Differential Language Functioning of Monolinguals and Bilinguals on Positive-Negative Emotional Expression

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Kheirzadeh, Shiela; Hajiabed, Mohammadreza

2016-01-01

The present interdisciplinary research investigates the differential emotional expression between Persian monolinguals and Persian-English bilinguals. In other words, the article was an attempt to answer the questions whether bilinguals and monolinguals differ in the expression of positive and negative emotions elicited through sad and happy…

Behavioral and Electrophysiological Differences in Executive Control between Monolingual and Bilingual Children

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Barac, Raluca; Moreno, Sylvain; Bialystok, Ellen

2016-01-01

This study examined executive control in sixty-two 5-year-old children who were monolingual or bilingual using behavioral and event-related potentials (ERPs) measures. All children performed equivalently on simple response inhibition (gift delay), but bilingual children outperformed monolinguals on interference suppression and complex response…

Evaluating Bilingual and Monolingual Dictionaries for L2 Learners.

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Hunt, Alan

1997-01-01

A discussion of dictionaries and their use for second language (L2) learning suggests that lack of computerized modern language corpora can adversely affect bilingual dictionaries, commonly used by L2 learners, and shows how use of such corpora has benefitted two contemporary monolingual L2 learner dictionaries (1995 editions of the Longman…

Bilingualism at the core of the brain. Structural differences between bilinguals and monolinguals revealed by subcortical shape analysis.

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Burgaleta, Miguel; Sanjuán, Ana; Ventura-Campos, Noelia; Sebastian-Galles, Núria; Ávila, César

2016-01-15

Naturally acquiring a language shapes the human brain through a long-lasting learning and practice process. This is supported by previous studies showing that managing more than one language from early childhood has an impact on brain structure and function. However, to what extent bilingual individuals present neuroanatomical peculiarities at the subcortical level with respect to monolinguals is yet not well understood, despite the key role of subcortical gray matter for a number of language functions, including monitoring of speech production and language control - two processes especially solicited by bilinguals. Here we addressed this issue by performing a subcortical surface-based analysis in a sample of monolinguals and simultaneous bilinguals (N=88) that only differed in their language experience from birth. This analysis allowed us to study with great anatomical precision the potential differences in morphology of key subcortical structures, namely, the caudate, accumbens, putamen, globus pallidus and thalamus. Vertexwise analyses revealed significantly expanded subcortical structures for bilinguals compared to monolinguals, localized in bilateral putamen and thalamus, as well as in the left globus pallidus and right caudate nucleus. A topographical interpretation of our results suggests that a more complex phonological system in bilinguals may lead to a greater development of a subcortical brain network involved in monitoring articulatory processes. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Comparison between Verbal Working Memory and Vocabulary in Bilingual and Monolingual South African School Beginners: Implications for Bilingual Language Assessment

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Cockcroft, Kate

2016-01-01

This study compared bilingual and monolingual school beginners on measures of simple and complex verbal working memory and receptive and expressive vocabulary. The aim was to determine whether the tests of working memory are fairer measures of language ability than the vocabulary tests for bilingual children when tested in their second language.…

What Can Errors Tell Us about Differences between Monolingual and Bilingual Vocabulary Learning?

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Kaushanskaya, Margarita

2018-01-01

Error patterns in vocabulary learning data were used as a window into the mechanisms that underlie vocabulary learning performance in bilinguals vs. monolinguals. English--Spanish bilinguals (n = 18) and English-speaking monolinguals (n = 18) were taught novel vocabulary items in association with English translations. At testing, participants…

Do eye movements reveal differences between monolingual and bilingual children's first-language and second-language reading? A focus on word frequency effects.

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Whitford, Veronica; Joanisse, Marc F

2018-09-01

An extensive body of research has examined reading acquisition and performance in monolingual children. Surprisingly, however, much less is known about reading in bilingual children, who outnumber monolingual children globally. Here, we address this important imbalance in the literature by employing eye movement recordings to examine both global (i.e., text-level) and local (i.e., word-level) aspects of monolingual and bilingual children's reading performance across their first-language (L1) and second-language (L2). We also had a specific focus on lexical accessibility, indexed by word frequency effects. We had three main findings. First, bilingual children displayed reduced global and local L1 reading performance relative to monolingual children, including larger L1 word frequency effects. Second, bilingual children displayed reduced global and local L2 versus L1 reading performance, including larger L2 word frequency effects. Third, both groups of children displayed reduced global and local reading performance relative to adult comparison groups (across their known languages), including larger word frequency effects. Notably, our first finding was not captured by traditional offline measures of reading, such as standardized tests, suggesting that these measures may lack the sensitivity to detect such nuanced between-group differences in reading performance. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that bilingual children's simultaneous exposure to two reading systems leads to eye movement reading behavior that differs from that of monolingual children and has important consequences for how lexical information is accessed and integrated in both languages. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Language Proficiency and Sustained Attention in Monolingual and Bilingual Children with and without Language Impairment

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Tessel Boerma

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Background: The language profiles of children with language impairment (LI and bilingual children can show partial, and possibly temporary, overlap. The current study examined the persistence of this overlap over time. Furthermore, we aimed to better understand why the language profiles of these two groups show resemblance, testing the hypothesis that the language difficulties of children with LI reflect a weakened ability to maintain attention to the stream of linguistic information. Consequent incomplete processing of language input may lead to delays that are similar to those originating from reductions in input frequency.Methods: Monolingual and bilingual children with and without LI (N = 128, aged 5–8 years old, participated in this study. Dutch receptive vocabulary and grammatical morphology were assessed at three waves. In addition, auditory and visual sustained attention were tested at wave 1. Mediation analyses were performed to examine relationships between LI, sustained attention, and language skills.Results: Children with LI and bilingual children were outperformed by their typically developing (TD and monolingual peers, respectively, on vocabulary and morphology at all three waves. The vocabulary difference between monolinguals and bilinguals decreased over time. In addition, children with LI had weaker auditory and visual sustained attention skills relative to TD children, while no differences between monolinguals and bilinguals emerged. Auditory sustained attention mediated the effect of LI on vocabulary and morphology in both the monolingual and bilingual groups of children. Visual sustained attention only acted as a mediator in the bilingual group.Conclusion: The findings from the present study indicate that the overlap between the language profiles of children with LI and bilingual children is particularly large for vocabulary in early (preschool years and reduces over time. Results furthermore suggest that the overlap may be

Cognitive Development in Bilingual and Monolingual Lower-Class Children.

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Myers, Barbara; Goldstein, David

1979-01-01

The cognitive development of lower-class English-speaking monolingual and English-Spanish speaking bilingual children in kindergarten, third, and sixth grades was compared by means of standard verbal and nonverbal measures. The verbal ability of bilingual children was assessed in both English and Spanish. Their scores in both languages were low.…

White-matter development is different in bilingual and monolingual children: a longitudinal DTI study.

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Seyede Ghazal Mohades

Full Text Available Although numerous people grow up speaking more than one language, the impact of bilingualism on brain developing neuroanatomy is still poorly understood. This study aimed to determine whether the changes in the mean fractional-anisotropy (MFA of language pathways are different between bilingual and monolingual children. Simultaneous-bilinguals, sequential-bilinguals and monolingual, male and female 10-13 years old children participated in this longitudinal study over a period of two years. We used diffusion tensor tractography to obtain mean fractional-anisotropy values of four language related pathways and one control bundle: 1-left-inferior-occipitofrontal fasciculus/lIFOF, 2-left-arcuate fasciculus/lAF/lSLF, 3-bundle arising from the anterior part of corpus-callosum and projecting to orbital lobe/AC-OL, 4-fibres emerging from anterior-midbody of corpus-callosum (CC to motor cortices/AMB-PMC, 5- right-inferior-occipitofrontal fasciculus rIFOF as the control pathway unrelated to language. These values and their rate of change were compared between 3 groups. FA-values did not change significantly over two years for lAF/lSLF and AC-OL. Sequential-bilinguals had the highest degree of change in the MFA value of lIFOF, and AMB-PMC did not present significant group differences. The comparison of MFA of lIFOF yielded a significantly higher FA-value in simultaneous bilinguals compared to monolinguals. These findings acknowledge the existing difference of the development of the semantic processing specific pathway between children with different semantic processing procedure. These also support the hypothesis that age of second language acquisition affects the maturation and myelination of some language specific white-matter pathways.

The Role of Accessibility of Semantic Word Knowledge in Monolingual and Bilingual Fifth-Grade Reading

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Cremer, M.; Schoonen, R.

2013-01-01

The influences of word decoding, availability, and accessibility of semantic word knowledge on reading comprehension were investigated for monolingual "("n = 65) and bilingual children ("n" = 70). Despite equal decoding abilities, monolingual children outperformed bilingual children with regard to reading comprehension and…

Language Proficiency and Executive Control in Proactive Interference: Evidence from Monolingual and Bilingual Children and Adults

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Bialystok, Ellen; Feng, Xiaojia

2009-01-01

Two studies are reported in which monolingual and bilingual children (Study 1) and adults (Study 2) completed a memory task involving proactive interference. In both cases, the bilinguals attained lower scores on a vocabulary test than monolinguals but performed the same on the proactive interference task. For the children, bilinguals made fewer…

Quantitative and qualitative differences in the lexical knowledge of monolingual and bilingual children on the LITMUS-CLT task.

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Altman, Carmit; Goldstein, Tamara; Armon-Lotem, Sharon

2017-01-01

While bilingual children follow the same milestones of language acquisition as monolingual children do in learning the syntactic patterns of their second language (L2), their vocabulary size in L2 often lags behind compared to monolinguals. The present study explores the comprehension and production of nouns and verbs in Hebrew, by two groups of 5- to 6-year olds with typical language development: monolingual Hebrew speakers (N = 26), and Russian-Hebrew bilinguals (N = 27). Analyses not only show quantitative gaps between comprehension and production and between nouns and verbs, with a bilingual effect in both, but also a qualitative difference between monolinguals and bilinguals in their production errors: monolinguals' errors reveal knowledge of the language rules despite temporary access difficulties, while bilinguals' errors reflect gaps in their knowledge of Hebrew (L2). The nature of Hebrew as a Semitic language allows one to explore this qualitative difference in the semantic and morphological level.

Differences in Word Recognition between Early Bilinguals and Monolinguals: Behavioral and ERP Evidence

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Lehtonen, Minna; Hulten, Annika; Rodriguez-Fornells, Antoni; Cunillera, Toni; Tuomainen, Jyrki; Laine, Matti

2012-01-01

We investigated the behavioral and brain responses (ERPs) of bilingual word recognition to three fundamental psycholinguistic factors, frequency, morphology, and lexicality, in early bilinguals vs. monolinguals. Earlier behavioral studies have reported larger frequency effects in bilinguals' nondominant vs. dominant language and in some studies…

Novel Morpheme Learning in Monolingual and Bilingual Children

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Gross, Megan; Sheena, Enanna; Roman, Rachel

2017-01-01

Purpose The purpose of the present study was to examine the utility of a novel morpheme learning task for indexing typical language abilities in children characterized by diverse language backgrounds. Method Three groups of 5- to 6-year-old children were tested: monolingual speakers of English, native speakers of Spanish who also spoke English (Spanish-L1 bilinguals), and native speakers of English who also spoke Spanish (English-L1 bilinguals). All children were taught a new derivational morpheme /ku/ marking part–whole distinction in conjunction with English nouns. Retention was measured via a receptive task, and sensitivity and reaction time (RT) data were collected. Results All three groups of children learned the novel morpheme successfully and were able to generalize its use to untaught nouns. Furthermore, language characteristics (degree of exposure and levels of performance on standardized measures) did not contribute to bilingual children's learning outcomes. Conclusion Together, the findings indicate that this particular version of the novel morpheme learning task may be resistant to influences associated with language background and suggest potential usefulness of the task to clinical practice. PMID:28399578

The Comparison of the Monolingual and Bilingual Japanese Students in The English Achievement

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Ienneke Indra Dewi

2007-11-01

Full Text Available Article is intended to know whether the monolingual or bilingual Japanese students are better in the English achievement and whether the exposure of English influences the ability. The data were taken from 60 Japanese students who are supposed to fill in the questionnaires regarding their language background. The English achievement data were taken from the students’ scores in Senior High School National Examination and the data further were compared to the TOEFL English score. The analysis is carried out using ANOVA analysis. This research indicates that monolinguals are better learners in English and exposure is proved to influence the students’ ability in English.                                                  

The timing and magnitude of Stroop interference and facilitation in monolinguals and bilinguals.

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Coderre, Emily L; VAN Heuven, Walter J B; Conklin, Kathy

2013-04-01

Executive control abilities and lexical access speed in Stroop performance were investigated in English monolinguals and two groups of bilinguals (English-Chinese and Chinese-English) in their first (L1) and second (L2) languages. Predictions were based on a bilingual cognitive advantage hypothesis, implicating cognitive control ability as the critical factor determining Stroop interference; and two bilingual lexical disadvantage hypotheses, focusing on lexical access speed. Importantly, each hypothesis predicts different response patterns in a Stroop task manipulating stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). There was evidence for a bilingual cognitive advantage, although this effect was sensitive to a number of variables including proficiency, language immersion, and script. In lexical access speed, no differences occurred between monolinguals and bilinguals in their native languages, but there was evidence for a delay in L2 processing speed relative to the L1. Overall, the data highlight the multitude of factors affecting executive control and lexical access speed in bilinguals.

Do bilinguals outperform monolinguals?

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Sejdi Sejdiu

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The relationship between second dialect acquisition and the psychological capacity of the learner is still a divisive topic that generates a lot of debate. A few researchers contend that the acquisition of the second dialect tends to improve the cognitive abilities in various individuals, but at the same time it could hinder the same abilities in other people. Currently, immersion is a common occurrence in some countries. In the recent past, it has significantly increased in its popularity, which has caused parents, professionals, and researchers to question whether second language acquisition has a positive impact on cognitive development, encompassing psychological ability. In rundown, the above might decide to comprehend the effects of using a second language based on the literal aptitudes connected with the native language. The issue of bilingualism was seen as a disadvantage until recently because of two languages being present which would hinder or delay the development of languages. However, recent studies have proven that bilinguals outperform monolinguals in tasks which require more attention.

Semantic facilitation in bilingual first language acquisition.

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Bilson, Samuel; Yoshida, Hanako; Tran, Crystal D; Woods, Elizabeth A; Hills, Thomas T

2015-07-01

Bilingual first language learners face unique challenges that may influence the rate and order of early word learning relative to monolinguals. A comparison of the productive vocabularies of 435 children between the ages of 6 months and 7 years-181 of which were bilingual English learners-found that monolinguals learned both English words and all-language concepts faster than bilinguals. However, bilinguals showed an enhancement of an effect previously found in monolinguals-the preference for learning words with more associative cues. Though both monolinguals and bilinguals were best fit by a similar model of word learning, semantic network structure and growth indicated that the two groups were learning English words in a different order. Further, in comparison with a model of two-monolinguals-in-one-mind, bilinguals overproduced translational equivalents. Our results support an emergent account of bilingual first language acquisition, where learning a word in one language facilitates its acquisition in a second language. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Monolingual and Bilingual Learners' Dictionaries*

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Rufus H. Gouws

2011-10-01

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Abstract: When deciding on the best learners' dictionary for a specific user and a specificsituation of usage one often has to make a choice between a monolingual and a bilingual learners'dictionary. This article discusses some aspects of the user-driven approach so prevalent in moderndaylexicographic thought, focuses broadly on dictionary typology and takes a closer look at monolingualand bilingual learners' dictionaries. Some problems users experience when learning a newlanguage, e.g. language distortion and problems related to the phenomenon of false friends, especiallyin closely related languages, are mentioned. It is indicated that a typological hybrid dictionarycould assist certain users. The importance of an unambiguous identification of the relevantlexicographic functions is emphasised and the notions of function condensation and function mergingare introduced. It is shown that the typological choice should be determined by a function-basedapproach to dictionary usage.

Keywords: BILINGUAL DICTIONARY, FALSE FRIENDS, FUNCTION CONDENSATION,FUNCTION MERGING, GENUINE PURPOSE, LEARNERS' DICTIONARY, LEXICOGRAPHICFUNCTIONS, MONOLINGUAL DICTIONARY, TEXT PRODUCTION, TEXT RECEPTION,TYPOLOGICAL HYBRID, TYPOLOGY.

Opsomming: Eentalige en tweetalige aanleerderwoordeboeke. Wanneerbesluit moet word oor die beste aanleerderwoordeboek vir 'n spesifieke gebruiker en 'n spesifiekegebruiksituasie moet daar dikwels gekies word tussen 'n eentalige en 'n tweetalige aanleerderwoordeboek.Hierdie artikel bespreek bepaalde aspekte van die gebruikersgedrewe benaderingwat kenmerkend is van die moderne leksikografiese denke, fokus breedweg op woordeboektipologieen gee in meer besonderhede aandag aan sekere aspekte van eentalige en tweetalige aanleerderwoordeboeke.Bepaalde probleme wat gebruikers ervaar by die aanleer van 'n vreemde taal,bv. taalversteuring en probleme verwant aan die verskynsel van valse vriende, veral in nou verwantetale, kry aandag

Constraints on Tone Sensitivity in Novel Word Learning by Monolingual and Bilingual Infants: Tone Properties Are More Influential than Tone Familiarity

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Burnham, Denis; Singh, Leher; Mattock, Karen; Woo, Pei J.; Kalashnikova, Marina

2018-01-01

This study compared tone sensitivity in monolingual and bilingual infants in a novel word learning task. Tone language learning infants (Experiment 1, Mandarin monolingual; Experiment 2, Mandarin-English bilingual) were tested with Mandarin (native) or Thai (non-native) lexical tone pairs which contrasted static vs. dynamic (high vs. rising) tones or dynamic vs. dynamic (rising vs. falling) tones. Non-tone language, English-learning infants (Experiment 3) were tested on English intonational contrasts or the Mandarin or Thai tone contrasts. Monolingual Mandarin language infants were able to bind tones to novel words for the Mandarin High-Rising contrast, but not for the Mandarin Rising-Falling contrast; and they were insensitive to both the High-Rising and the Rising-Falling tone contrasts in Thai. Bilingual English-Mandarin infants were similar to the Mandarin monolinguals in that they were sensitive to the Mandarin High-Rising contrast and not to the Mandarin Rising-Falling contrast. However, unlike the Mandarin monolinguals, they were also sensitive to the High Rising contrast in Thai. Monolingual English learning infants were insensitive to all three types of contrasts (Mandarin, Thai, English), although they did respond differentially to tone-bearing vs. intonation-marked words. Findings suggest that infants' sensitivity to tones in word learning contexts depends heavily on tone properties, and that this influence is, in some cases, stronger than effects of language familiarity. Moreover, bilingual infants demonstrated greater phonological flexibility in tone interpretation. PMID:29354077

Differences in the Association between Segment and Language: Early Bilinguals Pattern with Monolinguals and Are Less Accurate than Late Bilinguals

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Blanco, Cynthia P.; Bannard, Colin; Smiljanic, Rajka

2016-01-01

Early bilinguals often show as much sensitivity to L2-specific contrasts as monolingual speakers of the L2, but most work on cross-language speech perception has focused on isolated segments, and typically only on neighboring vowels or stop contrasts. In tasks that include sounds in context, listeners’ success is more variable, so segment discrimination in isolation may not adequately represent the phonetic detail in stored representations. The current study explores the relationship between language experience and sensitivity to segmental cues in context by comparing the categorization patterns of monolingual English listeners and early and late Spanish–English bilinguals. Participants categorized nonce words containing different classes of English- and Spanish-specific sounds as being more English-like or more Spanish-like; target segments included phonemic cues, cues for which there is no analogous sound in the other language, or phonetic cues, cues for which English and Spanish share the category but for which each language varies in its phonetic implementation. Listeners’ language categorization accuracy and reaction times were analyzed. Our results reveal a largely uniform categorization pattern across listener groups: Spanish cues were categorized more accurately than English cues, and phonemic cues were easier for listeners to categorize than phonetic cues. There were no differences in the sensitivity of monolinguals and early bilinguals to language-specific cues, suggesting that the early bilinguals’ exposure to Spanish did not fundamentally change their representations of English phonology. However, neither did the early bilinguals show more sensitivity than the monolinguals to Spanish sounds. The late bilinguals however, were significantly more accurate than either of the other groups. These findings indicate that listeners with varying exposure to English and Spanish are able to use language-specific cues in a nonce-word language categorization

Effects of primary and secondary morphological family size in monolingual and bilingual word processing

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Mulder, K.; Dijkstra, A.F.J.; Schreuder, R.; Baayen, Harald

2014-01-01

This study investigated primary and secondary morphological family size effects in monolingual and bilingual processing, combining experimentation with computational modeling. Family size effects were investigated in an English lexical decision task for Dutch-English bilinguals and English

Lexicographic Approaches to Sense Disambiguation in Monolingual Dictionaries and Equivalent Differentiation in Bilingual Dictionaries

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Marjeta Vrbinc

2011-05-01

Full Text Available The article discusses methods of sense disambiguation in monolingual dictionaries and equivalent differentiation in bilingual dictionaries. In current dictionaries, sense disambiguation and equivalent differentiation is presented in the form of specifiers or glosses, collocators or indications of context, (domain labels, metalinguistic and encyclopaedic information. Each method is presented and illustrated by actual samples of dictionary articles taken from mono and bilingual dictionaries. The last part of the article is devoted to equivalent differentiation in bilingual decoding dictionaries. In bilingual dictionaries, equivalent differentiation is often needed to describe the lack of agreement between the source language (SL and target language (TL. The article concludes by stating that equivalent differentiation should be written in the native language of the target audience and sense indicators in a monolingual learner’s dictionary should be words that the users are most familiar with.

Orthographic Context Sensitivity in Vowel Decoding by Portuguese Monolingual and Portuguese-English Bilingual Children

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Vale, Ana Paula

2011-01-01

This study examines the pronunciation of the first vowel in decoding disyllabic pseudowords derived from Portuguese words. Participants were 96 Portuguese monolinguals and 52 Portuguese-English bilinguals of equivalent Portuguese reading levels. The results indicate that sensitivity to vowel context emerges early, both in monolinguals and in…

Performance on Auditory and Visual Tasks of Inhibition in English Monolingual and Spanish-English Bilingual Adults: Do Bilinguals Have a Cognitive Advantage?

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Desjardins, Jamie L.; Fernandez, Francisco

2018-01-01

Purpose: Bilingual individuals have been shown to be more proficient on visual tasks of inhibition compared with their monolingual counterparts. However, the bilingual advantage has not been evidenced in all studies, and very little is known regarding how bilingualism influences inhibitory control in the perception of auditory information. The…

Cognitive profiles in bilingual children born to immigrant parents and Italian monolingual native children with specific learning disorders

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Riva A

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Anna Riva, Renata Nacinovich, Nadia Bertuletti, Valentina Montrasi, Sara Marchetti, Francesca Neri, Monica Bomba Child and Adolescent Mental Health Department, University of Milan Bicocca, San Gerardo Hospital, Monza, Italy Purpose: The aim of this study is to compare the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children® – fourth edition IV (WISC IV intellectual profile of two groups of children with specific learning disorder, a group of bilingual children and a group of monolingual Italian children, in order to identify possible significant differences between them. Patients and methods: A group of 48 bilingual children and a group of 48 Italian monolingual children were included in this study. A preliminary comparison showed the homogeneity of the two groups regarding learning disorder typology and sociodemographic characteristics (age at WISC IV assessment, sex and years of education in Italy with the exception of socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic status was then used as a covariate in the analysis. Results: Even if the two groups were comparable in specific learning disorder severity and, in particular, in the text comprehension performance, our findings showed that the WISC IV performances of the bilingual group were significantly worse than the Italian group in Full Scale Intelligence Quotient (P=0.03, in General Ability Index (P=0.03, in Working Memory Index (P=0.009 and in some subtests and clusters requiring advanced linguistic abilities. Conclusion: These results support the hypothesis of a weakness in metalinguistic abilities in bilingual children with specific learning disorders than monolinguals. If confirmed, this result must be considered in the rehabilitation treatment. Keywords: children, bilingualism, WISC IV, SLD

Surmounting the Tower of Babel: Monolingual and bilingual 2-year-olds' understanding of the nature of foreign language words.

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Byers-Heinlein, Krista; Chen, Ke Heng; Xu, Fei

2014-03-01

Languages function as independent and distinct conventional systems, and so each language uses different words to label the same objects. This study investigated whether 2-year-old children recognize that speakers of their native language and speakers of a foreign language do not share the same knowledge. Two groups of children unfamiliar with Mandarin were tested: monolingual English-learning children (n=24) and bilingual children learning English and another language (n=24). An English speaker taught children the novel label fep. On English mutual exclusivity trials, the speaker asked for the referent of a novel label (wug) in the presence of the fep and a novel object. Both monolingual and bilingual children disambiguated the reference of the novel word using a mutual exclusivity strategy, choosing the novel object rather than the fep. On similar trials with a Mandarin speaker, children were asked to find the referent of a novel Mandarin label kuò. Monolinguals again chose the novel object rather than the object with the English label fep, even though the Mandarin speaker had no access to conventional English words. Bilinguals did not respond systematically to the Mandarin speaker, suggesting that they had enhanced understanding of the Mandarin speaker's ignorance of English words. The results indicate that monolingual children initially expect words to be conventionally shared across all speakers-native and foreign. Early bilingual experience facilitates children's discovery of the nature of foreign language words. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Temporal features of word-initial /s/+stop clusters in bilingual Mandarin-English children and monolingual English children and adults.

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Yang, Jing

2018-03-01

This study investigated the durational features of English word-initial /s/+stop clusters produced by bilingual Mandarin (L1)-English (L2) children and monolingual English children and adults. The participants included two groups of five- to six-year-old bilingual children: low proficiency in the L2 (Bi-low) and high proficiency in the L2 (Bi-high), one group of age-matched English children, and one group of English adults. Each participant produced a list of English words containing /sp, st, sk/ at the word-initial position followed by /a, i, u/, respectively. The absolute durations of the clusters and cluster elements and the durational proportions of elements to the overall cluster were measured. The results revealed that Bi-high children behaved similarly to the English monolinguals whereas Bi-low children used a different strategy of temporal organization to coordinate the cluster components in comparison to the English monolinguals and Bi-high children. The influence of language experience and continuing development of temporal features in children were discussed.

English as a Foreign Language in Bilingual Language-minority Children, Children with Dyslexia and Monolingual Typical Readers.

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Bonifacci, Paola; Canducci, Elisa; Gravagna, Giulia; Palladino, Paola

2017-05-01

The present study was aimed at investigating literacy skills in English as a foreign language in three different groups of children: monolinguals with dyslexia (n = 19), typically developing bilinguals (language-minority) (n = 19) and a control group of monolinguals (Italian) (n = 76). Bilinguals were not expected to fail in English measures, and their gap with monolinguals would be expected to be limited to the instructional language, owing to underexposure. All participants were enrolled in Italian primary schools (fourth and fifth grades). A non-verbal reasoning task and Italian and English literacy tasks were administered. The Italian battery included word and non-word reading (speed and accuracy), word and non-word writing, and reading comprehension; the English battery included similar tasks, except for the non-word writing. Bilingual children performed similarly to typical readers in English tasks, whereas in Italian tasks, their performance was similar to that of typical readers in reading speed but not in reading accuracy and writing. Children with dyslexia underperformed compared with typically developing children in all English and Italian tasks, except for reading comprehension in Italian. Profile analysis and correlational analyses were further discussed. These results suggest that English as a foreign language might represent a challenge for students with dyslexia but a strength for bilingual language-minority children. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

How much exposure to English is necessary for a bilingual toddler to perform like a monolingual peer in language tests?

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Cattani, Allegra; Abbot-Smith, Kirsten; Farag, Rafalla; Krott, Andrea; Arreckx, Frédérique; Dennis, Ian; Floccia, Caroline

2014-11-01

Bilingual children are under-referred due to an ostensible expectation that they lag behind their monolingual peers in their English acquisition. The recommendations of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) state that bilingual children should be assessed in both the languages known by the children. However, despite these recommendations, a majority of speech and language professionals report that they assess bilingual children only in English as bilingual children come from a wide array of language backgrounds and standardized language measures are not available for the majority of these. Moreover, even when such measures do exist, they are not tailored for bilingual children. It was asked whether a cut-off exists in the proportion of exposure to English at which one should expect a bilingual toddler to perform as well as a monolingual on a test standardized for monolingual English-speaking children. Thirty-five bilingual 2;6-year-olds exposed to British English plus an additional language and 36 British monolingual toddlers were assessed on the auditory component of the Preschool Language Scale, British Picture Vocabulary Scale and an object-naming measure. All parents completed the Oxford Communicative Development Inventory (Oxford CDI) and an exposure questionnaire that assessed the proportion of English in the language input. Where the CDI existed in the bilingual's additional language, these data were also collected. Hierarchical regression analyses found the proportion of exposure to English to be the main predictor of the performance of bilingual toddlers. Bilingual toddlers who received 60% exposure to English or more performed like their monolingual peers on all measures. K-means cluster analyses and Levene variance tests confirmed the estimated English exposure cut-off at 60% for all language measures. Finally, for one additional language for which we had multiple participants, additional language CDI production scores were

Language Growth in English Monolingual and Spanish-English Bilingual Children from 2.5 to 5 Years.

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Hoff, Erika; Ribot, Krystal M

2017-11-01

To describe the trajectories of English and Spanish language growth in typically developing children from bilingual homes and compare those with the trajectories of English growth in children from monolingual homes, to assess effects of dual language exposure on language growth in typically developing children. Expressive vocabularies were assessed at 6-month intervals from age 30 to 60 months, in English for monolinguals and English and Spanish for bilinguals. Use of English and Spanish in the home was assessed via parental report. Multilevel modeling, including parent education as a covariate, revealed that children from bilingual homes lagged 6 months to 1 year behind monolingual children in English vocabulary growth. The size of the lag was related to the relative amount of English use in the home, but the relation was not linear. Increments in English use conferred the greatest benefit most among homes with already high levels of English use. These homes also were likely to have 1 parent who was a native English speaker. Bilingual children showed stronger growth in English than in Spanish. Bilingual children can lag 6 months to 1 year behind monolingual children in normal English language development. Such lags may not necessarily signify clinically relevant delay if parents report that children also have skills in the home language. Shorter lags are associated with 2 correlated factors: more English exposure and more exposure from native English speakers. Early exposure to Spanish in the home does not guarantee acquisition of Spanish. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Trends of development of monolingualism and bilingualism in the educational policy of the United States

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Bakhov, Ivan

2017-01-01

The article analyzes the monolingualism policy opposed to the policy of bilingualism inthe language policy of the United States. The author considers the historical background,issues and implementation mechanisms of the monolingualism policy in the multiethnic state,the result of which is directed against cultural diversity and immigrant minority languages.The article defines sources of English monolingualism ideology, racial hostility of majoritytoward minority, ethnic conflict between the m...

Specificity of the bilingual advantage for memory: Examining cued recall, generalization, and working memory in monolingual, bilingual, and trilingual toddlers

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Natalie Hiromi Brito

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The specificity of the bilingual advantage in memory was examined by testing groups of monolingual, bilingual, and trilingual 24-month-olds on tasks tapping cued recall, memory generalization and working memory. For the cued recall and memory generalization conditions, there was a 24-hour delay between time of encoding and time of retrieval. In addition to the memory tasks, parent-toddler dyads completed a picture-book reading task, in order to observe emotional responsiveness, and a parental report of productive vocabulary. Results indicated no difference between language groups on cued recall, working memory, emotional responsiveness, or productive vocabulary, but a significant difference was found in the memory generalization condition with only the bilingual group outperforming the baseline control group. These results replicate and extend results from past studies (Brito and Barr, 2012; 2014; Brito et al., in press and suggest a bilingual advantage specific to memory generalization.

Specificity of the bilingual advantage for memory: examining cued recall, generalization, and working memory in monolingual, bilingual, and trilingual toddlers.

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Brito, Natalie H; Grenell, Amanda; Barr, Rachel

2014-01-01

The specificity of the bilingual advantage in memory was examined by testing groups of monolingual, bilingual, and trilingual 24-month-olds on tasks tapping cued recall, memory generalization and working memory. For the cued recall and memory generalization conditions, there was a 24-h delay between time of encoding and time of retrieval. In addition to the memory tasks, parent-toddler dyads completed a picture-book reading task, in order to observe emotional responsiveness, and a parental report of productive vocabulary. Results indicated no difference between language groups on cued recall, working memory, emotional responsiveness, or productive vocabulary, but a significant difference was found in the memory generalization condition with only the bilingual group outperforming the baseline control group. These results replicate and extend results from past studies (Brito and Barr, 2012, 2014; Brito et al., 2014) and suggest a bilingual advantage specific to memory generalization.

Speech perception and vocabulary growth: A longitudinal study of Finnish-Russian bilinguals and Finnish monolinguals from infancy to three years

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Silvén, M.; Voeten, M.J.M.; Kouvo, A.M.; Lundén, M.

2014-01-01

Growth modeling was applied to monolingual (N = 26) and bilingual (N = 28) word learning from 14 to 36 months. Level and growth rate of vocabulary were lower for Finnish-Russian bilinguals than for Finnish monolinguals. Processing of Finnish speech sounds at 7 but not at 11 months predicted level,

The moderating effect of orthographic consistency on oral vocabulary learning in monolingual and bilingual children.

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Jubenville, Kathleen; Sénéchal, Monique; Malette, Melissa

2014-10-01

Two studies were conducted to assess whether (a) the incidental presence of print facilitates the acquisition of oral vocabulary, (b) the facilitative effect of print is moderated by phoneme-to-grapheme consistency, and (c) the findings obtained with monolingual children generalize to bilingual children. In total, 71 monolingual French-speaking children (M age = 9 years 2 months) in Study 1 and 64 bilingual children (M age = 9 years 3 months) in Study 2 participated in one of three conditions: consistent print, inconsistent print, or no print. Children were to learn novel labels for unfamiliar objects in a paired-associate paradigm. In both studies, print facilitated the acquisition and recall of expressive vocabulary. The effect of print consistency, however, varied across studies. As expected, monolingual children exposed to consistent print learned more novel labels than children exposed to inconsistent print. In contrast, bilingual children exposed to inconsistent print learned and recalled more labels than children exposed to consistent print. These intriguing findings might be due to differences in attention allocation during training. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

How age of bilingual exposure can change the neural systems for language in the developing brain: a functional near infrared spectroscopy investigation of syntactic processing in monolingual and bilingual children.

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Jasinska, K K; Petitto, L A

2013-10-01

Is the developing bilingual brain fundamentally similar to the monolingual brain (e.g., neural resources supporting language and cognition)? Or, does early-life bilingual language experience change the brain? If so, how does age of first bilingual exposure impact neural activation for language? We compared how typically-developing bilingual and monolingual children (ages 7-10) and adults recruit brain areas during sentence processing using functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) brain imaging. Bilingual participants included early-exposed (bilingual exposure from birth) and later-exposed individuals (bilingual exposure between ages 4-6). Both bilingual children and adults showed greater neural activation in left-hemisphere classic language areas, and additionally, right-hemisphere homologues (Right Superior Temporal Gyrus, Right Inferior Frontal Gyrus). However, important differences were observed between early-exposed and later-exposed bilinguals in their earliest-exposed language. Early bilingual exposure imparts fundamental changes to classic language areas instead of alterations to brain regions governing higher cognitive executive functions. However, age of first bilingual exposure does matter. Later-exposed bilinguals showed greater recruitment of the prefrontal cortex relative to early-exposed bilinguals and monolinguals. The findings provide fascinating insight into the neural resources that facilitate bilingual language use and are discussed in terms of how early-life language experiences can modify the neural systems underlying human language processing. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Selective attention to the mouth is associated with expressive language skills in monolingual and bilingual infants.

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Tsang, Tawny; Atagi, Natsuki; Johnson, Scott P

2018-05-01

Infants increasingly attend to the mouths of others during the latter half of the first postnatal year, and individual differences in selective attention to talking mouths during infancy predict verbal skills during toddlerhood. There is some evidence suggesting that trajectories in mouth-looking vary by early language environment, in particular monolingual or bilingual language exposure, which may have differential consequences in developing sensitivity to the communicative and social affordances of the face. Here, we evaluated whether 6- to 12-month-olds' mouth-looking is related to skills associated with concurrent social communicative development-including early language functioning and emotion discriminability. We found that attention to the mouth of a talking face increased with age but that mouth-looking was more strongly associated with concurrent expressive language skills than chronological age for both monolingual and bilingual infants. Mouth-looking was not related to emotion discrimination. These data suggest that selective attention to a talking mouth may be one important mechanism by which infants learn language regardless of home language environment. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Comparison of auditory temporal resolution between monolingual Persian and bilingual Turkish-Persian individuals.

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Omidvar, Shaghayegh; Jafari, Zahra; Tahaei, Ali Akbar; Salehi, Masoud

2013-04-01

The aims of this study were to prepare a Persian version of the temporal resolution test using the method of Phillips et al (1994) and Stuart and Phillips (1996), and to compare the word-recognition performance in the presence of continuous and interrupted noise as well as the temporal resolution abilities between monolingual (ML) Persian and bilingual (BL) Turkish-Persian young adults. Word-recognition scores (WRSs) were obtained in quiet and in the presence of background competing continuous and interrupted noise at signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of -20, -10, 0, and 10 dB. Two groups of 33 ML Persian and 36 BL Turkish-Persian volunteers participated. WRSs significantly differed between ML and BL subjects at four sensation levels in the presence of continuous and interrupted noise. However, the difference in the release from masking between ML and BL subjects was not significant at the studied SNRs. BL Turkish-Persian listeners seem to show poorer performance when responding to Persian words in continuous and interrupted noise. However, bilingualism may not affect auditory temporal resolution ability.

Bilingualism as a Model for Multitasking.

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Poarch, Gregory J; Bialystok, Ellen

2015-03-01

Because both languages of bilinguals are constantly active, bilinguals need to manage attention to the target language and avoid interference from the non-target language. This process is likely carried out by recruiting the executive function (EF) system, a system that is also the basis for multitasking. In previous research, bilinguals have been shown to outperform monolinguals on tasks requiring EF, suggesting that the practice using EF for language management benefits performance in other tasks as well. The present study examined 203 children, 8-11 years old, who were monolingual, partially bilingual, bilingual, or trilingual performing a flanker task. Two results support the interpretation that bilingualism is related to multitasking. First, bilingual children outperformed monolinguals on the conflict trials in the flanker task, confirming previous results for a bilingual advantage in EF. Second, the inclusion of partial bilinguals and trilinguals set limits on the role of experience: partial bilingual performed similarly to monolinguals and trilinguals performed similarly to bilinguals, suggesting that degrees of experience are not well-calibrated to improvements in EF. Our conclusion is that the involvement of EF in bilingual language processing makes bilingualism a form of linguistic multitasking.

Use of Monolingual and Bilingual Dictionaries among Students of English

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Monika Kavalir

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The study of dictionary use in 32 firstyear students of English at the University of Ljubljana in the academic year 2009/2010 shows that students use a variety of dictionaries with a slight preponderance of monolingual dictionaries over bilingual ones. The bilingual dictionaries listed do not include some of the most recent and most comprehensive dictionaries while some of the most frequently used resources are quite modest sized. The students are already predominantly users of electronic and online dictionaries with a lower frequency of printed resources – a trend which is only likely to accelerate with the advent of new bilingual online dictionaries. These results have practical relevance for teachers in all sectors, from primary and secondary schools to universities, as they point towards a need for additional training in the use of bilingual dictionaries. The transition from printed to electronic and online resources can also be expected to induce changes in EFL methodology at all levels.

The Relationship of Bilingualism Compared to Monolingualism to the Risk of Cognitive Decline or Dementia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

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Mukadam, Naaheed; Sommerlad, Andrew; Livingston, Gill

2017-01-01

Bilingualism may contribute to cognitive reserve, protect against cognitive decline, and delay the onset of dementia. We systematically reviewed evidence about the effect of bilingualism on subsequent cognitive decline or dementia. We searched electronic databases and references for longitudinal studies comparing cognitive decline in people who were bilingual with those who were monolingual and evaluated study quality. We conducted meta-analyses using random effects models to calculate pooled odds ratio of incident dementia. We included 13/1,156 eligible articles. Meta-analysis of prospective studies of the effects of bilingualism on future dementia gave a combined Odds Ratio of dementia of 0.96 (95% CI 0.74-1.23) in bilingual participants (n = 5,527) compared to monolinguals. Most retrospective studies found that bilingual people were reported to develop symptoms of cognitive decline at a later age than monolingual participants. We did not find that bilingualism protects from cognitive decline or dementia from prospective studies. Retrospective studies are more prone to confounding by education, or cultural differences in presentation to dementia services and are therefore not suited to establishing causative links between risk factors and outcomes.

Impact of the linguistic environment on speech perception : comparing bilingual and monolingual populations

OpenAIRE

Roessler, Abeba, 1981-

2012-01-01

The present dissertation set out to investigate how the linguistic environment affects speech perception. Three sets of studies have explored effects of bilingualism on word recognition in adults and infants and the impact of first language linguistic knowledge on rule learning in adults. In the present work, we have found evidence in three auditory priming studies that bilingual adults, in contrast to monolinguals have developed mechanisms to effectively overcome interference from irrelevant...

How bilingualism protects the brain from aging: Insights from bimodal bilinguals.

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Li, Le; Abutalebi, Jubin; Emmorey, Karen; Gong, Gaolang; Yan, Xin; Feng, Xiaoxia; Zou, Lijuan; Ding, Guosheng

2017-08-01

Bilingual experience can delay cognitive decline during aging. A general hypothesis is that the executive control system of bilinguals faces an increased load due to controlling two languages, and this increased load results in a more "tuned brain" that eventually creates a neural reserve. Here we explored whether such a neuroprotective effect is independent of language modality, i.e., not limited to bilinguals who speak two languages but also occurs for bilinguals who use a spoken and a signed language. We addressed this issue by comparing bimodal bilinguals to monolinguals in order to detect age-induced structural brain changes and to determine whether we can detect the same beneficial effects on brain structure, in terms of preservation of gray matter volume (GMV), for bimodal bilinguals as has been reported for unimodal bilinguals. Our GMV analyses revealed a significant interaction effect of age × group in the bilateral anterior temporal lobes, left hippocampus/amygdala, and left insula where bimodal bilinguals showed slight GMV increases while monolinguals showed significant age-induced GMV decreases. We further found through cortical surface-based measurements that this effect was present for surface area and not for cortical thickness. Moreover, to further explore the hypothesis that overall bilingualism provides neuroprotection, we carried out a direct comparison of GMV, extracted from the brain regions reported above, between bimodal bilinguals, unimodal bilinguals, and monolinguals. Bilinguals, regardless of language modality, exhibited higher GMV compared to monolinguals. This finding highlights the general beneficial effects provided by experience handling two language systems, whether signed or spoken. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4109-4124, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Phoneme Awareness, Vocabulary and Word Decoding in Monolingual and Bilingual Dutch Children

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Janssen, Marije; Bosman, Anna M. T.; Leseman, Paul P. M.

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate whether bilingually raised children in the Netherlands, who receive literacy instruction in their second language only, show an advantage on Dutch phoneme-awareness tasks compared with monolingual Dutch-speaking children. Language performance of a group of 47 immigrant first-grade children with various…

Language and executive functioning in the context of specific language impairment and bilingualism

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Laloi, A.

2015-01-01

The present thesis has investigated how French-speaking monolingual and bilingual children with SLI (specific language impairment) performed on various tasks examining language and executive functioning (EF) abilities, in comparison to monolingual and bilingual peers without SLI. Language was

The Home Language Environment of Monolingual and Bilingual Children and Their Language Proficiency

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Scheele, Anna F.; Leseman, Paul P. M.; Mayo, Aziza Y.

2010-01-01

This study investigated the relationships between home language learning activities and vocabulary in a sample of monolingual native Dutch (n = 58) and bilingual immigrant Moroccan-Dutch (n = 46) and Turkish-Dutch (n = 55) 3-year-olds, speaking Tarifit-Berber, a nonscripted language, and Turkish as their first language (L1), respectively. Despite…

Bilingualism and Working Memory Capacity: A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis

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Grundy, John G.; Timmer, Kalinka

2017-01-01

Bilinguals often outperform monolinguals on executive function tasks, including tasks that tap cognitive flexibility, conflict monitoring, and task-switching abilities. Some have suggested that bilinguals also have greater working memory capacity than comparable monolinguals, but evidence for this suggestion is mixed. We therefore conducted a…

Multilingual Effects on EFL Learning: A Comparison of Foreign Language Anxiety Experienced by Monolingual and Bilingual Tertiary Students in the Lao PDR

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Phongsa, Manivone; Mohamed Ismail, Shaik Abdul Malik; Low, Hui Min

2018-01-01

Foreign language anxiety is common among adult learners, especially those who lack exposure to the language that they are learning. In this study, we compared the foreign language anxiety experienced by monolingual and bilingual tertiary students in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) who were learning English as a Foreign Language. The…

Measuring growth in bilingual and monolingual children's english productive vocabulary development: the utility of combining parent and teacher report.

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Vagh, Shaher Banu; Pan, Barbara Alexander; Mancilla-Martinez, Jeannette

2009-01-01

This longitudinal study examined growth in the English productive vocabularies of bilingual and monolingual children between ages 24 and 36 months and explored the utility and validity of supplementing parent reports with teacher reports to improve the estimation of children's vocabulary. Low-income, English-speaking and English/Spanish-speaking parents and Early Head Start and Head Start program teachers completed the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory, Words and Sentences for 85 children. Results indicate faster growth rates for monolingual than for bilingual children and larger vocabularies for bilingual children who spoke mostly English than mostly Spanish at home. Parent-teacher composite reports, like parent reports, significantly related to children's directly assessed productive vocabulary at ages 30 and 36 months, but parent reports fit the model better. Implications for vocabulary assessment are discussed.

Language profiles of monolingual and bilingual Finnish preschool children at risk for language impairment.

