Posner, M.I. (2002). Testing the efficiency and independence of attentional networks. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14, 340-347]. This task is supposed to tap into three different attentional networks: alerting, orienting and executive control. The results revealed that bilingual participants were not only faster in performing the task, but also more efficient in the alerting and executive control networks. In particular, bilinguals were aided more by the presentation of an alerting cue, and were also better at resolving conflicting information. Furthermore, bilinguals experienced a reduced switching cost between the different type of trials compared to monolinguals. These results show that bilingualism exerts an influence in the attainment of efficient attentional mechanisms by young adults that are supposed to be at the peak of their attentional capabilities.
Bilingual children often outperform monolingual children in tasks of cognitive control. This advantage may be a consequence of the fact that bilinguals have more practice controlling attention due to an ongoing need to manage two languages. However, existing evidence is limited because possible differences in ethnicity and socioeconomic status have not been properly controlled. To address this issue, we administered the Simon task to bilingual and monolingual children of identical ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Bilingual and monolingual children performed identically, whereas children from higher SES families were advantaged relative to children from lower SES families. Controlling differences in SES and ethnicity may attenuate the bilingual advantage in cognitive control.
This study assessed executive function and mental state understanding in Korean preschoolers. In Experiment 1, forty 3.5- and 4-year-old Koreans showed ceiling performance on inhibition and switching measures, although their performance on working memory and false belief was comparable to that of Western children. Experiment 2 revealed a similar advantage in a sample of seventy-six 3- and 4-year-old Koreans compared with sixty-four age-matched British children. Korean children younger than 3.5 years of age showed ceiling effects on some inhibition measures despite more stringent protocols and the link between executive function and mental state understanding was not as strong as in the British sample. The results raise key questions about the nature and development of the executive system and its relation to social understanding.
Advanced inhibitory control skills have been found in bilingual speakers as compared to monolingual controls (Bialystok, 1999). We examined whether this effect is generalized to an unstudied language group (Spanish-English bilingual) and multiple measures of executive function by administering a battery of tasks to 50 kindergarten children drawn from three language groups: native bilinguals, monolinguals (English), and English speakers enrolled in second-language immersion kindergarten. Despite having significantly lower verbal scores and parent education/income level, Spanish-English bilingual children's raw scores did not differ from their peers. After statistically controlling for these factors and age, native bilingual children performed significantly better on the executive function battery than both other groups. Importantly, the relative advantage was significant for tasks that appear to call for managing conflicting attentional demands (Conflict tasks); there was no advantage on impulse-control (Delay tasks). These results advance our understanding of both the generalizability and specificity of the compensatory effects of bilingual experience for children's cognitive development.
Claiming evidence from non-evidence: A reply to Morton and HarperPubMed Word mapping and executive functioning in young monolingual and bilingual children Executive control in a modified anti-saccade task: Effects of aging and bilingualism
- E Bialystok
- E Bialystok
- R Barac
- A Blaye
- Poulin
- Dubois
- E Bialystok
- Fim Craik
- J Ryan
Bialystok E. Claiming evidence from non-evidence: A reply to Morton and Harper. Developmental Science. 2009; 12:499–501. [PubMed: 19635076] Bialystok E, Barac R, Blaye A, Poulin-Dubois D. Word mapping and executive functioning in young monolingual and bilingual children. Journal of Cognition and Development. 2010; 11:485–508. [PubMed: 21197133] Bialystok E, Craik FIM, Ryan J. Executive control in a modified anti-saccade task: Effects of aging and bilingualism. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. 2006; 32:1341–1354
Author manuscript; available in PMC 2013 March 1. NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript rBialystok Receptive vocabulary differences in monolingual and bilingual children
- Barac
- Bialystokpage
- E Dev
- G Luk
- Peets
- Yang
Barac and BialystokPage 9 Child Dev. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2013 March 1. NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript rBialystok E, Luk G, Peets KF, Yang S. Receptive vocabulary differences in monolingual and bilingual children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. 2010; 13:525–531
Exploring cogni-tive advantages of childhood bilingualism through new tests of executive attention. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Develop-ment Processing spoken Chi-nese: The role of tone information
- S Yang
- J Shih
- B Lust
Yang, S., Shih, J., & Lust, B. (2005, April). Exploring cogni-tive advantages of childhood bilingualism through new tests of executive attention. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Develop-ment, Atlanta, GA. Ye, Y., & Connine, C. M. (1999). Processing spoken Chi-nese: The role of tone information. Language and Cogni-tive Processes, 14, 609–630.
Ordered profusion: Studies in dictionaries and the English lexicon
- T Finkenstaedt
- D Wolff
Finkenstaedt, T., & Wolff, D. (1973). Ordered profusion:
Studies in dictionaries and the English lexicon. Heidelberg,
Germany: Carl Winter Universitatsverlag.