Abstract
Bilingualism research indicates that verbal memory skills are sensitive to age of second language (L2) acquisition (AoA). However, most tasks employ disconnected, decontextualized stimuli, undermining ecological validity. Here, we assessed whether AoA impacts the ability to recall information from naturalistic discourse in single-language and cross-linguistic tasks. Twenty-four early and 25 late Chinese-English bilinguals listened to real-life L2 newscasts and orally reproduced their information in English (Task 1) and Chinese (Task 2). Both groups were compared in terms of recalled information (presence and correctness of idea units) and key control measures (e.g., attentional skills, speech rate). Across both tasks, information completeness was higher for early than late bilinguals. This occurred irrespective of attentional speed, speech rate, and additional relevant factors. Such results bridge the gap between classical memory paradigms and ecological designs in bilingualism research, illuminating how particular language profiles shape information processing in daily communicative scenarios.
Highlights
Age of second language (L2) acquisition (AoA) has been shown to influence various memory processes in bilinguals (Yoo and Kaushanskaya, 2016; Volkovyskaya et al, 2017; Macmillan et al, 2021)
We examined whether information recall is affected by AoA in text-level tasks with low (SLR) and high (CI) cognitive demands
A mediation model revealed that the AoA effect on singlelanguage recall (SLR) was not mediated by attentional capacity [SE = 0.0108, p = 0.81, β = −0.0105, consecutive interpreting (CI) (95%) = −0.0237, 0.0187]
Summary
Age of second language (L2) acquisition (AoA) has been shown to influence various memory processes in bilinguals (Yoo and Kaushanskaya, 2016; Volkovyskaya et al, 2017; Macmillan et al, 2021). Most studies have employed random or arbitrary sequences of disconnected stimuli, failing to assess whether AoA impacts a critical aspect of daily communication: the ability to recall information from unfolding discourse. To bridge this gap, we compared the performance of early and late bilinguals (EBs and LBs) on two naturalistic recall tasks with low and high processing demands. Age of second language (L2) acquisition is the age of first intensive exposure to L2 (Birdsong, 2006; Saito, 2015a) Depending on whether this occurred before or after middle childhood, with cut-offs ranging from 5 to 8 years old Given the ubiquitous role of these domains in discourse processing, AoA may modulate text-level information recall
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