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Westman, Martin; Korkman, Marit; Mickos, Annika; Byring, Roger

2008-01-01

A large proportion of children are exposed to more than one language, yet research on simultaneous bilingualism has been relatively sparse. Traditionally, there has been concern that bilingualism may aggravate language difficulties of children with language impairment. However, recent studies have not found specific language impairment (SLI) or language-related problems to be increased by bilingualism. The topic of bilingualism and its effects has high actuality in Finland, where increasing numbers of children in the country's 6% Swedish-speaking minority grow up in bilingual families, where one parent's primary language is Swedish and the other's Finnish. The present study aimed at exploring the influence of such bilingualism on the language profiles of children from this population at risk for language impairment (LI). Participants were recruited from a language screening of 339 children from kindergartens with instruction only in Swedish, from the Swedish-speaking parts of Finland. Of these children, 33 (9.7%) were defined as a Risk Group for LI, whereas 48 non-risk children were randomly selected to form a control group. When subdividing the children according to home language, 35 were found to be monolingual, Swedish-speaking, and 46 were Swedish-Finnish bilingual. The children underwent neuropsychological assessment during their preschool year. Assessment methods included subtests from the Wechsler Primary and Preschool Scale of Intelligence - Revised and the NEPSY Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment. A repeated-measures multiple analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) showed a significant effect of risk of LI on the NEPSY language scores. The effect of home language was not significant and there was no interaction between home language and risk for LI. Non-verbal IQ was controlled for. Across groups, bilingual children scored lower than monolingual children only on measures of vocabulary and sentence repetition. Although a slight general cost of

Phonological Awareness and Vocabulary Performance of Monolingual and Bilingual Preschool Children with Hearing Loss

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Lund, Emily; Werfel, Krystal L.; Schuele, C. Melanie

2015-01-01

This pilot study compared the phonological awareness skills and vocabulary performance of English monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual children with and without hearing loss. Preschool children with varying degrees of hearing loss (n = 18) and preschool children without hearing loss (n = 19) completed measures of phonological awareness and…

Excitatory and inhibitory priming by attended and ignored non-recycled words with monolinguals and bilinguals.

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Neumann, Ewald; Nkrumah, Ivy K; Chen, Zhe

2018-03-03

Experiments examining identity priming from attended and ignored novel words (words that are used only once except when repetition is required due to experimental manipulation) in a lexical decision task are reported. Experiment 1 tested English monolinguals whereas Experiment 2 tested Twi (a native language of Ghana, Africa)-English bilinguals. Participants were presented with sequential pairs of stimuli composed of a prime followed by a probe, with each containing two items. The participants were required to name the target word in the prime display, and to make a lexical decision to the target item in the probe display. On attended repetition (AR) trials the probe target item was identical to the target word on the preceding attentional display. On ignored repetition (IR) trials the probe target item was the same as the distractor word in the preceding attentional display. The experiments produced facilitated (positive) priming in the AR trials and delayed (negative) priming in the IR trials. Significantly, the positive and negative priming effects also replicated across both monolingual and bilingual groups of participants, despite the fact that the bilinguals were responding to the task in their non-dominant language.

Differences between Spanish monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual children in their calculation of entailment-based scalar implicatures

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Kristen Syrett

2017-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we extend investigations of the possible effects of cross-linguistic influence at the pragmatics-syntax interface (Hulk & Müller 2000; Müller & Hulk 2001; Serratrice, Sorace & Paoli 2004, by presenting two experiments designed to probe how Spanish monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual preschool-age children approach the ‘some, but not all’ 'scalar implicature '(SI associated with 'algunos '(‘some’. We compare 'algunos 'and 'unos '(also a ‘some’ indefinite, but one that is not context-linked and does not induce an SI, and 'algunos 'and 'todos '(the universal quantifier ‘every/all’. The performance of the children is compared to fluent adult Spanish heritage speakers. Experiment 1 is a variation of Noveck’s (2001 statement evaluation task, also replicated by Guasti et al'. '(2005. Experiment 2 is a forced-choice picture selection task. Results demonstrate that adults were the only group to consistently calculate the SI associated with 'algunos '– a finding that was expected to some extent, given that our tasks were stripped of the contextual support that could benefit children’s pragmatic reasoning. While bilingual and monolingual children displayed comparable performance across tasks, bilinguals in Experiment 2 appeared to experience difficulty with judgments related to 'todos '– a pattern we attribute (in light of independent findings to the cognitive overload in the task, not the lexical entry of this quantifier. We conclude that young monolingual and bilingual children confront the same challenges when called upon to deploy pragmatic skills in a discourse context. This article is part of the special collection:Acquisition of Quantification

Expressive Vocabulary Development in Children from Bilingual and Monolingual Homes: A Longitudinal Study from Two to Four Years.

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Hoff, Erika; Rumiche, Rosario; Burridge, Andrea; Ribot, Krystal M; Welsh, Stephanie N

2014-10-01

The early course of language development among children from bilingual homes varies in ways that are not well described and as a result of influences that are not well understood. Here, we describe trajectories of relative change in expressive vocabulary from 22 to 48 months and vocabulary achievement at 48 months in two groups of children from bilingual homes (children with one and children with two native Spanish-speaking parents [ n s = 15 and 11]) and in an SES-equivalent group of children from monolingual English homes ( n = 31). The two groups from bilingual homes differed in their mean levels of English and Spanish skills, in their developmental trajectories during this period, and in the relation between language use at home and their vocabulary development. Children with two native Spanish-speaking parents showed steepest gains in total vocabulary and were more nearly balanced bilinguals at 48 months. Children with one native Spanish- and one native English-speaking parent showed trajectories of relative decline in Spanish vocabulary. At 48 months, mean levels of English skill among the bilingual children were comparable to monolingual norms, but children with two native Spanish-speaking parents had lower English scores than the SES-equivalent monolingual group. Use of English at home was a significant positive predictor of English vocabulary scores only among children with a native English-speaking parent. These findings argue that efforts to optimize school readiness among children from immigrant families should facilitate their access to native speakers of the community language, and efforts to support heritage language maintenance should include encouraging heritage language use by native speakers in the home.

Interference Control In Elderly Bilinguals: Appearances Can Be Misleading.

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Ansaldo, Ana Inés; Ghazi-Saidi, Ladan; Adrover-Roig, Daniel

2015-01-01

Bilingualism has been associated with successful aging. In particular, research on the cognitive advantages of bilingualism suggests that it can enhance control over interference and help delay the onset of dementia signs. However, the evidence on the so-called cognitive advantage is not unanimous; furthermore, little is known about the neural basis of this supposed cognitive advantage in bilingual as opposed to monolingual elderly populations. In this study, elderly bilingual and monolingual participants performed a visuospatial interference control task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. Response times and accuracy rates were calculated for congruent and incongruent conditions of the Simon task, and the neurofunctional correlates of performance on the Simon task were examined. The results showed equivalent performance on the Simon task across groups but different underlying neural substrates in the two groups. With incongruent trials, monolinguals activated the right middle frontal gyrus, whereas bilinguals relied upon the left inferior parietal lobule. These results show that elderly bilinguals and monolinguals have equivalent interference control abilities, but relay on different neural substrates. Thus, while monolinguals show a classical PASA (posterior-anterior shift in aging) effect, recruiting frontal areas, bilinguals activate visuospatial processing alone and thus do not show this posterior-anterior shift. Moreover, a modulation of frontal activity with task-dynamic control of interference, observed in the elderly bilingual group alone, suggests that elderly bilinguals deal with interference control without recruiting a circuit that is particularly vulnerable to aging.

Cognitive Advantages of Bilingual Children in Different Sociolinguistic Contexts

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Blom, Elma; Boerma, Tessel; Bosma, Evelyn; Cornips, Leonie; Everaert, Emma

2017-01-01

Many studies have shown that bilingual children outperform monolinguals on tasks testing executive functioning, but other studies have not revealed any effect of bilingualism. In this study we compared three groups of bilingual children in the Netherlands, aged 6–7 years, with a monolingual control group. We were specifically interested in testing whether the bilingual cognitive advantage is modulated by the sociolinguistic context of language use. All three bilingual groups were exposed to a minority language besides the nation’s dominant language (Dutch). Two bilingual groups were exposed to a regional language (Frisian, Limburgish), and a third bilingual group was exposed to a migrant language (Polish). All children participated in two working memory tasks (verbal, visuospatial) and two attention tasks (selective attention, interference suppression). Bilingual children outperformed monolinguals on selective attention. The cognitive effect of bilingualism was most clearly present in the Frisian-Dutch group and in a subgroup of migrant children who were relatively proficient in Polish. The effect was less robust in the Limburgish-Dutch sample. Investigation of the response patterns of the flanker test, testing interference suppression, suggested that bilingual children more often show an effect of response competition than the monolingual children, demonstrating that bilingual children attend to different aspects of the task than monolingual children. No bilingualism effects emerged for verbal and visuospatial working memory. PMID:28484403

Cognitive Advantages of Bilingual Children in Different Sociolinguistic Contexts.

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Blom, Elma; Boerma, Tessel; Bosma, Evelyn; Cornips, Leonie; Everaert, Emma

2017-01-01

Many studies have shown that bilingual children outperform monolinguals on tasks testing executive functioning, but other studies have not revealed any effect of bilingualism. In this study we compared three groups of bilingual children in the Netherlands, aged 6-7 years, with a monolingual control group. We were specifically interested in testing whether the bilingual cognitive advantage is modulated by the sociolinguistic context of language use. All three bilingual groups were exposed to a minority language besides the nation's dominant language (Dutch). Two bilingual groups were exposed to a regional language (Frisian, Limburgish), and a third bilingual group was exposed to a migrant language (Polish). All children participated in two working memory tasks (verbal, visuospatial) and two attention tasks (selective attention, interference suppression). Bilingual children outperformed monolinguals on selective attention. The cognitive effect of bilingualism was most clearly present in the Frisian-Dutch group and in a subgroup of migrant children who were relatively proficient in Polish. The effect was less robust in the Limburgish-Dutch sample. Investigation of the response patterns of the flanker test, testing interference suppression, suggested that bilingual children more often show an effect of response competition than the monolingual children, demonstrating that bilingual children attend to different aspects of the task than monolingual children. No bilingualism effects emerged for verbal and visuospatial working memory.

The effect of lifelong bilingualism on regional grey and white matter volume.

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Olsen, Rosanna K; Pangelinan, Melissa M; Bogulski, Cari; Chakravarty, M Mallar; Luk, Gigi; Grady, Cheryl L; Bialystok, Ellen

2015-07-01

Lifelong bilingualism is associated with the delayed diagnosis of dementia, suggesting bilingual experience is relevant to brain health in aging. While the effects of bilingualism on cognitive functions across the lifespan are well documented, less is known about the neural substrates underlying differential behaviour. It is clear that bilingualism affects brain regions that mediate language abilities and that these regions are at least partially overlapping with those that exhibit age-related decline. Moreover, the behavioural advantages observed in bilingualism are generally found in executive function performance, suggesting that the frontal lobes may also be sensitive to bilingualism, which exhibit volume reductions with age. The current study investigated structural differences in the brain of lifelong bilingual older adults (n=14, mean age=70.4) compared with older monolinguals (n=14, mean age=70.6). We employed two analytic approaches: 1) we examined global differences in grey and white matter volumes; and, 2) we examined local differences in volume and cortical thickness of specific regions of interest previously implicated in bilingual/monolingual comparisons (temporal pole) or in aging (entorhinal cortex and hippocampus). We expected bilinguals would exhibit greater volume of the frontal lobe and temporal lobe (grey and white matter), given the importance of these regions in executive and language functions, respectively. We further hypothesized that regions in the medial temporal lobe, which demonstrate early changes in aging and exhibit neural pathology in dementia, would be more preserved in the bilingual group. As predicted, bilinguals exhibit greater frontal lobe white matter compared with monolinguals. Moreover, increasing age was related to decreasing temporal pole cortical thickness in the monolingual group, but no such relationship was observed for bilinguals. Finally, Stroop task performance was positively correlated with frontal lobe white

Narrative Development among Language-Minority Children: The Role of Bilingual versus Monolingual Preschool Education

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Schwartz, Mila; Shaul, Yehudit

2013-01-01

The development of script schema, as a source of narrative knowledge, is an essential stage in this knowledge construction. This study focused on the role of bilingual versus monolingual preschool education in the development of script schema knowledge in Russian (L1) and Hebrew (L2) among Russian/Hebrew-speaking children in Israel. The preschool…

The semantic network, lexical access, and reading comprehension in monolingual and bilingual children : An individual differences study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Spätgens, T.; Schoonen, R.

Using a semantic priming experiment, the influence of lexical access and knowledge of semantic relations on reading comprehension was studied in Dutch monolingual and bilingual minority children. Both context-independent semantic relations in the form of category coordinates and context-dependent

Monolingual and Bilingual Infants’ Ability to Use Non-native Tone for Word Learning Deteriorates by the Second Year After Birth

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liquan Liu

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Previous studies reported a non-native word learning advantage for bilingual infants at around 18 months. We investigated developmental changes in infant interpretation of sounds that aid in object mapping. Dutch monolingual and bilingual (exposed to Dutch and a second non-tone-language infants’ word learning ability was examined on two novel label–object pairings using syllables differing in Mandarin tones as labels (flat vs. falling. Infants aged 14–15 months, regardless of language backgrounds, were sensitive to violations in the label–objects pairings when lexical tones were switched compared to when they were the same as habituated. Conversely at 17–18 months, neither monolingual nor bilingual infants demonstrated learning. Linking with existing literature, infants’ ability to associate non-native tones with meanings may be related to tonal acoustic properties and/or perceptual assimilation to native prosodic categories. These findings provide new insights into the relation between infant tone perception, learning, and interpretative narrowing from a developmental perspective.

Comparing the Effect of Using Monolingual versus Bilingual Dictionary on Iranian Intermediate EFL Learners' Vocabulary Learning

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Ahangari, Saeideh; Dogolsara, Shokoufeh Abbasi

2015-01-01

This study aimed to investigate the effect of using two types of dictionaries (monolingual and bilingual) on Iranian intermediate EFL learners' vocabulary learning. An OPT (Oxford placement test, 2001) was administered among 90 students 60 of whom were selected as the participants of this study. They were sophomore students studying English as a…

Effects of bilingualism on vocabulary, executive functions, age of dementia onset, and regional brain structure.

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Gasquoine, Philip Gerard

2016-11-01

To review the current literature on the effects of bilingualism on vocabulary, executive functions, age of dementia onset, and regional brain structure. PubMed and PsycINFO databases were searched (from January 1999 to present) for relevant original research and review articles on bilingualism (but not multilingualism) paired with each target neuropsychological variable published in English. A qualitative review of these articles was conducted. It has long been known that mean scores of bilinguals fall below those of monolinguals on vocabulary and other language, but not visual-perceptual, format cognitive tests. Contemporary studies that have reported higher mean scores for bilinguals than monolinguals on executive function task-switching or inhibition tasks have not always been replicated, leading to concerns of publication bias, statistical flaws, and failures to match groups on potentially confounding variables. Studies suggesting the onset of Alzheimer's disease occurred about 4 years later for bilinguals versus monolinguals have not been confirmed in longitudinal, cohort, community-based, incidence studies that have used neuropsychological testing and diagnostic criteria to establish an age of dementia diagnosis. Neuroimaging studies of regional gray and white matter volume in bilinguals versus monolinguals show inconsistencies in terms of both the regions of difference and the nature of the difference. Resolving inconsistencies in the behavioral data is necessary before searching in the brain for neuroanatomical correlation. Comparisons of balanced versus language-dominant groups within the same ethnoculture combined with objective measurement of bilingualism could better match groups on potentially confounding variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Bilingualism, executive control, and age at diagnosis among people with early-stage Alzheimer's disease in Wales.

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Clare, Linda; Whitaker, Christopher J; Craik, Fergus I M; Bialystok, Ellen; Martyr, Anthony; Martin-Forbes, Pamela A; Bastable, Alexandra J M; Pye, Kirstie L; Quinn, Catherine; Thomas, Enlli M; Gathercole, Virginia C Mueller; Hindle, John V

2016-09-01

The observation of a bilingual advantage in executive control tasks involving inhibition and management of response conflict suggests that being bilingual might contribute to increased cognitive reserve. In support of this, recent evidence indicates that bilinguals develop Alzheimer's disease (AD) later than monolinguals, and may retain an advantage in performance on executive control tasks. We compared age at the time of receiving an AD diagnosis in bilingual Welsh/English speakers (n = 37) and monolingual English speakers (n = 49), and assessed the performance of bilinguals (n = 24) and monolinguals (n = 49) on a range of executive control tasks. There was a non-significant difference in age at the time of diagnosis, with bilinguals being on average 3 years older than monolinguals, but bilinguals were also significantly more cognitively impaired at the time of diagnosis. There were no significant differences between monolinguals and bilinguals in performance on executive function tests, but bilinguals appeared to show relative strengths in the domain of inhibition and response conflict. Bilingual Welsh/English speakers with AD do not show a clear advantage in executive function over monolingual English speakers, but may retain some benefits in inhibition and management of response conflict. There may be a delay in onset of AD in Welsh/English bilinguals, but if so, it is smaller than that found in some other clinical populations. In this Welsh sample, bilinguals with AD came to the attention of services later than monolinguals, and reasons for this pattern could be explored further. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

Impact of Bilingualism on Cognitive Outcome After Stroke.

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Alladi, Suvarna; Bak, Thomas H; Mekala, Shailaja; Rajan, Amulya; Chaudhuri, Jaydip Ray; Mioshi, Eneida; Krovvidi, Rajesh; Surampudi, Bapiraju; Duggirala, Vasanta; Kaul, Subhash

2016-01-01

Bilingualism has been associated with slower cognitive aging and a later onset of dementia. In this study, we aimed to determine whether bilingualism also influences cognitive outcome after stroke. We examined 608 patients with ischemic stroke from a large stroke registry and studied the role of bilingualism in predicting poststroke cognitive impairment in the absence of dementia. A larger proportion of bilinguals had normal cognition compared with monolinguals (40.5% versus 19.6%; Pdementia and vascular mild cognitive impairment (monolinguals 77.7% versus bilinguals 49.0%; Pbilinguals 10.5%; P=0.354). Bilingualism was found to be an independent predictor of poststroke cognitive impairment. Our results suggest that bilingualism leads to a better cognitive outcome after stroke, possibly by enhancing cognitive reserve. © 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.

Success of Using Technology and Manipulatives To Introduce Numerical Problem Solving Skills in Monolingual/Bilingual Early Childhood Classrooms.

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Ainsa, Trisha

1999-01-01

Pilots and evaluates a math activity initially utilizing M&Ms as manipulatives, then progressing to computer software math activities, in five early childhood classrooms. Concludes that there were no significant differences between learning tasks, monolingual students vs. bilingual students, and manipulative (hands-off) activities vs. computer…

A behavioural and electrophysiological investigation of the effect of bilingualism on lexical ambiguity resolution in young adults

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shanna eKousaie

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Previous research suggests that bilinguals demonstrate superior cognitive control processes than monolinguals. The goal of the current investigation was to examine whether this bilingual advantage is observed in a language processing task that requires inhibition, i.e., lexical ambiguity processing. Monolingual and bilingual participants read sentences that biased the reading of a terminal homonym toward the subordinate or dominant reading (e.g., The doctor asked her to step onto the scale.. A relatedness judgement was made on target words that were related to the contextually appropriate (e.g., balance or inappropriate meaning (e.g., skin, or unrelated to either meaning (e.g., shoe while electrophysiological recording took place. The results revealed subtle processing differences between monolinguals and bilinguals that were evident in electrophysiological measures, but not in behavioural measures. These findings suggest that monolinguals rely on context to access the contextually appropriate meaning of a homonym to a greater extent than bilinguals, while bilinguals demonstrate simultaneous activation of both meanings.

Assessing the Effectiveness of Monolingual, Bilingual, and "Bilingualised" Dictionaries in the Comprehension and Production of New Words.

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Laufer, Batia; Hadar, Linor

1997-01-01

Examines the differences in effectiveness of three types of dictionaries--monolingual, bilingual, and "bilingualised" in the comprehension and production of new words by learners of English as a foreign language. The study tested participants on the comprehension of target words and on their ability to use these words in their own sentences. (16…

Does bilingualism increase brain or cognitive reserve in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy?

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Reyes, Anny; Paul, Brianna M; Marshall, Anisa; Chang, Yu-Hsuan A; Bahrami, Naeim; Kansal, Leena; Iragui, Vicente J; Tecoma, Evelyn S; Gollan, Tamar H; McDonald, Carrie R

2018-05-01

Bilingual healthy adults have been shown to exhibit an advantage in executive functioning (EF) that is associated with microstructural changes in white matter (WM) networks. Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) often show EF deficits that are associated with WM compromise. In this study, we investigate whether bilingualism can increase cognitive reserve and/or brain reserve in bilingual patients with TLE, mitigating EF impairment and WM compromise. Diffusion tensor imaging was obtained in 19 bilingual and 26 monolingual patients with TLE, 12 bilingual healthy controls (HC), and 21 monolingual HC. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) were calculated for the uncinate fasciculus (Unc) and cingulum (Cing), superior frontostriatal tract (SFS), and inferior frontostriatal tract (IFS). Measures of EF included Trail Making Test-B (TMT-B) and Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Color-Word Inhibition/Switching. Analyses of covariance were conducted to compare FA and MD of the Unc, Cing, SFS, and IFS and EF performance across groups. In bilingual patients, FA was lower in the ipsilateral Cing and Unc compared to all other groups. For both patient groups, MD of the ipsilateral Unc was higher relative to HC. Despite more pronounced reductions in WM integrity, bilingual patients performed similarly to monolingual TLE and both HC groups on EF measures. By contrast, monolingual patients performed worse than HC on TMT-B. In addition, differences in group means between bilingual and monolingual patients on TMT-B approached significance when controlling for the extent of WM damage (P = .071; d = 0.62), suggesting a tendency toward higher performance for bilingual patients. Despite poorer integrity of regional frontal lobe WM, bilingual patients performed similarly to monolingual patients and HC on EF measures. These findings align with studies suggesting that bilingualism may provide a protective factor for individuals with neurological disease, potentially

Bilingualism Alters Children's Frontal Lobe Functioning for Attentional Control

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Arredondo, Maria M.; Hu, Xiao-Su; Satterfield, Teresa; Kovelman, Ioulia

2017-01-01

Bilingualism is a typical linguistic experience, yet relatively little is known about its impact on children's cognitive and brain development. Theories of bilingualism suggest early dual-language acquisition can improve children's cognitive abilities, specifically those relying on frontal lobe functioning. While behavioral findings present much conflicting evidence, little is known about its effects on children's frontal lobe development. Using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), the findings suggest that Spanish-English bilingual children (n=13, ages 7-13) had greater activation in left prefrontal cortex during a non-verbal attentional control task relative to age-matched English monolinguals. In contrast, monolinguals (n=14) showed greater right prefrontal activation than bilinguals. The present findings suggest early bilingualism yields significant changes to the functional organization of children's prefrontal cortex for attentional control and carry implications for understanding how early life experiences impact cognition and brain development. PMID:26743118

The Impact of Early Bilingualism on Face Recognition Processes.

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Kandel, Sonia; Burfin, Sabine; Méary, David; Ruiz-Tada, Elisa; Costa, Albert; Pascalis, Olivier

2016-01-01

Early linguistic experience has an impact on the way we decode audiovisual speech in face-to-face communication. The present study examined whether differences in visual speech decoding could be linked to a broader difference in face processing. To identify a phoneme we have to do an analysis of the speaker's face to focus on the relevant cues for speech decoding (e.g., locating the mouth with respect to the eyes). Face recognition processes were investigated through two classic effects in face recognition studies: the Other-Race Effect (ORE) and the Inversion Effect. Bilingual and monolingual participants did a face recognition task with Caucasian faces (own race), Chinese faces (other race), and cars that were presented in an Upright or Inverted position. The results revealed that monolinguals exhibited the classic ORE. Bilinguals did not. Overall, bilinguals were slower than monolinguals. These results suggest that bilinguals' face processing abilities differ from monolinguals'. Early exposure to more than one language may lead to a perceptual organization that goes beyond language processing and could extend to face analysis. We hypothesize that these differences could be due to the fact that bilinguals focus on different parts of the face than monolinguals, making them more efficient in other race face processing but slower. However, more studies using eye-tracking techniques are necessary to confirm this explanation.

Bilingualism and Creativity in Early Childhood

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Leikin, Mark; Tovli, Esther

2014-01-01

This study examined the possible effect of bilingualism on creativity in nonmathematical and mathematical problem solving among bilingual and monolingual preschoolers. Two groups of children (M age = 71.9 months, SD = 3.6) from the same monolingual kindergartens participated in this study: 15 Russian/Hebrew balanced bilinguals and 16 native…

Memória Auditiva-Verbal e Funções Executivas em Crianças Bilingues (Português Europeu/Francês) e Monolingues (Português Europeu) dos 10 aos 11 anos de idade

OpenAIRE

Spínola, Jennifer Gomes

2011-01-01

O principal objectivo deste estudo foi verificar se o desempenho de crianças bilingues difere das monolingues no que concerne à memória auditiva-verbal e funções executivas. Neste estudo de carácter descritivo-comparativo participaram 70 estudantes do 5º ano de escolaridade, com idades compreendidas entre os 10 e 11 anos de idade. (M= 10,24; DP= 0,43). Dos 70 estudantes, 30 são bilingues (Português Europeu/ Francês) e frequentam o ensino bilingue e 40 são monolingues (Português Europeu) e fre...

Executive function and bilingualism in young and older adults

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Shanna eKousaie

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Research suggests that being bilingual results in advantages on executive control processes and disadvantages on language tasks relative to monolinguals. Furthermore, the executive function advantage is thought to be larger in older than younger adults, suggesting that bilingualism may buffer against age-related changes in executive function. However, there are potential confounds in some of the previous research, as well as inconsistencies in the literature. The goal of the current investigation was to examine the presence of a bilingual advantage in executive control and a bilingual disadvantage on language tasks in the same sample of young and older monolingual anglophones, monolingual francophones, and French/English bilinguals. Participants completed a series of executive function tasks, including a Stroop task, a Simon task, a sustained attention to response task (SART, the Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST, and the digit span subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, and language tasks, including the Boston Naming Test (BNT, and category and letter fluency. The results do not demonstrate an unequivocal advantage for bilinguals on executive function tasks and raise questions about the reliability, robustness and/or specificity of previous findings. The results also did not demonstrate a disadvantage for bilinguals on language tasks. Rather, they suggest that there may be an influence of the language environment. It is concluded that additional research is required to fully characterize any language group differences in both executive function and language tasks.

Working memory in multilingual children: is there a bilingual effect?

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Engel de Abreu, Pascale M J

2011-07-01

This research investigates whether early childhood bilingualism affects working memory performance in 6- to 8-year-olds, followed over a longitudinal period of 3 years. The study tests the hypothesis that bilinguals might exhibit more efficient working memory abilities than monolinguals, potentially via the opportunity a bilingual environment provides to train cognitive control by combating interference and intrusions from the non-target language. A total of 44 bilingual and monolingual children, matched on age, sex, and socioeconomic status, completed assessments of working memory (simple span and complex span tasks), fluid intelligence, and language (vocabulary and syntax). The data showed that the monolinguals performed significantly better on the language measures across the years, whereas no language group effect emerged on the working memory and fluid intelligence tasks after verbal abilities were considered. The study suggests that the need to manage several language systems in the bilingual mind has an impact on children's language skills while having little effects on the development of working memory.

The effects of bilingual growth on toddlers' executive function.

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Crivello, Cristina; Kuzyk, Olivia; Rodrigues, Monyka; Friend, Margaret; Zesiger, Pascal; Poulin-Dubois, Diane

2016-01-01

The mastery of two languages provides bilingual speakers with cognitive benefits over monolinguals, particularly on cognitive flexibility and selective attention. However, extant research is limited to comparisons between monolinguals and bilinguals at a single point in time. This study investigated whether growth in bilingual proficiency, as shown by an increased number of translation equivalents (TEs) over a 7-month period, improves executive function. We hypothesized that bilingual toddlers with a larger increase of TEs would have more practice in switching across lexical systems, boosting executive function abilities. Expressive vocabulary and TEs were assessed at 24 and 31 months of age. A battery of tasks, including conflict, delay, and working memory tasks, was administered at 31 months. As expected, we observed a task-specific advantage in inhibitory control in bilinguals. More important, within the bilingual group, larger increases in the number of TEs predicted better performance on conflict tasks but not on delay tasks. This unique longitudinal design confirms the relation between executive function and early bilingualism. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Lifelong bilingualism maintains neural efficiency for cognitive control in aging.

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Gold, Brian T; Kim, Chobok; Johnson, Nathan F; Kryscio, Richard J; Smith, Charles D

2013-01-09

Recent behavioral data have shown that lifelong bilingualism can maintain youthful cognitive control abilities in aging. Here, we provide the first direct evidence of a neural basis for the bilingual cognitive control boost in aging. Two experiments were conducted, using a perceptual task-switching paradigm, including a total of 110 participants. In Experiment 1, older adult bilinguals showed better perceptual switching performance than their monolingual peers. In Experiment 2, younger and older adult monolinguals and bilinguals completed the same perceptual task-switching experiment while functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed. Typical age-related performance reductions and fMRI activation increases were observed. However, like younger adults, bilingual older adults outperformed their monolingual peers while displaying decreased activation in left lateral frontal cortex and cingulate cortex. Critically, this attenuation of age-related over-recruitment associated with bilingualism was directly correlated with better task-switching performance. In addition, the lower blood oxygenation level-dependent response in frontal regions accounted for 82% of the variance in the bilingual task-switching reaction time advantage. These results suggest that lifelong bilingualism offsets age-related declines in the neural efficiency for cognitive control processes.

Discourses on Bilingualism in Canadian French Immersion Programs

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Roy, Sylvie; Galiev, Albert

2011-01-01

The present article examines discourses on bilingualism in French immersion schools and connects local ideologies of bilingualism to a more global view of what it means to be bilingual in Canada. Bilingualism is usually regarded as two isolated monolingualisms (or monolingual systems) in which there is no place for code-switching, uneven language…

The Role of Oral Language Skills in Reading and Listening Comprehension of Text: A Comparison of Monolingual (L1) and Bilingual (L2) Speakers of English Language

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Babayigit, Selma

2014-01-01

The study examined the role of oral language skills in reading comprehension and listening comprehension levels of 125 monolingual (L1) and bilingual (L2) English-speaking learners (M = 121.5 months, SD = 4.65) in England. All testing was conducted in English. The L1 learners outperformed their L2 peers on the measures of oral language and text…

Unsupervised Word Mapping Using Structural Similarities in Monolingual Embeddings

OpenAIRE

Aldarmaki, Hanan; Mohan, Mahesh; Diab, Mona

2017-01-01

Most existing methods for automatic bilingual dictionary induction rely on prior alignments between the source and target languages, such as parallel corpora or seed dictionaries. For many language pairs, such supervised alignments are not readily available. We propose an unsupervised approach for learning a bilingual dictionary for a pair of languages given their independently-learned monolingual word embeddings. The proposed method exploits local and global structures in monolingual vector ...

Does Bilingualism Influence Cognitive Aging?

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Bak, Thomas H; Nissan, Jack J; Allerhand, Michael M; Deary, Ian J

2014-01-01

Recent evidence suggests a positive impact of bilingualism on cognition, including later onset of dementia. However, monolinguals and bilinguals might have different baseline cognitive ability. We present the first study examining the effect of bilingualism on later-life cognition controlling for childhood intelligence. We studied 853 participants, first tested in 1947 (age = 11 years), and retested in 2008–2010. Bilinguals performed significantly better than predicted from their baseline cognitive abilities, with strongest effects on general intelligence and reading. Our results suggest a positive effect of bilingualism on later-life cognition, including in those who acquired their second language in adulthood. PMID:24890334

Bilingualism in older Mexican-American immigrants is associated with higher scores on cognitive screening.

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Padilla, Claudia; Mendez, Mario F; Jimenez, Elvira E; Teng, Edmond

2016-11-24

Bilingualism may protect against cognitive aging and delay the onset of dementia. However, studies comparing monolinguals and bilinguals on such metrics have produced inconsistent results complicated by confounding variables and methodological concerns. We addressed this issue by comparing cognitive performance in a more culturally homogeneous cohort of older Spanish-speaking monolingual (n = 289) and Spanish-English bilingual (n = 339) Mexican-American immigrants from the Sacramento Longitudinal Study on Aging. After adjusting for demographic differences and depressive symptoms, both groups performed similarly at baseline on verbal memory but the bilingual group performed significantly better than the monolingual group on a cognitive screening test, the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS; p bilingual group, neither language of testing nor degree of bilingualism was significantly associated with 3MS or verbal memory scores. Amongst individuals who performed in the normal or better range on both tests at baseline and were followed for an average of 6 years, both monolinguals and bilinguals exhibited similar rates of cognitive decline on both measures. These findings suggest that bilingualism is associated with modest benefits in cognitive screening performance in older individuals in cross-sectional analyses that persist across longitudinal analyses. The effects of bilingualism should be considered when cognitively screening is performed in aging immigrant populations.

Longitudinal effects of bilingualism on dual-tasking.

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Sörman, Daniel Eriksson; Josefsson, Maria; Marsh, John E; Hansson, Patrik; Ljungberg, Jessica K

2017-01-01

An ongoing debate surrounds whether bilinguals outperform monolinguals in tests of executive processing. The aim of this study was to investigate if there are long-term (10 year) bilingual advantages in executive processing, as indexed by dual-task performance, in a sample that were 40-65 years at baseline. The bilingual (n = 24) and monolingual (n = 24) participants were matched on age, sex, education, fluid intelligence, and study sample. Participants performed free-recall for a 12-item list in three dual-task settings wherein they sorted cards either during encoding, retrieval, or during both encoding and retrieval of the word-list. Free recall without card sorting was used as a reference to compute dual-task costs. The results showed that bilinguals significantly outperformed monolinguals when they performed card-sorting during both encoding and retrieval of the word-list, the condition that presumably placed the highest demands on executive functioning. However, dual-task costs increased over time for bilinguals relative to monolinguals, a finding that is possibly influenced by retirement age and limited use of second language in the bilingual group.

The effects of bilingualism on conflict monitoring, cognitive control, and garden-path recovery.

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Teubner-Rhodes, Susan E; Mishler, Alan; Corbett, Ryan; Andreu, Llorenç; Sanz-Torrent, Monica; Trueswell, John C; Novick, Jared M

2016-05-01

Bilinguals demonstrate benefits on non-linguistic tasks requiring cognitive control-the regulation of mental activity to resolve information-conflict during processing. This "bilingual advantage" has been attributed to the consistent management of two languages, yet it remains unknown if these benefits extend to sentence processing. In monolinguals, cognitive control helps detect and revise misinterpretations of sentence meaning. Here, we test if the bilingual advantage extends to parsing and interpretation by comparing bilinguals' and monolinguals' syntactic ambiguity resolution before and after practicing N-back, a non-syntactic cognitive-control task. Bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on a high-conflict but not a no-conflict version of N-back and on sentence comprehension, indicating that the advantage extends to language interpretation. Gains on N-back conflict trials also predicted comprehension improvements for ambiguous sentences, suggesting that the bilingual advantage emerges across tasks tapping shared cognitive-control procedures. Because the overall task benefits were observed for conflict and non-conflict trials, bilinguals' advantage may reflect increased cognitive flexibility. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The impact of bilingualism on working memory in pediatric epilepsy

Science.gov (United States)

Veenstra, Amy L.; Riley, Jeffrey D.; Barrett, Lauren E.; Muhonen, Michael G.; Zupanc, Mary; Romain, Jonathan E.; Lin, Jack J.; Mucci, Grace

2016-01-01

Impairments in executive skills broadly span across multiple childhood epilepsy syndromes and can adversely affect quality of life. Bilingualism has been previously shown to correlate with enhanced executive functioning in healthy individuals. This study seeks to determine whether the bilingual advantage in executive functioning exists in the context of pediatric epilepsy. We retrospectively analyzed neuropsychological data in 52 children with epilepsy and compared executive function scores in monolingual versus bilingual children with epilepsy, while controlling for socioeconomic status and ethnicity. Bilingual children performed significantly better on the Working Memory scale than did monolingual children. There were no significant differences on the remaining executive function variables. The bilingual advantage appears to persist for working memory in children with epilepsy. These findings suggest that bilingualism is potentially a protective variable in the face of epilepsy-related working memory dysfunction. PMID:26720703

Cognitive advantages of bilingual children in different sociolinguistic contexts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Blom, E.; Boerma, T.; Bosma, E.; Cornips, L.M.E.A.; Everaert, E.

2017-01-01

Many studies have shown that bilingual children outperform monolinguals on tasks testing executive functioning, but other studies have not revealed any effect of bilingualism. In this study we compared three groups of bilingual children in the Netherlands, aged 6–7 years, with a monolingual control

Electrophysiological explorations of the bilingual advantage: evidence from a Stroop task.

Science.gov (United States)

Coderre, Emily L; van Heuven, Walter J B

2014-01-01

Bilinguals have been shown to exhibit a performance advantage on executive control tasks, outperforming their monolingual counterparts. Although a wealth of research has investigated this 'bilingual advantage' behaviourally, electrophysiological correlates are lacking. Using EEG with a Stroop task that manipulated the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of word and colour presentation, the current study addressed two facets of the bilingual advantage. The possibility that bilinguals experience superior conflict processing relative to monolinguals (a 'conflict-specific advantage') was investigated by comparing behavioural interference effects as well as the amplitude of the Ninc, a conflict-related ERP component occurring from approximately 300-500 ms after the onset of conflict. In contrast, the hypothesis that bilinguals experience domain-general, conflict-independent enhancements in executive processing (a 'non-conflict-specific advantage') was evaluated by comparing the control condition (symbol strings) between groups. There was some significant, but inconsistent, evidence for a conflict-specific bilingual advantage. In contrast, strong evidence emerged for a non-conflict-specific advantage, with bilinguals demonstrating faster RTs and reduced ERP amplitudes on control trials compared to monolinguals. Importantly, when the control stimulus was presented before the colour, ERPs to control trials revealed group differences before the onset of conflict, suggesting differences in the ability to ignore or suppress distracting irrelevant information. This indicates that bilinguals experience superior executive processing even in the absence of conflict and semantic salience, and suggests that the advantage extends to more efficient proactive management of the environment.

Electrophysiological explorations of the bilingual advantage: evidence from a Stroop task.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emily L Coderre

Full Text Available Bilinguals have been shown to exhibit a performance advantage on executive control tasks, outperforming their monolingual counterparts. Although a wealth of research has investigated this 'bilingual advantage' behaviourally, electrophysiological correlates are lacking. Using EEG with a Stroop task that manipulated the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA of word and colour presentation, the current study addressed two facets of the bilingual advantage. The possibility that bilinguals experience superior conflict processing relative to monolinguals (a 'conflict-specific advantage' was investigated by comparing behavioural interference effects as well as the amplitude of the Ninc, a conflict-related ERP component occurring from approximately 300-500 ms after the onset of conflict. In contrast, the hypothesis that bilinguals experience domain-general, conflict-independent enhancements in executive processing (a 'non-conflict-specific advantage' was evaluated by comparing the control condition (symbol strings between groups. There was some significant, but inconsistent, evidence for a conflict-specific bilingual advantage. In contrast, strong evidence emerged for a non-conflict-specific advantage, with bilinguals demonstrating faster RTs and reduced ERP amplitudes on control trials compared to monolinguals. Importantly, when the control stimulus was presented before the colour, ERPs to control trials revealed group differences before the onset of conflict, suggesting differences in the ability to ignore or suppress distracting irrelevant information. This indicates that bilinguals experience superior executive processing even in the absence of conflict and semantic salience, and suggests that the advantage extends to more efficient proactive management of the environment.

Translanguaging Pedagogies for Positive Identities in Two-Way Dual Language Bilingual Education

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García-Mateus, Suzanne; Palmer, Deborah

2017-01-01

Research suggests that identity matters for school success and that language and identity are powerfully intertwined. A monolingual solitudes understanding of bilingualism undermines children's bilingual identities, yet in most bilingual education classrooms, academic instruction is segregated by language and children are encouraged to engage in…

Bilingualism provides a neural reserve for aging populations.

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Abutalebi, Jubin; Guidi, Lucia; Borsa, Virginia; Canini, Matteo; Della Rosa, Pasquale A; Parris, Ben A; Weekes, Brendan S

2015-03-01

It has been postulated that bilingualism may act as a cognitive reserve and recent behavioral evidence shows that bilinguals are diagnosed with dementia about 4-5 years later compared to monolinguals. In the present study, we investigated the neural basis of these putative protective effects in a group of aging bilinguals as compared to a matched monolingual control group. For this purpose, participants completed the Erikson Flanker task and their performance was correlated to gray matter (GM) volume in order to investigate if cognitive performance predicts GM volume specifically in areas affected by aging. We performed an ex-Gaussian analysis on the resulting RTs and report that aging bilinguals performed better than aging monolinguals on the Flanker task. Bilingualism was overall associated with increased GM in the ACC. Likewise, aging induced effects upon performance correlated only for monolinguals to decreased gray matter in the DLPFC. Taken together, these neural regions might underlie the benefits of bilingualism and act as a neural reserve that protects against the cognitive decline that occurs during aging. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The influence of bilingualism on statistical word learning.

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Poepsel, Timothy J; Weiss, Daniel J

2016-07-01

Statistical learning is a fundamental component of language acquisition, yet to date, relatively few studies have examined whether these abilities differ in bilinguals. In the present study, we examine this issue by comparing English monolinguals with Chinese-English and English-Spanish bilinguals in a cross-situational statistical learning (CSSL) task. In Experiment 1, we assessed the ability of both monolinguals and bilinguals on a basic CSSL task that contained only one-to-one mappings. In Experiment 2, learners were asked to form both one-to-one and two-to-one mappings, and were tested at three points during familiarization. Overall, monolinguals and bilinguals did not differ in their learning of one-to-one mappings. However, bilinguals more quickly acquired two-to-one mappings, while also exhibiting greater proficiency than monolinguals. We conclude that the fundamental SL mechanism may not be affected by language experience, in accord with previous studies. However, when the input contains greater variability, bilinguals may be more prone to detecting the presence of multiple structures. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparative Effects of Education and Bilingualism on the Onset of Mild Cognitive Impairment.

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Ramakrishnan, Subasree; Mekala, Shailaja; Mamidipudi, Annapurna; Yareeda, Sireesha; Mridula, Rukmini; Bak, Thomas H; Alladi, Suvarna; Kaul, Subhash

2017-01-01

Increasing evidence suggests that life course factors such as education and bilingualism may have a protective role against dementia due to Alzheimer disease. This study aimed to compare the effects of education and bilingualism on the onset of cognitive decline at the stage of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). A total of 115 patients with MCI evaluated in a specialty memory clinic in Hyderabad, India, formed the cohort. MCI was diagnosed according to Petersen's criteria following clinical evaluation and brain imaging. Age at onset of MCI was compared between bilinguals and monolinguals, and across subjects with high and low levels of education, adjusting for possible confounding variables. The bilingual MCI patients were found to have a clinical onset of cognitive complaints 7.4 years later than monolinguals (65.2 vs. 58.1 years; p = 0.004), while years of education was not associated with delayed onset (1-10 years of education, 59.1 years; 11-15 years of education, 62.6 years; >15 years of education, 62.2 years; p = 0.426). The effect of bilingualism is protective against cognitive decline, and lies along a continuum from normal to pathological states. In comparison, the role of years of education is less robust. © 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The impact of bilingualism on working memory in pediatric epilepsy.

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Veenstra, Amy L; Riley, Jeffrey D; Barrett, Lauren E; Muhonen, Michael G; Zupanc, Mary; Romain, Jonathan E; Lin, Jack J; Mucci, Grace

2016-02-01

Impairments in executive skills broadly span across multiple childhood epilepsy syndromes and can adversely affect quality of life. Bilingualism has been previously shown to correlate with enhanced executive functioning in healthy individuals. This study sought to determine whether the bilingual advantage in executive functioning exists in the context of pediatric epilepsy. We retrospectively analyzed neuropsychological data in 52 children with epilepsy and compared executive function scores in monolingual versus bilingual children with epilepsy while controlling for socioeconomic status and ethnicity. Bilingual children performed significantly better on the Working Memory Index than did monolingual children. There were no significant differences on the remaining executive function variables. The bilingual advantage appears to persist for working memory in children with epilepsy. These findings suggest that bilingualism is potentially a protective variable in the face of epilepsy-related working memory dysfunction. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Monolingual Dictionary Use in an EFL Context

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Ali, Holi Ibrahim Holi

2012-01-01

Caledonian College of Engineering, Oman, has been encouraging its students to use monolingual dictionaries rather than bilingual or bilingualized ones in classroom and during the exams. This policy with has been received with mixed feelings and attitudes. Therefore, this study strives to explore teachers' and students' attitudes about the use of…

Bilingualism in older Mexican-American immigrants is associated with higher scores on cognitive screening

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Claudia Padilla

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Bilingualism may protect against cognitive aging and delay the onset of dementia. However, studies comparing monolinguals and bilinguals on such metrics have produced inconsistent results complicated by confounding variables and methodological concerns. Methods We addressed this issue by comparing cognitive performance in a more culturally homogeneous cohort of older Spanish-speaking monolingual (n = 289 and Spanish-English bilingual (n = 339 Mexican-American immigrants from the Sacramento Longitudinal Study on Aging. Results After adjusting for demographic differences and depressive symptoms, both groups performed similarly at baseline on verbal memory but the bilingual group performed significantly better than the monolingual group on a cognitive screening test, the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS; p < 0.001. Group differences on the 3MS were driven by language/executive and language/praxis factors. Within the bilingual group, neither language of testing nor degree of bilingualism was significantly associated with 3MS or verbal memory scores. Amongst individuals who performed in the normal or better range on both tests at baseline and were followed for an average of 6 years, both monolinguals and bilinguals exhibited similar rates of cognitive decline on both measures. Conclusions These findings suggest that bilingualism is associated with modest benefits in cognitive screening performance in older individuals in cross-sectional analyses that persist across longitudinal analyses. The effects of bilingualism should be considered when cognitively screening is performed in aging immigrant populations.

Language-Mixing, Discourse Length and Discourse Quality in Bilingual Aphasia

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Avanthi Paplikar

2014-04-01

In sum, while PWA may not altogether avoid language-mixing with monolingual listeners, they appear to mix less when they know their listeners are monolinguals, not bilinguals. PWAs’ personal narratives are markedly longer when their listener is bilingual, though ratings of ‘overall success’ of the discourse are not linked to the degree of patients’ mixing. The lack of differences in the rated success of the more- and less-mixed samples suggests that, contrary to our hypothesis, language-mixing did not improve quality of communication.

The impact of bilingualism on brain reserve and metabolic connectivity in Alzheimer's dementia.

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Perani, Daniela; Farsad, Mohsen; Ballarini, Tommaso; Lubian, Francesca; Malpetti, Maura; Fracchetti, Alessandro; Magnani, Giuseppe; March, Albert; Abutalebi, Jubin

2017-02-14

Cognitive reserve (CR) prevents cognitive decline and delays neurodegeneration. Recent epidemiological evidence suggests that lifelong bilingualism may act as CR delaying the onset of dementia by ∼4.5 y. Much controversy surrounds the issue of bilingualism and its putative neuroprotective effects. We studied brain metabolism, a direct index of synaptic function and density, and neural connectivity to shed light on the effects of bilingualism in vivo in Alzheimer's dementia (AD). Eighty-five patients with probable AD and matched for disease duration (45 German-Italian bilingual speakers and 40 monolingual speakers) were included. Notably, bilingual individuals were on average 5 y older than their monolingual peers. In agreement with our predictions and with models of CR, cerebral hypometabolism was more severe in the group of bilingual individuals with AD. The metabolic connectivity analyses crucially supported the neuroprotective effect of bilingualism by showing an increased connectivity in the executive control and the default mode networks in the bilingual, compared with the monolingual, AD patients. Furthermore, the degree of lifelong bilingualism (i.e., high, moderate, or low use) was significantly correlated to functional modulations in crucial neural networks, suggesting both neural reserve and compensatory mechanisms. These findings indicate that lifelong bilingualism acts as a powerful CR proxy in dementia and exerts neuroprotective effects against neurodegeneration. Delaying the onset of dementia is a top priority of modern societies, and the present in vivo neurobiological evidence should stimulate social programs and interventions to support bilingual or multilingual education and the maintenance of the second language among senior citizens.

Bilingualism trains specific brain circuits involved in flexible rule selection and application.

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Stocco, Andrea; Prat, Chantel S

2014-10-01

Bilingual individuals have been shown to outperform monolinguals on a variety of tasks that measure non-linguistic executive functioning, suggesting that some facets of the bilingual experience give rise to generalized improvements in cognitive performance. The current study investigated the hypothesis that such advantage in executive functioning arises from the need to flexibly select and apply rules when speaking multiple languages. Such flexible behavior may strengthen the functioning of the fronto-striatal loops that direct signals to the prefrontal cortex. To test this hypothesis, we compared behavioral and brain data from proficient bilinguals and monolinguals who performed a Rapid Instructed Task Learning paradigm, which requires behaving according to ever-changing rules. Consistent with our hypothesis, bilinguals were faster than monolinguals when executing novel rules, and this improvement was associated with greater modulation of activity in the basal ganglia. The implications of these findings for language and executive function research are discussed herein. Published by Elsevier Inc.

THE MOTHER TONGUE IN MONOLINGUAL AND MULTILINGUAL CONTEXT

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Kyuchukov, H.

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The study presents a small research project on Russian monolingual children in Moscow, and Turkish bilingual children living in Berlin, Germany. The children were examined with using the Test of Early Language Development (3rd ed., and despite the limitations of the study, the findings point up interesting tendencies. In the comprehension section of the test, the Russian monolinguals did much better than the Turkish bilinguals; however, in the section testing production, both groups of children had the same results. All children had difficulties in acquisition of abstract terms, certain prepositions, complex sentences and retelling or creating a story narrative from pictures. Bilingualism is not an obstacle for mother tongue development, but it seems there are universal factors which influence the process of language acquisition.

A longitudinal study of memory advantages in bilinguals.

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Jessica K Ljungberg

Full Text Available Typically, studies of cognitive advantages in bilinguals have been conducted previously by using executive and inhibitory tasks (e.g. Simon task and applying cross-sectional designs. This study longitudinally investigated bilingual advantages on episodic memory recall, verbal letter and categorical fluency during the trajectory of life. Monolingual and bilingual participants (n=178 between 35-70 years at baseline were drawn from the Betula Prospective Cohort Study of aging, memory, and health. Results showed that bilinguals outperformed monolinguals at the first testing session and across time both in episodic memory recall and in letter fluency. No interaction with age was found indicating that the rate of change across ages was similar for bilinguals and monolinguals. As predicted and in line with studies applying cross-sectional designs, no advantages associated with bilingualism were found in the categorical fluency task. The results are discussed in the light of successful aging.

Musical training, bilingualism, and executive function: a closer look at task switching and dual-task performance.

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Moradzadeh, Linda; Blumenthal, Galit; Wiseheart, Melody

2015-07-01

This study investigated whether musical training and bilingualism are associated with enhancements in specific components of executive function, namely, task switching and dual-task performance. Participants (n = 153) belonging to one of four groups (monolingual musician, bilingual musician, bilingual non-musician, or monolingual non-musician) were matched on age and socioeconomic status and administered task switching and dual-task paradigms. Results demonstrated reduced global and local switch costs in musicians compared with non-musicians, suggesting that musical training can contribute to increased efficiency in the ability to shift flexibly between mental sets. On dual-task performance, musicians also outperformed non-musicians. There was neither a cognitive advantage for bilinguals relative to monolinguals, nor an interaction between music and language to suggest additive effects of both types of experience. These findings demonstrate that long-term musical training is associated with improvements in task switching and dual-task performance. Copyright © 2014 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

The Effect of Script Similarity on Executive Control in Bilinguals

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Emily L Coderre

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The need for executive control (EC during bilingual language processing is thought to enhance these abilities, conferring a ‘bilingual advantage’ on EC tasks. Recently, the reliability and robustness of the bilingual advantage has been questioned, with many variables reportedly affecting the size and presence of the bilingual advantage. This study investigates one further variable that may affect bilingual EC abilities: the similarity of a bilingual’s two languages. We hypothesize that bilinguals whose two languages have a larger degree of orthographic overlap will require greater EC to manage their languages compared to bilinguals who use two languages with less overlap. We tested three groups of bilinguals with language pairs ranging from high- to low-similarity (German-English (GE, Polish-English (PE, and Arabic-English (AE, respectively and a group of English monolinguals on a Stroop and Simon task. Two components of the bilingual advantage were investigated: an interference advantage, such that bilinguals have smaller interference effects than monolinguals; and a global RT advantage, such that bilinguals are faster overall than monolinguals. Between bilingual groups, these effects were expected to be modulated by script similarity. AE bilinguals showed the smallest Stroop interference effects, but the longest overall RTs in both tasks. These seemingly contradictory results are explained by the presence of cross-linguistic interference in the Stroop task. We conclude that similar-script bilinguals demonstrated more effective domain-general EC than different-script bilinguals, since high orthographic overlap creates more cross-linguistic activation and increases the daily demands on cognitive control. The role of individual variation is also discussed. These results suggest that script similarity is an important variable to consider in investigations of bilingual executive control abilities.

The impact of early bilingualism on face recognition processes

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Sonia Kandel

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Early linguistic experience has an impact on the way we decode audiovisual speech in face-to-face communication. The present study examined whether differences in visual speech decoding could be linked to a broader difference in face processing. To identify a phoneme we have to do an analysis of the speaker’s face to focus on the relevant cues for speech decoding (e.g., locating the mouth with respect to the eyes. Face recognition processes were investigated through two classic effects in face recognition studies: the Other Race Effect (ORE and the Inversion Effect. Bilingual and monolingual participants did a face recognition task with Caucasian faces (own race, Chinese faces (other race and cars that were presented in an Upright or Inverted position. The results revealed that monolinguals exhibited the classic ORE. Bilinguals did not. Overall, bilinguals were slower than monolinguals. These results suggest that bilinguals’ face processing abilities differ from monolinguals’. Early exposure to more than one language may lead to a perceptual organization that goes beyond language processing and could extend to face analysis. We hypothesize that these differences could be due to the fact that bilinguals focus on different parts of the face than monolinguals, making them more efficient in other race face processing but slower. However, more studies using eye-tracking techniques are necessary to confirm this explanation.

Bilingualism accentuates children's conversational understanding.

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Michael Siegal

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Although bilingualism is prevalent throughout the world, little is known about the extent to which it influences children's conversational understanding. Our investigation involved children aged 3-6 years exposed to one or more of four major languages: English, German, Italian, and Japanese. In two experiments, we examined the children's ability to identify responses to questions as violations of conversational maxims (to be informative and avoid redundancy, to speak the truth, be relevant, and be polite. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In Experiment 1, with increasing age, children showed greater sensitivity to maxim violations. Children in Italy who were bilingual in German and Italian (with German as the dominant language L1 significantly outperformed Italian monolinguals. In Experiment 2, children in England who were bilingual in English and Japanese (with English as L1 significantly outperformed Japanese monolinguals in Japan with vocabulary age partialled out. CONCLUSIONS: As the monolingual and bilingual groups had a similar family SES background (Experiment 1 and similar family cultural identity (Experiment 2, these results point to a specific role for early bilingualism in accentuating children's developing ability to appreciate effective communicative responses.

Emergent Bilingualism and Working Memory Development in School Aged Children

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Hansen, Laura Birke; Macizo, Pedro; Duñabeitia, Jon Andoni; Saldaña, David; Carreiras, Manuel; Fuentes, Luis J.; Bajo, M. Teresa

2016-01-01

The present research explores working memory (WM) development in monolingual as well as emergent bilingual children immersed in an L2 at school. Evidence from recent years suggests that bilingualism may boost domain-general executive control, but impair nonexecutive linguistic processing. Both are relevant for verbal WM, but different paradigms…

Lexical processing and organization in bilingual first language acquisition: Guiding future research.

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DeAnda, Stephanie; Poulin-Dubois, Diane; Zesiger, Pascal; Friend, Margaret

2016-06-01

A rich body of work in adult bilinguals documents an interconnected lexical network across languages, such that early word retrieval is language independent. This literature has yielded a number of influential models of bilingual semantic memory. However, extant models provide limited predictions about the emergence of lexical organization in bilingual first language acquisition (BFLA). Empirical evidence from monolingual infants suggests that lexical networks emerge early in development as children integrate phonological and semantic information. These findings tell us little about the interaction between 2 languages in early bilingual memory. To date, an understanding of when and how languages interact in early bilingual development is lacking. In this literature review, we present research documenting lexical-semantic development across monolingual and bilingual infants. This is followed by a discussion of current models of bilingual language representation and organization and their ability to account for the available empirical evidence. Together, these theoretical and empirical accounts inform and highlight unexplored areas of research and guide future work on early bilingual memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Interface strategies in monolingual and end-state L2 Spanish grammars are not that different

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Maria Carmen eParafita Couto

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This study explores syntactic, pragmatic, and lexical influences on adherence to SV and VS orders in native and fluent L2 speakers of Spanish. A judgment task examined 20 native monolingual and 20 longstanding L2 bilingual Spanish speakers’ acceptance of SV and VS structures. Seventy-six distinct verbs were tested under a combination of syntactic and pragmatic constraints. Our findings challenge the hypothesis that internal interfaces are acquired more easily than external interfaces (Sorace, 2005, 2011; Sorace & Filiaci, 2006; White 2006. Additional findings are that (a bilinguals' judgments are less firm overall than monolinguals' (i.e., monolinguals are more likely to give extreme yes or no judgments and (b individual verbs do not necessarily behave as predicted under standard definitions of unaccusatives and unergatives. Correlations of the patterns found in the data with verb frequencies suggest that usage-based accounts of grammatical knowledge could help provide insight into speakers' knowledge of these constructs.

Interface strategies in monolingual and end-state L2 Spanish grammars are not that different.

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Parafita Couto, María C; Mueller Gathercole, Virginia C; Stadthagen-González, Hans

2014-01-01

This study explores syntactic, pragmatic, and lexical influences on adherence to SV and VS orders in native and fluent L2 speakers of Spanish. A judgment task examined 20 native monolingual and 20 longstanding L2 bilingual Spanish speakers' acceptance of SV and VS structures. Seventy-six distinct verbs were tested under a combination of syntactic and pragmatic constraints. Our findings challenge the hypothesis that internal interfaces are acquired more easily than external interfaces (Sorace, 2005, 2011; Sorace and Filiaci, 2006; White, 2006). Additional findings are that (a) bilinguals' judgments are less firm overall than monolinguals' (i.e., monolinguals are more likely to give extreme "yes" or "no" judgments) and (b) individual verbs do not necessarily behave as predicted under standard definitions of unaccusatives and unergatives. Correlations of the patterns found in the data with verb frequencies suggest that usage-based accounts of grammatical knowledge could help provide insight into speakers' knowledge of these constructs.

Normal and abnormal aging in bilinguals

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Alfredo Ardila

Full Text Available Abstract Bilinguals use two different language systems to mediate not only social communication, but also cognitive processes. Potential differences between bilinguals and monolinguals in task-solving strategies and patterns of cognitive decline during normal and abnormal aging have been suggested. Main contribution: A research review of the area suggests that normal aging is associated with increased interference between the two languages and tendency to retreat to a single language. General cognitive functioning has been found to be higher in demented bilingual patients if communication is carried out in L1 rather than in L2. Recent research has reported that bilingualism can have a protective effect during aging, attenuating the normal cognitive decline associated with aging, and delaying the onset of dementia. Conclusions: Regardless of the significant heterogeneity of bilingualism and the diversity of patterns in language use during life-span, current research suggests that bilingualism is associated with preserved cognitive test performance during aging, and potentially can have some protective effect in dementia.

Lifelong bilingualism contributes to cognitive reserve against white matter integrity declines in aging.

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Gold, Brian T; Johnson, Nathan F; Powell, David K

2013-11-01

Recent evidence suggests that lifelong bilingualism may contribute to cognitive reserve (CR) in normal aging. However, there is currently no neuroimaging evidence to suggest that lifelong bilinguals can retain normal cognitive functioning in the face of age-related neurodegeneration. Here we explored this issue by comparing white matter (WM) integrity and gray matter (GM) volumetric patterns of older adult lifelong bilinguals (N=20) and monolinguals (N=20). The groups were matched on a range of relevant cognitive test scores and on the established CR variables of education, socioeconomic status and intelligence. Participants underwent high-resolution structural imaging for assessment of GM volume and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) for assessment of WM integrity. Results indicated significantly lower microstructural integrity in the bilingual group in several WM tracts. In particular, compared to their monolingual peers, the bilingual group showed lower fractional anisotropy and/or higher radial diffusivity in the inferior longitudinal fasciculus/inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus bilaterally, the fornix, and multiple portions of the corpus callosum. There were no group differences in GM volume. Our results suggest that lifelong bilingualism contributes to CR against WM integrity declines in aging. © 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

The gender congruency effect during bilingual spoken-word recognition

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Morales, Luis; Paolieri, Daniela; Dussias, Paola E.; Valdés kroff, Jorge R.; Gerfen, Chip; Bajo, María Teresa

2016-01-01

We investigate the ‘gender-congruency’ effect during a spoken-word recognition task using the visual world paradigm. Eye movements of Italian–Spanish bilinguals and Spanish monolinguals were monitored while they viewed a pair of objects on a computer screen. Participants listened to instructions in Spanish (encuentra la bufanda / ‘find the scarf’) and clicked on the object named in the instruction. Grammatical gender of the objects’ name was manipulated so that pairs of objects had the same (congruent) or different (incongruent) gender in Italian, but gender in Spanish was always congruent. Results showed that bilinguals, but not monolinguals, looked at target objects less when they were incongruent in gender, suggesting a between-language gender competition effect. In addition, bilinguals looked at target objects more when the definite article in the spoken instructions provided a valid cue to anticipate its selection (different-gender condition). The temporal dynamics of gender processing and cross-language activation in bilinguals are discussed. PMID:28018132

Does bilingualism influence cognitive aging?

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Bak, Thomas H; Nissan, Jack J; Allerhand, Michael M; Deary, Ian J

2014-06-01

Recent evidence suggests a positive impact of bilingualism on cognition, including later onset of dementia. However, monolinguals and bilinguals might have different baseline cognitive ability. We present the first study examining the effect of bilingualism on later-life cognition controlling for childhood intelligence. We studied 853 participants, first tested in 1947 (age = 11 years), and retested in 2008-2010. Bilinguals performed significantly better than predicted from their baseline cognitive abilities, with strongest effects on general intelligence and reading. Our results suggest a positive effect of bilingualism on later-life cognition, including in those who acquired their second language in adulthood. © 2014 The Authors Annals of Neurology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Neurological Association. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Bilingualism modulates dual mechanisms of cognitive control: Evidence from ERPs.

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Morales, Julia; Yudes, Carolina; Gómez-Ariza, Carlos J; Bajo, M Teresa

2015-01-01

Recent behavioral findings with the AX-Continous Performance Task (AX-CPT; Morales et al., 2013) show that bilinguals only outperform monolinguals under conditions that require the highest adjustment between monitoring (proactive) and inhibitory (reactive) control, which supports the idea that bilingualism modulates the coordination of different control mechanisms. In an ERP experiment we aimed to further investigate the role that bilingualism plays in the dynamic combination of proactive and reactive control in the AX-CPT. Our results strongly indicate that bilingualism facilitates an effective adjustment between both components of cognitive control. First, we replicated previous behavioral results. Second, ERP components indicated that bilingualism influences the conflict monitoring, response inhibition and error monitoring components of control (as indexed by the N2 and P3a elicited by the probe and the error-related negativity following incorrect responses, respectively). Thus, bilinguals exerted higher reactive control than monolinguals but only when they needed to overcome the competing cue-information. These findings join others in suggesting that a better understanding of the cognitive benefits of bilingualism may require consideration of a multi-component perspective. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bilingualism and performance on two widely used developmental neuropsychological test batteries.

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Karlsson, Linda C; Soveri, Anna; Räsänen, Pekka; Kärnä, Antti; Delatte, Sonia; Lagerström, Emma; Mård, Lena; Steffansson, Mikaela; Lehtonen, Minna; Laine, Matti

2015-01-01

The present study investigated the effect of bilingualism on the two widely used developmental neuropsychological test batteries Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) and A Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment, Second Edition (NEPSY-II) in children. The sample consisted of 100 Finland-Swedish children in two age groups. About half (n = 52) of the participants were early simultaneous bilinguals, and the other half (n = 48) were monolinguals. As no Finland-Swedish versions of the tests are available at the moment, both tests were translated and adapted to suit this population. The results revealed no difference in the performance between bilingual and monolingual children. This speaks against a cognitive advantage in bilingual children and indicates that development of separate norms for monolingual and bilingual children is not needed for clinical use.

Conceptual scoring of receptive and expressive vocabulary measures in simultaneous and sequential bilingual children.

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Gross, Megan; Buac, Milijana; Kaushanskaya, Margarita

2014-11-01

The authors examined the effects of conceptual scoring on the performance of simultaneous and sequential bilinguals on standardized receptive and expressive vocabulary measures in English and Spanish. Participants included 40 English-speaking monolingual children, 39 simultaneous Spanish-English bilingual children, and 19 sequential bilingual children, ages 5-7. The children completed standardized receptive and expressive vocabulary measures in English and also in Spanish for those who were bilingual. After the standardized administration, bilingual children were given the opportunity to respond to missed items in their other language to obtain a conceptual score. Controlling for group differences in socioeconomic status (SES), both simultaneous and sequential bilingual children scored significantly below monolingual children on single-language measures of English receptive and expressive vocabulary. Conceptual scoring removed the significant difference between monolingual and simultaneous bilingual children in the receptive modality but not in the expressive modality; differences remained between monolingual and sequential bilingual children in both modalities. However, in both bilingual groups, conceptual scoring increased the proportion of children with vocabulary scores within the average range. Conceptual scoring does not fully ameliorate the bias inherent in single-language standardized vocabulary measures for bilingual children, but the procedures employed here may assist in ruling out vocabulary deficits, particularly in typically developing simultaneous bilingual children.

Bilingualism protects anterior temporal lobe integrity in aging.

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Abutalebi, Jubin; Canini, Matteo; Della Rosa, Pasquale A; Sheung, Lo Ping; Green, David W; Weekes, Brendan S

2014-09-01

Cerebral gray-matter volume (GMV) decreases in normal aging but the extent of the decrease may be experience-dependent. Bilingualism may be one protective factor and in this article we examine its potential protective effect on GMV in a region that shows strong age-related decreases-the left anterior temporal pole. This region is held to function as a conceptual hub and might be expected to be a target of plastic changes in bilingual speakers because of the requirement for these speakers to store and differentiate lexical concepts in 2 languages to guide speech production and comprehension processes. In a whole brain comparison of bilingual speakers (n = 23) and monolingual speakers (n = 23), regressing out confounding factors, we find more extensive age-related decreases in GMV in the monolingual brain and significantly increased GMV in left temporal pole for bilingual speakers. Consistent with a specific neuroprotective effect of bilingualism, region of interest analyses showed a significant positive correlation between naming performance in the second language and GMV in this region. The effect appears to be bilateral though because there was a nonsignificantly different effect of naming performance on GMV in the right temporal pole. Our data emphasize the vulnerability of the temporal pole to normal aging and the value of bilingualism as both a general and specific protective factor to GMV decreases in healthy aging. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cross-Cultural Transfer in Gesture Frequency in Chinese-English Bilinguals

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So, Wing Chee

2010-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to examine cross-cultural differences in gesture frequency and the extent to which exposure to two cultures would affect the gesture frequency of bilinguals when speaking in both languages. The Chinese-speaking monolinguals from China, English-speaking monolinguals from America, and Chinese-English bilinguals from…

Cognitive reserve in Parkinson's disease: the effects of welsh-english bilingualism on executive function.

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Hindle, John V; Martin-Forbes, Pamela A; Bastable, Alexandra J M; Pye, Kirstie L; Martyr, Anthony; Whitaker, Christopher J; Craik, Fergus I M; Bialystok, Ellen; Thomas, Enlli M; Mueller Gathercole, Virginia C; Clare, Linda

2015-01-01

Objective. Bilingualism has been shown to benefit executive function (EF) and delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease. This study aims at examining whether a bilingual advantage applies to EF in Parkinson's disease (PD). Method. In a cross-sectional outpatient cohort of monolingual English (n = 57) and bilingual Welsh/English (n = 46) speakers with PD we evaluated the effects of bilingualism compared with monolingualism on performance on EF tasks. In bilinguals we also assessed the effects of the degree of daily usage of each language and the degree of bilingualism. Results. Monolinguals showed an advantage in performance of language tests. There were no differences in performance of EF tests in monolinguals and bilinguals. Those who used Welsh less in daily life had better performance on one test of English vocabulary. The degree of bilingualism correlated with one test of nonverbal reasoning and one of working memory but with no other tests of EF. Discussion. The reasons why the expected benefit in EF in Welsh-English bilinguals with PD was not found require further study. Future studies in PD should include other language pairs, analysis of the effects of the degree of bilingualism, and longitudinal analysis of cognitive decline or dementia together with structural or functional neuroimaging.

Bilingualism and cognitive decline : a story of pride and prejudice

OpenAIRE

Woumans, Evy; Versijpt, Jan; Sieben, Anne; Santens, Patrick; Duyck, Wouter

2017-01-01

In a recent review, Mukadam, Sommerlad, and Livingston (2017) argue that bilingualism offers no protection against cognitive decline. The authors examined the results of 13 studies (five prospective, eight retrospective) in which monolinguals and bilinguals were compared for cognitive decline and onset of dementia symptoms. Analysis of four of the five prospective studies resulted in the conclusion that there was no difference between monolinguals and bilinguals, whereas seven of the eight re...

Cognitive advantages and disadvantages in early and late bilinguals.

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Pelham, Sabra D; Abrams, Lise

2014-03-01

Previous research has documented advantages and disadvantages of early bilinguals, defined as learning a 2nd language by school age and using both languages since that time. Relative to monolinguals, early bilinguals manifest deficits in lexical access but benefits in executive function. We investigated whether becoming bilingual after childhood (late bilinguals) can produce the cognitive advantages and disadvantages typical of early bilinguals. Participants were 30 monolingual English speakers, 30 late English-Spanish bilinguals, and 30 early Spanish-English bilinguals who completed a picture naming task (lexical access) and an attentional network task (executive function). Late and early bilinguals manifested equivalent cognitive effects in both tasks, demonstrating lexical access deficits and executive function benefits. These findings provide support for the hypothesis that cognitive effects associated with bilingualism arise as the result of proficient, habitual use of 2 languages and not of developmental changes associated with becoming bilingual during childhood.

The relationship between bilingualism and selective attention in young adults: Evidence from an ambiguous figures task.

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Chung-Fat-Yim, Ashley; Sorge, Geoff B; Bialystok, Ellen

2017-03-01

Previous research has shown that bilinguals outperform monolinguals on a variety of tasks that have been described as involving executive functioning, but the precise mechanism for those effects or a clear definition for "executive function" is unknown. This uncertainty has led to a number of studies for which no performance difference between monolingual and bilingual adults has been detected. One approach to clarifying these issues comes from research with children showing that bilinguals were more able than their monolingual peers to perceive both interpretations of an ambiguous figure, an ability that is more tied to a conception of selective attention than to specific components of executive function. The present study extends this notion to adults by assessing their ability to see the alternative image in an ambiguous figure. Bilinguals performed this task more efficiently than monolinguals by requiring fewer cues to identify the second image. This finding has implications for the role of selective attention in performance differences between monolinguals and bilinguals.

The Influence of Bilingualism on Third Language Acquisition: Focus on Multilingualism

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Cenoz, Jasone

2013-01-01

This paper focuses on the advantages that bilinguals have over monolinguals when acquiring an additional language. Bilinguals are more experienced language learners and have potentially developed learning strategies to a larger extent than monolinguals. They also have a larger linguistic and intercultural repertoire at their disposal. In this…

Cognitive Reserve in Parkinson's Disease: The Effects of Welsh-English Bilingualism on Executive Function

OpenAIRE

Hindle, John V.; Martin-Forbes, Pamela A.; Bastable, Alexandra J. M.; Pye, Kirstie L.; Martyr, Anthony; Whitaker, Christopher J.; Craik, Fergus I. M.; Bialystok, Ellen; Thomas, Enlli M.; Mueller Gathercole, Virginia C.; Clare, Linda

2015-01-01

Objective. Bilingualism has been shown to benefit executive function (EF) and delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease. This study aims at examining whether a bilingual advantage applies to EF in Parkinson's disease (PD). Method. In a cross-sectional outpatient cohort of monolingual English (n = 57) and bilingual Welsh/English (n = 46) speakers with PD we evaluated the effects of bilingualism compared with monolingualism on performance on EF tasks. In bilinguals we also assessed the effects of ...

Cognitive Reserve in Parkinson’s Disease: The Effects of Welsh-English Bilingualism on Executive Function

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John V. Hindle

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Objective. Bilingualism has been shown to benefit executive function (EF and delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. This study aims at examining whether a bilingual advantage applies to EF in Parkinson’s disease (PD. Method. In a cross-sectional outpatient cohort of monolingual English (n=57 and bilingual Welsh/English (n=46 speakers with PD we evaluated the effects of bilingualism compared with monolingualism on performance on EF tasks. In bilinguals we also assessed the effects of the degree of daily usage of each language and the degree of bilingualism. Results. Monolinguals showed an advantage in performance of language tests. There were no differences in performance of EF tests in monolinguals and bilinguals. Those who used Welsh less in daily life had better performance on one test of English vocabulary. The degree of bilingualism correlated with one test of nonverbal reasoning and one of working memory but with no other tests of EF. Discussion. The reasons why the expected benefit in EF in Welsh-English bilinguals with PD was not found require further study. Future studies in PD should include other language pairs, analysis of the effects of the degree of bilingualism, and longitudinal analysis of cognitive decline or dementia together with structural or functional neuroimaging.

Effect of Simultaneous Bilingualism on Speech Intelligibility across Different Masker Types, Modalities, and Signal-to-Noise Ratios in School-Age Children.

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Reetzke, Rachel; Lam, Boji Pak-Wing; Xie, Zilong; Sheng, Li; Chandrasekaran, Bharath

2016-01-01

Recognizing speech in adverse listening conditions is a significant cognitive, perceptual, and linguistic challenge, especially for children. Prior studies have yielded mixed results on the impact of bilingualism on speech perception in noise. Methodological variations across studies make it difficult to converge on a conclusion regarding the effect of bilingualism on speech-in-noise performance. Moreover, there is a dearth of speech-in-noise evidence for bilingual children who learn two languages simultaneously. The aim of the present study was to examine the extent to which various adverse listening conditions modulate differences in speech-in-noise performance between monolingual and simultaneous bilingual children. To that end, sentence recognition was assessed in twenty-four school-aged children (12 monolinguals; 12 simultaneous bilinguals, age of English acquisition ≤ 3 yrs.). We implemented a comprehensive speech-in-noise battery to examine recognition of English sentences across different modalities (audio-only, audiovisual), masker types (steady-state pink noise, two-talker babble), and a range of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs; 0 to -16 dB). Results revealed no difference in performance between monolingual and simultaneous bilingual children across each combination of modality, masker, and SNR. Our findings suggest that when English age of acquisition and socioeconomic status is similar between groups, monolingual and bilingual children exhibit comparable speech-in-noise performance across a range of conditions analogous to everyday listening environments.

Learning across Languages: Bilingual Experience Supports Dual Language Statistical Word Segmentation

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Antovich, Dylan M.; Graf Estes, Katharine

2018-01-01

Bilingual acquisition presents learning challenges beyond those found in monolingual environments, including the need to segment speech in two languages. Infants may use statistical cues, such as syllable-level transitional probabilities, to segment words from fluent speech. In the present study we assessed monolingual and bilingual 14-month-olds'…

Vowel reduction in word-final position by early and late Spanish-English bilinguals.

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Emily Byers

Full Text Available Vowel reduction is a prominent feature of American English, as well as other stress-timed languages. As a phonological process, vowel reduction neutralizes multiple vowel quality contrasts in unstressed syllables. For bilinguals whose native language is not characterized by large spectral and durational differences between tonic and atonic vowels, systematically reducing unstressed vowels to the central vowel space can be problematic. Failure to maintain this pattern of stressed-unstressed syllables in American English is one key element that contributes to a "foreign accent" in second language speakers. Reduced vowels, or "schwas," have also been identified as particularly vulnerable to the co-articulatory effects of adjacent consonants. The current study examined the effects of adjacent sounds on the spectral and temporal qualities of schwa in word-final position. Three groups of English-speaking adults were tested: Miami-based monolingual English speakers, early Spanish-English bilinguals, and late Spanish-English bilinguals. Subjects performed a reading task to examine their schwa productions in fluent speech when schwas were preceded by consonants from various points of articulation. Results indicated that monolingual English and late Spanish-English bilingual groups produced targeted vowel qualities for schwa, whereas early Spanish-English bilinguals lacked homogeneity in their vowel productions. This extends prior claims that schwa is targetless for F2 position for native speakers to highly-proficient bilingual speakers. Though spectral qualities lacked homogeneity for early Spanish-English bilinguals, early bilinguals produced schwas with near native-like vowel duration. In contrast, late bilinguals produced schwas with significantly longer durations than English monolinguals or early Spanish-English bilinguals. Our results suggest that the temporal properties of a language are better integrated into second language phonologies than

Using Bilingual Dictionaries.

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Thompson, Geoff

1987-01-01

Monolingual dictionaries have serious disadvantages in many language teaching situations; bilingual dictionaries are potentially more efficient and more motivating sources of information for language learners. (Author/CB)

How does the bilingual experience sculpt the brain?

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Costa, Albert; Sebastián-Gallés, Núria

2014-05-01

The ability to speak two languages often marvels monolinguals, although bilinguals report no difficulties in achieving this feat. Here, we examine how learning and using two languages affect language acquisition and processing as well as various aspects of cognition. We do so by addressing three main questions. First, how do infants who are exposed to two languages acquire them without apparent difficulty? Second, how does language processing differ between monolingual and bilingual adults? Last, what are the collateral effects of bilingualism on the executive control system across the lifespan? Research in all three areas has not only provided some fascinating insights into bilingualism but also revealed new issues related to brain plasticity and language learning.

Musical Training, Bilingualism, and Executive Function: A Closer Look at Task Switching and Dual-Task Performance

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Moradzadeh, Linda; Blumenthal, Galit; Wiseheart, Melody

2015-01-01

This study investigated whether musical training and bilingualism are associated with enhancements in specific components of executive function, namely, task switching and dual-task performance. Participants (n = 153) belonging to one of four groups (monolingual musician, bilingual musician, bilingual non-musician, or monolingual non-musician)…

The effect of childhood bilingualism on episodic and semantic memory tasks.

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Kormi-Nouri, Reza; Shojaei, Razie-Sadat; Moniri, Sadegheh; Gholami, Ali-Reza; Moradi, Ali-Reza; Akbari-Zardkhaneh, Saeed; Nilsson, Lars-Göran

2008-04-01

Kormi-Nouri, Moniri and Nilsson (2003) demonstrated that Swedish-Persian bilingual children recalled at a higher level than Swedish monolingual children, when they were tested using Swedish materials. The present study was designed to examine the bilingual advantage of children who use different languages in their everyday life but have the same cultural background and live in their communities in the same way as monolingual children. In four experiments, 488 monolingual and bilingual children were compared with regard to episodic and semantic memory tasks. In experiments 1 and 2 there were 144 boys and 144 girls in three school groups (aged 9-10 years, 13-14 years and 16-17 years) and in three language groups (Persian monolingual, Turkish-Persian bilingual, and Kurdish-Persian bilingual). In experiments 3 and 4, there were 200 male students in two school groups (aged 9-10 years and 16-17 years) and in two language groups (Persian monolingual and Turkish-Persian bilingual). In the episodic memory task, children learned sentences (experiments 1-3) and words (Experiment 4). Letter and category fluency tests were used as measures of semantic memory. To change cognitive demands in memory tasks, in Experiment 1, the integration of nouns and verbs within sentences was manipulated by the level of association between verb and noun in each sentence. At retrieval, a recognition test was used. In experiments 2 and 3, the organization between sentences was manipulated at encoding in Experiment 2 and at both encoding and retrieval in Experiment 3 through the use of categories among the objects. At retrieval, free recall or cued recall tests were employed. In Experiment 4, the bilingual children were tested with regard to both their first and their second language. In all four experiments, a positive effect of bilingualism was found on episodic and semantic memory tasks; the effect was more pronounced for older than younger children. The bilingual advantage was not affected by

SEMANTIC VERBAL FLUENCY OF THE BILINGUAL CHILDREN WITH MILD INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY

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Nenad GLUMBIKJ

2005-06-01

Full Text Available Semantic verbal fluency test is reliable instrument for detection of various kinds of neuropsychological deficits. Participants’ attainments in this test are influenced by array of socio-cultural factors. The occurrence of “twofold semilingualism” belongs to these cultural factors.The objective of this research is to determine differences between monolingual and bilingual children with mild mental retardation in semantic verbal fluency test.The sample consisted of 90 participants with mild mental retardation, of both sexes, aged from 12 to 15. The whole sample was divided into three subsets: 30 monolingual children (M1, who speak only Serbian, 30 monolingual Roma children who do not speak Romany (M2 and 30 bilingual Roma children who speak both, Romany and Serbian language (B.It was found that both groups of monolingual children have better performances in semantic fluency tasks than bilingual children.

Detection of bilingual plagiarism

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Frank Zamora R.

2016-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper a computational algorithm for text alignment in the task of automatically detecting bilingual plagiarism is proposed. The method of detecting bilingual plagiarism uses machine translation services, in order to have the documents in question a base language, and apply techniques of monolingual plagiarism. The algorithm was tested with The corpus belonging to the International Competition Plagiarism 2013, with the objective of evaluating the step of detecting monolingual plagiarism. Besides it’s experimented with the collection of texts EUROPARL, a collection of documents pertaining to the meeting the European Parliament, specifically it´s to English and Spanish documents.

Enhanced music sensitivity in 9-month-old bilingual infants.

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Liu, Liquan; Kager, René

2017-02-01

This study explores the influence of bilingualism on the cognitive processing of language and music. Specifically, we investigate how infants learning a non-tone language perceive linguistic and musical pitch and how bilingualism affects cross-domain pitch perception. Dutch monolingual and bilingual infants of 8-9 months participated in the study. All infants had Dutch as one of the first languages. The other first languages, varying among bilingual families, were not tone or pitch accent languages. In two experiments, infants were tested on the discrimination of a lexical (N = 42) or a violin (N = 48) pitch contrast via a visual habituation paradigm. The two contrasts shared identical pitch contours but differed in timbre. Non-tone language learning infants did not discriminate the lexical contrast regardless of their ambient language environment. When perceiving the violin contrast, bilingual but not monolingual infants demonstrated robust discrimination. We attribute bilingual infants' heightened sensitivity in the musical domain to the enhanced acoustic sensitivity stemming from a bilingual environment. The distinct perceptual patterns between language and music and the influence of acoustic salience on perception suggest processing diversion and association in the first year of life. Results indicate that the perception of music may entail both shared neural network with language processing, and unique neural network that is distinct from other cognitive functions.

Metalinguistic Aspects of Bilingual Processing.

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Bialystok, Ellen

2001-01-01

Examines differences in metalinguistic development between monolingual and bilingual children in terms of three subcategories: word awareness, syntactic awareness, and phonological awareness. In each case, some studies have reported advantages for bilingual children, while others have found either no difference between the groups or monolingual…

Down two steps: Are bilinguals delayed in the acquisition of recursively embedded PPs?

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Ana Pérez-Leroux

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The present study examines whether bilingual children are delayed in the ability to produce complex DPs. We elicited production of DPs containing two PP modifiers, in two conditions designed to tease apart the acquisition of an embedding rule from the acquisition of the recursivity of an embedding rule. In the recursive condition, one modifier PP was itself modified by an additional PP. In the non-recursive condition, both PPs sequentially modified the main noun. Participants were 71 English monolingual children and 35 bilinguals between the ages of four and six. The evidence suggested an overall difference between groups, however further analysis revealed that bilinguals differed from monolinguals only insofar as the onset of PP embedding. No specific additional bilingual delay arose from the recursive condition. This suggests that recursive embedding is a resilient domain in language acquisition and supports proposals that link morphosyntactic delays in bilingual children to domains of grammar that are heavily reliant on lexical learning, which would include learning the first instance of PP embedding. --- Original in English.   --- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12957/matraga.2017.28781

Degree of Bilingualism Modifies Executive Control in Hispanic Children in the USA

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Thomas-Sunesson, Danielle; Hakuta, Kenji; Bialystok, Ellen

2018-01-01

Past studies examining the cognitive function of bilingual school-aged children have pointed to enhancements in areas of executive control relative to age-matched monolingual children. The majority of these studies has tested children from a middle-class background and compared performance of bilinguals as a discrete group against monolinguals.…

Linguistic and Cognitive Effects of Bilingualism with Regional Minority Languages: A Study of Sardinian–Italian Adult Speakers

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Garraffa, Maria; Obregon, Mateo; Sorace, Antonella

2017-01-01

This study explores the effects of bilingualism in Sardinian as a regional minority language on the linguistic competence in Italian as the dominant language and on non-linguistic cognitive abilities. Sardinian/Italian adult speakers and monolingual Italian speakers living in the same geographical area of Sardinia were compared in two kinds of tasks: (a) verbal and non-verbal cognitive tasks targeting working memory and attentional control and (b) tasks of linguistic abilities in Italian focused on the comprehension of sentences differing in grammatical complexity. Although no difference was found between bilinguals and monolinguals in the cognitive control of attention, bilinguals performed better on working memory tasks. Bilinguals with lower formal education were found to be faster at comprehension of one type of complex sentence (center embedded object relative clauses). In contrast, bilinguals and monolinguals with higher education showed comparable slower processing of complex sentences. These results show that the effects of bilingualism are modulated by type of language experience and education background: positive effects of active bilingualism on the dominant language are visible in bilinguals with lower education, whereas the effects of higher literacy in Italian obliterate those of active bilingualism in bilinguals and monolinguals with higher education. PMID:29163288

Prosody and Spoken Word Recognition in Early and Late Spanish-English Bilingual Individuals

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Boutsen, Frank R.; Dvorak, Justin D.; Deweber, Derick D.

2017-01-01

Purpose: This study was conducted to compare the influence of word properties on gated single-word recognition in monolingual and bilingual individuals under conditions of native and nonnative accent and to determine whether word-form prosody facilitates recognition in bilingual individuals. Method: Word recognition was assessed in monolingual and…

Total and Conceptual Vocabulary in Spanish–English Bilinguals From 22 to 30 Months: Implications for Assessment

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Core, Cynthia; Hoff, Erika; Rumiche, Rosario; Señor, Melissa

2015-01-01

Purpose Vocabulary assessment holds promise as a way to identify young bilingual children at risk for language delay. This study compares 2 measures of vocabulary in a group of young Spanish–English bilingual children to a single-language measure used with monolingual children. Method Total vocabulary and conceptual vocabulary were used to measure mean vocabulary size and growth in 47 Spanish–English bilingually developing children from 22 to 30 months of age based on results from the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI; Fenson et al., 1993) and the Inventario del Desarrollo de Habilidades Comunicativas (Jackson-Maldonado et al., 2003). Bilingual children’s scores of total vocabulary and conceptual vocabulary were compared with CDI scores for a control group of 56 monolingual children. Results The total vocabulary measure resulted in mean vocabulary scores and average rate of growth similar to monolingual growth, whereas conceptual vocabulary scores were significantly smaller and grew at a slower rate than total vocabulary scores. Total vocabulary identified the same proportion of bilingual children below the 25th percentile on monolingual norms as the CDI did for monolingual children. Conclusion These results support the use of total vocabulary as a means of assessing early language development in young bilingual Spanish–English speaking children. PMID:24023382

The Role of Emergent Bilingualism in the Development of Morphological Awareness in Arabic and Hebrew.

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Schwartz, Mila; Taha, Haitham; Assad, Hanan; Khamaisi, Ferdos; Eviatar, Zohar

2016-08-01

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of dual language development and cross-linguistic influence on morphological awareness in young bilinguals' first language (L1) and second language (L2). We examined whether (a) the bilingual children (L1/L2 Arabic and L1/L2 Hebrew) precede their monolingual Hebrew- or Arabic-speaking peers in L1 and L2 morphological awareness, and (b) 1 Semitic language (Arabic) has cross-linguistic influence on another Semitic language (Hebrew) in morphological awareness. The study sample comprised 93 six-year-old children. The bilinguals had attended bilingual Hebrew-Arabic kindergartens for 1 academic year and were divided into 2 groups: home language Hebrew (L1) and home language Arabic (L1). These groups were compared to age-matched monolingual Hebrew speakers and monolingual Arabic speakers. We used nonwords similar in structure to familiar words in both target languages, representing 6 inflectional morphological categories. L1 Arabic and L1 Hebrew bilinguals performed significantly better than Arabic- and Hebrew-speaking monolinguals in the respective languages. Differences were not found between the bilingual groups. We found evidence of cross-linguistic transfer of morphological awareness from Arabic to Hebrew in 2 categories-bound possessives and dual number-probably because these categories are more salient in Palestinian Spoken Arabic than in Hebrew. We conclude that children with even an initial exposure to L2 reveal acceleration of sensitivity to word structure in both of their languages. We suggest that this is due to the fact that two Semitic languages, Arabic and Hebrew, share a common core of linguistic features, together with favorable contextual factors and instructional factors.

English word frequency and recognition in bilinguals: Inter-corpus comparison and error analysis.

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Shi, Lu-Feng

2015-01-01

This study is the second of a two-part investigation on lexical effects on bilinguals' performance on a clinical English word recognition test. Focus is on word-frequency effects using counts provided by four corpora. Frequency of occurrence was obtained for 200 NU-6 words from the Hoosier mental lexicon (HML) and three contemporary corpora, American National Corpora, Hyperspace analogue to language (HAL), and SUBTLEX(US). Correlation analysis was performed between word frequency and error rate. Ten monolinguals and 30 bilinguals participated. Bilinguals were further grouped according to their age of English acquisition and length of schooling/working in English. Word frequency significantly affected word recognition in bilinguals who acquired English late and had limited schooling/working in English. When making errors, bilinguals tended to replace the target word with a word of a higher frequency. Overall, the newer corpora outperformed the HML in predicting error rate. Frequency counts provided by contemporary corpora predict bilinguals' recognition of English monosyllabic words. Word frequency also helps explain top replacement words for misrecognized targets. Word-frequency effects are especially prominent for bilinguals foreign born and educated.

In Few Words: Linguistic Gap but Adequate Narrative Structure in Preschool Bilingual Children

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Bonifacci, Paola; Barbieri, Margherita; Tomassini, Marta; Roch, Maja

2018-01-01

The aim of this study was to compare linguistic and narrative skills of monolingual and bilingual preschoolers and to estimate linguistic predictors of the macro-structural level of narratives. A battery of linguistic measures in Italian was administered to sixty-four Monolinguals and sixty-four Early Bilinguals; it included Vocabulary,…

Bilingual experience and executive functioning in young children.

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Carlson, Stephanie M; Meltzoff, Andrew N

2008-03-01

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.

The influence of bilingualism on the preference for the mouth region of dynamic faces.

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Ayneto, Alba; Sebastian-Galles, Nuria

2017-01-01

Bilingual infants show an extended period of looking at the mouth of talking faces, which provides them with additional articulatory cues that can be used to boost the challenging situation of learning two languages (Pons, Bosch & Lewkowicz, 2015). However, the eye region also provides fundamental cues for emotion perception and recognition, as well as communication. Here, we explored whether the adaptations resulting from learning two languages are specific to linguistic content or if they also influence the focus of attention when looking at dynamic faces. We recorded the eye gaze of bilingual and monolingual infants (8- and 12-month-olds) while watching videos of infants and adults portraying different emotional states (neutral, crying, and laughing). When looking at infant faces, bilinguals looked longer at the mouth region as compared to monolinguals regardless of age. However, when presented with adult faces, 8-month-old bilingual infants looked longer at the mouth region and less at the eye region compared to 8-month-old monolingual infants, but no effect of language exposure was found at 12 months of age. These findings suggest that the bias to the mouth region in bilingual infants at 8 months of age can be generalized to other audiovisual dynamic faces that do not contain linguistic information. We discuss the potential implications of such bias in early social and communicative development. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Enhanced music sensitivity in 9-month-old bilingual infants

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Liu, L.; Kager, R.W.J.

This study explores the influence of bilingualism on the cognitive processing of language and music. Specifically, we investigate how infants learning a non-tone language perceive linguistic and musical pitch and how bilingualism affects cross-domain pitch perception. Dutch monolingual and bilingual

Who can communicate with whom? Language experience affects infants' evaluation of others as monolingual or multilingual.

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Pitts, Casey E; Onishi, Kristine H; Vouloumanos, Athena

2015-01-01

Adults recognize that people can understand more than one language. However, it is unclear whether infants assume other people understand one or multiple languages. We examined whether monolingual and bilingual 20-month-olds expect an unfamiliar person to understand one or more than one language. Two speakers told a listener the location of a hidden object using either the same or two different languages. When different languages were spoken, monolinguals looked longer when the listener searched correctly, bilinguals did not; when the same language was spoken, both groups looked longer for incorrect searches. Infants rely on their prior language experience when evaluating the language abilities of a novel individual. Monolingual infants assume others can understand only one language, although not necessarily the infants' own; bilinguals do not. Infants' assumptions about which community of conventions people belong to may allow them to recognize effective communicative partners and thus opportunities to acquire language, knowledge, and culture. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Rapid naming, phonological memory and reading fluency in Brazilian bilingual students.

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Fleury, Fernanda Oppenheimer; Avila, Clara Regina Brandão de

2015-01-01

To characterize the performance of Brazilian students exposed to two languages in reading fluency, phonological memory, and rapid naming, according to grade level, and to investigate correlations between these variables. Sixty students took part in this study (50% female), enrolled in the third to the fifth grades of two elementary schools of the city of São Paulo. They constituted two groups - bilingual group: 30 Brazilian children whose mother tongue and language spoken at home was Brazilian Portuguese and who were daily exposed to English at school for a period not shorter than three years; monolingual group: 30 students, from a monolingual Brazilian elementary school, who were paired by gender, age, and grade level with the bilingual students. Foreign children, children with complaint or indication of speech and language disorder, or who had been retained were excluded. A rapid automatized naming, pseudoword repetition, and oral reading tests were administered. The bilingual children were assessed in both languages and their performances were compared among themselves and with the monolingual group, which was only assessed in Brazilian Portuguese. The bilingual group showed better performance in English, rapid naming, and pseudoword repetition tasks, whereas Brazilian Portuguese, in reading fluency. A higher number of correlations were found in Brazilian Portuguese. The results suggest that the acquisition of a second language may positively influence the abilities of rapid naming, reading rate, and accuracy. Brazilian bilingual students performed better in tasks of phonological memory in English and Brazilian Portuguese performed better in reading fluency. Different correlation patterns were found between the rapid naming, accuracy, and reading rate, in the bilingual group analysis, in both languages.

Vowel reduction in word-final position by early and late Spanish-English bilinguals

Science.gov (United States)

2017-01-01

Vowel reduction is a prominent feature of American English, as well as other stress-timed languages. As a phonological process, vowel reduction neutralizes multiple vowel quality contrasts in unstressed syllables. For bilinguals whose native language is not characterized by large spectral and durational differences between tonic and atonic vowels, systematically reducing unstressed vowels to the central vowel space can be problematic. Failure to maintain this pattern of stressed-unstressed syllables in American English is one key element that contributes to a “foreign accent” in second language speakers. Reduced vowels, or “schwas,” have also been identified as particularly vulnerable to the co-articulatory effects of adjacent consonants. The current study examined the effects of adjacent sounds on the spectral and temporal qualities of schwa in word-final position. Three groups of English-speaking adults were tested: Miami-based monolingual English speakers, early Spanish-English bilinguals, and late Spanish-English bilinguals. Subjects performed a reading task to examine their schwa productions in fluent speech when schwas were preceded by consonants from various points of articulation. Results indicated that monolingual English and late Spanish-English bilingual groups produced targeted vowel qualities for schwa, whereas early Spanish-English bilinguals lacked homogeneity in their vowel productions. This extends prior claims that schwa is targetless for F2 position for native speakers to highly-proficient bilingual speakers. Though spectral qualities lacked homogeneity for early Spanish-English bilinguals, early bilinguals produced schwas with near native-like vowel duration. In contrast, late bilinguals produced schwas with significantly longer durations than English monolinguals or early Spanish-English bilinguals. Our results suggest that the temporal properties of a language are better integrated into second language phonologies than spectral

Bilingualism and increased attention to speech: Evidence from event-related potentials.

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Kuipers, Jan Rouke; Thierry, Guillaume

2015-10-01

A number of studies have shown that from an early age, bilinguals outperform their monolingual peers on executive control tasks. We previously found that bilingual children and adults also display greater attention to unexpected language switches within speech. Here, we investigated the effect of a bilingual upbringing on speech perception in one language. We recorded monolingual and bilingual toddlers' event-related potentials (ERPs) to spoken words preceded by pictures. Words matching the picture prime elicited an early frontal positivity in bilingual participants only, whereas later ERP amplitudes associated with semantic processing did not differ between groups. These results add to the growing body of evidence that bilingualism increases overall attention during speech perception whilst semantic integration is unaffected. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Delaying the onset of Alzheimer disease: bilingualism as a form of cognitive reserve.

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Craik, Fergus I M; Bialystok, Ellen; Freedman, Morris

2010-11-09

There is strong epidemiologic evidence to suggest that older adults who maintain an active lifestyle in terms of social, mental, and physical engagement are protected to some degree against the onset of dementia. Such factors are said to contribute to cognitive reserve, which acts to compensate for the accumulation of amyloid and other brain pathologies. We present evidence that lifelong bilingualism is a further factor contributing to cognitive reserve. Data were collected from 211 consecutive patients diagnosed with probable Alzheimer disease (AD). Patients' age at onset of cognitive impairment was recorded, as was information on occupational history, education, and language history, including fluency in English and any other languages. Following this procedure, 102 patients were classified as bilingual and 109 as monolingual. We found that the bilingual patients had been diagnosed 4.3 years later and had reported the onset of symptoms 5.1 years later than the monolingual patients. The groups were equivalent on measures of cognitive and occupational level, there was no apparent effect of immigration status, and the monolingual patients had received more formal education. There were no gender differences. The present data confirm results from an earlier study, and thus we conclude that lifelong bilingualism confers protection against the onset of AD. The effect does not appear to be attributable to such possible confounding factors as education, occupational status, or immigration. Bilingualism thus appears to contribute to cognitive reserve, which acts to compensate for the effects of accumulated neuropathology.

Bilingual Enhancements Have No Socioeconomic Boundaries

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Krizman, Jennifer; Skoe, Erika; Kraus, Nina

2016-01-01

To understand how socioeconomic status (SES) and bilingualism simultaneously operate on cognitive and sensory function, we examined executive control, language skills, and neural processing of sound in adolescents who differed in language experience (i.e. English monolingual or Spanish-English bilingual) and level of maternal education (a proxy…

An Interaction Between the Effects of Bilingualism and Cross-linguistic Similarity in Balanced and Unbalanced Bilingual Adults' L2 Mandarin Word-Reading Production.

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Hsu, Hsiu-Ling

2017-08-01

We conducted three experiments investigating in more detail the interaction between the two effects of bilingualism and L1-L2 similarity in the speech performance of balanced and unbalanced bilinguals. In Experiment 1, L1 Mandarin monolinguals and two groups of Hakka and Minnan balanced bilinguals (Hakka: more similar to Mandarin) performed a non-contextual single-character reading task in Mandarin, which required more inhibitory control. The two bilingual groups outperformed the monolinguals, regardless of their L1 background. However, the bilingual advantage was not found in a contextual multi-word task (Experiment 2), but instead the effect of cross-linguistic similarity emerged. Furthermore, in Experiment 3, the Hakka unbalanced bilinguals showed an advantage in the non-contextual task, while their Minnan counterparts did not, and the impact of L1-L2 similarity emerged in both tasks. These results unveiled the way the two effects dynamically interplayed depending on the task contexts and the relative degrees of using L1 and L2.

Dutch-Cantonese Bilinguals Show Segmental Processing during Sinitic Language Production

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Kalinka Timmer

2017-07-01

Full Text Available This study addressed the debate on the primacy of syllable vs. segment (i.e., phoneme as a functional unit of phonological encoding in syllabic languages by investigating both behavioral and neural responses of Dutch-Cantonese (DC bilinguals in a color-object picture naming task. Specifically, we investigated whether DC bilinguals exhibit the phonemic processing strategy, evident in monolingual Dutch speakers, during planning of their Cantonese speech production. Participants named the color of colored line-drawings in Cantonese faster when color and object matched in the first segment than when they were mismatched (e.g., 藍駱駝, /laam4/ /lok3to4/, “blue camel;” 紅饑駝, /hung4/ /lok3to4/, “red camel”. This is in contrast to previous studies in Sinitic languages that did not reveal such phoneme-only facilitation. Phonemic overlap also modulated the event-related potentials (ERPs in the 125–175, 200–300, and 300–400 ms time windows, suggesting earlier ERP modulations than in previous studies with monolingual Sinitic speakers or unbalanced Sinitic-Germanic bilinguals. Conjointly, our results suggest that, while the syllable may be considered the primary unit of phonological encoding in Sinitic languages, the phoneme can serve as the primary unit of phonological encoding, both behaviorally and neurally, for DC bilinguals. The presence/absence of a segment onset effect in Sinitic languages may be related to the proficiency in the Germanic language of bilinguals.

Cognitive Advantages and Disadvantages in Early and Late Bilinguals

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Pelham, Sabra D.; Abrams, Lise

2014-01-01

Previous research has documented advantages and disadvantages of early bilinguals, defined as learning a 2nd language by school age and using both languages since that time. Relative to monolinguals, early bilinguals manifest deficits in lexical access but benefits in executive function. We investigated whether becoming bilingual "after"…

Influence of Bilinguism on Socio-Cognitive Personality Development

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I. V. Sokolova

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The paper gives an overeview of foreign studies devoted to bilinguism and its influence on socio-cognitive personality development. Experimental research conducted in the recent years has broken the myth of negative influence of childhood bilinguism. Moreover, based on the comparative analysis, the present research shows the advantages of children and adults grown up in the bilingual environment. Their advantages compared with the monolingual peers include the well-developed meta-lingual abilities and executive functions - executive control, attention, planning, concentration, rejection of inessential information - necessary for fulfilling verbal tasks and activity control. The paper emphasizes the influence of bilinguism on cognitive decentration, ability to learn foreign languages and develop higher social sensitivity regarding both verbal and non-verbal communication (i.e. interpretation of mimics, gestures, intonations, and more adequate reaction to communicative behavior of surrounding people.The author concludes that bilinguism stimulates creativity, facilitates divergent thinking necessary for observing a variety of possible solutions and creative ideas development. Bilingual skills broaden children’s mental horizons leaving them more prepared for adult life compared to their monolingual peers. 

Bilingualism delays age at onset of dementia, independent of education and immigration status.

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Alladi, Suvarna; Bak, Thomas H; Duggirala, Vasanta; Surampudi, Bapiraju; Shailaja, Mekala; Shukla, Anuj Kumar; Chaudhuri, Jaydip Ray; Kaul, Subhash

2013-11-26

The purpose of the study was to determine the association between bilingualism and age at onset of dementia and its subtypes, taking into account potential confounding factors. Case records of 648 patients with dementia (391 of them bilingual) diagnosed in a specialist clinic were reviewed. The age at onset of first symptoms was compared between monolingual and bilingual groups. The influence of number of languages spoken, education, occupation, and other potentially interacting variables was examined. Overall, bilingual patients developed dementia 4.5 years later than the monolingual ones. A significant difference in age at onset was found across Alzheimer disease dementia as well as frontotemporal dementia and vascular dementia, and was also observed in illiterate patients. There was no additional benefit to speaking more than 2 languages. The bilingual effect on age at dementia onset was shown independently of other potential confounding factors such as education, sex, occupation, and urban vs rural dwelling of subjects. This is the largest study so far documenting a delayed onset of dementia in bilingual patients and the first one to show it separately in different dementia subtypes. It is the first study reporting a bilingual advantage in those who are illiterate, suggesting that education is not a sufficient explanation for the observed difference. The findings are interpreted in the context of the bilingual advantages in attention and executive functions.

Guia para padres y maestros de ninos bilingues (A Parents' and Teachers' Guide to Bilingualism). Parents' and Teachers' Guides Number 5.

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Ada, Alma Flor; Baker, Colin

This book provides a practical introduction to questions about bilingualism. It is for parents and teachers who are themselves bilingual, for monolinguals who want to know more, for those with some intuitive understanding of bilingual situations and for those who are starting from the very beginning. The book poses questions that people often ask…

Theory of Mind and Executive Functions in Young Bilingual Children.

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Dahlgren, SvenOlof; Almén, Helena; Dahlgren Sandberg, Annika

2017-01-01

Few studies have explored the relationship between theory of mind (ToM), executive function (EF), and bilingualism at the same time. In this study 14 young bilingual children were compared with monolingual children on a test battery composed of 5 ToM tests, 5 EF tests, and 1 test of general language ability. The result showed that despite significantly lower verbal ability, the bilingual children outperformed the monolingual ones on tests of EF. There were no differences in ToM performance. The authors argue that there is a strong relationship between bilingualism and EF, but, contrary to results from earlier studies, they could not find any relationship between bilingualism and ToM. EF did not predict ToM performance. Lack of a significant relationship could be due to the children's young age and consequently their low scores on the ToM tasks.

How Does L1 and L2 Exposure Impact L1 Performance in Bilingual Children? Evidence from Polish-English Migrants to the United Kingdom

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Ewa Haman

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Most studies on bilingual language development focus on children’s second language (L2. Here, we investigated first language (L1 development of Polish-English early migrant bilinguals in four domains: vocabulary, grammar, phonological processing, and discourse. We first compared Polish language skills between bilinguals and their Polish non-migrant monolingual peers, and then investigated the influence of the cumulative exposure to L1 and L2 on bilinguals’ performance. We then examined whether high exposure to L1 could possibly minimize the gap between monolinguals and bilinguals. We analyzed data from 233 typically developing children (88 bilingual and 145 monolingual aged 4;0 to 7;5 (years;months on six language measures in Polish: receptive vocabulary, productive vocabulary, receptive grammar, productive grammar (sentence repetition, phonological processing (non-word repetition, and discourse abilities (narration. Information about language exposure was obtained via parental questionnaires. For each language task, we analyzed the data from the subsample of bilinguals who had completed all the tasks in question and from monolinguals matched one-on-one to the bilingual group on age, SES (measured by years of mother’s education, gender, non-verbal IQ, and short-term memory. The bilingual children scored lower than monolinguals in all language domains, except discourse. The group differences were more pronounced on the productive tasks (vocabulary, grammar, and phonological processing and moderate on the receptive tasks (vocabulary and grammar. L1 exposure correlated positively with the vocabulary size and phonological processing. Grammar scores were not related to the levels of L1 exposure, but were predicted by general cognitive abilities. L2 exposure negatively influenced productive grammar in L1, suggesting possible L2 transfer effects on L1 grammatical performance. Children’s narrative skills benefitted from exposure to two languages

The joint effect of bilingualism and ADHD on executive functions.

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Mor, Billy; Yitzhaki-Amsalem, Sarin; Prior, Anat

2015-06-01

The current study investigated the combined effect of ADHD, previously associated with executive function (EF) deficits, and of bilingualism, previously associated with EF enhancement, on EF. Eighty University students, Hebrew monolinguals and Russian Hebrew bilinguals, with and without ADHD participated. Inhibition tasks were a Numeric Stroop task and a Simon arrows task. Shifting tasks were the Trail Making Test (TMT) and a task-switching paradigm. Participants with ADHD performed worse than controls, but we did not find a bilingual advantage in EF. The negative impact of ADHD was more pronounced for bilinguals than for monolinguals, but only in interference suppression tasks. Bilingual participants with ADHD had the lowest performance. Bilingualism might prove to be an added burden for adults with ADHD, leading to reduced EF abilities. Alternatively, the current findings might be ascribed to over- or under-diagnosis of ADHD due to cultural differences between groups. These issues should be pursued in future research. © 2014 SAGE Publications.

Musical training, bilingualism, and executive function: working memory and inhibitory control.

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D'Souza, Annalise A; Moradzadeh, Linda; Wiseheart, Melody

2018-01-01

The current study investigated whether long-term experience in music or a second language is associated with enhanced cognitive functioning. Early studies suggested the possibility of a cognitive advantage from musical training and bilingualism but have failed to be replicated by recent findings. Further, each form of expertise has been independently investigated leaving it unclear whether any benefits are specifically caused by each skill or are a result of skill learning in general. To assess whether cognitive benefits from training exist, and how unique they are to each training domain, the current study compared musicians and bilinguals to each other, plus to individuals who had expertise in both skills, or neither. Young adults ( n = 153) were categorized into one of four groups: monolingual musician; bilingual musician; bilingual non-musician; and monolingual non-musician. Multiple tasks per cognitive ability were used to examine the coherency of any training effects. Results revealed that musically trained individuals, but not bilinguals, had enhanced working memory. Neither skill had enhanced inhibitory control. The findings confirm previous associations between musicians and improved cognition and extend existing evidence to show that benefits are narrower than expected but can be uniquely attributed to music compared to another specialized auditory skill domain. The null bilingual effect despite a music effect in the same group of individuals challenges the proposition that young adults are at a performance ceiling and adds to increasing evidence on the lack of a bilingual advantage on cognition.

Does simultaneous bilingualism aggravate children's specific language problems?

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Korkman, Marit; Stenroos, Maria; Mickos, Annika; Westman, Martin; Ekholm, Pia; Byring, Roger

2012-09-01

There is little data on whether or not a bilingual upbringing may aggravate specific language problems in children. This study analysed whether there was an interaction of such problems and simultaneous bilingualism. Participants were 5- to 7-year-old children with specific language problems (LANG group, N = 56) or who were typically developing (CONTR group, N = 60). Seventy-three children were Swedish-Finnish bilingual and 43 were Swedish-speaking monolingual. Assessments (in Swedish) included tests of expressive language, comprehension, repetition and verbal memory. Per definition, the LANG group had lower scores than the CONTR group on all language tests. The bilingual group had lower scores than the monolingual group only on a test of body part naming. Importantly, the interaction of group (LANG or CONTR) and bilingualism was not significant on any of the language scores. Simultaneous bilingualism does not aggravate specific language problems but may result in a slower development of vocabulary both in children with and without specific language problems. Considering also advantages, a bilingual upbringing is an option also for children with specific language problems. In assessment, tests of vocabulary may be sensitive to bilingualism, instead tests assessing comprehension, syntax and nonword repetition may provide less biased methods. © 2012 The Author(s)/Acta Paediatrica © 2012 Foundation Acta Paediatrica.

Independent effects of bilingualism and socioeconomic status on language ability and executive functioning.

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Calvo, Alejandra; Bialystok, Ellen

2014-03-01

One hundred and seventy-five children who were 6-years old were assigned to one of four groups that differed in socioeconomic status (SES; working class or middle class) and language background (monolingual or bilingual). The children completed tests of nonverbal intelligence, language tests assessing receptive vocabulary and attention based on picture naming, and two tests of executive functioning. All children performed equivalently on the basic intelligence tests, but performance on the language and executive functioning tasks was influenced by both SES and bilingualism. Middle-class children outperformed working-class children on all measures, and bilingual children obtained lower scores than monolingual children on language tests but higher scores than monolingual children on the executive functioning tasks. There were no interactions with either group factors or task factors. Thus, each of SES and bilingualism contribute significantly and independently to children's development irrespective of the child's level on the other factor. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of bilingualism on white matter integrity in older adults.

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Anderson, John A E; Grundy, John G; De Frutos, Jaisalmer; Barker, Ryan M; Grady, Cheryl; Bialystok, Ellen

2018-02-15

Bilingualism can delay the onset of dementia symptoms and has thus been characterized as a mechanism for cognitive or brain reserve, although the origin of this reserve is unknown. Studies with young adults generally show that bilingualism is associated with a strengthening of white matter, but there is conflicting evidence for how bilingualism affects white matter in older age. Given that bilingualism has been shown to help stave off the symptoms of dementia by up to four years, it is crucial that we clarify the mechanism underlying this reserve. The current study uses diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to compare monolinguals and bilinguals while carefully controlling for potential confounds (e.g., I.Q., MMSE, and demographic variables). We show that group differences in Fractional Anisotropy (FA) and Radial Diffusivity (RD) arise from multivariable interactions not adequately controlled for by sequential bivariate testing. After matching and statistically controlling for confounds, bilinguals still had greater axial diffusivity (AD) in the left superior longitudinal fasciculus than monolingual peers, supporting a neural reserve account for healthy older bilinguals. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Comment Dire: a Neurolinguistic Approach to Beckett's Bilingual Writings

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Kager, Maria

2015-01-01

Recent studies from the field of neurolinguistics and psycholinguistics suggest that bilinguals and multilinguals are in many ways fundamentally different from monolinguals, a difference that starts with a different cerebral structure for language. This difference will constitute the point of departure for my paper: If multilingual people are…

Cognitive Flexibility in Drawings of Bilingual Children

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Adi-Japha, Esther; Berberich-Artzi, Jennie; Libnawi, Afaf

2010-01-01

A. Karmiloff-Smith's (1990) task of drawing a nonexistent object is considered to be a measure of cognitive flexibility. The notion of earlier emergence of cognitive flexibility in bilingual children motivated the current researchers to request 4- and 5-year-old English-Hebrew and Arabic-Hebrew bilingual children and their monolingual peers to…

Bilingual child acquisition through the lens of sociolinguistic approaches

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Cornips, L.; Miller, David; Bayram, Fatih; Rothman, Jason; Serratrice, Ludovica

2018-01-01

This paper entails a perspective on bilingual child acquisition through the lens of sociolinguistic approaches. A discussion of the concepts of monolingual language ideology and power dynamics is undertaken in order to reveal their important consequences on studying bilingual child acquisition, in

Language Mediated Concept Activation in Bilingual Memory Facilitates Cognitive Flexibility

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Anatoliy V. Kharkhurin

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This is the first attempt of empirical investigation of language mediated concept activation (LMCA in bilingual memory as a cognitive mechanism facilitating divergent thinking. Russian–English bilingual and Russian monolingual college students were tested on a battery of tests including among others Abbreviated Torrance Tests for Adults assessing divergent thinking traits and translingual priming (TLP test assessing the LMCA. The latter was designed as a lexical decision priming test, in which a prime and a target were not related in Russian (language of testing, but were related through their translation equivalents in English (spoken only by bilinguals. Bilinguals outperformed their monolingual counterparts on divergent thinking trait of cognitive flexibility, and bilinguals’ performance on this trait could be explained by their TLP effect. Age of second language acquisition and proficiency in this language were found to relate to the TLP effect, and therefore were proposed to influence the directionality and strength of connections in bilingual memory.

Methods for Identifying Specific Language Impairment in Bilingual Populations in Germany

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Cornelia Hamann

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the performance of 22 monolingual and 54 bilingual children with and without specific language impairment (SLI, in a non-word repetition task (NWRT and a sentence repetition task (SRT. Both tasks were constructed according to the principles for LITMUS tools (Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings developed within COST Action IS0804 and incorporated phonological or syntactic structures that are linguistically complex and have been shown to be difficult for children with SLI across languages. For phonology these are in particular (nonwords containing consonant clusters. In morphosyntax, complexity has been attributed to factors such as embedding and/or syntactic movement. Tasks focusing on such structures are expected to identify SLI in bilinguals across language combinations. This is notoriously difficult because structures that are problematic for typically developing bilinguals (BiTDs and monolingual children with SLI (MoSLI often overlap. We show that the NWRT and the SRT are reliable tools for identification of SLI in bilingual contexts. However, interpretation of the performance of bilingual children depends on background information as provided by parental questionnaires. To evaluate the accuracy of our tasks, we recruited children in ordinary kindergartens or schools and in speech language therapy centers and verified their status with a battery of standardized language tests, assessing bilingual children in both their languages. We consider a bilingual child language impaired if she shows impairments in two language domains in both her languages. For assessment, we used tests normed for monolinguals (with one exception and adjusted the norms for bilingualism and for language dominance. This procedure established the following groups: 10 typical monolinguals (MoTD, 12 MoSLI, 46 BiTD, and 8 bilingual children with SLI (BiSLI. Our results show that both tasks target relevant structures: monolingual

The Effects of Bilingualism on Toddlers' Executive Functioning

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Poulin-Dubois, Diane; Blaye, Agnes; Coutya, Julie; Bialystok, Ellen

2011-01-01

Bilingual children have been shown to outperform monolingual children on tasks measuring executive functioning skills. This advantage is usually attributed to bilinguals' extensive practice in exercising selective attention and cognitive flexibility during language use because both languages are active when one of them is being used. We examined…

Multiple literacies: Linking the research on bilingualism and biliteracies to the practical.

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Dufresne, Therese; Masny, Diana

2006-11-01

The present article addresses the fundamental developmental differences between monolingualism and bilingualism, as outlined in the literature. It takes into account research using qualitative and quantitative methodologies and reviews the advantages and possible disadvantages of bilingualism in preschool children. It then moves on to biliteracies in early childhood education. The questions addressed are: Will the early learning of a second language delay a child's language development? What effect does bilingualism have on the development of phonemic awareness, and does that have an impact on reading development? Do bilingual children have an advantage over monolingual children? What happens when a child with language impairment is called upon to develop two languages? What are some challenges regarding the acquisition of biliteracies? The present article concludes with recommendations for physicians who counsel bilingual families regarding early childhood literacy promotion and development.

[The early expressive vocabulary size in simultaneous bilingual growing-up infants - a diagnostic relevant criterion?].

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Kiese-Himmel, C; Sellner, L; Bockmann, A-K

2013-08-01

Bilingual young children's early expressive vocabulary size and its composition (as one domain of the language development) should be examined to find out whether children with a risk for delayed language development may be identified in this way. 30 bilingual kindergarten infants from Berlin (with simultaneous language acquisition; second language German) and 30 monolingual German infants from the greater areas of Stuttgart and Heidelberg were pair matched (mean chronological age 22.5 [SD 3.1] months; min 16; max 26). The German expressive vocabulary checklist Elternfragebogen zur Wort-schatzentwicklung im frühen Kindesalter (ELAN; Bockmann & Kiese-Himmel, 2006) was filled out by all parents. In addition, parents of bilingual infants completed the adaption of the German vocabulary checklist Sprachbeurteilung durch Eltern (SBE-2-KT; v. Suchodoletz & Sachse, 2008) for the second mother tongue. The monolinguals' word sum in the ELAN (145.7; SD 75.8) differed significantly (p=0.001) from the bilinguals' word sum (78.3; SD 78.9 words). In contrast, bilinguals did not significantly differ in their overall expressive vocabulary size (ELAN+SBE-2-KT: 101.2; SD 77.0 words) from their monolingual counterparts (ELAN). Because bilinguals had a similar sized overall early vocabulary (both languages) like monolingual German-learning infants, the diagnostic criterion to identify late talkers with 24 months of age (less than 50 German words and no word combinations) should not be applied to bilingually infants with simultaneously double language acquisition. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Bilingualism alters brain functional connectivity between "control" regions and "language" regions: Evidence from bimodal bilinguals.

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Li, Le; Abutalebi, Jubin; Zou, Lijuan; Yan, Xin; Liu, Lanfang; Feng, Xiaoxia; Wang, Ruiming; Guo, Taomei; Ding, Guosheng

2015-05-01

Previous neuroimaging studies have revealed that bilingualism induces both structural and functional neuroplasticity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the left caudate nucleus (LCN), both of which are associated with cognitive control. Since these "control" regions should work together with other language regions during language processing, we hypothesized that bilingualism may also alter the functional interaction between the dACC/LCN and language regions. Here we tested this hypothesis by exploring the functional connectivity (FC) in bimodal bilinguals and monolinguals using functional MRI when they either performed a picture naming task with spoken language or were in resting state. We found that for bimodal bilinguals who use spoken and sign languages, the FC of the dACC with regions involved in spoken language (e.g. the left superior temporal gyrus) was stronger in performing the task, but weaker in the resting state as compared to monolinguals. For the LCN, its intrinsic FC with sign language regions including the left inferior temporo-occipital part and right inferior and superior parietal lobules was increased in the bilinguals. These results demonstrate that bilingual experience may alter the brain functional interaction between "control" regions and "language" regions. For different control regions, the FC alters in different ways. The findings also deepen our understanding of the functional roles of the dACC and LCN in language processing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bilingualism modulates infants' selective attention to the mouth of a talking face.

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Pons, Ferran; Bosch, Laura; Lewkowicz, David J

2015-04-01

Infants growing up in bilingual environments succeed at learning two languages. What adaptive processes enable them to master the more complex nature of bilingual input? One possibility is that bilingual infants take greater advantage of the redundancy of the audiovisual speech that they usually experience during social interactions. Thus, we investigated whether bilingual infants' need to keep languages apart increases their attention to the mouth as a source of redundant and reliable speech cues. We measured selective attention to talking faces in 4-, 8-, and 12-month-old Catalan and Spanish monolingual and bilingual infants. Monolinguals looked more at the eyes than the mouth at 4 months and more at the mouth than the eyes at 8 months in response to both native and nonnative speech, but they looked more at the mouth than the eyes at 12 months only in response to nonnative speech. In contrast, bilinguals looked equally at the eyes and mouth at 4 months, more at the mouth than the eyes at 8 months, and more at the mouth than the eyes at 12 months, and these patterns of responses were found for both native and nonnative speech at all ages. Thus, to support their dual-language acquisition processes, bilingual infants exploit the greater perceptual salience of redundant audiovisual speech cues at an earlier age and for a longer time than monolingual infants. © The Author(s) 2015.

Monolingual accounting dictionaries for EFL text production

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Sandro

2006-01-01

Monolingual accounting dictionaries are important for producing financial reporting texts in English in an international setting, because of the lack of specialised bilingual dictionaries. As the intended user groups have different factual and linguistic competences, they require specific types...... text production. The monolingual accounting dictionary needs to include information about UK, US and international accounting terms, their grammatical properties, their potential for being combined with other words in collocations, phrases and sentences in order to meet user requirements. Data items...... of information. By identifying and analysing the users' factual and linguistic competences, user needs, use-situations and the stages involved in producing accounting texts in English as a foreign language, lexicographers will have a sound basis for designing the optimal English accounting dictionary for EFL...

Monolingual Accounting Dictionaries for EFL Text Production

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Sandro

2009-01-01

Monolingual accounting dictionaries are important for producing financial reporting texts in English in an international setting, because of the lack of specialised bilingual dictionaries. As the intended user groups have different factual and linguistic competences, they require specific types...... text production. The monolingual accounting dictionary needs to include information about UK, US and international accounting terms, their grammatical properties, their potential for being combined with other words in collocations, phrases and sentences in order to meet user requirements. Data items...... of information. By identifying and analysing the users' factual and linguistic competences, user needs, use-situations and the stages involved in producing accounting texts in English as a foreign language, lexicographers will have a sound basis for designing the optimal English accounting dictionary for EFL...

Specifying the Needs of a "Bilingual" Developmentally Disabled Population: Issues and Case Studies.

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Greenlee, Mel

Linguistic and cognitive assessment of children whose home language is not English involves a number of complex issues: minority labeling, the relationship between cognition and bilingualism, "normal" data on bilingual development, and monolingual versus bilingual environment for children experiencing delay. This paper concentrates on reviewing…

Escaping Capture: Bilingualism Modulates Distraction from Working Memory

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Hernandez, Mireia; Costa, Albert; Humphreys, Glyn W.

2012-01-01

We ask whether bilingualism aids cognitive control over the inadvertent guidance of visual attention from working memory and from bottom-up cueing. We compare highly-proficient Catalan-Spanish bilinguals with Spanish monolinguals in three visual search conditions. In the working memory (WM) condition, attention was driven in a top-down fashion by…

Breaking down the Bilingual Cost in Speech Production

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Sadat, Jasmin; Martin, Clara D.; Magnuson, James S.; Alario, François-Xavier; Costa, Albert

2016-01-01

Bilinguals have been shown to perform worse than monolinguals in a variety of verbal tasks. This study investigated this bilingual verbal cost in a large-scale picture-naming study conducted in Spanish. We explored how individual characteristics of the participants and the linguistic properties of the words being spoken influence this performance…

Beneficial effect of bilingualism on Alzheimer's disease CSF biomarkers and cognition.

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Estanga, Ainara; Ecay-Torres, Mirian; Ibañez, Almudena; Izagirre, Andrea; Villanua, Jorge; Garcia-Sebastian, Maite; Iglesias Gaspar, M Teresa; Otaegui-Arrazola, Ane; Iriondo, Ane; Clerigue, Monserrat; Martinez-Lage, Pablo

2017-02-01

Bilingualism as a component of cognitive reserve has been claimed to delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, its effect on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) AD-biomarkers has not been investigated. We assessed cognitive performance and CSF AD-biomarkers, and potential moderation effect of bilingualism on the association between age, CSF AD-biomarkers, and cognition. Cognitively healthy middle-aged participants classified as monolinguals (n = 100, n CSF  = 59), early (n = 81, n CSF  = 55) and late bilinguals (n = 97, n CSF  = 52) were evaluated. Models adjusted for confounders showed that bilinguals performed better than monolinguals on digits backwards (early-bilinguals p = 0.003), Judgment of Line Orientation (JLO) (early-bilinguals p = 0.018; late-bilinguals p = 0.004), and Trail Making Test-B (late-bilinguals p = 0.047). Early bilingualism was associated with lower CSF total-tau (p = 0.019) and lower prevalence of preclinical AD (NIA-AA classification) (p = 0.02). Bilingualism showed a moderation effect on the relationship between age and CSF AD-biomarkers and the relationship between age and executive function. We conclude that bilingualism contributes to cognitive reserve enhancing executive and visual-spatial functions. For the first time, this study reveals that early bilingualism is associated with more favorable CSF AD-biomarker profile. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Executive functions and inhibitory control in multilingual children: evidence from second-language learners, bilinguals, and trilinguals.

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Poarch, Gregory J; van Hell, Janet G

2012-12-01

In two experiments, we examined inhibitory control processes in three groups of bilinguals and trilinguals that differed in nonnative language proficiency and language learning background. German 5- to 8-year-old second-language learners of English, German-English bilinguals, German-English-Language X trilinguals, and 6- to 8-year-old German monolinguals performed the Simon task and the Attentional Networks Task (ANT). Language proficiencies and socioeconomic status were controlled. We found that the Simon effect advantage, reported in earlier research for bilingual children and adults over monolinguals, differed across groups, with bilinguals and trilinguals showing enhanced conflict resolution over monolinguals and marginally so over second-language learners. In the ANT, bilinguals and trilinguals displayed enhanced conflict resolution over second-language learners. This extends earlier research to child second-language learners and trilinguals, who were in the process of becoming proficient in an additional language, while corroborating earlier findings demonstrating enhanced executive control in bilinguals assumed to be caused by continuous inhibitory control processes necessary in competition resolution between two (or possibly more) languages. The results are interpreted against the backdrop of the developing language systems of the children, both for early second-language learners and for early bilinguals and trilinguals. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

English-Chinese Cross-Language IR Using Bilingual Dictionaries

Science.gov (United States)

2006-01-01

specialized dictionaries together contain about two million entries [6]. 4 Monolingual Experiment The Chinese documents and the Chinese translations of... monolingual performance. The main performance-limiting factor is the limited coverage of the dictionary used in query translation. Some of the key con...English-Chinese Cross-Language IR using Bilingual Dictionaries Aitao Chen , Hailing Jiang , and Fredric Gey School of Information Management

Problems in Bilingual Lexicography: Romance and English

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Wiezell, Richard John

1975-01-01

A bilingual dictionary must be more accurate in definitions than a monolingual. This paper touches on problems of transference between languages, linguistic "cannibalism," and lexical versus connotative meaning. (CK)

Identifying language impairment in bilingual children in France and in Germany.

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Tuller, Laurice; Hamann, Cornelia; Chilla, Solveig; Ferré, Sandrine; Morin, Eléonore; Prevost, Philippe; Dos Santos, Christophe; Abed Ibrahim, Lina; Zebib, Racha

2018-05-23

The detection of specific language impairment (SLI) in children growing up bilingually presents particular challenges for clinicians. Non-word repetition (NWR) and sentence repetition (SR) tasks have proven to be the most accurate diagnostic tools for monolingual populations, raising the question of the extent of their usefulness in different bilingual populations. To determine the diagnostic accuracy of NWR and SR tasks that incorporate phonological/syntactic complexity as discussed in recent linguistic theory. The tasks were developed as part of the Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings (LITMUS) toolkit, in two different national settings, France and Germany, and investigated children with three different home languages: Arabic, Portuguese and Turkish. NWR and SR tasks developed in parallel were administered to 151 bilingual children, aged 5;6-8;11, in France and in Germany, to 64 children in speech-language therapy (SLT) and to 87 children not in SLT, whose first language (L1) was Arabic, Portuguese or Turkish. Children were also administered standardized language tests in each of their languages to determine likely clinical status (typical development (TD) or SLI), and parents responded to a questionnaire including questions about early and current language use (bilingualism factors) and early language development (risk factors for SLI). Monolingual controls included 47 TD children and 29 children with SLI. Results were subjected to inter-group comparisons, to diagnostic accuracy calculation, and to correlation and multiple regression analyses. In accordance with previous studies, NWR and SR identified SLI in the monolingual children, yielding good to excellent diagnostic accuracy. Diagnostic accuracy in bilingual children was fair to good, generally distinguishing children likely to have SLI from children likely to have TD. Accuracy was necessarily linked to the determination of clinical status, which was based on standardized assessment in each

Bilingualism as a potential strategy to improve executive function in preterm infants: a review.

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Head, Lauren M; Baralt, Melissa; Darcy Mahoney, Ashley E

2015-01-01

Preterm birth is associated with long-term deficits in executive functioning and cognitive performance. Using the model of brain plasticity as a theoretical framework, it is possible that preterm infants' neurodevelopmental sequelae can be altered. Evidence suggests that bilingualism confers cognitive advantages on executive functioning, so it is possible that bilingualism may improve preterm infants' neurodevelopment. However, bilingualism has only been studied in term children. This review examined literature that compared the performance of preterm-born children to term children and bilingual children to monolingual children on executive function tasks. To address cognitive disparities in preterm-born children, studies investigating the effect of bilingualism on preterm infants' executive functioning is warranted. Copyright © 2015 National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Bilingualism and Cognitive Decline: A Story of Pride and Prejudice.

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Woumans, Evy; Versijpt, Jan; Sieben, Anne; Santens, Patrick; Duyck, Wouter

2017-01-01

In a recent review, Mukadam, Sommerlad, and Livingston (2017) argue that bilingualism offers no protection against cognitive decline. The authors examined the results of 13 studies (five prospective, eight retrospective) in which monolinguals and bilinguals were compared for cognitive decline and onset of dementia symptoms. Analysis of four of the five prospective studies resulted in the conclusion that there was no difference between monolinguals and bilinguals, whereas seven of the eight retrospective studies actually showed bilingualism to result in a four-to-five year delay of symptom onset. The authors decided to ignore the results from the retrospective studies in favor of those from the prospective studies, reasoning that the former may be confounded by participants' cultural background and education levels. In this commentary, we argue that most of these studies actually controlled for these two variables and still found a positive effect of bilingualism. Furthermore, we argue that the meta-analysis of the prospective studies is not complete, lacking the results of two crucial reports. We conclude that the literature offers substantial evidence for a bilingual effect on the development of cognitive decline and dementia.

Relationship between the Onset Age of Bilingualism and Development of Cognitive Control among Nigerians

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yasir Bdaiwi Jasim Al-Shujairi

2016-02-01

Full Text Available An increasing body of studies suggests that bilingual persons are better than monolinguals on a variety of cognitive measures. Thus, the present study investigates the relationship between the onset age of bilingual and the development of cognitive control among Nigerians. 10 bilingual students studying at University Putra Malaysia have been selected to participate in this study.  They are divided into two groups: 5 early and 5 late bilinguals. The data are collected using online English proficiency test and E-prime software as instruments. Both groups are examined for English proficiency and performance on a flanker task. The result demonstrates that early bilinguals are more proficient in English than late bilinguals. Moreover, early bilingual performs better than late bilingual on flanker task. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that being early active bilinguals tend to have greater advantages in cognitive control and higher language proficiency. Keywords: onset age, bilingualism, and cognitive control

Bilingualism as a protection against the onset of symptoms of dementia.

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Bialystok, Ellen; Craik, Fergus I M; Freedman, Morris

2007-01-28

This study examined the effect of lifelong bilingualism on maintaining cognitive functioning and delaying the onset of symptoms of dementia in old age. The sample was selected from the records of 228 patients referred to a Memory Clinic with cognitive complaints. The final sample consisted of 184 patients diagnosed with dementia, 51% of whom were bilingual. The bilinguals showed symptoms of dementia 4 years later than monolinguals, all other measures being equivalent. Additionally, the rate of decline in Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores over the 4 years subsequent to the diagnosis was the same for a subset of patients in the two groups, suggesting a shift in onset age with no change in rate of progression.

Bilingualism increases neural response consistency and attentional control: evidence for sensory and cognitive coupling.

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Krizman, Jennifer; Skoe, Erika; Marian, Viorica; Kraus, Nina

2014-01-01

Auditory processing is presumed to be influenced by cognitive processes - including attentional control - in a top-down manner. In bilinguals, activation of both languages during daily communication hones inhibitory skills, which subsequently bolster attentional control. We hypothesize that the heightened attentional demands of bilingual communication strengthens connections between cognitive (i.e., attentional control) and auditory processing, leading to greater across-trial consistency in the auditory evoked response (i.e., neural consistency) in bilinguals. To assess this, we collected passively-elicited auditory evoked responses to the syllable [da] in adolescent Spanish-English bilinguals and English monolinguals and separately obtained measures of attentional control and language ability. Bilinguals demonstrated enhanced attentional control and more consistent brainstem and cortical responses. In bilinguals, but not monolinguals, brainstem consistency tracked with language proficiency and attentional control. We interpret these enhancements in neural consistency as the outcome of strengthened attentional control that emerged from experience communicating in two languages. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic accuracy of repetition tasks for the identification of specific language impairment (SLI) in bilingual children: evidence from Russian and Hebrew.

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Armon-Lotem, Sharon; Meir, Natalia

2016-11-01

Previous research demonstrates that repetition tasks are valuable tools for diagnosing specific language impairment (SLI) in monolingual children in English and a variety of other languages, with non-word repetition (NWR) and sentence repetition (SRep) yielding high levels of sensitivity and specificity. Yet, only a few studies have addressed the diagnostic accuracy of repetition tasks in bilingual children, and most available research focuses on English-Spanish sequential bilinguals. To evaluate the efficacy of three repetition tasks (forward digit span (FWD), NWR and SRep) in order to distinguish mono- and bilingual children with and without SLI in Russian and Hebrew. A total of 230 mono- and bilingual children aged 5;5-6;8 participated in the study: 144 bilingual Russian-Hebrew-speaking children (27 with SLI); and 52 monolingual Hebrew-speaking children (14 with SLI) and 34 monolingual Russian-speaking children (14 with SLI). Parallel repetition tasks were designed in both Russian and Hebrew. Bilingual children were tested in both languages. The findings confirmed that NWR and SRep are valuable tools in distinguishing monolingual children with and without SLI in Russian and Hebrew, while the results for FWD were mixed. Yet, testing of bilingual children with the same tools using monolingual cut-off points resulted in inadequate diagnostic accuracy. We demonstrate, however, that the use of bilingual cut-off points yielded acceptable levels of diagnostic accuracy. The combination of SRep tasks in L1/Russian and L2/Hebrew yielded the highest overall accuracy (i.e., 94%), but even SRep alone in L2/Hebrew showed excellent levels of sensitivity (i.e., 100%) and specificity (i.e., 89%), reaching 91% of total diagnostic accuracy. The results are very promising for identifying SLI in bilingual children and for showing that testing in the majority language with bilingual cut-off points can provide an accurate classification. © 2016 Royal College of Speech and Language

Oral Narratives in Monolingual and Bilingual Preschoolers with SLI

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Rezzonico, Stefano; Chen, Xi; Cleave, Patricia L.; Greenberg, Janice; Hipfner-Boucher, Kathleen; Johnson, Carla J.; Milburn, Trelani; Pelletier, Janette; Weitzman, Elaine; Girolametto, Luigi

2015-01-01

Background: The body of literature on narratives of bilingual children with and without specific language impairment (SLI) is growing. However, little is known about the narrative abilities of bilingual preschool children with SLI and their patterns of growth. Aims: To determine the similarities and differences in narrative abilities between…

Verbal fluency in bilingual Spanish/English Alzheimer's disease patients.

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Salvatierra, Judy; Rosselli, Monica; Acevedo, Amarilis; Duara, Ranjan

2007-01-01

Studies have demonstrated that in verbal fluency tests, monolinguals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show greater difficulties retrieving words based on semantic rather than phonemic rules. The present study aimed to determine whether this difficulty was reproduced in both languages of Spanish/English bilinguals with mild to moderate AD whose primary language was Spanish. Performance on semantic and phonemic verbal fluency of 11 bilingual AD patients was compared to the performance of 11 cognitively normal, elderly bilingual individuals matched for gender, age, level of education, and degree of bilingualism. Cognitively normal subjects retrieved significantly more items under the semantic condition compared to the phonemic, whereas the performance of AD patients was similar under both conditions, suggesting greater decline in semantic verbal fluency tests. This pattern was produced in both languages, implying a related semantic decline in both languages. Results from this study should be considered preliminary because of the small sample size.

Bilingualism changes children's beliefs about what is innate.

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Byers-Heinlein, Krista; Garcia, Bianca

2015-03-01

Young children engage in essentialist reasoning about natural kinds, believing that many traits are innately determined. This study investigated whether personal experience with second language acquisition could alter children's essentialist biases. In a switched-at-birth paradigm, 5- and 6-year-old monolingual and simultaneous bilingual children expected that a baby's native language, an animal's vocalizations, and an animal's physical traits would match those of a birth rather than of an adoptive parent. We predicted that sequential bilingual children, who had been exposed to a new language after age 3, would show greater understanding that languages are learned. Surprisingly, sequential bilinguals showed reduced essentialist beliefs about all traits: they were significantly more likely than other children to believe that human language, animal vocalizations, and animal physical traits would be learned through experience rather than innately endowed. These findings suggest that bilingualism in the preschool years can profoundly change children's essentialist biases. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Home and Community Language Proficiency in Spanish-English Early Bilingual University Students.

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Schmidtke, Jens

2017-10-17

This study assessed home and community language proficiency in Spanish-English bilingual university students to investigate whether the vocabulary gap reported in studies of bilingual children persists into adulthood. Sixty-five early bilinguals (mean age = 21 years) were assessed in English and Spanish vocabulary and verbal reasoning ability using subtests of the Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey-Revised (Schrank & Woodcock, 2009). Their English scores were compared to 74 monolinguals matched in age and level of education. Participants also completed a background questionnaire. Bilinguals scored below the monolingual control group on both subtests, and the difference was larger for vocabulary compared to verbal reasoning. However, bilinguals were close to the population mean for verbal reasoning. Spanish scores were on average lower than English scores, but participants differed widely in their degree of balance. Participants with an earlier age of acquisition of English and more current exposure to English tended to be more dominant in English. Vocabulary tests in the home or community language may underestimate bilingual university students' true verbal ability and should be interpreted with caution in high-stakes situations. Verbal reasoning ability may be more indicative of a bilingual's verbal ability.

Knowledge of Some Derivational Processes in Two Samples of Bilingual Children

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Marckworth, M. Lois

1978-01-01

A report on a study concerning the bilingual child in a monolingual community. It investigates the acquisition of a set of English derivational morphemes by bilingual children and the effect of external factors, such as school, exposure time, age and home, in the children's language experience. (AMH)

Syntactic bootstrapping in children with Down syndrome: the impact of bilingualism.

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Cleave, Patricia L; Kay-Raining Bird, Elizabeth; Trudeau, Natacha; Sutton, Ann

2014-01-01

The purpose of the study was to add to our knowledge of bilingual learning in children with Down syndrome (DS) using a syntactic bootstrapping task. Four groups of children and youth matched on non-verbal mental age participated. There were 14 bilingual participants with DS (DS-B, mean age 12;5), 12 monolingual participants with DS (DS-M, mean age 10;10), 9 bilingual typically developing children (TD-B; mean age 4;1) and 11 monolingual typically developing children (TD-M; mean age 4;1). The participants completed a computerized syntactic bootstrapping task involving unfamiliar nouns and verbs. The syntactic cues employed were a for the nouns and ing for the verbs. Performance was better on nouns than verbs. There was also a main effect for group. Follow-up t-tests revealed that there were no significant differences between the TD-M and TD-B or between the DS-M and DS-B groups. However, the DS-M group performed more poorly than the TD-M group with a large effect size. Analyses at the individual level revealed a similar pattern of results. There was evidence that Down syndrome impacted performance; there was no evidence that bilingualism negatively affected the syntactic bootstrapping skills of individuals with DS. These results from a dynamic language task are consistent with those of previous studies that used static or product measures. Thus, the results are consistent with the position that parents should be supported in their decision to provide bilingual input to their children with DS. Readers of this article will identify (1) research evidence regarding bilingual development in children with Down syndrome and (2) syntactic bootstrapping skills in monolingual and bilingual children who are typically developing or who have Down syndrome. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Quasi-Universal Nonword Repetition Task as a Diagnostic Tool for Bilingual Children Learning Dutch as a Second Language.

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Boerma, Tessel; Chiat, Shula; Leseman, Paul; Timmermeister, Mona; Wijnen, Frank; Blom, Elma

2015-12-01

This study evaluated a newly developed quasi-universal nonword repetition task (Q-U NWRT) as a diagnostic tool for bilingual children with language impairment (LI) who have Dutch as a 2nd language. The Q-U NWRT was designed to be minimally influenced by knowledge of 1 specific language in contrast to a language-specific NWRT with which it was compared. One hundred twenty monolingual and bilingual children with and without LI participated (30 per group). A mixed-design analysis of variance was used to investigate the effects of LI and bilingualism on the NWRTs. Receiver operating characteristic analyses were conducted to evaluate the instruments' diagnostic value. Large negative effects of LI were found on both NWRTs, whereas negative effects of bilingualism only occurred on the language-specific NWRT. Both instruments had high clinical accuracy in the monolingual group, but only the Q-U NWRT had high clinical accuracy in the bilingual group. This study indicates that the Q-U NWRT is a promising diagnostic tool to help identify LI in bilingual children learning Dutch as a 2nd language. The instrument was clinically accurate in both a monolingual and bilingual group of children and seems better able to disentangle LI from language disadvantage than more language-specific measures.

Cross-Linguistic Influence in French-English Bilingual Children's Possessive Constructions

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Nicoladis, Elena

2012-01-01

The purpose of this article was to test the predictions of a speech production model of cross-linguistic influence in French-English bilingual children. A speech production model predicts bidirectional influence (i.e., bilinguals' greater use of periphrastic constructions like the hat of the dog relative to monolinguals in English and reversed…

Age of Bilingual Exposure Is Related to the Contribution of Phonological and Semantic Knowledge to Successful Reading Development.

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Jasińska, Kaja K; Petitto, Laura-Ann

2018-01-01

Bilingual children's reading as a function of age of first bilingual language exposure (AoE) was examined. Bilingual (varied AoE) and monolingual children (N = 421) were compared in their English language and reading abilities (6-10 years) using phonological awareness, semantic knowledge, and reading tasks. Structural equation modeling was applied to determine how bilingual AoE predicts reading outcomes. Early exposed bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on phonological awareness and word reading. Phonology and semantic (vocabulary) knowledge differentially predicted reading depending on the bilingual experience and AoE. Understanding how bilingual experiences impact phonological awareness and semantic knowledge, and in turn, impact reading outcomes is relevant for our understanding of what language and reading skills are best to focus on, and when, to promote optimal reading success. © 2017 The Authors. Child Development © 2017 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Cognitive Representation of Colour in Bilinguals: The Case of Greek Blues

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Athanasopoulos, Panos

2009-01-01

A number of recent studies demonstrate that bilinguals with languages that differ in grammatical and lexical categories may shift their cognitive representation of those categories towards that of monolingual speakers of their second language. The current paper extended that investigation to the domain of colour in Greek-English bilinguals with…

Bilingual instruction in early childhood education, can it better develop children?

OpenAIRE

Djahimo Santri E. P.; Indahri Yulia

2018-01-01

This is a case study of teaching and learning using bilingual instruction in two schools of Early Childhood Education in Kupang-NTT, Indonesia. The aims of this study are to find out whether or not bilingual instruction in Early Childhood Education can better develop children (the outcomes) and if the issue of ‘the younger, the better” in children’s language acquisition in bilingual setting is acceptable and true. 4 students from one bilingual and one monolingual schools have been observed. I...

Unveiling EFL and Self-Contained Teachers’ Discourses on Bilingualism Within the Context of Professional Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennyfer Paola Camargo Cely

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Throughout time, the predominant use of certain languages has allowed some nations to take control over others and assure for them a privileged position. This study unveiled how certain practices and ideologies in regard to bilingualism have influenced teachers’ professional development. Data were collected through discussion group sessions, reflective journals, and protocols from five teachers from a private K-11 school in Bogota. Analysis indicated participants’ discourses drew on hegemonic, colonial, and manipulative ideas. Nevertheless, when dialoguing and peer coaching, a discourse of resistance was constituted. The study suggested further research into teachers’ professional growth, bilingualism, and bilingual education in monolingual contexts as the Colombian one.

Bilingualism delays clinical manifestation of Alzheimer's disease

OpenAIRE

Woumans, Evy; Santens, Patrick; Sieben, Anne; Versijpt, Jan; Stevens, Michaël; Duyck, Wouter

2015-01-01

The current study investigated the effects of bilingualism on the clinical manifestation of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in a European sample of patients. We assessed all incoming AD patients in two university hospitals within a specified timeframe. Sixty-nine monolinguals and 65 bilinguals diagnosed with probable AD were compared for time of clinical AD manifestation and diagnosis. The influence of other potentially interacting variables was also examined. Results indicated a significant delay f...

Biology enters the scene-a new perspective on bilingualism, cognition, and dementia.

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Bak, Thomas H; Robertson, Ian

2017-02-01

The question of whether bilingualism can influence cognitive functions in healthy aging as well as in brain diseases is currently a topic of an intense debate. In a study published in this issue of the "Neurobiology of Ageing", Estanga et al. are breaking new ground by combining cognitive and biological approaches. Based on the data from the Guipuzkoa Alzheimer Project, they report that, compared with monolinguals, early bilinguals are not only characterized by a better cognitive performance in several domains and a lower prevalence of Alzheimer's disease but also by lower levels of t-tau in their cerebrospinal fluid. We suggest that sustained activation of noradrenergic signaling pathways associated with bilingualism could provide a possible mechanism linking results of this study with previous observations of delayed onset of dementia in bilinguals. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Monolingual and bilingual learners' dictionaries | Gouws | Lexikos

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The importance of an unambiguous identification of the relevant lexicographic functions is emphasised and the notions of function condensation and function merging are introduced. It is shown that the typological choice should be determined by a function-based approach to dictionary usage. Keywords: bilingual dictionary ...

Semantic and Conceptual Factors in Spanish-English Bilinguals' Processing of Lexical Categories in Their Two Languages

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Gathercole, Virginia C. Mueller; Stadthagen-González, Hans; Pérez-Tattam, Rocío; Yava?, Feryal

2016-01-01

This study examines possible semantic interaction in fully fluent adult simultaneous and early second language (L2) bilinguals. Monolingual and bilingual speakers of Spanish and English (n = 144) were tested for their understanding of lexical categories that differed in their two languages. Simultaneous bilinguals came from homes in which Spanish…

Neural processing of speech in children is influenced by bilingual experience

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Krizman, Jennifer; Slater, Jessica; Skoe, Erika; Marian, Viorica; Kraus, Nina

2014-01-01

Language experience fine-tunes how the auditory system processes sound. For example, bilinguals, relative to monolinguals, have more robust evoked responses to speech that manifest as stronger neural encoding of the fundamental frequency (F0) and greater across-trial consistency. However, it is unknown whether such enhancements increase with increasing second language experience. We predict that F0 amplitude and neural consistency scale with dual-language experience during childhood, such that more years of bilingual experience leads to more robust F0 encoding and greater neural consistency. To test this hypothesis, we recorded auditory brainstem responses to the synthesized syllables ‘ba’ and ‘ga’ in two groups of bilingual children who were matched for age at test (8.4+/−0.67 years) but differed in their age of second language acquisition. One group learned English and Spanish simultaneously from birth (n=13), while the second group learned the two languages sequentially (n=15), spending on average their first four years as monolingual Spanish speakers. We find that simultaneous bilinguals have a larger F0 response to ‘ba’ and ‘ga’ and a more consistent response to ‘ba’ compared to sequential bilinguals. We also demonstrate that these neural enhancements positively relate with years of bilingual experience. These findings support the notion that bilingualism enhances subcortical auditory processing. PMID:25445377

How do German bilingual schoolchildren process German prepositions? - A study on language-motor interactions.

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Ahlberg, Daniela Katharina; Bischoff, Heike; Strozyk, Jessica Vanessa; Bryant, Doreen; Kaup, Barbara

2018-01-01

While much support is found for embodied language processing in a first language (L1), evidence for embodiment in second language (L2) processing is rather sparse. In a recent study, we found support for L2 embodiment, but also an influence of L1 on L2 processing in adult learners. In the present study, we compared bilingual schoolchildren who speak German as one of their languages with monolingual German schoolchildren. We presented the German prepositions auf (on), über (above), and unter (under) in a Stroop-like task. Upward or downward responses were made depending on the font colour, resulting in compatible and incompatible trials. We found compatibility effects for all children, but in contrast to the adult sample, there were no processing differences between the children depending on the nature of their other language, suggesting that the processing of German prepositions of bilingual children is embodied in a similar way as in monolingual German children.

Child healthcare nurses believe that bilingual children show slower language development, simplify screening procedures and delay referrals.

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Nayeb, Laleh; Wallby, Thomas; Westerlund, Monica; Salameh, Eva-Kristina; Sarkadi, Anna

2015-02-01

A significant number of children living in Sweden are bilingual, but how language screening is performed in this group is unknown. We investigated child healthcare nurses' perceptions of the language screening of bilingual children aged 30-36 months, together with their clinical practices. An online questionnaire was completed by 863 nurses who performed language screening of bilingual children in Sweden at least once a month, corresponding to 89% of the target population. Cox regression identified predictors of the nurses' tendency to simplify the screening of bilingual children. The nurses reported a greater lack of confidence and more difficulties in interpreting screening outcomes for bilingual than monolingual children (p bilingual children and 74% postponed referrals to speech and language services, basing these adaptations on their perceptions of the children's Swedish language skills (p bilingual children, and this was the strongest predictor of simplified screening practices (RR=2.00, 95% CI 1.44-2.77). Child healthcare nurses need easily accessible information and clear guidelines on the language development of bilingual children to ensure that bilingual and monolingual children receive equitable language screening services. ©2014 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The impact of late, non-balanced bilingualism on cognitive performance.

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Vega-Mendoza, Mariana; West, Holly; Sorace, Antonella; Bak, Thomas H

2015-04-01

We present a study examining cognitive functions in late non-balanced bilinguals with different levels of second language proficiency. We examined in two experiments a total of 193 mono- and bilingual university students. We assessed different aspects of attention (sustained, selective and attentional switching), verbal fluency (letter and category) as well as picture-word association as a measure of language proficiency. In Experiment 2 we also compared students in their first/initial (Y1) and fourth/final (Y4) year of either language or literature studies. There were no differences between both groups in category fluency. In selective attention, bilinguals outperformed monolinguals in Y1 and this difference remained significant in Y4 despite overall improvement in both groups. Contrasting results were found in attentional switching and letter fluency: while no differences were found in Y1 in both tasks, in Y4 there was an advantage for bilinguals in attentional switching and for monolinguals in letter fluency. We conclude that overall late-acquisition non-balanced bilinguals experience similar cognitive effects as their early-acquisition balanced counterparts. However, different cognitive effects may appear at different stages of adult second language acquisition. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluating Attributions of Delay and Confusion in Young Bilinguals: Special Insights from Infants Acquiring a Signed and a Spoken Language.

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Petitto, Laura Ann; Holowka, Siobhan

2002-01-01

Examines whether early simultaneous bilingual language exposure causes children to be language delayed or confused. Cites research suggesting normal and parallel linguistic development occurs in each language in young children and young children's dual language developments are similar to monolingual language acquisition. Research on simultaneous…

On the importance of being bilingual: word stress processing in a context of segmental variability.

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Abboub, Nawal; Bijeljac-Babic, Ranka; Serres, Josette; Nazzi, Thierry

2015-04-01

French-learning infants have language-specific difficulties in processing lexical stress due to the lack of lexical stress in French. These difficulties in discriminating between words with stress-initial (trochaic) and stress-final (iambic) patterns emerge by 10months of age in the easier context of low variability (using a single item pronounced with a trochaic pattern vs. an iambic pattern) as well as in the more challenging context of high segmental variability (using lists of segmentally different trochaic and iambic items). These findings raise the question of stress pattern perception in simultaneous bilinguals learning French and a second language using stress at the lexical level. Bijeljac-Babic, Serres, Höhle, and Nazzi (2012) established that at 10 months of age, in the simpler context of low variability, such bilinguals have better stress discrimination abilities than French-learning monolinguals. The current study explored whether this advantage extends to the more challenging context of high segmental variability. Results first establish stress pattern discrimination in a group of bilingual 10-month-olds learning French and one language with (variable) lexical stress, but not in French-learning 10-month-old monolinguals. Second, discrimination in bilinguals appeared not to be affected by the language balance of the infants, suggesting that sensitivity to stress patterns might be maintained in these bilingual infants provided that they hear at least 30% of a language with lexical stress. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A behavioural and electrophysiological investigation of the effect of bilingualism on aging and cognitive control.

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Kousaie, Shanna; Phillips, Natalie A

2017-01-08

Given previous, but inconsistent, findings of language group differences on cognitive control tasks the current investigation examined whether such differences could be demonstrated in a sample of older bilingual adults. Monolingual and bilingual older adults performed three cognitive control tasks that have previously been used in the literature (i.e., Stroop, Simon and flanker tasks) while brain electrophysiological recordings took place. Both behavioural (response time and accuracy) and event-related brain potentials (ERPs; N2 and P3 amplitude and latency) were compared across the two language groups. Processing differences between monolinguals and bilinguals were identified for each task, although the locus differed across the tasks. Language group differences were most clear in the Stroop task, with bilinguals showing superior performance both behaviourally and electrophysiologically. In contrast, for the Simon and flanker tasks there were electrophysiological differences indicating language group processing differences at the level of conflict monitoring (Simon task only) and stimulus categorization (Simon and flanker tasks), but no behavioural differences. These findings support suggestions that these three tasks that are often used to examine executive control processes show little convergent validity; however, there are clear language group differences for each task that are suggestive of superior performance for bilinguals, with behavioural differences emerging only in the linguistic Stroop task. Furthermore, it is clear that behavioural measures alone do not capture the language group effects in their entirety, and perhaps processing differences between language groups are more marked in a sample of older adults who are experiencing age-related cognitive changes than in younger adults who are at the peak of their cognitive capacity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How do German bilingual schoolchildren process German prepositions? – A study on language-motor interactions

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Bischoff, Heike; Strozyk, Jessica Vanessa; Bryant, Doreen; Kaup, Barbara

2018-01-01

While much support is found for embodied language processing in a first language (L1), evidence for embodiment in second language (L2) processing is rather sparse. In a recent study, we found support for L2 embodiment, but also an influence of L1 on L2 processing in adult learners. In the present study, we compared bilingual schoolchildren who speak German as one of their languages with monolingual German schoolchildren. We presented the German prepositions auf (on), über (above), and unter (under) in a Stroop-like task. Upward or downward responses were made depending on the font colour, resulting in compatible and incompatible trials. We found compatibility effects for all children, but in contrast to the adult sample, there were no processing differences between the children depending on the nature of their other language, suggesting that the processing of German prepositions of bilingual children is embodied in a similar way as in monolingual German children. PMID:29538404

Interpreting Mini-Mental State Examination Performance in Highly Proficient Bilingual Spanish-English and Asian Indian-English Speakers: Demographic Adjustments, Item Analyses, and Supplemental Measures.

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Milman, Lisa H; Faroqi-Shah, Yasmeen; Corcoran, Chris D; Damele, Deanna M

2018-04-17

Performance on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), among the most widely used global screens of adult cognitive status, is affected by demographic variables including age, education, and ethnicity. This study extends prior research by examining the specific effects of bilingualism on MMSE performance. Sixty independent community-dwelling monolingual and bilingual adults were recruited from eastern and western regions of the United States in this cross-sectional group study. Independent sample t tests were used to compare 2 bilingual groups (Spanish-English and Asian Indian-English) with matched monolingual speakers on the MMSE, demographically adjusted MMSE scores, MMSE item scores, and a nonverbal cognitive measure. Regression analyses were also performed to determine whether language proficiency predicted MMSE performance in both groups of bilingual speakers. Group differences were evident on the MMSE, on demographically adjusted MMSE scores, and on a small subset of individual MMSE items. Scores on a standardized screen of language proficiency predicted a significant proportion of the variance in the MMSE scores of both bilingual groups. Bilingual speakers demonstrated distinct performance profiles on the MMSE. Results suggest that supplementing the MMSE with a language screen, administering a nonverbal measure, and/or evaluating item-based patterns of performance may assist with test interpretation for this population.

Home Language Will Not Take Care of Itself: Vocabulary Knowledge in Trilingual Children in the United Kingdom.

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Mieszkowska, Karolina; Łuniewska, Magdalena; Kołak, Joanna; Kacprzak, Agnieszka; Wodniecka, Zofia; Haman, Ewa

2017-01-01

Language input is crucial for language acquisition and especially for children's vocabulary size. Bilingual children receive reduced input in each of their languages, compared to monolinguals, and are reported to have smaller vocabularies, at least in one of their languages. Vocabulary acquisition in trilingual children has been largely understudied; only a few case studies have been published so far. Moreover, trilingual language acquisition in children has been rarely contrasted with language outcomes of bilingual and monolingual peers. We present a comparison of trilingual, bilingual, and monolingual children (total of 56 participants, aged 4;5-6;7, matched one-to-one for age, gender, and non-verbal IQ) in regard to their receptive and expressive vocabulary (measured by standardized tests), and relative frequency of input in each language (measured by parental report). The monolingual children were speakers of Polish or English, while the bilinguals and trilinguals were migrant children living in the United Kingdom, speaking English as a majority language and Polish as a home language. The trilinguals had another (third) language at home. For the majority language, English, no differences were found across the three groups, either in the receptive or productive vocabulary. The groups differed, however, in their performance in Polish, the home language. The trilinguals had lower receptive vocabulary than the monolinguals, and lower productive vocabulary compared to the monolinguals. The trilinguals showed similar lexical knowledge to the bilinguals. The bilinguals demonstrated lower scores than the monolinguals, but only in productive vocabulary. The data on reported language input show that input in English in bilingual and trilingual groups is similar, but the bilinguals outscore the trilinguals in relative frequency of Polish input. Overall, the results suggest that in the majority language, multilingual children may develop lexical skills similar to those of

Home Language Will Not Take Care of Itself: Vocabulary Knowledge in Trilingual Children in the United Kingdom

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Karolina Mieszkowska

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Language input is crucial for language acquisition and especially for children’s vocabulary size. Bilingual children receive reduced input in each of their languages, compared to monolinguals, and are reported to have smaller vocabularies, at least in one of their languages. Vocabulary acquisition in trilingual children has been largely understudied; only a few case studies have been published so far. Moreover, trilingual language acquisition in children has been rarely contrasted with language outcomes of bilingual and monolingual peers. We present a comparison of trilingual, bilingual, and monolingual children (total of 56 participants, aged 4;5–6;7, matched one-to-one for age, gender, and non-verbal IQ in regard to their receptive and expressive vocabulary (measured by standardized tests, and relative frequency of input in each language (measured by parental report. The monolingual children were speakers of Polish or English, while the bilinguals and trilinguals were migrant children living in the United Kingdom, speaking English as a majority language and Polish as a home language. The trilinguals had another (third language at home. For the majority language, English, no differences were found across the three groups, either in the receptive or productive vocabulary. The groups differed, however, in their performance in Polish, the home language. The trilinguals had lower receptive vocabulary than the monolinguals, and lower productive vocabulary compared to the monolinguals. The trilinguals showed similar lexical knowledge to the bilinguals. The bilinguals demonstrated lower scores than the monolinguals, but only in productive vocabulary. The data on reported language input show that input in English in bilingual and trilingual groups is similar, but the bilinguals outscore the trilinguals in relative frequency of Polish input. Overall, the results suggest that in the majority language, multilingual children may develop lexical skills

Executive functions in mono- and bilingual children with language impairment - issues for speech-language pathology.

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Sandgren, Olof; Holmström, Ketty

2015-01-01

The clinical assessment of language impairment (LI) in bilingual children imposes challenges for speech-language pathology services. Assessment tools standardized for monolingual populations increase the risk of misinterpreting bilingualism as language impairment. This Perspective article summarizes recent studies on the assessment of bilingual LI and presents new results on including nonlinguistic measures of executive functions in the diagnostic assessment. Executive functions shows clinica...

The effect of bilingualism on amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

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Ossher, Lynn; Bialystok, Ellen; Craik, Fergus I M; Murphy, Kelly J; Troyer, Angela K

2013-01-01

Previous reports have found that lifelong bilingualism is associated with a delay in the onset of dementia, including Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type (DAT). Because amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) is often a transition stage between normal aging and DAT, our aim in this paper was to establish whether this delay in symptom onset for bilinguals would also be seen in the onset of symptoms of aMCI and whether this delay would be consistent in different subtypes of aMCI. We examined the effect of bilingualism on the age of diagnosis in individuals with single- or multiple-domain aMCI who were administered a battery of neuropsychological tests and questionnaires about their language and social background. Our results showed an interaction between aMCI type and language history. Only individuals diagnosed with single-domain aMCI demonstrated a later age of diagnosis for bilinguals (M = 79.4 years) than monolinguals (M = 74.9 years). This preliminary evidence suggests that the early protective advantage of bilingualism may be specific to single-domain aMCI, which is the type of aMCI most specifically associated with progression to DAT.

Lexical Learning in Bilingual Adults: The Relative Importance of Short-Term Memory for Serial Order and Phonological Knowledge

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Majerus, Steve; Poncelet, Martine; Van der Linden, Martial; Weekes, Brendan S.

2008-01-01

Studies of monolingual speakers have shown a strong association between lexical learning and short-term memory (STM) capacity, especially STM for serial order information. At the same time, studies of bilingual speakers suggest that phonological knowledge is the main factor that drives lexical learning. This study tested these two hypotheses…

He Said, She Said: Effects of Bilingualism on Cross-Talker Word Recognition in Infancy

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Singh, Leher

2018-01-01

The purpose of the current study was to examine effects of bilingual language input on infant word segmentation and on talker generalization. In the present study, monolingually and bilingually exposed infants were compared on their abilities to recognize familiarized words in speech and to maintain generalizable representations of familiarized…

Immersive bilingualism reshapes the core of the brain.

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Pliatsikas, Christos; DeLuca, Vincent; Moschopoulou, Elisavet; Saddy, James Douglas

2017-05-01

Bilingualism has been shown to affect the structure of the brain, including cortical regions related to language. Less is known about subcortical structures, such as the basal ganglia, which underlie speech monitoring and language selection, processes that are crucial for bilinguals, as well as other linguistic functions, such as grammatical and phonological acquisition and processing. Simultaneous bilinguals have demonstrated significant reshaping of the basal ganglia and the thalamus compared to monolinguals. However, it is not clear whether these effects are due to learning of the second language (L2) at a very young age or simply due to continuous usage of two languages. Here, we show that bilingualism-induced subcortical effects are directly related to the amount of continuous L2 usage, or L2 immersion. We found significant subcortical reshaping in non-simultaneous (or sequential) bilinguals with extensive immersion in a bilingual environment, closely mirroring the recent findings in simultaneous bilinguals. Importantly, some of these effects were positively correlated to the amount of L2 immersion. Conversely, sequential bilinguals with comparable proficiency and age of acquisition (AoA) but limited immersion did not show similar effects. Our results provide structural evidence to suggestions that L2 acquisition continuously occurs in an immersive environment, and is expressed as dynamic reshaping of the core of the brain. These findings propose that second language learning in the brain is a dynamic procedure which depends on active and continuous L2 usage.

Bilingual Children with Nonsyndromic Cleft Lip and/or Palate: Language and Memory Skills

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Young, Selena Ee-Li; Purcell, Alison Anne; Ballard, Kirrie Jane; Liow, Susan Jane Rickard; Ramos, Sara Da Silva; Heard, Robert

2012-01-01

Purpose: Research shows that monolingual children with cleft lip and/or palate (CLP) have a higher incidence of cognitive-linguistic deficits, but it is not clear whether bilingual preschool children with CLP are especially vulnerable because they need to acquire 2 languages. We tested the hypothesis that bilingual children with CLP score lower…

Neuropsychological profiles and verbal abilities in lifelong bilinguals with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease.

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Kowoll, Magdalena Eva; Degen, Christina; Gladis, Saskia; Schröder, Johannes

2015-01-01

Bilingualism is associated with enhanced executive functioning and delayed onset of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we investigated neuropsychological differences between mono- and bilingual patients with MCI and AD as well as the respective effects of dementia on the dominant and non-dominant language of bilinguals. 69 patients with MCI (n = 22) or AD (n = 47) and 17 healthy controls were included. 41 subjects were classified as lifelong bilinguals (mean age: 73.6; SD = 11.5) and 45 as monolinguals (mean age: 78.1; SD = 10.9). Neuropsychological performance was assessed on the CERAD-NP, the clock-drawing test, and the logical memory subscale of the Wechsler Memory Scale. Neuropsychological profiles showed only minor nonsignificant differences between mono- and bilingual subjects when compared between diagnostic groups. Bilingual MCI patients scored significantly lower on the verbal fluency and picture naming task in their dominant language than bilingual controls. Bilingual AD patients showed a reduced performance in their nondominant language when compared to bilingual MCI patients and bilingual controls (main effect language dominance: verbal fluency task p Bilingual MCI and AD patients show a similar pattern of neuropsychological deficits as monolingual patients do. The dominant language appears to be compromised first in bilingual MCI patients, while severe deficits of the nondominant language develop later in the course with manifestation of AD. These findings are important for the diagnostic work up of bilingual patients and the development of improved care concepts for bilingual patients such as migrant populations.

Bilingualism affects 9-month-old infants' expectations about how words refer to kinds.

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Byers-Heinlein, Krista

2017-01-01

Infants are precocious word learners, and seem to possess systematic expectations about how words refer to object kinds. For example, while monolingual infants show a one-to-one mapping bias (e.g. mutual exclusivity), expecting each object to have only one basic level label, previous research has shown that this is less robust in bi- and multilinguals aged 1.5 years and older. This study examined the early origins of such one-to-one mapping biases by comparing monolingual and bilingual 9-10-month-olds' expectations about the relationship between labels and object kinds. In a violation of expectation paradigm, infants heard a speaker name hidden objects with either one label ('I see a mouba! I see a mouba!') or two labels ('I see a camo! I see a tenda!'). An occluder moved to reveal two objects that were either identical or of different kinds. Monolingual infants looked longest when two labels were associated with identical objects, and when one label was associated with objects of different kinds, showing that they found these outcomes unexpected. This replicated previous findings showing that monolinguals expect that distinct words label distinct object kinds (Dewar & Xu, ). Bilinguals looked equally to the outcomes regardless of the number of labels, showing no such expectations. This finding indicates that bilingualism influences young infants' expectations about how words refer to kinds, and more broadly supports the position that language experience contributes to the development of word learning heuristics. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Exemplification in the prepositional entries of bilingual dictionaries. Theory and practice

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Witold Ucherek

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The first part of the article deals with the function of the examples in bilingual dictionaries, compared to their function in monolingual ones. First, it is argued that examples in an active bilingual dictionary should principally exemplify the use of the headword’s translation equivalents rather than the headword itself, as it is in the case of monolingual dictionaries. Then a survey is made dealing with examples selected from all simple preposition entries in a recent Polish-French dictionary, taking into consideration both the structure and the function of these examples. The general conclusion is that in the investigated entries exemplifi cation fails seriously enough to make it impossible for users to choose the appropriate equivalent of a particular preposition.

Education, bilingualism, and cognitive trajectories: Sacramento Area Latino Aging Study (SALSA).

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Mungas, Dan; Early, Dawnté R; Glymour, M Maria; Zeki Al Hazzouri, Adina; Haan, Mary N

2018-01-01

This study examined the influence of education, country where education occurred, and monolingual-bilingual (English/Spanish) language usage on late life cognitive trajectories in the Sacramento Area Latino Study on Aging (SALSA), an epidemiological study of health and cognition in Hispanics, mostly of Mexican origin, age 60 and over (N = 1,499). SALSA followed a large cohort of older Latinos for up to 7 assessment waves from 1998 to 2007. Global cognition was assessed by using the Modified Mini Mental State Examination, and the Spanish English Verbal Learning Test was used to measure episodic memory. Education, country of origin, and language usage patterns were collected at the baseline assessment and used as predictors of longitudinal trajectories of cognition. Parallel process mixed effects models were used to examine effects of education and language variables on baseline cognition and rate of cognitive decline. Mixed effects longitudinal models showed that education had strong effects on baseline global cognition and verbal memory but was not related to decline over up to 9 years of longitudinal follow-up. Differences in education effects between subgroups educated in Mexico and in the United States were minor. Monolingual-bilingual language usage was not related to cognitive decline, and bilinguals did not significantly differ from monolingual English speakers on baseline cognitive scores. Hypotheses that higher education and bilingualism protect against late life cognitive decline were not supported and education effects on late-life cognitive trajectories did not substantially differ across U.S.- and Mexico-educated groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Bilingualism as a contributor to cognitive reserve?Evidence from cerebral glucose metabolism in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease

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Magdalena Eva Kowoll

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Objective: Bilingualism is discussed as one factor contributing to ‘cognitive reserve’ (CR as it enhances executive control functions. To elucidate the underlying cerebral correlates regional glucose uptake was compared between bilinguals and monolinguals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI and beginning Alzheimer´s disease (AD by using [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG positron emission tomography (PET. Methods: 30 patients (73.2 ± 7.4 diagnosed with MCI or probable AD received physical and neuropsychological examinations, blood tests and FDG-PET scans. 16 patients were classified as lifelong bilinguals following the criterion of Bialystok et al.; groups were matched for age, sex and MMSE scores. Analyses were conducted using SPM 8 using the whole brain as reference region for intensity normalization controlling for years of education.Results: Bilingual patient groups showed substantially greater impairment of glucose uptake in frontotemporal and parietal regions (including Brodmann areas 9, 47, 40 and 21 and in the left cerebellum relative to monolingual patients.Conclusions: Bilingualism is likely to contribute to CR given that bilingual patients showed more severe brain changes than monolinguals when adjusting for severity of cognitive impairment . The latter did not only comprise Brodmann areas relevant to speech and language but also structures typically involved in AD pathology such as the temporal and the parietal cortices.

More Use Almost Always Means a Smaller Frequency Effect: Aging, Bilingualism, and the Weaker Links Hypothesis

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Gollan, Tamar H.; Montoya, Rosa I.; Cera, Cynthia; Sandoval, Tiffany C.

2008-01-01

The "weaker links" hypothesis proposes that bilinguals are disadvantaged relative to monolinguals on speaking tasks because they divide frequency-of-use between two languages. To test this proposal, we contrasted the effects of increased word use associated with monolingualism, language dominance, and increased age on picture naming times. In two…

The effects of bilingualism on the white matter structure of the brain.

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Pliatsikas, Christos; Moschopoulou, Elisavet; Saddy, James Douglas

2015-02-03

Recent studies suggest that learning and using a second language (L2) can affect brain structure, including the structure of white matter (WM) tracts. This observation comes from research looking at early and older bilingual individuals who have been using both their first and second languages on an everyday basis for many years. This study investigated whether young, highly immersed late bilinguals would also show structural effects in the WM that can be attributed to everyday L2 use, irrespective of critical periods or the length of L2 learning. Our Tract-Based Spatial Statistics analysis revealed higher fractional anisotropy values for bilinguals vs. monolinguals in several WM tracts that have been linked to language processing and in a pattern closely resembling the results reported for older and early bilinguals. We propose that learning and actively using an L2 after childhood can have rapid dynamic effects on WM structure, which in turn may assist in preserving WM integrity in older age.

Does bilingualism contribute to cognitive reserve? Cognitive and neural perspectives.

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Guzmán-Vélez, Edmarie; Tranel, Daniel

2015-01-01

Cognitive reserve refers to how individuals actively utilize neural resources to cope with neuropathology to maintain cognitive functioning. The present review aims to critically examine the literature addressing the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive reserve to elucidate whether bilingualism delays the onset of cognitive and behavioral manifestations of dementia. Potential neural mechanisms behind this relationship are discussed. PubMed and PsycINFO databases were searched (through January 2014) for original research articles in English or Spanish languages. The following search strings were used as keywords for study retrieval: "bilingual AND reserve," "reserve AND neural mechanisms," and "reserve AND multilingualism." Growing scientific evidence suggests that lifelong bilingualism contributes to cognitive reserve and delays the onset of Alzheimer's disease symptoms, allowing bilingual individuals affected by Alzheimer's disease to live an independent and richer life for a longer time than their monolingual counterparts. Lifelong bilingualism is related to more efficient use of brain resources that help individuals maintain cognitive functioning in the presence of neuropathology. We propose multiple putative neural mechanisms through which lifelong bilinguals cope with neuropathology. The roles of immigration status, education, age of onset, proficiency, and frequency of language use on the relationship between cognitive reserve and bilingualism are considered. Implications of these results for preventive practices and future research are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Does Bilingualism Contribute to Cognitive Reserve? Cognitive and Neural Perspectives

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Guzmán-Vélez, Edmarie; Tranel, Daniel

2015-01-01

Objective Cognitive reserve refers to how individuals actively utilize neural resources to cope with neuropathology in order to maintain cognitive functioning. The present review aims to critically examine the literature addressing the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive reserve in order to elucidate whether bilingualism delays the onset of cognitive and behavioral manifestations of dementia. Potential neural mechanisms behind this relationship are discussed. Method Pubmed and PsychINFO databases were searched (through January 2014) for original research articles in English or Spanish languages. The following search strings were employed as keywords for study retrieval: ‘bilingual AND reserve’, ‘reserve AND neural mechanisms’, and ‘reserve AND multilingualism’. Results Growing scientific evidence suggests that lifelong bilingualism contributes to cognitive reserve and delays the onset of Alzheimer's disease symptoms, allowing bilingual individuals affected by Alzheimer's disease to live an independent and richer life for a longer time than their monolingual counterparts. Lifelong bilingualism is related to more efficient use of brain resources that help individuals maintain cognitive functioning in the presence of neuropathology. We propose multiple putative neural mechanisms through which lifelong bilinguals cope with neuropathology. The roles of immigration status, education, age of onset, proficiency and frequency of language use on the relationship between cognitive reserve and bilingualism are considered. Conclusions Implications of these results for preventive practices and future research are discussed. PMID:24933492

Age of Bilingual Exposure Is Related to the Contribution of Phonological and Semantic Knowledge to Successful Reading Development

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Jasinska, Kaja K.; Petitto, Laura-Ann

2018-01-01

Bilingual children's reading as a function of age of first bilingual language exposure (AoE) was examined. Bilingual (varied AoE) and monolingual children (N = 421) were compared in their English language and reading abilities (6-10 years) using phonological awareness, semantic knowledge, and reading tasks. Structural equation modeling was applied…

Bilingualism as a contributor to cognitive reserve: evidence from brain atrophy in Alzheimer's disease.

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Schweizer, Tom A; Ware, Jenna; Fischer, Corinne E; Craik, Fergus I M; Bialystok, Ellen

2012-09-01

Much of the research on delaying the onset of symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has focused on pharmacotherapy, but environmental factors have also been acknowledged to play a significant role. Bilingualism may be one factor contributing to 'cognitive reserve' (CR) and therefore to a delay in symptom onset. If bilingualism is protective, then the brains of bilinguals should show greater atrophy in relevant areas, since their enhanced CR enables them to function at a higher level than would be predicted from their level of disease. We analyzed a number of linear measurements of brain atrophy from the computed tomography (CT) scans of monolingual and bilingual patients diagnosed with probable AD who were matched on level of cognitive performance and years of education. Bilingual patients with AD exhibited substantially greater amounts of brain atrophy than monolingual patients in areas traditionally used to distinguish AD patients from healthy controls, specifically, the radial width of the temporal horn and the temporal horn ratio. Other measures of brain atrophy were comparable for the two groups. Bilingualism appears to contribute to increased CR, thereby delaying the onset of AD and requiring the presence of greater amounts of neuropathology before the disease is manifest. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Srl. All rights reserved.

Speech and language intervention in bilinguals

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Eliane Ramos

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Increasingly, speech and language pathologists (SLPs around the world are faced with the unique set of issues presented by their bilingual clients. Some professional associations in different countries have presented recommendations when assessing and treating bilingual populations. In children, most of the studies have focused on intervention for language and phonology/ articulation impairments and very few focus on stuttering. In general, studies of language intervention tend to agree that intervention in the first language (L1 either increase performance on L2 or does not hinder it. In bilingual adults, monolingual versus bilingual intervention is especially relevant in cases of aphasia; dysarthria in bilinguals has been barely approached. Most studies of cross-linguistic effects in bilingual aphasics have focused on lexical retrieval training. It has been noted that even though a majority of studies have disclosed a cross-linguistic generalization from one language to the other, some methodological weaknesses are evident. It is concluded that even though speech and language intervention in bilinguals represents a most important clinical area in speech language pathology, much more research using larger samples and controlling for potentially confounding variables is evidently required.

Constructing and positioning oneself bilingual: Code-switching in classroom interactions of two Turkish-Norwegian fifth-graders.

OpenAIRE

Kucherenko, Svitlana

2011-01-01

This case-study compares the language use of two Turkish-Norwegian fifth-graders, examining how they utilize their bilingual resources in order to position themselves as learning and social individuals. A common perception of bilingualism as a mental quality of an individual often results in measurement of the bilingual practices in accordance to monolingual criteria. Thus, the fact that bilinguals daily appear to be a part of a setting with two or more languages present, often remains ignore...

Bilingual Advantages in Executive Functioning: Problems in Convergent Validity, Discriminant Validity, and the Identification of the Theoretical Constructs

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Kenneth R. Paap

2014-09-01

Full Text Available A sample of 58 bilingual and 62 monolingual university students completed four tasks commonly used to test for bilingual advantages in executive functioning (EF: antisaccade, flanker, Simon, and color-shape switching. Across the four tasks, 13 different indices were derived that are assumed to reflect individual differences in inhibitory control, monitoring, or switching. The effects of bilingualism on the 13 measures were explored by directly comparing the means of the two language groups and through regression analyses using a continuous measure of bilingualism and multiple demographic characteristics as predictors. Across the 13 different measures and two types of data analysis there were very few significant results and those that did occur supported a monolingual advantage. An equally important goal was to assess the convergent validity through cross-task correlations of indices assume to measure the same component of executive functioning. Most of the correlations using difference-score measures were nonsignificant and many near zero. Although modestly higher levels of convergent validity are sometimes reported, a review of the existing literature suggests that bilingual advantages (or disadvantages may reflect task-specific differences that are unlikely to generalize to important general differences in EF. Finally, as cautioned by Salthouse, assumed measures of executive functioning may also be threatened by a lack of divergent validity that separates individual or group differences in EF from those in general fluid intelligence or simple processing speed.

Translation Dictionaries and Bilingual Dictionaries. Two Different Concepts

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tarp, Sven

2002-01-01

of dictionaries - and in some cases even not the best ones - to assist the translator who runs into problems in the translation process. In my paper, I will argue that monolingual dictionaries - together with bilingual dictionaries «the other way around«, e.g. L2-L1 dictionaries when translating from L1 into L2...... in relation to translation and what types of problems pop up during the translation process in order to clarify up to which point lexicography can assist translator. Finally, I will discuss in which types of dictionary (monolingual or bilingual) the assistance to the translator should be provided and......The starting point in any scientific process is always the formulation of the problem and then the search for a solution. In my opinion the question on the relaton between lexicography and translation should be put in this way: How can dictionaries assist translators in finding solutions...

Bilingualism delays the onset of behavioral but not aphasic forms of frontotemporal dementia.

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Alladi, Suvarna; Bak, Thomas H; Shailaja, Mekala; Gollahalli, Divyaraj; Rajan, Amulya; Surampudi, Bapiraju; Hornberger, Michael; Duggirala, Vasanta; Chaudhuri, Jaydip Ray; Kaul, Subhash

2017-05-01

Bilingualism has been found to delay onset of dementia and this has been attributed to an advantage in executive control in bilinguals. However, the relationship between bilingualism and cognition is complex, with costs as well as benefits to language functions. To further explore the cognitive consequences of bilingualism, the study used Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) syndromes, to examine whether bilingualism modifies the age at onset of behavioral and language variants of Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) differently. Case records of 193 patients presenting with FTD (121 of them bilingual) were examined and the age at onset of the first symptoms were compared between monolinguals and bilinguals. A significant effect of bilingualism delaying the age at onset of dementia was found in behavioral variant FTD (5.7 years) but not in progressive nonfluent aphasia (0.7 years), semantic dementia (0.5 years), corticobasal syndrome (0.4 years), progressive supranuclear palsy (4.3 years) and FTD-motor neuron disease (3 years). On dividing all patients predominantly behavioral and predominantly aphasic groups, age at onset in the bilingual behavioral group (62.6) was over 6 years higher than in the monolingual patients (56.5, p=0.006), while there was no difference in the aphasic FTD group (60.9 vs. 60.6 years, p=0.851). The bilingual effect on age of bvFTD onset was shown independently of other potential confounding factors such as education, gender, occupation, and urban vs rural dwelling of subjects. To conclude, bilingualism delays the age at onset in the behavioral but not in the aphasic variants of FTD. The results are in line with similar findings based on research in stroke and with the current views of the interaction between bilingualism and cognition, pointing to advantages in executive functions and disadvantages in lexical tasks. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Monolingual accounting dictionaries for EFL text production

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Sandro Nielsen

2006-10-01

Full Text Available Monolingual accounting dictionaries are important for producing financial reporting texts in English in an international setting, because of the lack of specialised bilingual dictionaries. As the intended user groups have different factual and linguistic competences, they require specific types of information. By identifying and analysing the users' factual and linguistic competences, user needs, use-situations and the stages involved in producing accounting texts in English as a foreign language, lexicographers will have a sound basis for designing the optimal English accounting dictionary for EFL text production. The monolingual accounting dictionary needs to include information about UK, US and international accounting terms, their grammatical properties, their potential for being combined with other words in collocations, phrases and sentences in order to meet user requirements. Data items that deal with these aspects are necessary for the international user group as they produce subject-field specific and register-specific texts in a foreign language, and the data items are relevant for the various stages in text production: draft writing, copyediting, stylistic editing and proofreading.

Bilingualism in children with developmental disorders: A narrative review.

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Kay-Raining Bird, Elizabeth; Genesee, Fred; Verhoeven, Ludo

Children with developmental disabilities (DD) often need and sometimes opt to become bilingual. The context for bilingual acquisition varies considerably and can impact outcomes. In this first article of the special issue, we review research on the timing and amount of bilingual exposure and outcomes of either direct language intervention or educational placements in three groups of children with DD: Specific Language Impairment (SLI), Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), and Down syndrome (DS). Children with SLI have been studied more than the other two groups. Findings showed that, on the one hand, the communication skills of simultaneous bilinguals and matched monolinguals with DD were similar for all groups when the stronger language or both languages of the bilingual children were considered. On the other hand, similar to typically developing children, sequential bilinguals and matched monolinguals with SLI (other groups not studied) differed on some but not all second language (L2) measures; even after an extended period of exposure, differences in L2 outcomes were not completely resolved. There is emerging evidence that the typological similarity of the languages being learned influences L2 development in sequential bilinguals, at least in children with SLI. Increasing the frequency of exposure seems to be more related to development of the weaker language in bilinguals with DD than their stronger language. Language intervention studies show the efficacy of interventions but provide little evidence for transfer across languages. In addition, only one (unpublished) study has compared the language and academic outcomes of children with DD in different language education programs. Research on bilingual children with DD in different educational settings/programs is limited, probably as a result of restricted inclusion of these children in some educational settings. We argue for the implementation of full inclusion policies that provide increased access to dual

Speaking two languages with different number naming systems: What implications for magnitude judgments in bilinguals at different stages of language acquisition?

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Van Rinsveld, Amandine; Schiltz, Christine; Landerl, Karin; Brunner, Martin; Ugen, Sonja

2016-08-01

Differences between languages in terms of number naming systems may lead to performance differences in number processing. The current study focused on differences concerning the order of decades and units in two-digit number words (i.e., unit-decade order in German but decade-unit order in French) and how they affect number magnitude judgments. Participants performed basic numerical tasks, namely two-digit number magnitude judgments, and we used the compatibility effect (Nuerk et al. in Cognition 82(1):B25-B33, 2001) as a hallmark of language influence on numbers. In the first part we aimed to understand the influence of language on compatibility effects in adults coming from German or French monolingual and German-French bilingual groups (Experiment 1). The second part examined how this language influence develops at different stages of language acquisition in individuals with increasing bilingual proficiency (Experiment 2). Language systematically influenced magnitude judgments such that: (a) The spoken language(s) modulated magnitude judgments presented as Arabic digits, and (b) bilinguals' progressive language mastery impacted magnitude judgments presented as number words. Taken together, the current results suggest that the order of decades and units in verbal numbers may qualitatively influence magnitude judgments in bilinguals and monolinguals, providing new insights into how number processing can be influenced by language(s).

Effective Look-up Techniques to Approach a Monolingual Dictionary

OpenAIRE

Nauman Al Amin Ali El Sayed; Ahmed Gumaa Siddiek

2013-01-01

A dictionary is (a) learning tool that can help the language learner in acquiring great knowledge of and about a foreign language. Almost all language learners buy or at least possess, at one time, a monolingual or bilingual dictionary, to which the learner may refer to look up the meaning of words. Unfortunately, using dictionary to look up the meaning of words seems to be the most important service, which a dictionary is expected to provide to language learners. In fact, a dictionary provid...

The Role of Home and School Factors in Predicting English Vocabulary among Bilingual Kindergarten Children in Singapore

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Dixon, L. Quentin

2011-01-01

Research in monolingual populations indicate that vocabulary knowledge is essential to reading achievement, but how vocabulary develops in bilingual children has been understudied. The current study investigated the role of home and school factors in predicting English vocabulary among 284 bilingual kindergartners (168 Chinese, 65 Malay, 51…

Stuttering on function words in bilingual children who stutter: A preliminary study.

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Gkalitsiou, Zoi; Byrd, Courtney T; Bedore, Lisa M; Taliancich-Klinger, Casey L

2017-01-01

Evidence suggests young monolingual children who stutter (CWS) are more disfluent on function than content words, particularly when produced in the initial utterance position. The purpose of the present preliminary study was to investigate whether young bilingual CWS present with this same pattern. The narrative and conversational samples of four bilingual Spanish- and English-speaking CWS were analysed. All four bilingual participants produced significantly more stuttering on function words compared to content words, irrespective of their position in the utterance, in their Spanish narrative and conversational speech samples. Three of the four participants also demonstrated more stuttering on function compared to content words in their narrative speech samples in English, but only one participant produced more stuttering on function than content words in her English conversational sample. These preliminary findings are discussed relative to linguistic planning and language proficiency and their potential contribution to stuttered speech.

Total and Conceptual Vocabulary in Spanish-English Bilinguals from 22 to 30 Months: Implications for Assessment

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Core, Cynthia; Hoff, Erika; Rumiche, Rosario; Senor, Melissa

2013-01-01

Purpose: Vocabulary assessment holds promise as a way to identify young bilingual children at risk for language delay. This study compares 2 measures of vocabulary in a group of young Spanish-English bilingual children to a single-language measure used with monolingual children. Method: Total vocabulary and conceptual vocabulary were used to…

Bilinguals Show Weaker Lexical Access during Spoken Sentence Comprehension

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Shook, Anthony; Goldrick, Matthew; Engstler, Caroline; Marian, Viorica

2015-01-01

When bilinguals process written language, they show delays in accessing lexical items relative to monolinguals. The present study investigated whether this effect extended to spoken language comprehension, examining the processing of sentences with either low or high semantic constraint in both first and second languages. English-German…

The Role of Emergent Bilingualism in the Development of Morphological Awareness in Arabic and Hebrew

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Schwartz, Mila; Taha, Haitham; Assad, Hanan; Khamaisi, Ferdos; Eviatar, Zohar

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of dual language development and cross-linguistic influence on morphological awareness in young bilinguals' first language (L1) and second language (L2). We examined whether (a) the bilingual children (L1/L2 Arabic and L1/L2 Hebrew) precede their monolingual Hebrew- or…

Executive functions in mono- and bilingual children with language impairment - issues for speech-language pathology.

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Sandgren, Olof; Holmström, Ketty

2015-01-01

The clinical assessment of language impairment (LI) in bilingual children imposes challenges for speech-language pathology services. Assessment tools standardized for monolingual populations increase the risk of misinterpreting bilingualism as LI. This Perspective article summarizes recent studies on the assessment of bilingual LI and presents new results on including non-linguistic measures of executive functions in the diagnostic assessment. Executive functions shows clinical utility as less subjected to language use and exposure than linguistic measures. A possible bilingual advantage, and consequences for speech-language pathology practices and future research are discussed.

Effective Look-up Techniques to Approach a Monolingual Dictionary

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nauman Al Amin Ali El Sayed

2013-05-01

Full Text Available A dictionary is (a learning tool that can help the language learner in acquiring great knowledge of and about a foreign language. Almost all language learners buy or at least possess, at one time, a monolingual or bilingual dictionary, to which the learner may refer to look up the meaning of words. Unfortunately, using dictionary to look up the meaning of words seems to be the most important service, which a dictionary is expected to provide to language learners. In fact, a dictionary provides much data about language to its readers such as telling them about: the word spelling, phonology, phonetics, etymology, stylistics and definitions among other aspects. This paper sheds light on how the dictionary can teach its readers with special focus on monolingual dictionary. Hence, the discussion of this paper will centre on how dictionaries can teach students rather than on how students can learn from them.

The Gradience of Multilingualism in Typical and Impaired Language Development: Positioning Bilectalism within Comparative Bilingualism.

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Grohmann, Kleanthes K; Kambanaros, Maria

2016-01-01

A multitude of factors characterizes bi- and multilingual compared to monolingual language acquisition. Two of the most prominent viewpoints have recently been put in perspective and enriched by a third (Tsimpli, 2014): age of onset of children's exposure to their native languages, the role of the input they receive, and the timing in monolingual first language development of the phenomena examined in bi- and multilingual children's performance. This article picks up a fourth potential factor (Grohmann, 2014b): language proximity, that is, the closeness between the two or more grammars a multilingual child acquires. It is a first attempt to flesh out the proposed gradient scale of multilingualism within the approach dubbed "comparative bilingualism." The empirical part of this project comes from three types of research: (i) the acquisition and subsequent development of pronominal object clitic placement in two closely related varieties of Greek by bilectal, binational, bilingual, and multilingual children; (ii) the performance on executive control tasks by monolingual, bilectal, and bi- or multilingual children; and (iii) the role of comparative bilingualism in children with a developmental language impairment for both the diagnosis and subsequent treatment as well as the possible avoidance or weakening of how language impairment presents.

Cognitive flexibility in drawings of bilingual children.

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Adi-Japha, Esther; Berberich-Artzi, Jennie; Libnawi, Afaf

2010-01-01

A. Karmiloff-Smith's (1990) task of drawing a nonexistent object is considered to be a measure of cognitive flexibility. The notion of earlier emergence of cognitive flexibility in bilingual children motivated the current researchers to request 4- and 5-year-old English-Hebrew and Arabic-Hebrew bilingual children and their monolingual peers to draw a flower and a house that do not exist (N=80). Bilinguals exhibited a significantly higher rate of interrepresentational flexibility in their drawings (e.g., "a giraffe flower,"a chair-house," found in 28 of 54 drawings), whereas the level of complex intrarepresentational change was similar across groups. Interrepresentational drawings were previously reported only for children older than 7 years. The specific mechanisms by which bilinguals' language experience may lead to interrepresentational flexibility are discussed. © 2010 The Authors. Child Development © 2010 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Bilingual children's social preferences hinge on accent.

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DeJesus, Jasmine M; Hwang, Hyesung G; Dautel, Jocelyn B; Kinzler, Katherine D

2017-12-01

Past research finds that monolingual and bilingual children prefer native speakers to individuals who speak in unfamiliar foreign languages or accents. Do children in bilingual contexts socially distinguish among familiar languages and accents and, if so, how do their social preferences based on language and accent compare? The current experiments tested whether 5- to 7-year-olds in two bilingual contexts in the United States demonstrate social preferences among the languages and accents that are present in their social environments. We compared children's preferences based on language (i.e., English vs. their other native language) and their preferences based on accent (i.e., English with a native accent vs. English with a non-native [yet familiar] accent). In Experiment 1, children attending a French immersion school demonstrated no preference between English and French speakers but preferred American-accented English to French-accented English. In Experiment 2, bilingual Korean American children demonstrated no preference between English and Korean speakers but preferred American-accented English to Korean-accented English. Across studies, bilingual children's preferences based on accent (i.e., American-accented English over French- or Korean-accented English) were not related to their own language dominance. These results suggest that children from diverse linguistic backgrounds demonstrate social preferences for native-accented speakers. Implications for understanding the potential relation between social reasoning and language acquisition are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Bilingualism yields language-specific plasticity in left hemisphere's circuitry for learning to read in young children.

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Jasińska, K K; Berens, M S; Kovelman, I; Petitto, L A

2017-04-01

How does bilingual exposure impact children's neural circuitry for learning to read? Theories of bilingualism suggests that exposure to two languages may yield a functional and neuroanatomical adaptation to support the learning of two languages (Klein et al., 2014). To test the hypothesis that this neural adaptation may vary as a function of structural and orthographic characteristics of bilinguals' two languages, we compared Spanish-English and French-English bilingual children, and English monolingual children, using functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy neuroimaging (fNIRS, ages 6-10, N =26). Spanish offers consistent sound-to-print correspondences ("phonologically transparent" or "shallow"); such correspondences are more opaque in French and even more opaque in English (which has both transparent and "phonologically opaque" or "deep" correspondences). Consistent with our hypothesis, both French- and Spanish-English bilinguals showed hyperactivation in left posterior temporal regions associated with direct sound-to-print phonological analyses and hypoactivation in left frontal regions associated with assembled phonology analyses. Spanish, but not French, bilinguals showed a similar effect when reading Irregular words. The findings inform theories of bilingual and cross-linguistic literacy acquisition by suggesting that structural characteristics of bilinguals' two languages and their orthographies have a significant impact on children's neuro-cognitive architecture for learning to read. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Plasticity of illusory vowel perception in Brazilian-Japanese bilinguals.

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Parlato-Oliveira, Erika; Christophe, Anne; Hirose, Yuki; Dupoux, Emmanuel

2010-06-01

Previous research shows that monolingual Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese listeners perceive illusory vowels (/u/ and /i/, respectively) within illegal sequences of consonants. Here, several populations of Japanese-Brazilian bilinguals are tested, using an explicit vowel identification task (experiment 1), and an implicit categorization and sequence recall task (experiment 2). Overall, second-generation immigrants, who first acquired Japanese at home and Brazilian during childhood (after age 4) showed a typical Brazilian pattern of result (and so did simultaneous bilinguals, who were exposed to both languages from birth on). In contrast, late bilinguals, who acquired their second language in adulthood, exhibited a pattern corresponding to their native language. In addition, an influence of the second language was observed in the explicit task of Exp. 1, but not in the implicit task used in Exp. 2, suggesting that second language experience affects mostly explicit or metalinguistic skills. These results are compared to other studies of phonological representations in adopted children or immigrants, and discussed in relation to the role of age of acquisition and sociolinguistic factors.

Do word associations assess word knowledge? A comparison of L1 and L2, child and adult word associations

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Cremer, M.; Dingshoff, D.; de Beer, M.; Schoonen, R.

2011-01-01

Differences in word associations between monolingual and bilingual speakers of Dutch can reflect differences in how well seemingly familiar words are known. In this (exploratory) study mono-and bilingual, child and adult free word associations were compared. Responses of children and of monolingual

An analytic solution of a model of language competition with bilingualism and interlinguistic similarity

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Otero-Espinar, M. V.; Seoane, L. F.; Nieto, J. J.; Mira, J.

2013-12-01

An in-depth analytic study of a model of language dynamics is presented: a model which tackles the problem of the coexistence of two languages within a closed community of speakers taking into account bilingualism and incorporating a parameter to measure the distance between languages. After previous numerical simulations, the model yielded that coexistence might lead to survival of both languages within monolingual speakers along with a bilingual community or to extinction of the weakest tongue depending on different parameters. In this paper, such study is closed with thorough analytical calculations to settle the results in a robust way and previous results are refined with some modifications. From the present analysis it is possible to almost completely assay the number and nature of the equilibrium points of the model, which depend on its parameters, as well as to build a phase space based on them. Also, we obtain conclusions on the way the languages evolve with time. Our rigorous considerations also suggest ways to further improve the model and facilitate the comparison of its consequences with those from other approaches or with real data.

The Disfluent Speech of Bilingual Spanish–English Children: Considerations for Differential Diagnosis of Stuttering

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Bedore, Lisa M.; Ramos, Daniel

2015-01-01

Purpose The primary purpose of this study was to describe the frequency and types of speech disfluencies that are produced by bilingual Spanish–English (SE) speaking children who do not stutter. The secondary purpose was to determine whether their disfluent speech is mediated by language dominance and/or language produced. Method Spanish and English narratives (a retell and a tell in each language) were elicited and analyzed relative to the frequency and types of speech disfluencies produced. These data were compared with the monolingual English-speaking guidelines for differential diagnosis of stuttering. Results The mean frequency of stuttering-like speech behaviors in the bilingual SE participants ranged from 3% to 22%, exceeding the monolingual English standard of 3 per 100 words. There was no significant frequency difference in stuttering-like or non-stuttering-like speech disfluency produced relative to the child's language dominance. There was a significant difference relative to the language the child was speaking; all children produced significantly more stuttering-like speech disfluencies in Spanish than in English. Conclusion Results demonstrate that the disfluent speech of bilingual SE children should be carefully considered relative to the complex nature of bilingualism. PMID:25215876

Cognitive advantage in bilingualism: an example of publication bias?

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de Bruin, Angela; Treccani, Barbara; Della Sala, Sergio

2015-01-01

It is a widely held belief that bilinguals have an advantage over monolinguals in executive-control tasks, but is this what all studies actually demonstrate? The idea of a bilingual advantage may result from a publication bias favoring studies with positive results over studies with null or negative effects. To test this hypothesis, we looked at conference abstracts from 1999 to 2012 on the topic of bilingualism and executive control. We then determined which of the studies they reported were subsequently published. Studies with results fully supporting the bilingual-advantage theory were most likely to be published, followed by studies with mixed results. Studies challenging the bilingual advantage were published the least. This discrepancy was not due to differences in sample size, tests used, or statistical power. A test for funnel-plot asymmetry provided further evidence for the existence of a publication bias. © The Author(s) 2014.

Noun and verb knowledge in monolingual preschool children across 17 languages: Data from Cross-linguistic Lexical Tasks (LITMUS-CLT).

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Haman, Ewa; Łuniewska, Magdalena; Hansen, Pernille; Simonsen, Hanne Gram; Chiat, Shula; Bjekić, Jovana; Blažienė, Agnė; Chyl, Katarzyna; Dabašinskienė, Ineta; Engel de Abreu, Pascale; Gagarina, Natalia; Gavarró, Anna; Håkansson, Gisela; Harel, Efrat; Holm, Elisabeth; Kapalková, Svetlana; Kunnari, Sari; Levorato, Chiara; Lindgren, Josefin; Mieszkowska, Karolina; Montes Salarich, Laia; Potgieter, Anneke; Ribu, Ingeborg; Ringblom, Natalia; Rinker, Tanja; Roch, Maja; Slančová, Daniela; Southwood, Frenette; Tedeschi, Roberta; Tuncer, Aylin Müge; Ünal-Logacev, Özlem; Vuksanović, Jasmina; Armon-Lotem, Sharon

2017-01-01

This article investigates the cross-linguistic comparability of the newly developed lexical assessment tool Cross-linguistic Lexical Tasks (LITMUS-CLT). LITMUS-CLT is a part the Language Impairment Testing in Multilingual Settings (LITMUS) battery (Armon-Lotem, de Jong & Meir, 2015). Here we analyse results on receptive and expressive word knowledge tasks for nouns and verbs across 17 languages from eight different language families: Baltic (Lithuanian), Bantu (isiXhosa), Finnic (Finnish), Germanic (Afrikaans, British English, South African English, German, Luxembourgish, Norwegian, Swedish), Romance (Catalan, Italian), Semitic (Hebrew), Slavic (Polish, Serbian, Slovak) and Turkic (Turkish). The participants were 639 monolingual children aged 3;0-6;11 living in 15 different countries. Differences in vocabulary size were small between 16 of the languages; but isiXhosa-speaking children knew significantly fewer words than speakers of the other languages. There was a robust effect of word class: accuracy was higher for nouns than verbs. Furthermore, comprehension was more advanced than production. Results are discussed in the context of cross-linguistic comparisons of lexical development in monolingual and bilingual populations.

A Tale of Two Features: Perception of Cantonese Lexical Tone and English Lexical Stress in Cantonese-English Bilinguals

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Tong, Xiuli; Burnham, Denis

2015-01-01

This study investigated the similarities and differences in perception of Cantonese tones and English stress patterns by Cantonese-English bilingual children, adults, and English monolingual adults. All three groups were asked to discriminate pairs of syllables that minimally differed in either Cantonese tone or in English stress. Bilingual children’s performance on tone perception was comparable to their performance on stress perception. By contrast, bilingual adults’ performance on tone perception was lower than their performance on stress perception, and there was a similar pattern in English monolingual adults. Bilingual adults tended to perform better than English monolingual adults on both the tone and stress perception tests. A significant correlation between tone perception and stress perception performance was found in bilingual children but not in bilingual adults. All three groups showed lower accuracy in the high rising-low rising contrast than any of the other 14 Cantonese tone contrasts. The acoustic analyses revealed that average F0, F0 onset, and F0 major slope were the critical acoustic correlates of Cantonese tones, whereas multiple acoustic correlates were salient in English stress, including average F0, spectral balance, duration and intensity. We argue that participants’ difficulty in perceiving high rising-low rising contrasts originated from the contrasts’ similarities in F0 onset and average F0; indeed the difference between their major slopes was the only cue with which to distinguish them. Acoustic-perceptual correlation analyses showed that although the average F0 and F0 onset were associated with tone perception performance in all three groups, F0 major slope was only associated with tone perception in the bilingual adult group. These results support a dynamic interactive account of suprasegmental speech perception by emphasizing the positive prosodic transfer between Cantonese tone and English stress, and the role that level of

Perspectives on the "Silent Period" for Emergent Bilinguals in England

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Bligh, Caroline; Drury, Rose

2015-01-01

This article draws together the research findings from two ethnographic studies as a means to problematize the "silent period" as experienced by young bilingual learners in two English speaking early-years settings in England. Most teachers and senior early-years practitioners in England are monolingual English speakers. The children…

The impact of bilinguism on cognitive aging and dementia:Finding a path through a forest of confounding variables

OpenAIRE

Bak, Thomas

2016-01-01

Within the current debates on cognitive reserve, cognitive aging and dementia, showing increasingly a positive effect of mental, social and physical activities on health in older age, bilingualism remains one of the most controversial issues. Some reasons for it might be social or even ideological. However, one of the most important genuine problems facing bilingualism research is the high number of potential confounding variables. Bilingual communities often differ from monolingual ones in a...

A Multidimensional Review of Bilingual Aphasia as a Language Disorder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohsen Akbari

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Aphasia as a multifaceted language disorder associated with the complicated links between language and brain has been and is of interest and significance to the stream of research in different disciplines including neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics, cognitive studies and language acquisition. Along with explorations into the manifestations of aphasia in monolingual speakers, bilingual aphasia has similarly become the most current form of this language disorder due to the rising number of bilingual speakers in recent decades all over the world and the probability of facing bilinguals suffering from this language deficit. To paint a picture of this multidimensional linguistic impairment and to get out of the labyrinth of aphasia and in particular bilingual aphasia, the present review study aims to provide a summary of aphasia-related studies in different contexts worldwide and run through the variables affecting the manifestations and language recovery patterns in bilingual aphasic speakers.

"I May Be a Native Speaker but I'm Not Monolingual": Reimagining "All" Teachers' Linguistic Identities in TESOL

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Ellis, Elizabeth M.

2016-01-01

Teacher linguistic identity has so far mainly been researched in terms of whether a teacher identifies (or is identified by others) as a native speaker (NEST) or nonnative speaker (NNEST) (Moussu & Llurda, 2008; Reis, 2011). Native speakers are presumed to be monolingual, and nonnative speakers, although by definition bilingual, tend to be…

Language dominance shapes non-linguistic rhythmic grouping in bilinguals.

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Molnar, Monika; Carreiras, Manuel; Gervain, Judit

2016-07-01

To what degree non-linguistic auditory rhythm perception is governed by universal biases (e.g., Iambic-Trochaic Law; Hayes, 1995) or shaped by native language experience is debated. It has been proposed that rhythmic regularities in spoken language, such as phrasal prosody affect the grouping abilities of monolinguals (e.g., Iversen, Patel, & Ohgushi, 2008). Here, we assessed the non-linguistic tone grouping biases of Spanish monolinguals, and three groups of Basque-Spanish bilinguals with different levels of Basque experience. It is usually assumed in the literature that Basque and Spanish have different phrasal prosodies and even linguistic rhythms. To confirm this, first, we quantified Basque and Spanish phrasal prosody (Experiment 1a) and duration patterns used in the classification of languages into rhythm classes (Experiment 1b). The acoustic measurements revealed that regularities in phrasal prosody systematically differ across Basque and Spanish; by contrast, the rhythms of the two languages are only minimally dissimilar. In Experiment 2, participants' non-linguistic rhythm preferences were assessed in response to non-linguistic tones alternating in either intensity (Intensity condition) or in duration (Duration condition). In the Intensity condition, all groups showed a trochaic grouping bias, as predicted by the Iambic-Trochaic Law. In the Duration Condition the Spanish monolingual and the most Basque-dominant bilingual group exhibited opposite grouping preferences in line with the phrasal prosodies of their native/dominant languages, trochaic in Basque, iambic in Spanish. The two other bilingual groups showed no significant biases, however. Overall, results indicate that duration-based grouping mechanisms are biased toward the phrasal prosody of the native and dominant language; also, the presence of an L2 in the environment interacts with the auditory biases. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Traces of an Early Learned Second Language in Discontinued Bilingualism

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Sadat, Jasmin; Pureza, Rita; Alario, F.-Xavier

2016-01-01

Can an early learned second language influence speech production after living many years in an exclusively monolingual environment? To address this issue, we investigated the consequences of discontinued early bilingualism in heritage speakers who moved abroad and switched language dominance from the second to the primary learned language. We used…

Language, Culture, and Power: Intercultural Bilingual Education among the Urarina of Peruvian Amazonia.

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Dean, Bartholomew

1999-01-01

The Peruvian national indigenous federation established a bilingual, intercultural teachers' training program to counter stereotypes of indigenous people portrayed in the authoritarian, monolingual Spanish national curriculum, and to enhance language preservation, ethnic mobilization, and cultural survival. A complementary transitional bilingual…

An exploratory longitudinal study of social and language outcomes in children with autism in bilingual home environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Vanessa; Munson, Jeffrey A; Greenson, Jessica; Hou, Yan; Rogers, Sally; Estes, Annette M

2017-12-01

Little is known about outcomes of early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder reared in bilingual homes. There are concerns that social communication deficits among children with autism spectrum disorder may reduce the developmental benefits of early intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder raised in bilingual environments. We conducted an exploratory analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal data from a larger study to explore associations between home language environment and language ability and social skills in response to early autism spectrum disorder intervention. Participants, aged 12-26 months when recruited, were a subset of a larger 2-year, randomized intervention trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00698997). Children from bilingual homes ( n = 13) began intervention with lower gesture use but otherwise demonstrated equal baseline language and social abilities as compared with age and nonverbal IQ-matched children from monolingual homes ( n = 24). Significant language growth was exhibited by children from both language groups and there was no moderating effect of home language environment. The bilingual home group demonstrated increased gesture use over the course of intervention as compared with the monolingual home group. Preliminary data revealed no basis for concerns regarding negative impact of a bilingual home environment on language or social development in young children with autism spectrum disorder.

Verbal short-term memory and vocabulary development in monolingual Dutch and bilingual Turkish-Dutch preschoolers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Messer, M.H.

2010-01-01

With increasing immigration, bilingualism has become part and parcel of the everyday lives of many children. Although research indicates that under favourable circumstances bilingual children can become balanced bilinguals, especially immigrant children seem to have difficulty coping with the

Bilingual skills of deaf/hard of hearing children from Spain.

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Guiberson, Mark

2014-03-01

This study described the first language (L1) and second language (L2) skills of a group of Spanish deaf/hard of hearing (DHH) children who were bilingual. Participants included parents of 51 DHH children from Spain. Parents completed an electronic survey that included questions on background, details on child's hearing loss, and bilingual status and L2 exposure. Parents also completed the Student Oral Language Observation Matrix, a rating scale that describes language skills. DHH bilingual children demonstrated L1 skills that were stronger than their monolingual DHH peers. Bilingual children demonstrated a wide range of L2 proficiency, and most were exposed to an L2 through parents and/or schooling. The majority of parents reported that their children demonstrated L2 skills that were either better than or at the level they had expected. These results correspond with earlier studies that indicate the DHH children are capable of becoming bilingual. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.

Migrants' educational success through innovation: The case of the Hamburg bilingual schools

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Duarte, Joana

2011-12-01

Although Germany has experienced net in-migration for the past five decades, this fact has only recently been officially acknowledged. Furthermore, Germany is marked by a general monolingual self-concept very much attached to the idea of a nation-state with one homogeneous language. However, in large urban areas of Germany about 35 per cent of the population has a migration background, as has almost every second child enrolling in primary school. Hence the country is marked by this dichotomy between a monolingual policy discourse and a multilingual society, manifested in everyday life and, as a consequence, in educational institutions. The fact is that this political attitude towards Germany's own migration history and migrants has led to an educational gap between students with a migration background and their monolingual peers. In 2000, a project was started in Hamburg, aiming to overcome this educational gap and involving the creation of bilingual schools for some of the largest migrant languages. Bilingual classes were thus set up for the following language combinations: German-Portuguese, German-Italian, German-Spanish and German-Turkish, and were evaluated by the University of Hamburg. This paper reports on the model used and the specific school outcomes of the students attending these classes.

Hvad er en bilingval ordbog?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tarp, Sven

2004-01-01

There is no general agreement on the terms "monolingual dictionary" and "bilingual dictionary". In the theoretical literature several different and sometimes contradicting definitions can be found. Through an analysis of different types of dictionaries, this paper shows that it is impossible...... to draw an exact demarcation line between monolingual and bilingual dictionaries and that the concept of bilinguality in any case is a gradual concept when it is related to dictionaries. Finally, the paper suggests that the concepts of monolingual and bilingual dictionaries are secondary aspects in terms...... of dictionaries and that much more emphasis should be put on the lexicographic functions....

Vowel reduction patterns of early Spanish- English bilinguals receiving continuous L1 and L2 input

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Byers Emily

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the production of three morphophonetic variations of schwa in American English: the plural allomorph {-s} as in watches, the possessive allomorph {-s} as in Sasha’s, and word-finally as in Russia. The production of these three allomorphs were examined in Miami’s English monolingual and early Spanish-English bilingual populations. Our purpose was to determine how native-like early Spanish-English bilinguals′ spectral qualities and reduced vowel durations were compared to Miami English monolinguals during a reading task. Results indicate that early bilinguals′ reduced vowels followed the same overall pattern as monolinguals, but had different acoustic properties.

Age of acquisition and allophony in Spanish-English bilinguals

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Barlow, Jessica A.

2014-01-01

This study examines age of acquisition (AoA) in Spanish-English bilinguals’ phonetic and phonological knowledge of /l/ in English and Spanish. In English, the lateral approximant /l/ varies in darkness by context [based on the second formant (F2) and the difference between F2 and the first formant (F1)], but the Spanish /l/ does not. Further, English /l/ is overall darker than Spanish /l/. Thirty-eight college-aged adults participated: 11 Early Spanish-English bilinguals who learned English before the age of 5 years, 14 Late Spanish-English bilinguals who learned English after the age of 6 years, and 13 English monolinguals. Participants’ /l/ productions were acoustically analyzed by language and context. The results revealed a Spanish-to-English phonetic influence on /l/ productions for both Early and Late bilinguals, as well as an English-to-Spanish phonological influence on the patterning of /l/ for the Late Bilinguals. These findings are discussed in terms of the Speech Learning Model and the effect of AoA on the interaction between a bilingual speaker’s two languages. PMID:24795664

Evaluating Online Bilingual Dictionaries: The Case of Popular Free English-Polish Dictionaries

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Lew, Robert; Szarowska, Agnieszka

2017-01-01

Language learners today exhibit a strong preference for free online resources. One problem with such resources is that their quality can vary dramatically. Building on related work on monolingual resources for English, we propose an evaluation framework for online bilingual dictionaries, designed to assess lexicographic quality in four major…

Associations between Preschool Language and First Grade Reading Outcomes in Bilingual Children

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Davison, Megan Dunn; Hammer, Carol; Lawrence, Frank R.

2011-01-01

It is well established that monolingual preschoolers' oral language development (vocabulary and oral comprehension) contributes to their later reading abilities; however, less is known about this relationship in bilingual populations where children are developing knowledge of two languages. It may be that children's abilities in one language do…

Characteristics of Swahili-English bilingual agrammatic spontaneous speech and the consequences for understanding agrammatic aphasia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Abuom, Tom O.; Bastiaanse, Roelien

Most studies on spontaneous speech of individuals with agrammatism have focused almost exclusively on monolingual individuals. There is hardly any previous research on bilinguals, especially of structurally different languages; and none on characterization of agrammatism in Swahili. The current

Is bilingualism associated with a lower risk of dementia in community-living older adults? Cross-sectional and prospective analyses.

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Yeung, Caleb M; St John, Philip D; Menec, Verena; Tyas, Suzanne L

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was to determine whether bilingualism is associated with dementia in cross-sectional or prospective analyses of older adults. In 1991, 1616 community-living older adults were assessed and were followed 5 years later. Measures included age, sex, education, subjective memory loss (SML), and the modified Mini-mental State Examination (3MS). Dementia was determined by clinical examination in those who scored below the cut point on the 3MS. Language status was categorized based upon self-report into 3 groups: English as a first language (monolingual English, bilingual English) and English as a Second Language (ESL). The ESL category had lower education, lower 3MS scores, more SML, and were more likely to be diagnosed with cognitive impairment, no dementia at both time 1 and time 2 compared with those speaking English as a first language. There was no association between being bilingual (ESL and bilingual English vs. monolingual) and having dementia at time 1 in bivariate or multivariate analyses. In those who were cognitively intact at time 1, there was no association between being bilingual and having dementia at time 2 in bivariate or multivariate analyses. We did not find any association between speaking >1 language and dementia.

Effects of bilingualism on the age of onset and progression of MCI and AD: evidence from executive function tests.

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Bialystok, Ellen; Craik, Fergus I M; Binns, Malcolm A; Ossher, Lynn; Freedman, Morris

2014-03-01

Previous articles have reported that bilingualism is associated with a substantial delay in the onset of both Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). The present study reports results from 74 MCI patients and 75 AD patients; approximately half of the patients in each group were bilingual. All patients were interviewed to obtain details of their language use, onset of their condition, and lifestyle habits. Patients performed three executive function (EF) tests from the D-KEFS battery (Trails, Color-Word Interference, Verbal Fluency) on 3 occasions over a period of approximately 1 year. Results replicated the finding that bilingual patients are several years older than comparable monolinguals at both age of symptom onset and date of first clinic visit. This result could not be attributed to language group differences in such lifestyle variables as diet, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, or social activity. On the first testing occasion, performance on the EF tasks was generally comparable between the language groups, contesting arguments that bilinguals wait longer before attending the clinic. Finally, EF performance tended to decline over the 3 sessions, but no differences were found between monolinguals and bilinguals in the rate of decline. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Effectiveness of Bilingual Education in Cambodia: A Longitudinal Comparative Case Study of Ethnic Minority Children in Bilingual and Monolingual Schools

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Lee, Scott; Watt, Ron; Frawley, Jack

2015-01-01

There is little research in the developing countries of South East Asia on the effectiveness of bilingual education programmes that use first language instruction for ethnic minority children. This study investigated the effectiveness of a bilingual education programme involving ethnic minority children in Cambodia by comparing their performance…

A Comparison of Bilingual Education Policies and Practices in Peru and the United States.

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Minaya-Rowe, Liliana

This comparison of the development of bilingual education policies and practices presents the legal framework of Peruvian and American policies, the processes of their establishment, and bilingual program implementation. The sociocultural and historical circumstances out of which the policies grew and which the bilingual programs reflect are also…

The Effect of Bilingualism and Trilingualism on Metacognitive Processing: Detrimental or Beneficial?

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Soleimani, Hassan; Rahmanian, Mahboubeh

2018-01-24

Research in multilingualism has shown that bilinguals have enhanced executive function (e.g., Donnelly et al. in Proceedings of the 37th annual conference of the cognitive science society 2015; Green in Bilingualism Lang Cognit 1(02):67-81, 1998. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728998000133 ); however, this with many other areas in multilingualism have been questioned like their non-verbal reasoning or their metacognitive ability. This study attempts to explore learning more than one languages in the field of metacognitive abilities. Three groups of monolinguals, bilinguals, and trilinguals were explored to examine the effect of language learning on enhancing or weakening accuracy and response time in metacognitive processing. Conducting dot discrimination task, we found that multilingualism might have some advantages in this field. As cognition and metacognitive abilities demonstrated no positive correlation in this study, we might conclude that executive functioning can not bring about higher order functioning for the individuals. Nevertheless, monolinguals did the task in the least period of time with the least accuracy. Trilinguals, on the contrary, could respond more accurately with an average speed. Accuracy, difficulty, and response time choice in metacognitive processing were discussed for each group. It is concluded that multilingualism might have different effects on higher-order decision making abilities.

The Role of Dictionaries in Language Learning.

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White, Philip A.

1997-01-01

Examines assumptions about dictionaries, especially the bilingual dictionary, and suggests ways of integrating the monolingual dictionary into the second-language instructional process. Findings indicate that the monolingual dictionary can coexist with bilingual dictionaries within a foreign-language course if the latter are appropriately used as…

Reading, syntactic, orthographic, and working memory skills of bilingual Arabic-English speaking Canadian children.

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Abu-Rabia, Salim; Siegel, Linda S

2002-11-01

This study assessed the reading, language, and memory skills of 56 bilingual Arab-Canadian children age's 9-14. English was their main instructional language, and Arabic was the language spoken at home. All children attended a Heritage Language Program in Toronto where they were taught to read and write Arabic. The children were administered word and pseudo-word reading, language, and working memory tests in English and Arabic. The majority of the children showed at least adequate proficiency in both languages. There was a significant relationship between the acquisition of word and pseudo-word reading working memory, and syntactic awareness skills in the two languages. The poor readers in Arabic had lower scores on all linguistic tasks, except the visual task. There were no significant differences between bilingual English Arabic children and monolingual English-speaking children on the reading, language, and memory tasks. However, bilingual English Arabic children who had reading problems in English had higher scores on English pseudo-word reading and spelling tasks than monolingual English-speaking children with reading disabilities, probably because of positive transfer from the regular nature of Arabic orthography. In this case, bilingualism does not appear to have negative consequences for the development of language reading skills in both languages--Arabic and English--despite the different nature of the two orthographies.

Bilingual approach to online cancer genetics education for Deaf American Sign Language users produces greater knowledge and confidence than English text only: A randomized study.

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Palmer, Christina G S; Boudreault, Patrick; Berman, Barbara A; Wolfson, Alicia; Duarte, Lionel; Venne, Vickie L; Sinsheimer, Janet S

2017-01-01

Deaf American Sign Language-users (ASL) have limited access to cancer genetics information they can readily understand, increasing risk for health disparities. We compared effectiveness of online cancer genetics information presented using a bilingual approach (ASL with English closed captioning) and a monolingual approach (English text). Bilingual modality would increase cancer genetics knowledge and confidence to create a family tree; education would interact with modality. We used a parallel 2:1 randomized pre-post study design stratified on education. 150 Deaf ASL-users ≥18 years old with computer and internet access participated online; 100 (70 high, 30 low education) and 50 (35 high, 15 low education) were randomized to the bilingual and monolingual modalities. Modalities provide virtually identical content on creating a family tree, using the family tree to identify inherited cancer risk factors, understanding how cancer predisposition can be inherited, and the role of genetic counseling and testing for prevention or treatment. 25 true/false items assessed knowledge; a Likert scale item assessed confidence. Data were collected within 2 weeks before and after viewing the information. Significant interaction of language modality, education, and change in knowledge scores was observed (p = .01). High education group increased knowledge regardless of modality (Bilingual: p information than a monolingual approach. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Anatomical and functional changes in the brain after simultaneous interpreting training : A longitudinal study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van De Putte, Eowyn; De Baene, W.; García-Pentón, Lorna; Woumans, Evy; Dijkgraaf, Aster; Duyck, Wouter

In the recent literature on bilingualism, a lively debate has arisen about the long-term effects of bilingualism on cognition and the brain. These studies yield inconsistent results, in part because they rely on comparisons between bilingual and monolingual control groups that may also differ on

Assessment of second language proficiency in bilingual children with specific language impairment: a clinical perspective.

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Verhoeven, Ludo; Steenge, Judit; van Weerdenburg, Marjolijn; van Balkom, Hans

2011-01-01

The goal of this study was to examine to what extent the conditions of restricted input of L2 and SLI have an additive impact on language acquisition. Therefore, the Dutch language achievement of 6-, 7-, and 8-year-old bilingual children with SLI was compared with that of typically developing monolingual Dutch children, typically developing bilingual children, and monolingual Dutch children with SLI. Assuming that speaking a language in varying environments involves distinct subskills that can be acquired in differential patterns, the achievement of phonological, lexical, morphosyntactic and textual abilities were assessed separately. For each of these abilities, it was determined to what extent the conditions of restricted input (first vs. second language) and language deficit (typically developing vs. SLI) cause stagnation or a delay in language acquisition. Bilingual children with SLI perform at a lower level than the other groups in almost all aspects of achievement in Dutch. For language tasks related to the mental lexicon and grammar, an additional disadvantage was evidenced as a result of the combination of learning Dutch as second language and having SLI. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Bilingualism does not alter cognitive decline or dementia risk among Spanish-speaking immigrants.

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Zahodne, Laura B; Schofield, Peter W; Farrell, Meagan T; Stern, Yaakov; Manly, Jennifer J

2014-03-01

Clinic-based studies suggest that dementia is diagnosed at older ages in bilinguals compared with monolinguals. The current study sought to test this hypothesis in a large, prospective, community-based study of initially nondemented Hispanic immigrants living in a Spanish-speaking enclave of northern Manhattan. Participants included 1,067 participants in the Washington/Hamilton Heights Inwood Columbia Aging Project (WHICAP) who were tested in Spanish and followed at 18-24 month intervals for up to 23 years. Spanish-English bilingualism was estimated via both self-report and an objective measure of English reading level. Multilevel models for change estimated the independent effects of bilingualism on cognitive decline in 4 domains: episodic memory, language, executive function, and speed. Over the course of the study, 282 participants developed dementia. Cox regression was used to estimate the independent effect of bilingualism on dementia conversion. Covariates included country of origin, gender, education, time spent in the United States, recruitment cohort, and age at enrollment. Independent of the covariates, bilingualism was associated with better memory and executive function at baseline. However, bilingualism was not independently associated with rates of cognitive decline or dementia conversion. Results were similar whether bilingualism was measured via self-report or an objective test of reading level. This study does not support a protective effect of bilingualism on age-related cognitive decline or the development of dementia. In this sample of Hispanic immigrants, bilingualism is related to higher initial scores on cognitive tests and higher educational attainment and may not represent a unique source of cognitive reserve. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Effects of Classroom Bilingualism on Task Shifting, Verbal Memory, and Word Learning in Children

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Kaushanskaya, Margarita; Gross, Megan; Buac, Milijana

2014-01-01

We examined the effects of classroom bilingual experience in children on an array of cognitive skills. Monolingual English-speaking children were compared with children who spoke English as the native language and who had been exposed to Spanish in the context of dual-immersion schooling for an average of two years. The groups were compared on a measure of non-linguistic task-shifting; measures of verbal short-term and working memory; and measures of word-learning. The two groups of children did not differ on measures of non-linguistic task-shifting and verbal short-term memory. However, the classroom-exposure bilingual group outperformed the monolingual group on the measure of verbal working memory and a measure of word-learning. Together, these findings indicate that while exposure to a second language in a classroom setting may not be sufficient to engender changes in cognitive control, it can facilitate verbal memory and verbal learning. PMID:24576079

Bilingualism and Biliteracy in Down Syndrome: Insights From a Case Study

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Burgoyne, Kelly; Duff, Fiona J.; Nielsen, Dea; Ulicheva, Anastasia

2016-01-01

We present the case study of MB—a bilingual child with Down syndrome (DS) who speaks Russian (first language [L1]) and English (second language [L2]) and has learned to read in two different alphabets with different symbol systems. We demonstrate that, in terms of oral language, MB is as proficient in Russian as English, with a mild advantage for reading in English, her language of formal instruction. MB's L1 abilities were compared with those of 11 Russian‐speaking typically developing monolinguals and her L2 abilities to those of 15 English‐speaking typically developing monolinguals and six monolingual English‐speaking children with DS; each group achieving the same level of word reading ability as MB. We conclude that learning two languages in the presence of a learning difficulty need have no detrimental effect on either a child's language or literacy development. PMID:27917003

Development and Use of English Evaluative Expressions in Narratives of Chinese-English Bilinguals

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Chen, Liang; Yan, Ruixia

2011-01-01

This study compares the development and use of evaluative expressions in the English narratives elicited from 80 Chinese-English bilinguals and 80 American monolingual peers at four ages--five, eight, ten, and young adults--using the wordless picture book "Frog, where are you?" (Mayer, 1969). Results revealed both similarities and differences…

Bilingualism as a Window into the Language Faculty: The Acquisition of Objects in French-Speaking Children in Bilingual and Monolingual Contexts

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Perez-Leroux, Ana T.; Pirvulescu, Mihaela; Roberge, Yves

2009-01-01

Where do the two languages of the bilingual child interact? The literature has debated whether bilingual children have delays in the acquisition of direct objects. The variety of methods and languages involved have prevented clear conclusions. In a transitivity-based approach, null objects are a default structural possibility, present in all…

Simultaneous bilingual language acquisition: The role of parental input on receptive vocabulary development.

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Macleod, Andrea An; Fabiano-Smith, Leah; Boegner-Pagé, Sarah; Fontolliet, Salomé

2013-02-01

Parents often turn to educators and healthcare professionals for advice on how to best support their child's language development. These professionals frequently suggest implementing the 'one-parent-one-language' approach to ensure consistent exposure to both languages. The goal of this study was to understand how language exposure influences the receptive vocabulary development of simultaneous bilingual children. To this end, we targeted nine German-French children growing up in bilingual families. Their exposure to each language within and outside the home was measured, as were their receptive vocabulary abilities in German and French. The results indicate that children are receiving imbalanced exposure to each language. This imbalance is leading to a slowed development of the receptive vocabulary in the minority language, while the majority language is keeping pace with monolingual peers. The one-parent-one-language approach does not appear to support the development of both of the child's languages in the context described in the present study. Bilingual families may need to consider other options for supporting the bilingual language development of their children. As professionals, we need to provide parents with advice that is based on available data and that is flexible with regards to the current and future needs of the child and his family.

The gradience of multilingualism in typical and impaired language development: Positioning bilectalism within comparative bilingualism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kleanthes K. Grohmann

2016-02-01

Full Text Available A multitude of factors characterizes bi- and multilingual compared to monolingual language acquisition. Two of the most prominent viewpoints have recently been put in perspective and enriched by a third (Tsimpli 2014: age of onset of children’s exposure to their native languages, the role of the input they receive, and the timing in monolingual first language development of the phenomena examined in bi- and multilingual children’s performance. This article picks up a fourth potential factor (Grohmann 2014b: language proximity, that is, the closeness between the two or more grammars a multilingual child acquires. It is a first attempt to flesh out the proposed gradient scale of multilingualism within the approach dubbed ‘comparative bilingualism’. The empirical part of this project comes from three types of research: (i the acquisition and subsequent development of pronominal object clitic placement in two closely related varieties of Greek by bilectal, binational, bilingual, and multilingual children; (ii the performance on executive control tasks by monolingual, bilectal, and bi- or multilingual children; and (iii the role of comparative bilingualism in children with a developmental language impairment for both the diagnosis and subsequent treatment as well as the possible avoidance or weakening of how language impairment presents.

The language and social background questionnaire: Assessing degree of bilingualism in a diverse population.

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Anderson, John A E; Mak, Lorinda; Keyvani Chahi, Aram; Bialystok, Ellen

2018-02-01

Research examining the cognitive consequences of bilingualism has expanded rapidly in recent years and has revealed effects on aspects of cognition across the lifespan. However, these effects are difficult to find in studies investigating young adults. One problem is that there is no standard definition of bilingualism or means of evaluating degree of bilingualism in individual participants, making it difficult to directly compare the results of different studies. Here, we describe an instrument developed to assess degree of bilingualism for young adults who live in diverse communities in which English is the official language. We demonstrate the reliability and validity of the instrument in analyses based on 408 participants. The relevant factors for describing degree of bilingualism are: (1) the extent of non-English language proficiency and use at home, and (2) non-English language use socially. We then use the bilingualism scores obtained from the instrument to demonstrate their association with: (1) performance on executive function tasks, and (2) previous classifications of participants into categories of monolinguals and bilinguals.

The Effects of Educational Tools in Reducing Code-Switching in Child Simultaneous Bilingual Education

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Jalilian, Sahar; Rahmatian, Rouhollah; Safa, Parivash; Letafati, Roya

2016-01-01

Simultaneous bilingual education of a child is a dynamic process. Construction of linguistic competences undeniably depends on the conditions of the linguistic environment of the child. This education in a monolingual family, requires the practice of parenting tactics to increase the frequency of the language use in minority, during which,…

Cognitive Control in Bilingual Children Disentangling the Effects of Second-Language Proficiency and Onset Age of Acquisition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Struys, E.; Mohades, G.; Bosch, M.P.C.; Noort, M.W.M.L. van den

2015-01-01

Studies comparing the cognitive control of bilingual and monolingual speakers are inconclusive about the nature and underlying mechanisms of differences in language-related processing. In the present study, in order to disentangle the impact of second-language onset age of acquisition and

Comparison of Bilingual Children on the WISC-R and the Escala De Inteligencia Wechsler Para Ninos.

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Oplesch, Marie; Genshaft, Judy

1981-01-01

A comparison of bilingual Puerto Rican students' scores showed no significant differences between the Full Scale and the Verbal Scale scores on both tests, but significant differences between the Verbal and Performance Scale scores on both tests. Caution in testing bilingual children before determination of bilinguality is recommended. (Author)

Russian in Latvia: An Outlook for Bilingualism in a Post-Soviet Transitional Society

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Dilans, Gatis

2009-01-01

What makes people, in shifting power positions of a post-independence period, plan on disusing an already known L2 or learn a new L2? What are the reasons for such shifts and what outcomes can, therefore, be predicted for the future of societal bilingualism surviving alongside ongoing efforts at monolingual unification in a newly independent…

To electrify bilingualism: Electrophysiological insights into bilingual metaphor comprehension.

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Jankowiak, Katarzyna; Rataj, Karolina; Naskręcki, Ryszard

2017-01-01

Though metaphoric language comprehension has previously been investigated with event-related potentials, little attention has been devoted to extending this research from the monolingual to the bilingual context. In the current study, late proficient unbalanced Polish (L1)-English (L2) bilinguals performed a semantic decision task to novel metaphoric, conventional metaphoric, literal, and anomalous word pairs presented in L1 and L2. The results showed more pronounced P200 amplitudes to L2 than L1, which can be accounted for by differences in the subjective frequency of the native and non-native lexical items. Within the early N400 time window (300-400 ms), L2 word dyads evoked delayed and attenuated amplitudes relative to L1 word pairs, possibly indicating extended lexical search during foreign language processing, and weaker semantic interconnectivity for L2 compared to L1 words within the memory system. The effect of utterance type was observed within the late N400 time window (400-500 ms), with smallest amplitudes evoked by literal, followed by conventional metaphoric, novel metaphoric, and anomalous word dyads. Such findings are interpreted as reflecting more resource intensive cognitive mechanisms governing novel compared to conventional metaphor comprehension in both the native and non-native language. Within the late positivity time window (500-800 ms), Polish novel metaphors evoked reduced amplitudes relative to literal utterances. In English, on the other hand, this effect was observed for both novel and conventional metaphoric word dyads. This finding might indicate continued effort in information retrieval or access to the non-literal route during novel metaphor comprehension in L1, and during novel and conventional metaphor comprehension in L2. Altogether, the present results point to decreased automaticity of cognitive mechanisms engaged in non-native and non-dominant language processing, and suggest a decreased sensitivity to the levels of

Lexical quality and executive control predict children's first and second language reading comprehension.

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Raudszus, Henriette; Segers, Eliane; Verhoeven, Ludo

2018-01-01

This study compared how lexical quality (vocabulary and decoding) and executive control (working memory and inhibition) predict reading comprehension directly as well as indirectly, via syntactic integration, in monolingual and bilingual fourth grade children. The participants were 76 monolingual and 102 bilingual children (mean age 10 years, SD  = 5 months) learning to read Dutch in the Netherlands. Bilingual children showed lower Dutch vocabulary, syntactic integration and reading comprehension skills, but better decoding skills than their monolingual peers. There were no differences in working memory or inhibition. Multigroup path analysis showed relatively invariant connections between predictors and reading comprehension for monolingual and bilingual readers. For both groups, there was a direct effect of lexical quality on reading comprehension. In addition, lexical quality and executive control indirectly influenced reading comprehension via syntactic integration. The groups differed in that inhibition more strongly predicted syntactic integration for bilingual than for monolingual children. For a subgroup of bilingual children, for whom home language vocabulary data were available ( n  = 56), there was an additional positive effect of home language vocabulary on second language reading comprehension. Together, the results suggest that similar processes underlie reading comprehension in first and second language readers, but that syntactic integration requires more executive control in second language reading. Moreover, bilingual readers additionally benefit from first language vocabulary to arrive at second language reading comprehension.

Comparative Language Development in Bilingual and Monolingual Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

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Lund, Emily M.; Kohlmeier, Theresa L.; Durán, Lillian K.

2017-01-01

The prevalence of both bilingual children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is growing rapidly, and early childhood educators may be increasingly likely to encounter bilingual children with ASD in their classrooms. Because ASD significantly affects communication, many parents and professionals may have questions or concerns about…

Effects of Classroom Bilingualism on Task-Shifting, Verbal Memory, and Word Learning in Children

Science.gov (United States)

Kaushanskaya, Margarita; Gross, Megan; Buac, Milijana

2014-01-01

We examined the effects of classroom bilingual experience in children on an array of cognitive skills. Monolingual English-speaking children were compared with children who spoke English as the native language and who had been exposed to Spanish in the context of dual-immersion schooling for an average of 2 years. The groups were compared on a…

Role of Auditory Non-Verbal Working Memory in Sentence Repetition for Bilingual Children with Primary Language Impairment

Science.gov (United States)

Ebert, Kerry Danahy

2014-01-01

Background: Sentence repetition performance is attracting increasing interest as a valuable clinical marker for primary (or specific) language impairment (LI) in both monolingual and bilingual populations. Multiple aspects of memory appear to contribute to sentence repetition performance, but non-verbal memory has not yet been considered. Aims: To…

Differential effects of bilingualism and culture on early attention: a longitudinal study in the U.S., Argentina, and Vietnam.

Science.gov (United States)

Tran, Crystal D; Arredondo, Maria M; Yoshida, Hanako

2015-01-01

A large body of literature suggests that bilingualism strongly influences attentional processes among a variety of age groups. Increasing studies, however, indicate that culture may also have measurable effects on attentional processes. Bilinguals are often exposed to multiple cultural backgrounds, therefore, it is unclear if being exposed to multiple languages and culture together influence attentional processes, or if the effect themselves are uniquely linked to different attentional processes. The present study explores the relevancy of different attentional processes-alerting, orienting, and executive control-to language and to culture. In the present study, 97 3-years-old (Mean age = 38.78 months) monolingual and bilingual children from three countries (the U.S., Argentina, and Vietnam) were longitudinally tested for a total of five time points on a commonly used non-linguistic attentional paradigm-the Attention Network Test. Results demonstrate that when other factors are controlled (e.g., socio-economic status, vocabulary knowledge, age), culture plays an important role on the development of the alerting and executive control attentional network, while language status was only significant on the executive control attentional network. The present study indicates that culture may interact with bilingualism to further explain previous reported advantages, as well as elucidate the increasing disparity surrounding cognitive advantages in bilingual literature.

Intervention for bilingual speech sound disorders: A case study of an isiXhosa-English-speaking child.

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Rossouw, Kate; Pascoe, Michelle

2018-03-19

 Bilingualism is common in South Africa, with many children acquiring isiXhosa as a home language and learning English from a young age in nursery or crèche. IsiXhosa is a local language, part of the Bantu language family, widely spoken in the country. Aims: To describe changes in a bilingual child's speech following intervention based on a theoretically motivated and tailored intervention plan. Methods and procedures: This study describes a female isiXhosa-English bilingual child, named Gcobisa (pseudonym) (chronological age 4 years and 2 months) with a speech sound disorder. Gcobisa's speech was assessed and her difficulties categorised according to Dodd's (2005) diagnostic framework. From this, intervention was planned and the language of intervention was selected. Following intervention, Gcobisa's speech was reassessed. Outcomes and results: Gcobisa's speech was categorised as a consistent phonological delay as she presented with gliding of/l/in both English and isiXhosa, cluster reduction in English and several other age appropriate phonological processes. She was provided with 16 sessions of intervention using a minimal pairs approach, targeting the phonological process of gliding of/l/, which was not considered age appropriate for Gcobisa in isiXhosa when compared to the small set of normative data regarding monolingual isiXhosa development. As a result, the targets and stimuli were in isiXhosa while the main language of instruction was English. This reflects the language mismatch often faced by speech language therapists in South Africa. Gcobisa showed evidence of generalising the target phoneme to English words. Conclusions and implications: The data have theoretical implications regarding bilingual development of isiXhosa-English, as it highlights the ways bilingual development may differ from the monolingual development of this language pair. It adds to the small set of intervention studies investigating the changes in the speech of bilingual

Intervention for bilingual speech sound disorders: A case study of an isiXhosa–English-speaking child

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Kate Rossouw

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Background: Bilingualism is common in South Africa, with many children acquiring isiXhosa as a home language and learning English from a young age in nursery or crèche. IsiXhosa is a local language, part of the Bantu language family, widely spoken in the country.   Aims: To describe changes in a bilingual child’s speech following intervention based on a theoretically motivated and tailored intervention plan.   Methods and procedures: This study describes a female isiXhosa–English bilingual child, named Gcobisa (pseudonym (chronological age 4 years and 2 months with a speech sound disorder. Gcobisa’s speech was assessed and her difficulties categorised according to Dodd’s (2005 diagnostic framework. From this, intervention was planned and the language of intervention was selected. Following intervention, Gcobisa’s speech was reassessed.   Outcomes and results: Gcobisa’s speech was categorised as a consistent phonological delay as she presented with gliding of/l/in both English and isiXhosa, cluster reduction in English and several other age appropriate phonological processes. She was provided with 16 sessions of intervention using a minimal pairs approach, targeting the phonological process of gliding of/l/, which was not considered age appropriate for Gcobisa in isiXhosa when compared to the small set of normative data regarding monolingual isiXhosa development. As a result, the targets and stimuli were in isiXhosa while the main language of instruction was English. This reflects the language mismatch often faced by speech language therapists in South Africa. Gcobisa showed evidence of generalising the target phoneme to English words.   Conclusions and implications: The data have theoretical implications regarding bilingual development of isiXhosa–English, as it highlights the ways bilingual development may differ from the monolingual development of this language pair. It adds to the small set of intervention studies

Bilingualism and Cognitive Reserve: A Critical Overview and a Plea for Methodological Innovations.

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Calvo, Noelia; García, Adolfo M; Manoiloff, Laura; Ibáñez, Agustín

2015-01-01

The decline of cognitive skills throughout healthy or pathological aging can be slowed down by experiences which foster cognitive reserve (CR). Recently, some studies on Alzheimer's disease have suggested that CR may be enhanced by life-long bilingualism. However, the evidence is inconsistent and largely based on retrospective approaches featuring several methodological weaknesses. Some studies demonstrated at least 4 years of delay in dementia symptoms, while others did not find such an effect. Moreover, various methodological aspects vary from study to study. The present paper addresses contradictory findings, identifies possible lurking variables, and outlines methodological alternatives thereof. First, we characterize possible confounding factors that may have influenced extant results. Our focus is on the criteria to establish bilingualism, differences in sample design, the instruments used to examine cognitive skills, and the role of variables known to modulate life-long cognition. Second, we propose that these limitations could be largely circumvented through experimental approaches. Proficiency in the non-native language can be successfully assessed by combining subjective and objective measures; confounding variables which have been distinctively associated with certain bilingual groups (e.g., alcoholism, sleep disorders) can be targeted through relevant instruments; and cognitive status might be better tapped via robust cognitive screenings and executive batteries. Moreover, future research should incorporate tasks yielding predictable patterns of contrastive performance between bilinguals and monolinguals. Crucially, these include instruments which reveal bilingual disadvantages in vocabulary, null effects in working memory, and advantages in inhibitory control and other executive functions. Finally, paradigms tapping proactive interference (which assess the disruptive effect of long-term memory on newly learned information) could also offer useful data

Learning with and by Language: Bilingual Teaching Strategies for the Monolingual Language-Aware Geography Classroom

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Morawski, Michael; Budke, Alexandra

2017-01-01

Geography lessons center on a language-based product with socially relevant geographic content. The subject of geography in secondary schools in Germany faces three major challenges that make a stronger focus on language in the monolingual geography classroom necessary. First, more than 30 percent of German pupils in secondary schools have a…

The Role of the Introductory Matter in Bilingual Dictionaries of English and Arabic

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Hashan Al-Ajmi

2011-10-01

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Abstract: Monolingual and bilingual dictionaries for learners of English as foreign language differ from each other in many aspects. Among the differences are the types of information a dictionary provides outside the A?Z word list, especially in its introductory matter. Yet, dictionary introductions have been referred to rather peripherally in the literature on dictionary users and uses. Within the context of lexicographic practice, this study aims to outline the differences between EFL learner's dictionaries and bilingual English?Arabic dictionaries, and to determine to what extent a given set of popular dictionaries provide varied and sufficient information in their introductions. Three categories of dictionaries will be the subject of comparison: EFL dictionaries, European bilingual dictionaries, and bilingual dictionaries in the Arab world.

Keywords: BILINGUAL DICTIONARY, INTRODUCTORY MATTER, ENGLISH?ARABIC, EFL LEARNER'S DICTIONARY, ORIENTALIST DICTIONARY

Opsomming: Die rol van die inleidende gedeelte in tweetalige woordeboekevan Engels en Arabies. Eentalige en tweetalige woordeboeke vir aanleerders vanEngels as vreemde taal verskil in baie opsigte van mekaar. Een van die verskille is die tipes inligtingwat 'n woordeboek buite die A–Z-woordelys verskaf, veral in die inleidende gedeelte. Tog isdaar slegs in die verbygaan na woordeboekinleidings in die literatuur oor woordeboekgebruikersen -gebruik verwys. Hierdie studie het dit ten doel om, binne die konteks van die leksikografiesepraktyk, die verskille uit te stippel tussen EVT-aanleerderswoordeboeke en tweetalige Engels–Arabiesewoordeboeke, en te bepaal in watter mate 'n gegewe groep gewilde woordeboeke veelsoortigeen genoegsame inligting in hul inleidings verskaf. Drie kategorieë woordeboeke sal die onderwerpvan hierdie vergelyking vorm: EVT-woordeboeke, Europese tweetalige woordeboeke entweetalige woordeboeke binne die Arabiese w

Comprehension of Competing Argument Marking Systems in Two Australian Mixed Languages

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O'Shannessy, Carmel; Meakins, Felicity

2012-01-01

Crosslinguistic influence has been seen in bilingual adult and child learners when compared to monolingual learners. For speakers of Light Warlpiri and Gurindji Kriol there is no monolingual group for comparison, yet crosslinguistic influence can be seen in how the speakers resolve competition between case-marking and word order systems in each…

Subcortical encoding of sound is enhanced in bilinguals and relates to executive function advantages

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Krizman, Jennifer; Marian, Viorica; Shook, Anthony; Skoe, Erika; Kraus, Nina

2012-01-01

Bilingualism profoundly affects the brain, yielding functional and structural changes in cortical regions dedicated to language processing and executive function [Crinion J, et al. (2006) Science 312:1537–1540; Kim KHS, et al. (1997) Nature 388:171–174]. Comparatively, musical training, another type of sensory enrichment, translates to expertise in cognitive processing and refined biological processing of sound in both cortical and subcortical structures. Therefore, we asked whether bilingualism can also promote experience-dependent plasticity in subcortical auditory processing. We found that adolescent bilinguals, listening to the speech syllable [da], encoded the stimulus more robustly than age-matched monolinguals. Specifically, bilinguals showed enhanced encoding of the fundamental frequency, a feature known to underlie pitch perception and grouping of auditory objects. This enhancement was associated with executive function advantages. Thus, through experience-related tuning of attention, the bilingual auditory system becomes highly efficient in automatically processing sound. This study provides biological evidence for system-wide neural plasticity in auditory experts that facilitates a tight coupling of sensory and cognitive functions. PMID:22547804

Prevalence of Stuttering in Javanroud\\'s Bilingual Students

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Hiva Mohammadi

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Objective: Study of prevalence of stuttering in Iranian bilingual societies is essential for determine the effects of linguistic factors in stuttering and therapy demands in these bilingual societies. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of stuttering among Javanrud’s bilingual students. Materials & Methods: In this cross- sectional, descriptive and analytical study, all of bilingual students of Javanrud’s schools were examined and in order to this purpose, teacher referral method was used for the primary screening of speech disorders at all. Essential information about speech disorders specifically stuttering had been given to teachers before this primary step. Then researcher diagnosed stuttering students based on personal interview, reading, spontaneous speech and description of serial images that tell a story in Kurdish and Persian. Data were analysed by statistical tests such as Chi-square and Logistic Regression. Results: Among 11425 bilingual students of Javanrud’s schools, 129 students were identified as stutterers. These findings indicated that overall prevalence of stuttering in this population is 1/13 percent. Among primary, guidance and high school students the prevalence of stuttering was 2/06, 0/87 and 0/5 percent respectively. Prevalence of stuttering among boys was 1/35 and among girls was 0/88 percent. An overall male/female ratio was 1/5. Prevalence of stuttering in primary, guidance and high school was differ from each other significantly (P<0/001. Prevalence of stuttering in male was higher than female significantly (P=0/034. Conclusion: Prevalence of stuttering among Javanrood’s bilingual students was higher than accepted prevalence in monolinguals (1%. Risk of being stuttering in male was higher than female.

Bilingual and Monolingual EFL learners’ Use of Writing Metacognitive Strategies and Writing Performance

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Fatemeh Poorebrahim

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Research has shown that writing skill of Iranian learners is not at a satisfactory level. One  of  the  ways  to  develop  writing  ability  is  to  improve  strategic  behavior  of  learners.  The current  study  set  out  to  compare  writing  performances  and  patterns  of  using  metacognitive strategies  in  bilinguals  and  monolinguals  as  well  as  seniors  and  freshmen  students.  A  total  of 176  English  major  university  students  took  part  in  the  study  (88  bilinguals  and  88 monolinguals.  Data  were  collected  through  three  instruments:  a  background  questionnaire,  a writing  metacognitive  strategy  questionnaire,  and  participants’  compositions.  A  two-way factorial  ANOVA  was  used  to  analyze  the  data  obtained  through  the  strategy  questionnaire. Since the composition data were not parametric, two Kruskall-Wallis tests were employed for data  analysis. The  results  revealed  that  bilinguals  used  more  metacognitive  strategies  and  had higher  writing  scores  than  monolinguals.  In  addition,  seniors  had  better  writing  performance than freshmen while the difference between them in using strategies was not significant. Based on the results, it can be concluded that teaching writing metacognitive strategies may result in a better writing performance.   استفاده از راهبردهای فراشناختی نوشتار و مهارت نوشتاری زبان آموزان یک زبانه و دو زبانه   تحقیقات اخیر حاکی از عملکرد ضعیف زبان آموزان ایرانی در مهارت نوشتار زبان انگلیسی است. یکی از روشهای بهبود مهارت نوشتار تقویت رفتار استراتژیک زبان آموزان است. در تحقیق پیش رو به مقایسه مهارت نوشتار و الگوهای �

Bilingualism as Conceptualized and Bilingualism as Lived: A Critical Examination of the Monolingual Socialization of a Child with Autism in a Bilingual Family

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Yu, Betty

2016-01-01

This is an ethnographic and discourse analytic case study of a bilingual, minority-language family of a six-year-old child with autism whose family members were committed to speaking English with him. Drawing on "family language policy," the study examines the tensions between the family members' stated beliefs, management efforts, and…

Influence of Current Input-Output and Age of First Exposure on Phonological Acquisition in Early Bilingual Spanish-English-Speaking Kindergarteners

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Ruiz-Felter, Roxanna; Cooperson, Solaman J.; Bedore, Lisa M.; Peña, Elizabeth D.

2016-01-01

Background: Although some investigations of phonological development have found that segmental accuracy is comparable in monolingual children and their bilingual peers, there is evidence that language use affects segmental accuracy in both languages. Aims: To investigate the influence of age of first exposure to English and the amount of current…

Dual Coding and Bilingual Memory.

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Paivio, Allan; Lambert, Wallace

1981-01-01

Describes study which tested a dual coding approach to bilingual memory using tasks that permit comparison of the effects of bilingual encoding with verbal-nonverbal dual encoding items. Results provide strong support for a version of the independent or separate stories view of bilingual memory. (Author/BK)

Connective processing by bilingual children and monolinguals with specific language impairment : distinct profiles

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mak, W.M.; Tribushinina, E.; Lomako, Julia; Gagarina, N.; Abrosova, Ekaterina; Sanders, T.J.M.

2017-01-01

Production studies show that both Russian-speaking children with specific language impairment (SLI) and bilingual children for whom Russian is a non-dominant language have difficulty distinguishing between the near-synonymous connectives i ‘and’ and a ‘and/but’. I is a preferred connective when

Bilingualism and cognitive reserve: A critical overview and a plea for methodological innovations

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Noelia eCalvo

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The decline of cognitive skills throughout healthy or pathological aging can be slowed down by experiences which foster cognitive reserve (CR. Recently, some studies on Alzheimer’s disease have suggested that CR may be enhanced by life-long bilingualism. However, the evidence is inconsistent and based on retrospective approaches featuring several methodological weaknesses. Some studies demonstrated at least four years of delay in dementia symptoms, while others did not find such an effect. Moreover, various methodological aspects vary from study to study. The present paper addresses contradictory findings, identifies possible lurking variables, and outlines methodological alternatives thereof. First, we characterize possible confounding factors that may have influenced extant results. Our focus is on the criteria to establish bilingualism, differences in sample design, the instruments used to examine cognitive skills, and the role of variables known to modulate life-long cognition. Second, we propose that these limitations could be largely circumvented through experimental approaches. Proficiency in the non-native language can be successfully assessed by combining subjective and objective measures; confounding variables which have been distinctively associated with certain bilingual groups (e.g., alcoholism, sleep disorders can be targeted through relevant instruments; and cognitive status might be better tapped via robust cognitive screenings and executive batteries. Moreover, future research should incorporate tasks yielding predictable patterns of contrastive performance between bilinguals and monolinguals. Crucially, these include instruments which reveal bilingual disadvantages in vocabulary, null effects in working memory, and advantages in inhibitory control and other executive functions. Finally, paradigms tapping proactive interference (which assess the disruptive effect of long-term memory on newly learned information could also

Bilingualism and Cognitive Reserve: A Critical Overview and a Plea for Methodological Innovations

Science.gov (United States)

Calvo, Noelia; García, Adolfo M.; Manoiloff, Laura; Ibáñez, Agustín

2016-01-01

The decline of cognitive skills throughout healthy or pathological aging can be slowed down by experiences which foster cognitive reserve (CR). Recently, some studies on Alzheimer's disease have suggested that CR may be enhanced by life-long bilingualism. However, the evidence is inconsistent and largely based on retrospective approaches featuring several methodological weaknesses. Some studies demonstrated at least 4 years of delay in dementia symptoms, while others did not find such an effect. Moreover, various methodological aspects vary from study to study. The present paper addresses contradictory findings, identifies possible lurking variables, and outlines methodological alternatives thereof. First, we characterize possible confounding factors that may have influenced extant results. Our focus is on the criteria to establish bilingualism, differences in sample design, the instruments used to examine cognitive skills, and the role of variables known to modulate life-long cognition. Second, we propose that these limitations could be largely circumvented through experimental approaches. Proficiency in the non-native language can be successfully assessed by combining subjective and objective measures; confounding variables which have been distinctively associated with certain bilingual groups (e.g., alcoholism, sleep disorders) can be targeted through relevant instruments; and cognitive status might be better tapped via robust cognitive screenings and executive batteries. Moreover, future research should incorporate tasks yielding predictable patterns of contrastive performance between bilinguals and monolinguals. Crucially, these include instruments which reveal bilingual disadvantages in vocabulary, null effects in working memory, and advantages in inhibitory control and other executive functions. Finally, paradigms tapping proactive interference (which assess the disruptive effect of long-term memory on newly learned information) could also offer useful data

Orthographic learning and self-teaching in a bilingual and biliterate context.

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Schwartz, Mila; Kahn-Horwitz, Janina; Share, David L

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine self-teaching in the context of English as a foreign language literacy acquisition. Three groups comprising 88 sixth-grade children participated. The first group consisted of Russian-Hebrew-speaking bilinguals who had acquired basic reading skills in Russian as their first language (L1) and literacy and who were literate in Hebrew as a second language. The second group consisted of Russian-Hebrew-speaking bilinguals who had not learned to read in their native Russian but had acquired Hebrew as their first literate language. The third group consisted of Hebrew-speaking monolingual children who were literate in Hebrew. This design facilitated examining the effect of biliteracy and bilingualism on basic English reading skills. We hypothesized that due to the proximity between the Russian and English orthographies as opposed to the Hebrew-English "distance," the Russian-Hebrew-speaking biliterate group who acquired basic reading and spelling skills in L1 Russian would have superior self-teaching in English as opposed to the two other groups. The standard two-session self-teaching paradigm was employed with naming (speed and accuracy) and orthographic choice as posttest measures of orthographic learning. Results showed that after 4 years of English instruction, all three groups showed evidence of self-teaching on naming speed and orthographic recognition. The Russian-Hebrew-speaking biliterate group, moreover, showed a partial advantage over the comparison groups for initial decoding of target pseudowords and clear-cut superiority for measures of later orthographic learning, thereby showing self-teaching while supporting the script dependence hypothesis. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Difficulties Using Standardized Tests to Identify the Receptive Expressive Gap in Bilingual Children's Vocabularies.

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Gibson, Todd A; Oller, D Kimbrough; Jarmulowicz, Linda

2018-03-01

Receptive standardized vocabulary scores have been found to be much higher than expressive standardized vocabulary scores in children with Spanish as L1, learning L2 (English) in school (Gibson et al., 2012). Here we present evidence suggesting the receptive-expressive gap may be harder to evaluate than previously thought because widely-used standardized tests may not offer comparable normed scores. Furthermore monolingual Spanish-speaking children tested in Mexico and monolingual English-speaking children in the US showed other, yet different statistically significant discrepancies between receptive and expressive scores. Results suggest comparisons across widely used standardized tests in attempts to assess a receptive-expressive gap are precarious.

Lexical-Semantic Organization in Bilingually Developing Deaf Children with ASL-Dominant Language Exposure: Evidence from a Repeated Meaning Association Task

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Mann, Wolfgang; Sheng, Li; Morgan, Gary

2016-01-01

This study compared the lexical-semantic organization skills of bilingually developing deaf children in American Sign Language (ASL) and English with those of a monolingual hearing group. A repeated meaning-association paradigm was used to assess retrieval of semantic relations in deaf 6-10-year-olds exposed to ASL from birth by their deaf…

Experience with a second language affects the use of fundamental frequency in speech segmentation

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Broersma, Mirjam; Cho, Taehong; Kim, Sahyang; Martínez-García, Maria Teresa; Connell, Katrina

2017-01-01

This study investigates whether listeners’ experience with a second language learned later in life affects their use of fundamental frequency (F0) as a cue to word boundaries in the segmentation of an artificial language (AL), particularly when the cues to word boundaries conflict between the first language (L1) and second language (L2). F0 signals phrase-final (and thus word-final) boundaries in French but word-initial boundaries in English. Participants were functionally monolingual French listeners, functionally monolingual English listeners, bilingual L1-English L2-French listeners, and bilingual L1-French L2-English listeners. They completed the AL-segmentation task with F0 signaling word-final boundaries or without prosodic cues to word boundaries (monolingual groups only). After listening to the AL, participants completed a forced-choice word-identification task in which the foils were either non-words or part-words. The results show that the monolingual French listeners, but not the monolingual English listeners, performed better in the presence of F0 cues than in the absence of such cues. Moreover, bilingual status modulated listeners’ use of F0 cues to word-final boundaries, with bilingual French listeners performing less accurately than monolingual French listeners on both word types but with bilingual English listeners performing more accurately than monolingual English listeners on non-words. These findings not only confirm that speech segmentation is modulated by the L1, but also newly demonstrate that listeners’ experience with the L2 (French or English) affects their use of F0 cues in speech segmentation. This suggests that listeners’ use of prosodic cues to word boundaries is adaptive and non-selective, and can change as a function of language experience. PMID:28738093

Marking of verb tense in the English of preschool English-Mandarin bilingual children: evidence from language development profiles within subgroups on the Singapore English Action Picture Test.

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Brebner, Chris; McCormack, Paul; Liow, Susan Rickard

2016-01-01

The phonological and morphosyntactic structures of English and Mandarin contrast maximally and an increasing number of bilinguals speak these two languages. Speech and language therapists need to understand bilingual development for children speaking these languages in order reliably to assess and provide intervention for this population. To examine the marking of verb tense in the English of two groups of bilingual pre-schoolers learning these languages in a multilingual setting where the main educational language is English. The main research question addressed was: are there differences in the rate and pattern of acquisition of verb-tense marking for English-language 1 children compared with Mandarin-language 1 children? Spoken language samples in English from 481 English-Mandarin bilingual children were elicited using a 10-item action picture test and analysed for each child's use of verb tense markers: present progressive '-ing', regular past tense '-ed', third-person singular '-s', and irregular past tense and irregular past-participle forms. For 4-6 year olds the use of inflectional markers by the different language dominance groups was compared statistically using non-parametric tests. This study provides further evidence that bilingual language development is not the same as monolingual language development. The results show that there are very different rates and patterns of verb-tense marking in English for English-language 1 and Mandarin-language 1 children. Furthermore, they show that bilingual language development in English in Singapore is not the same as monolingual language development in English, and that there are differences in development depending on language dominance. Valid and reliable assessment of bilingual children's language skills needs to consider the characteristics of all languages spoken, obtaining accurate information on language use over time and accurately establishing language dominance is essential in order to make a

Independent and Combined Effects of Socioeconomic Status (SES) and Bilingualism on Children's Vocabulary and Verbal Short-Term Memory.

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Meir, Natalia; Armon-Lotem, Sharon

2017-01-01

The current study explores the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) and bilingualism on the linguistic skills and verbal short-term memory of preschool children. In previous studies comparing children of low and mid-high SES, the terms "a child with low-SES" and "a child speaking a minority language" are often interchangeable, not enabling differentiated evaluation of these two variables. The present study controls for this confluence by testing children born and residing in the same country and attending the same kindergartens, with all bilingual children speaking the same heritage language (HL-Russian). A total of 120 children (88 bilingual children: 44 with low SES; and 32 monolingual children: 16 with low SES) with typical language development, aged 5; 7-6; 7, were tested in the societal language (SL-Hebrew) on expressive vocabulary and three repetition tasks [forward digit span (FWD), nonword repetition (NWR), and sentence repetition (SRep)], which tap into verbal short-term memory. The results indicated that SES and bilingualism impact different child abilities. Bilingualism is associated with decreased vocabulary size and lower performance on verbal short-term memory tasks with higher linguistic load in the SL-Hebrew. The negative effect of bilingualism on verbal short-term memory disappears once vocabulary is accounted for. SES influences not only linguistic performance, but also verbal short-term memory with lowest linguistic load. The negative effect of SES cannot be solely attributed to lower vocabulary scores, suggesting that an unprivileged background has a negative impact on children's cognitive development beyond a linguistic disadvantage. The results have important clinical implications and call for more research exploring the varied impact of language and life experience on children's linguistic and cognitive skills.

The role of native-language phonology in the auditory word identification and visual word recognition of Russian-English bilinguals.

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Shafiro, Valeriy; Kharkhurin, Anatoliy V

2009-03-01

Does native language phonology influence visual word processing in a second language? This question was investigated in two experiments with two groups of Russian-English bilinguals, differing in their English experience, and a monolingual English control group. Experiment 1 tested visual word recognition following semantic categorization of words containing four phonological vowel contrasts (/i/-/u/,/I/-/A/,/i/-/I/,/epsilon/-/ae/). Experiment 2 assessed auditory identification accuracy of words containing these four contrasts. Both bilingual groups demonstrated reduced accuracy in auditory identification of two English vowel contrasts absent in their native phonology (/i/-/I/,epsilon/-/ae/). For late- bilinguals, auditory identification difficulty was accompanied by poor visual word recognition for one difficult contrast (/i/-/I/). Bilinguals' visual word recognition moderately correlated with their auditory identification of difficult contrasts. These results indicate that native language phonology can play a role in visual processing of second language words. However, this effect may be considerably constrained by orthographic systems of specific languages.

Language shift, bilingualism and the future of Britain's Celtic languages.

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Kandler, Anne; Unger, Roman; Steele, James

2010-12-12

'Language shift' is the process whereby members of a community in which more than one language is spoken abandon their original vernacular language in favour of another. The historical shifts to English by Celtic language speakers of Britain and Ireland are particularly well-studied examples for which good census data exist for the most recent 100-120 years in many areas where Celtic languages were once the prevailing vernaculars. We model the dynamics of language shift as a competition process in which the numbers of speakers of each language (both monolingual and bilingual) vary as a function both of internal recruitment (as the net outcome of birth, death, immigration and emigration rates of native speakers), and of gains and losses owing to language shift. We examine two models: a basic model in which bilingualism is simply the transitional state for households moving between alternative monolingual states, and a diglossia model in which there is an additional demand for the endangered language as the preferred medium of communication in some restricted sociolinguistic domain, superimposed on the basic shift dynamics. Fitting our models to census data, we successfully reproduce the demographic trajectories of both languages over the past century. We estimate the rates of recruitment of new Scottish Gaelic speakers that would be required each year (for instance, through school education) to counteract the 'natural wastage' as households with one or more Gaelic speakers fail to transmit the language to the next generation informally, for different rates of loss during informal intergenerational transmission.

Language shift, bilingualism and the future of Britain's Celtic languages

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Kandler, Anne; Unger, Roman; Steele, James

2010-01-01

‘Language shift’ is the process whereby members of a community in which more than one language is spoken abandon their original vernacular language in favour of another. The historical shifts to English by Celtic language speakers of Britain and Ireland are particularly well-studied examples for which good census data exist for the most recent 100–120 years in many areas where Celtic languages were once the prevailing vernaculars. We model the dynamics of language shift as a competition process in which the numbers of speakers of each language (both monolingual and bilingual) vary as a function both of internal recruitment (as the net outcome of birth, death, immigration and emigration rates of native speakers), and of gains and losses owing to language shift. We examine two models: a basic model in which bilingualism is simply the transitional state for households moving between alternative monolingual states, and a diglossia model in which there is an additional demand for the endangered language as the preferred medium of communication in some restricted sociolinguistic domain, superimposed on the basic shift dynamics. Fitting our models to census data, we successfully reproduce the demographic trajectories of both languages over the past century. We estimate the rates of recruitment of new Scottish Gaelic speakers that would be required each year (for instance, through school education) to counteract the ‘natural wastage’ as households with one or more Gaelic speakers fail to transmit the language to the next generation informally, for different rates of loss during informal intergenerational transmission. PMID:21041210

Multilingual Researchers Internationalizing Monolingual English-Only Education through Post-Monolingual Research Methodologies

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Michael Singh

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The argument advanced in this Special Issue of Education Sciences favors democratizing knowledge production and dissemination across the humanities and social sciences through the mainstreaming of multilingual researchers capabilities for theorizing using their full linguistic repertoire. An important contribution of the papers in this Special Issue is the promise that post-monolingual research methodology holds for collaborative projects among multilingual and monolingual researchers that tap into intercultural divergences across languages. Together these papers give warrant to multilingual researchers, including Higher Degree Researchers develop their capabilities for theorizing using their full linguistic repertoire, an educational innovation that could be of immense benefit to scholars working predominantly monolingual universities. Through their thought provoking papers presented in this Special Issue, these researchers invites those working in the education sciences to seriously consider the potential benefits of multiplying the intellectual resources used for theorizing that is possible through activating, mobilizing and deploying researchers’ multilingual resources in knowledge production and dissemination.

Bilingualism, social cognition and executive functions: A tale of chickens and eggs.

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Cox, Simon R; Bak, Thomas H; Allerhand, Michael; Redmond, Paul; Starr, John M; Deary, Ian J; MacPherson, Sarah E

2016-10-01

The influence of bilingualism on cognitive functioning is currently a topic of intense scientific debate. The strongest evidence for a cognitive benefit of bilingualism has been demonstrated in executive functions. However, the causal direction of the relationship remains unclear: does learning other languages improve executive functions or are people with better executive abilities more likely to become bilingual? To address this, we examined 90 male participants of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936; 26 were bilingual, 64 monolingual. All participants underwent an intelligence test at age 11 years and were assessed on a wide range of executive and social cognition tasks at age 74. The only notable differences between both groups were found for the Simon Effect (which indexes stimulus-response conflict resolution; β=-.518, p=0.025) and a trend effect for the Faux Pas task (a measure of complex theory of mind; ToM, β=0.432, p=0.060). Controlling for the influence of childhood intelligence, parental and own social class significantly attenuated the bilingual advantage on the Faux Pas test (β=0.058, p=0.816), whereas the Simon task advantage remained (β=-.589, p=0.049). We find some weak evidence that the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive functions may be selective and bi-directional. Pre-existing cognitive and social class differences from childhood may influence both ToM ability in older age and the likelihood of learning another language; yet, bilingualism does not appear to independently contribute to Faux Pas score. Conversely, learning a second language is related to better conflict processing, irrespective of initial childhood ability or social class. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

A Comparative Analysis of Methods in the Research of Bilingual Semantic Memory

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Tanja Gulan

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The facts that cognitive functioning of the bilingual speakers is different from that of the monolinguals, and that there is a growing number of bilinguals motivated us to write this paper. Such knowledge sets requirements on researchers to include bilingualism as an important variable in their research, even if the bilingualism is not the primary topic of their interest. However, the main topic of this paper was concerned with the methodology and was pointed toward researchers who are new to this area, as well as to those who are more experienced and wish to improve their research in the field of bilingualism. Taken that there is an increase in a number of published papers dealing with the bilingualism, especially regarding the organization of bilingual mental lexicon, we felt the need to offer a review of the most often used research paradigms and findings from this area of research.  This paper consists of three major parts. In the first part, we briefly defined main concepts in the field of bilingualism research followed by a brief discussion on the most important research questions. In the second part of this paper, we gave a review of the most important methods that are used in order to answer the aforementioned research questions. The methods were evaluated with regard to the scope they could be used to answer research questions. Moreover, this paper offered further recommendations for adequate method selection. And finally, the third part of the paper referred to the key methodological factors which a researcher needs to take into account while conceptualizing research and designing the experiment. Also, we gave some recommendations for how to control or annul the effects of those factors on the dependent variable.

Acquisition of stress and pitch accent in English-Spanish bilingual children

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Kim, Sahyang; Andruski, Jean; Nathan, Geoffrey S.; Casielles, Eugenia; Work, Richard

2005-09-01

Although understanding of prosodic development is considered crucial for understanding of language acquisition in general, few studies have focused on how children develop native-like prosody in their speech production. This study will examine the acquisition of lexical stress and postlexical pitch accent in two English-Spanish bilingual children. Prosodic characteristics of English and Spanish are different in terms of frequent stress patterns (trochaic versus penultimate), phonetic realization of stress (reduced unstressed vowel versus full unstressed vowel), and frequent pitch accent types (H* versus L*+H), among others. Thus, English-Spanish bilingual children's prosodic development may provide evidence of their awareness of language differences relatively early during language development, and illustrate the influence of markedness or input frequency in prosodic acquisition. For this study, recordings from the children's one-word stage are used. Durations of stressed and unstressed syllables and F0 peak alignment are measured, and pitch accent types in different accentual positions (nuclear versus prenuclear) are transcribed using American English ToBI and Spanish ToBI. Prosodic development is compared across ages within each language and across languages at each age. Furthermore, the bilingual children's productions are compared with monolingual English and Spanish parents' productions.

Translational equivalents and composition of the entries in bilingual English-Serbian dictionaries

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Zečević Snežana M.

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is the analysis of translational eqivalents as well as of the composition of the entries in bilingual English-Serbian dictionaries. It is initially assumed that there are different microstructure and macrostructure of the dictionaries of different volume and purpose, likewise the correspondence of translational equivalents of their entries. The analysis conducted for the requirements of this paper included six randomly chosen lexemes of the English language taken from three bilingual dictionaries that were contrasted with their equivalent lexemes presented in the monolingual English dictionary which was later used for checking. The results of the analysis presented less meaning of the lexemes in Colloquial and Universal English-Serbian Dictionary while the utmost variety of semantic dimensions was noted in Encyclopedic English-Serbian Dictionary which by its quality and organization presents an inexhaustible source of information necessary for translating texts from English to Serbian language.

Independent and Combined Effects of Socioeconomic Status (SES) and Bilingualism on Children’s Vocabulary and Verbal Short-Term Memory

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Meir, Natalia; Armon-Lotem, Sharon

2017-01-01

The current study explores the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) and bilingualism on the linguistic skills and verbal short-term memory of preschool children. In previous studies comparing children of low and mid-high SES, the terms “a child with low-SES” and “a child speaking a minority language” are often interchangeable, not enabling differentiated evaluation of these two variables. The present study controls for this confluence by testing children born and residing in the same country and attending the same kindergartens, with all bilingual children speaking the same heritage language (HL-Russian). A total of 120 children (88 bilingual children: 44 with low SES; and 32 monolingual children: 16 with low SES) with typical language development, aged 5; 7–6; 7, were tested in the societal language (SL-Hebrew) on expressive vocabulary and three repetition tasks [forward digit span (FWD), nonword repetition (NWR), and sentence repetition (SRep)], which tap into verbal short-term memory. The results indicated that SES and bilingualism impact different child abilities. Bilingualism is associated with decreased vocabulary size and lower performance on verbal short-term memory tasks with higher linguistic load in the SL-Hebrew. The negative effect of bilingualism on verbal short-term memory disappears once vocabulary is accounted for. SES influences not only linguistic performance, but also verbal short-term memory with lowest linguistic load. The negative effect of SES cannot be solely attributed to lower vocabulary scores, suggesting that an unprivileged background has a negative impact on children’s cognitive development beyond a linguistic disadvantage. The results have important clinical implications and call for more research exploring the varied impact of language and life experience on children’s linguistic and cognitive skills. PMID:28890706

Independent and Combined Effects of Socioeconomic Status (SES and Bilingualism on Children’s Vocabulary and Verbal Short-Term Memory

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Natalia Meir

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The current study explores the influence of socioeconomic status (SES and bilingualism on the linguistic skills and verbal short-term memory of preschool children. In previous studies comparing children of low and mid-high SES, the terms “a child with low-SES” and “a child speaking a minority language” are often interchangeable, not enabling differentiated evaluation of these two variables. The present study controls for this confluence by testing children born and residing in the same country and attending the same kindergartens, with all bilingual children speaking the same heritage language (HL-Russian. A total of 120 children (88 bilingual children: 44 with low SES; and 32 monolingual children: 16 with low SES with typical language development, aged 5; 7–6; 7, were tested in the societal language (SL-Hebrew on expressive vocabulary and three repetition tasks [forward digit span (FWD, nonword repetition (NWR, and sentence repetition (SRep], which tap into verbal short-term memory. The results indicated that SES and bilingualism impact different child abilities. Bilingualism is associated with decreased vocabulary size and lower performance on verbal short-term memory tasks with higher linguistic load in the SL-Hebrew. The negative effect of bilingualism on verbal short-term memory disappears once vocabulary is accounted for. SES influences not only linguistic performance, but also verbal short-term memory with lowest linguistic load. The negative effect of SES cannot be solely attributed to lower vocabulary scores, suggesting that an unprivileged background has a negative impact on children’s cognitive development beyond a linguistic disadvantage. The results have important clinical implications and call for more research exploring the varied impact of language and life experience on children’s linguistic and cognitive skills.

Promotion of Latina Health: Intersectionality of IPV and Risk for HIV/AIDS.

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Rountree, Michele A; Granillo, Teresa; Bagwell-Gray, Meredith

2016-04-01

Latina women in the United States are vulnerable to two intersecting public health concerns: intimate partner violence (IPV) and subsequent risk for HIV/AIDS infection. Examination of the cultural and contextual life factors of this understudied population is crucial to developing culturally relevant HIV interventions. Focus groups with Latinas (15 monolingual; 10 bilingual) who have experienced IPV were conducted. Monolingual and bilingual Latinas endorsed that they were concerned about HIV infection, naming partner infidelity and experiences of forced and coerced sex as primary reasons for their concern. However, monolingual participants had lower levels of HIV knowledge, spending much time discussing myths of HIV infection, whereas bilingual participants spent more time discussing specific prevention techniques, including challenges related to the violence in their relationships. These findings suggest that HIV/AIDS prevention programs for Latinas need to pay close attention to the different historical, contextual, and cultural experiences of this at-risk group of women. © The Author(s) 2015.

Language experience differentiates prefrontal and subcortical activation of the cognitive control network in novel word learning.

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Bradley, Kailyn A L; King, Kelly E; Hernandez, Arturo E

2013-02-15

The purpose of this study was to examine the cognitive control mechanisms in adult English speaking monolinguals compared to early sequential Spanish-English bilinguals during the initial stages of novel word learning. Functional magnetic resonance imaging during a lexico-semantic task after only 2h of exposure to novel German vocabulary flashcards showed that monolinguals activated a broader set of cortical control regions associated with higher-level cognitive processes, including the supplementary motor area (SMA), anterior cingulate (ACC), and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), as well as the caudate, implicated in cognitive control of language. However, bilinguals recruited a more localized subcortical network that included the putamen, associated more with motor control of language. These results suggest that experience managing multiple languages may differentiate the learning strategy and subsequent neural mechanisms of cognitive control used by bilinguals compared to monolinguals in the early stages of novel word learning. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Suggested Curriculum Guidelines for an Effective Bilingual Program. 1972-1973. Destrezas Comunicativas del Idioma Espanol. Spanish Language Skills. Second Grade, Level 2.

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Artesia Public Schools, NM.

This volume contains suggested curriculum guidelines for an effective bilingual program, with specific focus on Spanish language skills for the second grade level. The philosophy of the program views bilingual education as a vehicle and pedagogical tool to be used to better prepare all children to function in society. The point of departure for…

Suggested Curriculum Guidelines for an Effective Bilingual Program, 1972-1973. Destrezas Comunicativas del Idioma Espanol. Spanish Language Skills. Third Grade, Level 3.

Science.gov (United States)

Artesia Public Schools, NM.

This volume contains suggested curriculum guidelines for an effective bilingual program, with specific focus on Spanish language skills for the third grade level. The philosophy of the program views bilingual education as a vehicle and pedagogical tool to be used to better prepare all children to function in society. The point of departure for…

Expressive Vocabulary Development in Children from Bilingual and Monolingual Homes: A Longitudinal Study from Two to Four Years

OpenAIRE

Hoff, Erika; Rumiche, Rosario; Burridge, Andrea; Ribot, Krystal M.; Welsh, Stephanie N.

2014-01-01

The early course of language development among children from bilingual homes varies in ways that are not well described and as a result of influences that are not well understood. Here, we describe trajectories of relative change in expressive vocabulary from 22 to 48 months and vocabulary achievement at 48 months in two groups of children from bilingual homes (children with one and children with two native Spanish-speaking parents [ns = 15 and 11]) and in an SES-equivalent group of children ...

Monolingual Lexicography and Linguistic Variation in Shona

African Journals Online (AJOL)

R.B. Ruthven

when working on monolingual Shona dictionaries. ... ciplines often refer to the term variation. ... phers of monolingual dictionaries encounter in their work. 2. ..... used or the literal sense first and the rarely used or the metaphorical sense(s).

Preschool Predictors of Kindergarten Language Outcomes

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Anne Walk

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the present study is to explore a variety of cognitive and social variables which are most relevant to children’s linguistic success in an educational setting. The study examines kindergarten English language outcomes in classrooms containing monolingual English speaking children and bilingual children who speak English and one other language. Data from the National Center for Early Development and Learning Multistate Study of Pre-Kindergarten (2001-2003 regarding classroom and student characteristics were used for bilingual (N = 120 and monolingual (N = 534 children. Hierarchical regression analysis (Study 1 and path analysis (Study 2 were conducted to determine the cognitive and social variables present in preschool that are most predictive of English skills in kindergarten. The results of the studies demonstrate that social variables were important for both monolingual and bilingual children. Personality variables were more predictive for monolingual children, whereas teacher relationship variables were more important for bilingual children. Simple and routine adult interaction was predictive of English skills in both groups, which may indicate the importance of implicit learning over explicit instruction in early language acquisition. The present studies found different predictors of English language skills for monolingual and bilingual kindergarteners.

Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Fifth Edition. Bilingual Education & Bilingualism

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Baker, Colin

2011-01-01

The fifth edition of this bestselling book provides a comprehensive introduction to bilingualism and bilingual education. In a compact and clear style, its 19 chapters cover all the crucial issues in bilingualism at individual, group and national levels. These include: (1) defining who is bilingual and multilingual; (2) testing language abilities…

Monolingual Lexicography and Linguistic Variation in Shona

African Journals Online (AJOL)

R.B. Ruthven

Abstract: This article focuses on the problems lexicographers of monolingual dictionaries face when dealing with a language characterised by differences associated with geographical variation. The article specifically seeks to explore problems with which Shona lexicographers are confronted when working on monolingual ...

[The psychopathology of bilingual children in a sample of a Community Mental Health Center].

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Papadakis, J; Christodoulou, A; Paleologou, M; Vlassopoulos, M; Lazaratou, H; Anagnostopoulos, Dc; Ploumpidis, D N

2009-07-01

Thoughts and views of one's internal self can be materialized via verbal symbols. Therefore literal people can use these verbal symbols as a means of recording their ideas and experiences in order for them to be passed on and read by others. Evidently the abovementioned mental operations can be reflected in speech and language. It is not yet known whether bilingualism is the sum of two monolingual situations or whether they coexist. The way each language is organized is also not known, neither are the psychological operations that may influence the organization of each language, memory and the relationship with each language. During childhood and adolescence, language is a very important tool via which one communicates, materializes emotional behavior and organizes oneself. Linguistic development and identity formation both follow a parallel and connected line in view of the internal psychological organization. However, in the bilingual person, this relationship is influenced both by the two different cultural stimuli and by the two different linguistic stimuli (i.e. language). However, in the case where children grow up in a bilingual environment there are some particularities and special issues affecting these children. Under such circumstances, the accomplishment of the feeling of coherence and stability of the self becomes an even more difficult task for the child. Nowadays, in Greek reality, the phenomenon of bilingualism tends to be associated with economic immigration. In the sample used, five fourths of children consist of children coming from families of economic immigrants. The composition of the student population in Greece is characterized by linguistic and cultural polymorphism. The presence and existence of a large number of immigrants has changed the setting in Greece in many regions of the country and in turn, the composition of the school population. Any public school allover in Greece consists, among others, of children coming from families of

An investigation into the effectiveness of different dictionary types for intermediate learners of german

OpenAIRE

Wingate, Ursula

2017-01-01

The research reported in this thesis examines two main questions: firstly, which dictionary type, bilingual or monolingual, is most effective for intermediate learners of German for reading comprehension, and secondly, which features make monolingual dictionary definitions effective for these learners. These questions divide the thesis into two parts. The first part compares the effectiveness of the bilingual versus the monolingual dictionary, and the second part compares two different monoli...

Lexical Quality and Executive Control Predict Children's First and Second Language Reading Comprehension

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Raudszus, Henriette; Segers, Eliane; Verhoeven, Ludo

2018-01-01

This study compared how lexical quality (vocabulary and decoding) and executive control (working memory and inhibition) predict reading comprehension directly as well as indirectly, via syntactic integration, in monolingual and bilingual fourth grade children. The participants were 76 monolingual and 102 bilingual children (mean age 10 years,…

Narrative Abilities of Monolingual and Bilingual Children with and without Language Impairment: Implications for Clinical Practice

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Boerma, Tessel; Leseman, Paul; Timmermeister, Mona; Wijnen, Frank; Blom, Elma

2016-01-01

Background: Understanding and expressing a narrative's macro-structure is relatively independent of experience in a specific language. A narrative task is therefore assumed to be a less biased method of language assessment for bilingual children than many other norm-referenced tests and may thus be particularly valuable to identify language…

Exploring the representational basis of response-effect compatibility: Evidence from bilingual verbal response-effect mappings.

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Földes, Noémi; Philipp, Andrea M; Badets, Arnaud; Koch, Iring

2018-05-01

The ideomotor principle states that actions are represented by their anticipated sensory effects. This notion is often tested using the response-effect compatibility (REC) paradigm, where participants' responses are followed either by a compatible or incompatible response effect (e.g., an effect on the right side after a right-hand response is considered R-E compatible due to the spatial overlap, whereas an effect on the left side after the right-hand response is considered incompatible). Shorter reaction times are typically observed in the compatible condition compared to the incompatible condition (i.e., REC effect), suggesting that effect anticipation plays a role in action control. Previous evidence from verbal REC suggested that effect anticipation can be due to conceptual R-E overlap, but there was also phonological overlap (i.e., anticipated reading of a word preceded by the vocal response of saying that very word). To examine the representational basis of REC, in three experiments, we introduced a bilingual R-E mapping to exclude phonological R-E overlap (i.e., in the R-E compatible condition, the translation equivalent of the response word is presented as an effect word in a different language). Our findings show that the REC effect is obtained when presenting the effect word in the same language as the response (i.e., monolingual condition), but the compatibility effect was not found when the semantically same word is presented in a different language, suggesting no conceptually generalized REC in a bilingual setting. (232 words). Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Issues in the Assessment of Literacy-Related Difficulties across Language Backgrounds: A Cross-Linguistic Comparison

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Everatt, John; Smythe, Ian; Ocampo, Dina; Gyarmathy, Eva

2004-01-01

This paper focused on the assessment of phonological skills amongst children with developmental dyslexia. Findings from assessments of English and Hungarian monolingual children with and without literacy deficits and bilingual Filipino children with and without literacy deficits in English indicated that performance on phonological-based tasks…

Neural signatures of second language learning and control.

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Bartolotti, James; Bradley, Kailyn; Hernandez, Arturo E; Marian, Viorica

2017-04-01

Experience with multiple languages has unique effects on cortical structure and information processing. Differences in gray matter density and patterns of cortical activation are observed in lifelong bilinguals compared to monolinguals as a result of their experience managing interference across languages. Monolinguals who acquire a second language later in life begin to encounter the same type of linguistic interference as bilinguals, but with a different pre-existing language architecture. The current study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the beginning stages of second language acquisition and cross-linguistic interference in monolingual adults. We found that after English monolinguals learned novel Spanish vocabulary, English and Spanish auditory words led to distinct patterns of cortical activation, with greater recruitment of posterior parietal regions in response to English words and of left hippocampus in response to Spanish words. In addition, cross-linguistic interference from English influenced processing of newly-learned Spanish words, decreasing hippocampus activity. Results suggest that monolinguals may rely on different memory systems to process a newly-learned second language, and that the second language system is sensitive to native language interference. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

SYNONYMS IN GERMAN ONLINE MONOLINGUAL DICTIONARIES

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Paloma Sánchez Hernández

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This study includes both theoretical and qualitative research and falls within the framework of semantics and lexicography. It is based on work conducted as a part of the COMBIDIGILEX research project: MINECO-FEDER FFI2015-64476-P. The lexicographical description proposed in the COMBIDIGILEX project is based on the foundations of bilingual lexicography from an onomasiological perspective, including paradigmatic information and syntagmatic analysis, which is useful to users creating texts for students at an advanced level. The project analyses verbal lexemes in German and Spanish based on a paradigmatic, syntagmatic, orthographic and morphological perspective (among others. Subsequently, a contrastive analysis was conducted between both languages. In this contribution, we first analyse what paradigmatic information is, including its relevance to a dictionary. Paradigmatic information includes not only synonyms and antonyms but also hyperonyms and hyponyms, which often complete the lexicographical article in a general dictionary. Paradigmatic relations can be observed in light of semantic definitions or may independently become part of the lexical entry. Forming the paradigmatic information of an entry in an independent manner is known as “intentionelle Paradigmatik”, and it constitutes a series of advantages in the dictionary (Hausmann 1991b: 2794. This type of information aids the processes of production and expands vocabulary. Next, we examine the appearance of synonyms in three German online monolingual dictionaries – DWDS, WORTSCHATZLEXIKON and DUDEN ONLINE – from the semantic perspective of cognition verbs. The primary objective of the study is to demonstrate the relevance of this type of information as well as the needs it covers from a user’s perspective. Offering the user a series of lexical elements along with information on semantic relations of a paradigmatic nature thus addresses the issue of users having an array of

The learner as lexicographer: using monolingual and bilingual corpora to deepen vocabulary knowledge

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Kristina HMELJAK SANGAWA

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Learning vocabulary is one of the most challenging tasks faced by learners with a non-kanji background when learning Japanese as a foreign language. However, learners are often not aware of the range of different aspects of word knowledge they need in order to successfully use Japanese. This includes not only the spoken and written form of a word and its meaning, but also morphological, grammatical, collocational, connotative and pragmatic knowledge as well as knowledge of social constraints to be observed. In this article, we present some background data on the use of dictionaries among students of Japanese at the University of Ljubljana, a selection of resources and a series of exercises developed with the following aims: a to foster greater awareness of the different aspects of Japanese vocabulary, both from a monolingual and a contrastive perspective, b to learn about tools and methods that can be applied in different contexts of language learning and language use, and c to develop strategies for learning new vocabulary, reinforcing knowledge about known vocabulary, and effectively using this knowledge in receptive and productive language tasks.

Corima: A Bilingual Experiment in the Tarahumara Region in the State of Chihuahua, Mexico. How Does It Measure against Transitional Bilingual Programs in the United States?

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Nunez, Mario A.

This report explores two bilingual educational approaches currently in use in Mexico and the United States. The study pursues a limited comparison between two modalities of bilingual instruction, as observed and reported in the consulted literature. The U.S. model featured is known as the two-way bilingual model, an additive approach to…

A comparison of proficiency levels in 4-year-old monolingual and trilingual speakers of Afrikaans, isiXhosa and South African English across SES boundaries, using LITMUS-CLT.

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Perold Potgieter, Anneke; Southwood, Frenette

2016-01-01

This study investigated how trilinguals fare on the cross-linguistic lexical tasks (CLT)-Afrikaans, -isiXhosa and -South African English (SAE) (cf. Haman et al., 2015) compared to monolingual controls, and whether the CLT-Afrikaans renders comparable results across socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. The LITMUS-CLTs were administered to 41 low SES 4-year-olds (11 trilinguals; 10 monolingual speakers of Afrikaans, isiXhosa and SAE) and the LITMUS-CLT-Afrikaans to 11 mid-SES 4-year-old monolinguals. Results (a) indicate that trilinguals' proficiency in their exposure-dominant language did not differ significantly from monolinguals' proficiency, but their proficiency in their additional two languages was significantly lower than monolinguals' proficiency; (b) reflect the extent, but not current amount, of exposure trilinguals had had over time to each of their languages; and (c) show that low and mid-SES monolinguals differed significantly on noun-related, but not verb-related, CLT measures. Possible reasons for and the clinical implications of these results are discussed.

Use of Language Resources by Teachers at Bilingual Schools in Prekmurje

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Iztok Kosem

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The paper presents the results of a survey on the use of different language resources (dictionaries, orthographies, thesauri, etc. by teachers at bilingual schools in Prekmurje. The survey was conducted as part of the project focussed on developing a concept of a new comprehensive Slovenian-Hungarian dictionary. The dictionary aims to meet the needs of a wider community, as well as needs specific to bilingual education. The main aim of the survey was thus to establish how well teachers know language resources available to them, how often they use them during their work, and which types of dictionary information do they find useful. Furthermore, the survey also tried to find out which communication activities in the Hungarian language pose most problems to teachers. The analysis of the survey has shown that majority of teachers know available language resources, and also used them at their work. Due to various problems with communication in Hungarian, teachers need to use a wide variety of language resources, both bilingual and monolingual. The fact that many of the existing resources, especially bilingual ones, are not available in digital form, is definitely a major obstacle. Teachers consider all types of dictionary information to be important/useful, but especially translation equivalents, indication of the correct spelling, explanations of word meanings, and dictionary examples. Importantly, the types of information not available in existing resources, such as audio pronunciation and whole-sentence examples, are considered to be very useful. The survey findings will be considered in the preparation of a new comprehensive Slovenian-Hungarian dictionary, from headword selection to selecting the parts of dictionary microstructure. However, even more important is the fact that the findings have made us consider a more substantial inclusion of contents relevant for language production, gradual publication of the dictionary, prioritizing the

Proceedings of the Pacific Rim International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (11th) held in Daegu, Korea, August/September 2010. PRICAI 2010: Trends in Artificial Intelligence

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-01

such as paraphrases [6], bilingual or multi-lingual dictionaries [7,8]. The motivation of using bilingual corpus rather than monolingual corpus for...are represented by the monolingual retrieval Mono, dictionary - based translation DT, the simple corpus-based translation model SCT, the bidirectional...time-synchronous finite-state transducer f FST) decoder with Gaussian selection for speedy likelihood calculation. Dictionary . Our phone set contains

Développement phonético-phonologique en fulfulde et bambara d’enfants monolingues et bilingues : étude du babillage et des premiers mots

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cissé, Ibrahima Abdoul Hayou

2014-01-01

This descriptive and analytical study is based on two corpora of audiovisual data of monolingual and multilingual children’s babbling and first words gathered in Mali during a period of nearly a year. It is concerned with fundamental discussions about the development and acquisition of language such

Structural brain differences between monolingual and multilingual patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer disease: Evidence for cognitive reserve.

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Duncan, Hilary D; Nikelski, Jim; Pilon, Randi; Steffener, Jason; Chertkow, Howard; Phillips, Natalie A

2018-01-31

Two independent lines of research provide evidence that speaking more than one language may 1) contribute to increased grey matter in healthy younger and older adults and 2) delay cognitive symptoms in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer disease (AD). We examined cortical thickness and tissue density in monolingual and multilingual MCI and AD patients matched (within Diagnosis Groups) on demographic and cognitive variables. In medial temporal disease-related (DR) areas, we found higher tissue density in multilingual MCIs versus monolingual MCIs, but similar or lower tissue density in multilingual AD versus monolingual AD, a pattern consistent with cognitive reserve in AD. In areas related to language and cognitive control (LCC), both multilingual MCI and AD patients had thicker cortex than the monolinguals. Results were largely replicated in our native-born Canadian MCI participants, ruling out immigration as a potential confound. Finally, multilingual patients showed a correlation between cortical thickness in LCC regions and performance on episodic memory tasks. Given that multilinguals and monolinguals were matched on memory functioning, this suggests that increased gray matter in these regions may provide support to memory functioning. Our results suggest that being multilingual may contribute to increased gray matter in LCC areas and may also delay the cognitive effects of disease-related atrophy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effects of bilingual language proficiency on recall accuracy and semantic clustering in free recall output: evidence for shared semantic associations across languages.

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Francis, Wendy S; Taylor, Randolph S; Gutiérrez, Marisela; Liaño, Mary K; Manzanera, Diana G; Penalver, Renee M

2018-05-19

Two experiments investigated how well bilinguals utilise long-standing semantic associations to encode and retrieve semantic clusters in verbal episodic memory. In Experiment 1, Spanish-English bilinguals (N = 128) studied and recalled word and picture sets. Word recall was equivalent in L1 and L2, picture recall was better in L1 than in L2, and the picture superiority effect was stronger in L1 than in L2. Semantic clustering in word and picture recall was equivalent in L1 and L2. In Experiment 2, Spanish-English bilinguals (N = 128) and English-speaking monolinguals (N = 128) studied and recalled word sequences that contained semantically related pairs. Data were analyzed using a multinomial processing tree approach, the pair-clustering model. Cluster formation was more likely for semantically organised than for randomly ordered word sequences. Probabilities of cluster formation, cluster retrieval, and retrieval of unclustered items did not differ across languages or language groups. Language proficiency has little if any impact on the utilisation of long-standing semantic associations, which are language-general.

Speaking Two Languages Enhances an Auditory but Not a Visual Neural Marker of Cognitive Inhibition

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Mercedes Fernandez

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the present study was to replicate and extend our original findings of enhanced neural inhibitory control in bilinguals. We compared English monolinguals to Spanish/English bilinguals on a non-linguistic, auditory Go/NoGo task while recording event-related brain potentials. New to this study was the visual Go/NoGo task, which we included to investigate whether enhanced neural inhibition in bilinguals extends from the auditory to the visual modality. Results confirmed our original findings and revealed greater inhibition in bilinguals compared to monolinguals. As predicted, compared to monolinguals, bilinguals showed increased N2 amplitude during the auditory NoGo trials, which required inhibitory control, but no differences during the Go trials, which required a behavioral response and no inhibition. Interestingly, during the visual Go/NoGo task, event related brain potentials did not distinguish the two groups, and behavioral responses were similar between the groups regardless of task modality. Thus, only auditory trials that required inhibitory control revealed between-group differences indicative of greater neural inhibition in bilinguals. These results show that experience-dependent neural changes associated with bilingualism are specific to the auditory modality and that the N2 event-related brain potential is a sensitive marker of this plasticity.

Delaying the onset of Alzheimer disease

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Craik, Fergus I.M.; Bialystok, Ellen; Freedman, Morris

2010-01-01

Objectives: There is strong epidemiologic evidence to suggest that older adults who maintain an active lifestyle in terms of social, mental, and physical engagement are protected to some degree against the onset of dementia. Such factors are said to contribute to cognitive reserve, which acts to compensate for the accumulation of amyloid and other brain pathologies. We present evidence that lifelong bilingualism is a further factor contributing to cognitive reserve. Methods: Data were collected from 211 consecutive patients diagnosed with probable Alzheimer disease (AD). Patients' age at onset of cognitive impairment was recorded, as was information on occupational history, education, and language history, including fluency in English and any other languages. Following this procedure, 102 patients were classified as bilingual and 109 as monolingual. Results: We found that the bilingual patients had been diagnosed 4.3 years later and had reported the onset of symptoms 5.1 years later than the monolingual patients. The groups were equivalent on measures of cognitive and occupational level, there was no apparent effect of immigration status, and the monolingual patients had received more formal education. There were no gender differences. Conclusions: The present data confirm results from an earlier study, and thus we conclude that lifelong bilingualism confers protection against the onset of AD. The effect does not appear to be attributable to such possible confounding factors as education, occupational status, or immigration. Bilingualism thus appears to contribute to cognitive reserve, which acts to compensate for the effects of accumulated neuropathology. GLOSSARY AD = Alzheimer disease; MMSE = Mini-Mental State Examination. PMID:21060095

Swahili Learners' Views on the Need for a Monolingual Swahili ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

monolingual Swahili learners' dictionary specifically designed for them. The paper discusses the need for a monolingual Swahili pedagogical dictionary which helps the foreigner learn the language. A pedagogical dictionary is oriented towards encoding Swahili, hence it is logical that some Swahili grammatical aspects are ...

The perception and expression of verb morphology in bilinguals with specific language impairment

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Hourieh Ahadi

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Background and Aim: Most of the researches are about bilingual children with specific language impairment and importance of it in recognition and treatment. This study aimed to assess verb morphology in bilinguals with specific language impairment (SLI and compare them with normal bilinguals.Methods: Six bilingual (Azeri and Persian children with specific language impairment at the age of 7-8 years were collected from clinics of Tehran, Iran. They were evaluated about verb morphology using narrative speech and specific language impairment test and then, compared with six age-matched and six other language-matched children as control group. Children with specific language impairment were diagnosed by exhibiting a significant delay (more than one year in language that can not be explained by intelligence deficits, hearing loss or visual impairment. We used Man-Whitney test for comparing the groups.Results: Bilingual children with specific language impairment had delay in comparison with their age-matched group in subject-verb agreement (p=0.020 and articulating tense morphemes (p=0.019. They also had meaningful delay in using proper tense of verbs (past, present, and future in comparison with language-matched control group (p=0.029.Conclusion: Comparison of typical development of bilingual children and bilinguals with specific language impairment shows that verb morphology is a good clinical marker for diagnosing and treatment of these children.

Cognitive and electrophysiological correlates of the bilingual Stroop effect

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Lavelda J. Naylor

2012-04-01

Full Text Available The bilingual color-word Stroop effect is commonly half the magnitude when naming and reading languages are different than the same. This between-within language Stroop difference (BWLS is likened to a response set effect, with greater response conflict for response relevant than irrelevant words. The BWLS was analyzed in 2 experiments. Color congruent and incongruent words (Exp 1 appeared in the naming language or not (single, or randomly in both languages (mixed. The BWLS effect was observed in both balanced and unbalanced bilinguals. However, color congruent trials during mixed-language blocks led to slower times between than within languages, indicating that response irrelevant stimuli interfered with processing. To investigate the neural timing of the BWLS effect (Exp 2, event related potentials were recorded while balanced bilinguals named silently. Replicating monolingual findings, an N450 effect was observed with larger negative amplitude for color incongruent than congruent trials (350-550 ms post stimulus onset. This effect was equivalent within and between languages, indicating that color words from both languages created response conflict, contrary to a response set effect. A sustained negativity followed with larger amplitude for color incongruent than congruent trials, resolving earlier for between than within language Stroop. The effect shared timing (550-700 ms, but not morphology or distribution with a previously reported sustained potential. Finally, a larger early negativity (200-350 ms was observed for between than within languages independent of color congruence. This no-go N2-like negativity may reflect processes of inhibitory control that facilitate the resolution of conflict at the sustained negativity, while the N450 reflects parallel processing of distracter words, independent of response set. In sum, the BWLS reflects brain activity over time with contributions from language and color conflict at different points.

Swahili learners' views on the need for a monolingual Swahili ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Swahili is a second language to many East and Central Africans, and a foreign language to its learners from Europe, America, Asia and other parts of Africa as well. Yet it lacks a monolingual Swahili learners' dictionary specifically designed for them. The paper discusses the need for a monolingual Swahili pedagogical ...

Cross-Linguistic Interactions Influence Reading Development in Bilinguals: A Comparison between Early Balanced French-Basque and Spanish-Basque Bilingual Children

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Lallier, Marie; Acha, Joana; Carreiras, Manuel

2016-01-01

This study investigates whether orthographic consistency and transparency of languages have an impact on the development of reading strategies and reading sub-skills (i.e. phonemic awareness and visual attention span) in bilingual children. We evaluated 21 French (opaque)-Basque (transparent) bilingual children and 21 Spanish (transparent)-Basque…

Integrated, Not Isolated: Defining Typological Proximity in an Integrated Multilingual Architecture

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Michael T. Putnam

2018-01-01

Full Text Available On the surface, bi- and multilingualism would seem to be an ideal context for exploring questions of typological proximity. The obvious intuition is that the more closely related two languages are, the easier it should be to implement the two languages in one mind. This is the starting point adopted here, but we immediately run into the difficulty that the overwhelming majority of cognitive, computational, and linguistic research on bi- and multilingualism exhibits a monolingual bias (i.e., where monolingual grammars are used as the standard of comparison for outputs from bilingual grammars. The primary questions so far have focused on how bilinguals balance and switch between their two languages, but our perspective on typology leads us to consider the nature of bi- and multi-lingual systems as a whole. Following an initial proposal from Hsin (2014, we conjecture that bilingual grammars are neither isolated, nor (completely conjoined with one another in the bilingual mind, but rather exist as integrated source grammars that are further mitigated by a common, combined grammar (Cook, 2016; Goldrick et al., 2016a,b; Putnam and Klosinski, 2017. Here we conceive such a combined grammar in a parallel, distributed, and gradient architecture implemented in a shared vector-space model that employs compression through routinization and dimensionality reduction. We discuss the emergence of such representations and their function in the minds of bilinguals. This architecture aims to be consistent with empirical results on bilingual cognition and memory representations in computational cognitive architectures.

Learning foreign labels from a foreign speaker: the role of (limited) exposure to a second language.

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Akhtar, Nameera; Menjivar, Jennifer; Hoicka, Elena; Sabbagh, Mark A

2012-11-01

Three- and four-year-olds (N = 144) were introduced to novel labels by an English speaker and a foreign speaker (of Nordish, a made-up language), and were asked to endorse one of the speaker's labels. Monolingual English-speaking children were compared to bilingual children and English-speaking children who were regularly exposed to a language other than English. All children tended to endorse the English speaker's labels when asked 'What do you call this?', but when asked 'What do you call this in Nordish?', children with exposure to a second language were more likely to endorse the foreign label than monolingual and bilingual children. The findings suggest that, at this age, exposure to, but not necessarily immersion in, more than one language may promote the ability to learn foreign words from a foreign speaker.

Bilingual Language Switching: Production vs. Recognition

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Mosca, Michela; de Bot, Kees

2017-01-01

This study aims at assessing how bilinguals select words in the appropriate language in production and recognition while minimizing interference from the non-appropriate language. Two prominent models are considered which assume that when one language is in use, the other is suppressed. The Inhibitory Control (IC) model suggests that, in both production and recognition, the amount of inhibition on the non-target language is greater for the stronger compared to the weaker language. In contrast, the Bilingual Interactive Activation (BIA) model proposes that, in language recognition, the amount of inhibition on the weaker language is stronger than otherwise. To investigate whether bilingual language production and recognition can be accounted for by a single model of bilingual processing, we tested a group of native speakers of Dutch (L1), advanced speakers of English (L2) in a bilingual recognition and production task. Specifically, language switching costs were measured while participants performed a lexical decision (recognition) and a picture naming (production) task involving language switching. Results suggest that while in language recognition the amount of inhibition applied to the non-appropriate language increases along with its dominance as predicted by the IC model, in production the amount of inhibition applied to the non-relevant language is not related to language dominance, but rather it may be modulated by speakers' unconscious strategies to foster the weaker language. This difference indicates that bilingual language recognition and production might rely on different processing mechanisms and cannot be accounted within one of the existing models of bilingual language processing. PMID:28638361

Natural Science and Technology Terminology in the Sesotho sa Leboa Monolingual Dictionary

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W.M. Mojapelo

2011-10-01

Full Text Available

Abstract: The main purpose of this article is to make a comparative analysis of the structural and the lexical differences between coinage and transliteration, as methods for the acquisition of foreign natural sci-ence and technology lexical items, which are meant for inclusion in the Sesotho sa Leboa comprehensive monolingual dictionary, Pukuntšutlhaloši ya Sesotho sa Leboa. With the exception of the multilingual glossaries ('dictionaries' as they are called, which are compiled by the National Language Service of the Department of Arts and Culture, the Sesotho sa Leboa National Lexicography Unit does not at present have any monolin-gual dictionary specializing in specific subjects like natural science and technology. As a start, the Lexicogra-phy Unit decided to include this specialized terminology in the second edition of its comprehensive monolin-gual dictionary. The main purpose for lemmatizing the natural science and technology terminology is to give these lexical items comprehensive definitions in Sesotho sa Leboa, instead of 'a one word translation defini-tion' as is the case in the bilingual and multilingual dictionaries.

Keywords: TRANSLITERATION, COINAGE, COINED LEXICAL ITEM, LOAN WORD, ADOPTIVE, FOREIGN WORD, LEXICOGRAPHY, SOTHOIZED WORD, INDIGENOUS WORD, NATURAL SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, COMPOUND WORD, AMBIGUITY

Opsomming: Natuurwetenskaplike en tegnologiese terminologie in die Sesotho sa Leboa eentalige woordeboek. Die hoofdoel van hierdie artikel is om 'n ver-gelykende ontleding te maak van die strukturele en die leksikale verskille tussen nuutskepping en transliterasie as metodes vir die verwerwing van vreemde natuurwetenskaplike en tegnologiese leksikale items wat bedoel is vir insluiting in die Sesotho sa Leboa omvattende eentalige woorde-boek Pukuntšutlhaloši ya Sesotho sa Leboa. Met die uitsondering van die meertalige woordelyste ("woordeboeke" soos hulle genoem word wat deur die Nasionale Taaldiens van die

Does Bilingualism Delay the Development of Dementia?

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Amy L Atkinson

2016-08-01

Full Text Available It has been suggested that bilingualism (where individuals speak two languages may delay the development of dementia. However, much of the research is inconclusive. Some researchers have reported that bilingualism delays the onset and diagnosis of dementia, whilst other studies have found weak or even detrimental effects. This paper reviews a series of nine empirical studies, published up until March 2016, which investigated whether bilingualism significantly delays the onset of dementia. The article also explores whether the inconsistent findings can be attributed to differences in study designs or the definitions of bilingualism used between studies. Based on current evidence, it appears that lifelong bilingualism, where individuals frequently use both languages, may be protective against dementia. However, becoming bilingual in adulthood or using the second language infrequently is unlikely to substantially delay onset of the disease.

Validating the psycholinguistic aspects of LITMUS-CLT: Evidence from Polish and Norwegian.

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Hansen, Pernille; Simonsen, Hanne Gram; Łuniewska, Magdalena; Haman, Ewa

2017-01-01

The novel assessment tool Cross-Linguistic Lexical Tasks (LITMUS-CLT) aims for comparable cross-linguistic assessment of multilingual children's lexical skills by basing each language version on two language-specific variables: age of acquisition (AoA) and complexity index (CI), a novel measure related to phonology, morphology, exposure and etymology. This article investigates the validity of this methodology, asking whether the underlying properties are robust predictors of children's performance. The Polish and Norwegian CLTs were used to assess 32 bilingual Polish-Norwegian, 34 monolingual Norwegian and 36 monolingual Polish children. The effects of AoA and CI were contrasted with frequency in child directed speech (CDS) and imageability, two known predictors of lexical development. AoA was a reliable predictor of performance within all parts of CLT, in contrast to CI. Apart from AoA, only exposure and CDS frequency had a significant effect within both monolinguals and bilinguals. These results indicate that CLT assesses lexical skills in a cross-linguistically comparable manner, but suggest a revision of the CI measure.

Science education in a bilingual class: problematising a translational practice

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Ünsal, Zeynep; Jakobson, Britt; Molander, Bengt-Olov; Wickman, Per-Olof

2016-10-01

In this article we examine how bilingual students construe relations between everyday language and the language of science. Studies concerning bilingual students language use in science class have mainly been conducted in settings where both the teacher and the students speak the same minority language. In this study data was collected in a class consisting of students aged 13-14. All students had Turkish as their minority language, whereas the teacher's minority language was Bosnian. The class was observed when they were working with acids and bases. In addition, the students were interviewed in groups. They were asked about how they use their languages during science lessons and then asked to describe and explain scientific phenomena and processes that had been a part of the observed lessons. For the analysis, practical epistemology analysis and the theory of translanguaging were used. The results show how the students' everyday language repertoire may limit their possibilities to make meaning of science. In particular, the teacher's practice of facilitating and supporting students' understanding of science content by relating it to concrete examples took another direction since the everyday words he used were not a part of the students' language repertoire. The study also shows how the students used their minority language as a resource to translate words from Swedish to Turkish in order to proceed with the science activities. However, translating scientific concepts was problematic and led to the students' descriptions of the concepts not being in line with how they are viewed in science. Finally, the study also demonstrates how monolingual exams may limit bilingual students' achievements in science. The study contributes by presenting and discussing circumstances that need to be taken into consideration when planning and conducting science lessons in classes where the teacher and the student do not share the same minority language.

Does Bilingualism Delay the Development of Dementia?

OpenAIRE

Amy L Atkinson

2016-01-01

It has been suggested that bilingualism (where individuals speak two languages) may delay the development of dementia. However, much of the research is inconclusive. Some researchers have reported that bilingualism delays the onset and diagnosis of dementia, whilst other studies have found weak or even detrimental effects. This paper reviews a series of nine empirical studies, published up until March 2016, which investigated whether bilingualism significantly delays the onset of dementia. Th...

Reciprocal Bilingualism as a Challenge and Opportunity: The Case of Cyprus

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Özerk, Kamil Z.

2001-07-01

Cyprus, the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, has never been monolingual. For over four hundred years the two main languages of the island have been Turkish and Greek. Turkish-Cypriots and Greek-Cypriots met each other in the streets, but seldom in the schools. The Greek language had a place in the Turkish-Cypriots' educational system during some periods in history, but the Greek-Cypriots have never given the Turkish language a place in their school system. Until recent years, the majority of Turkish-Cypriots have had communicative competence in Greek. In contrast, there have been very few Greek-Cypriots who had communicative competence in Turkish. The history of Cyprus clearly shows that lack of policies for bilingualism on the island has weakened the good relationship between the two folk groups. The fact that the learning of the global language English is happening to the detriment of the learning of Greek among Turkish-Cypriots makes the integration of the two main cultural groups of Cypriots more difficult. Using the island's historical background, especially the intercommunal dispute during the last four decades as a basis, the author argues for a closer relationship between the economic, social, cultural, including bilingual and educational policy of the two parts of Cyprus. He sees this as the best peace policy for the island.

Children’s Third-Party Understanding of Communicative Interactions in a Foreign Language

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Narges Afshordi

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Two studies explored young children’s understanding of the role of shared language in communication by investigating how monolingual English-speaking children interact with an English speaker, a Spanish speaker, and a bilingual experimenter who spoke both English and Spanish. When the bilingual experimenter spoke in Spanish or English to request objects, four-year-old children, but not three-year-olds, used her language choice to determine whom she addressed (e.g. requests in Spanish were directed to the Spanish speaker. Importantly, children used this cue – language choice – only in a communicative context. The findings suggest that by four years, monolingual children recognize that speaking the same language enables successful communication, even when that language is unfamiliar to them. Three-year-old children’s failure to make this distinction suggests that this capacity likely undergoes significant development in early childhood, although other capacities might also be at play.

Post-Monolingual Research Methodology: Multilingual Researchers Democratizing Theorizing and Doctoral Education

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Michael Singh

2017-02-01

Full Text Available This paper reports on the ground-breaking research in the study of languages in doctoral education. It argues for democratizing the production and dissemination of original contributions to knowledge through activating and mobilizing multilingual Higher Degree Researchers’ (HDRs capabilities for theorizing through them using their full linguistic repertoire. This paper contributes to this study’s development of post-monolingual research methodology which provides a theoretic-pedagogical framework for multilingual HDRs (a to use their full linguistic repertoire in their research; (b to develop their capabilities for theorizing and (c to construct potentially valuable theoretical tools using metaphors, images, concepts and modes of critique. This paper is based on a longitudinal program of collaborative research whereby monolingual Anglophone and multilingual HDRs jointly developed their capabilities for theorizing through producing Anglo-Chinese analytical tools, and the associated pedagogies for using their languages in doctoral research. This longitudinal research program has been undertaken in the field of doctoral education to further a defining feature of democracy, namely linguistic diversity. This research has been conducted with the aims of promoting the multilingualism of Australian universities and activating linguistic communities of scholars to use their full linguistic repertoire in their research. The main finding arising from this program of research has been the development of post-monolingual research methodology which (a uses the divergences within and between languages to undertake theorizing and (b in co-existence with the tensions posed by monolingualism, especially the insistence on using extant theories available in only one language. Doctoral pedagogies of intellectual/racial equality provide multilingual HDRs with insights into the debates about the geopolitics governing the use of languages in the production and

Comparison Between Switching and Creativity Among Bilingual and Monolingual Children

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Rahim Yousefi

2017-06-01

Conclusion In accordance with the results of the study, it can be concluded that learning English through educational institutions, and at an advanced level, significantly increases the switching capability in children as well as their scores across the three components of creativity (fluency, flexibility, and elaboration. Therefore, the role of second language acquisition should be highlighted because of its contribution to children's creativity and ability to switch. In general, better performances of children are attributed to the capability of switching languages, specific cognitive mechanisms used in the two systems of languages, their familiarity with a new culture and customs while learning a new language, the intensive training sessions as well as the special atmosphere prevailing in the classes.

Exploring problem solving strategies on multiple-choice science items: Comparing native Spanish-speaking English Language Learners and mainstream monolinguals

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Kachchaf, Rachel Rae

The purpose of this study was to compare how English language learners (ELLs) and monolingual English speakers solved multiple-choice items administered with and without a new form of testing accommodation---vignette illustration (VI). By incorporating theories from second language acquisition, bilingualism, and sociolinguistics, this study was able to gain more accurate and comprehensive input into the ways students interacted with items. This mixed methods study used verbal protocols to elicit the thinking processes of thirty-six native Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs), and 36 native-English speaking non-ELLs when solving multiple-choice science items. Results from both qualitative and quantitative analyses show that ELLs used a wider variety of actions oriented to making sense of the items than non-ELLs. In contrast, non-ELLs used more problem solving strategies than ELLs. There were no statistically significant differences in student performance based on the interaction of presence of illustration and linguistic status or the main effect of presence of illustration. However, there were significant differences based on the main effect of linguistic status. An interaction between the characteristics of the students, the items, and the illustrations indicates considerable heterogeneity in the ways in which students from both linguistic groups think about and respond to science test items. The results of this study speak to the need for more research involving ELLs in the process of test development to create test items that do not require ELLs to carry out significantly more actions to make sense of the item than monolingual students.

Lexical quality and executive control predict children's first and second language reading comprehension

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Raudszus, H.; Segers, P.C.J.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.

2018-01-01

This study compared how lexical quality (vocabulary and decoding) and executive control (working memory and inhibition) predict reading comprehension directly as well as indirectly, via syntactic integration, in monolingual and bilingual fourth grade children. The participants were 76 monolingual

Repetition and masked form priming within and between languages using word and nonword neighbors

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijkstra, A.F.J.; Hilberink-Schulpen, B.J.H.; Heuven, W.J.B. van

2010-01-01

If access to the bilingual lexicon takes place in a language independent way, monolingual repetition and masked form, priming accounts should be directly applicable to bilinguals. We tested such an account (Grainger and Jacobs, 1999) and extended it to explain bilingual ejects from L2 to L1. Dutch

Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Sixth Edition

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Baker, Colin; Wright, Wayne E.

2017-01-01

The sixth edition of this bestselling textbook has been substantially revised and updated to provide a comprehensive introduction to bilingualism and bilingual education in the 21st century. Written in a compact and clear style, the book covers all the crucial issues in bilingualism at individual, group and societal levels. Updates to the new…

Effects of Marathi-Hindi Bilingualism on Neuropsychological Performance

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Kamat, Rujvi; Ghate, Manisha; Gollan, Tamar H.; Meyer, Rachel; Vaida, Florin; Heaton, Robert K.; Letendre, Scott; Franklin, Donald; Alexander, Terry; Grant, Igor; Mehendale, Sanjay; Marcotte, Thomas D.

2013-01-01

The present study aimed to examine if bilingualism affects executive functions and verbal fluency in Marathi and Hindi, two major languages in India, with a considerable cognate (e.g., activity is actividad in Spanish) overlap. A total of 174 native Marathi speakers from Pune, India, with varying levels of Hindi proficiency were administered tests of executive functioning and verbal performance in Marathi. A bilingualism index was generated using self-reported Hindi and Marathi proficiency. After controlling for demographic variables, the association between bilingualism and cognitive performance was examined. Degree of bilingualism predicted better performance on the switching (Color Trails-2) and inhibition (Stroop Color-Word) components of executive functioning; but not for the abstraction component (Halstead Category Test). In the verbal domain, bilingualism was more closely associated with noun generation (where the languages share many cognates) than verb generation (which are more disparate across these languages), as predicted. However, contrary to our hypothesis that the bilingualism “disadvantage” would be attenuated on noun generation, bilingualism was associated with an advantage on these measures. These findings suggest distinct patterns of bilingualism effects on cognition for this previously unexamined language pair, and that the rate of cognates may modulate the association between bilingualism and verbal performance on neuropsychological tests. PMID:22206622

Effects of Marathi-Hindi bilingualism on neuropsychological performance.

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Kamat, Rujvi; Ghate, Manisha; Gollan, Tamar H; Meyer, Rachel; Vaida, Florin; Heaton, Robert K; Letendre, Scott; Franklin, Donald; Alexander, Terry; Grant, Igor; Mehendale, Sanjay; Marcotte, Thomas D

2012-03-01

The present study aimed to examine if bilingualism affects executive functions and verbal fluency in Marathi and Hindi, two major languages in India, with a considerable cognate (e.g., activity is actividad in Spanish) overlap. A total of 174 native Marathi speakers from Pune, India, with varying levels of Hindi proficiency were administered tests of executive functioning and verbal performance in Marathi. A bilingualism index was generated using self-reported Hindi and Marathi proficiency. After controlling for demographic variables, the association between bilingualism and cognitive performance was examined. Degree of bilingualism predicted better performance on the switching (Color Trails-2) and inhibition (Stroop Color-Word) components of executive functioning; but not for the abstraction component (Halstead Category Test). In the verbal domain, bilingualism was more closely associated with noun generation (where the languages share many cognates) than verb generation (which are more disparate across these languages), as predicted. However, contrary to our hypothesis that the bilingualism "disadvantage" would be attenuated on noun generation, bilingualism was associated with an advantage on these measures. These findings suggest distinct patterns of bilingualism effects on cognition for this previously unexamined language pair, and that the rate of cognates may modulate the association between bilingualism and verbal performance on neuropsychological tests.

Language preference and development of dementia among bilingual individuals.

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McMurtray, Aaron; Saito, Erin; Nakamoto, Beau

2009-10-01

In bilingual individuals, regression to a primary language may be associated with development of cognitive impairment and increased risk for development of dementia. This report describes two bilingual patients who presented with early symptoms of dementia after regression to their primary language. The results of this study may help clinicians identify aging bilingual patients who are beginning to develop cognitive impairment or dementia and suggest that further studies on the long term cognitive effects of bilingualism and interactions with the aging process are indicated.

Do bilinguals outperform monolinguals?

OpenAIRE

Sejdi Sejdiu

2016-01-01

The relationship between second dialect acquisition and the psychological capacity of the learner is still a divisive topic that generates a lot of debate. A few researchers contend that the acquisition of the second dialect tends to improve the cognitive abilities in various individuals, but at the same time it could hinder the same abilities in other people. Currently, immersion is a common occurrence in some countries. In the recent past, it has significantly increased in its popularity, w...

Bilingualised Dictionaries: How Learners Really Use Them.

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Laufer, Batia; Kimmel, Michal

1997-01-01

Seventy native Hebrew-speaking English-as-a-Second-Language students participated in a study that investigated what part of an entry second-language learners read when they look up an unfamiliar word in a bilingualised dictionary: the monolingual, the bilingual, or both. Results suggest the bilingualised dictionary is very effective because it is…

Stuttering Prevalence among Kurdish-Farsi Students Effects of the Two Languages Similarities

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Hiwa Mohamadi

2008-09-01

Full Text Available Objectives: It has been noted that stuttering is more prevalent in bilinguals than in monolinguals. The similarities of the languages involved have been mentioned to justify the difference between stuttering prevalence among bilingual and monolingual speakers. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of language similarities on prevalence of stuttering among Kurdish-Farsi bilingual students. Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive analytic study, we examined all of Javanroud’s schools’ bilingual students. We used teacher referral method for the primary screening of speech disorders. Essential information about speech disorders, specifically stuttering, had been given to teachers before this primary step. The bilingual researcher then diagnosed stuttering students based on DSM-IV criteria through personal interview, text reading, and spontaneous speech in Kurdish and Farsi. Results: Among 11425 bilingual students of Javanroud’s schools, 129 students were identified as stutterers. These findings indicated that overall prevalence of stuttering in this population is 1.13%. Among elementary, guidance and high school students the prevalence of stuttering was 2.06%, 0.87% and 0.5% respectively. Prevalence of stuttering among boys was 1.35% and 0.88% among girls. An overall male/female ratio was 1.5/1. Prevalence of stuttering in elementary, guidance and high school differed significantly (P=0.000. Prevalence of stuttering in males was significantly higher than females (P=0.034. Discussion: Prevalence of stuttering among Javanroud’s bilingual students was higher than the universal accepted prevalence in monolinguals (1% but lower than other studies in bilingual population. The similarities of Kurdish and Farsi languages play an important role in this and are discussed in the paper.

English Speakers Attend More Strongly than Spanish Speakers to Manner of Motion when Classifying Novel Objects and Events

Science.gov (United States)

Kersten, Alan W.; Meissner, Christian A.; Lechuga, Julia; Schwartz, Bennett L.; Albrechtsen, Justin S.; Iglesias, Adam

2010-01-01

Three experiments provide evidence that the conceptualization of moving objects and events is influenced by one's native language, consistent with linguistic relativity theory. Monolingual English speakers and bilingual Spanish/English speakers tested in an English-speaking context performed better than monolingual Spanish speakers and bilingual…

Effects of language dominance on item and order memory in free recall, serial recall and order reconstruction.

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Francis, Wendy S; Baca, Yuzeth

2014-01-01

Spanish-English bilinguals (N = 144) performed free recall, serial recall and order reconstruction tasks in both English and Spanish. Long-term memory for both item and order information was worse in the less fluent language (L2) than in the more fluent language (L1). Item scores exhibited a stronger disadvantage for the L2 in serial recall than in free recall. Relative order scores were lower in the L2 for all three tasks, but adjusted scores for free and serial recall were equivalent across languages. Performance of English-speaking monolinguals (N = 72) was comparable to bilingual performance in the L1, except that monolinguals had higher adjusted order scores in free recall. Bilingual performance patterns in the L2 were consistent with the established effects of concurrent task performance on these memory tests, suggesting that the cognitive resources required for processing words in the L2 encroach on resources needed to commit item and order information to memory. These findings are also consistent with a model in which item memory is connected to the language system, order information is processed by separate mechanisms and attention can be allocated differentially to these two systems.

Bilingualism Alters Children's Frontal Lobe Functioning for Attentional Control

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Arredondo, Maria M.; Hu, Xiao-Su; Satterfield, Teresa; Kovelman, Ioulia

2017-01-01

Bilingualism is a typical linguistic experience, yet relatively little is known about its impact on children's cognitive and brain development. Theories of bilingualism suggest that early dual-language acquisition can improve children's cognitive abilities, specifically those relying on frontal lobe functioning. While behavioral findings present…

Advanced Cantonese ESL Learners' Use of a Monolingual ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

monolingual dictionaries by Hong Kong advanced Cantonese ESL learners in the production of .... (COBUILD6), and one using Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5th ...... A Contrastive Study of Pocket Electronic Diction- aries and ...

Bilingualism and cognition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Groot, A.M.B.; Chapelle, C.A.

2013-01-01

Scientific interest in the effects of (individual) bilingualism on cognition dates back to at least the first quarter of the 20th century, as illustrated by two articles that were published in 1923 on the relation between bilingualism and mental development (Smith, 1923) and between bilingualism and

Neuroanatomical profiles of bilingual children.

Science.gov (United States)

Archila-Suerte, Pilar; Woods, Elizabeth A; Chiarello, Christine; Hernandez, Arturo E

2018-02-26

The goal of the present study was to examine differences in cortical thickness, cortical surface area, and subcortical volume between bilingual children who are highly proficient in two languages (i.e., English and Spanish) and bilingual children who are mainly proficient in one of the languages (i.e., Spanish). All children (N = 49) learned Spanish as a native language (L1) at home and English as a second language (L2) at school. Proficiency of both languages was assessed using the standardized Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery. Five-minute high-resolution anatomical scans were acquired with a 3-Tesla scanner. The degree of discrepancy between L1 and L2 proficiency was used to classify the children into two groups: children with balanced proficiency and children with unbalanced proficiency. The groups were comparable on language history, parental education, and other variables except English proficiency. Values of cortical thickness and surface area of the transverse STG, IFG-pars opercularis, and MFG, as well as subcortical volume of the caudate and putamen, were extracted from FreeSurfer. Results showed that children with balanced bilingualism had thinner cortices of the left STG, left IFG, left MFG and a larger bilateral putamen, whereas unbalanced bilinguals showed thicker cortices of the same regions and a smaller putamen. Additionally, unbalanced bilinguals with stronger foreign accents in the L2 showed reduced surface areas of the MFG and STS bilaterally. The results suggest that balanced/unbalanced bilingualism is reflected in different neuroanatomical characteristics that arise from biological and/or environmental factors. Published 2018. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.