Sharing the same languages helps us work better together

W Quin Yow,Tony Zhao Ming Lim

doi:10.1057/s41599-019-0365-z

W Quin Yow, Tony Zhao Ming Lim

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0365-z

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Abstract

Collaborative problem-solving, the mutual engagement of people in a coordinated effort to solve a problem together, plays a critical role in the increasingly complex, linguistically diverse, and interconnected world. In particular, being able to communicate in the same languages provides a critical platform for facilitating problem solving among members of a multilingual team. Little research has explored whether sharing the same spoken languages would boost collaborative problem-solving over and beyond the effects of possible confounding variables such as language proficiency, personality, ethnicity, nationality, and non-verbal intelligence. This study manipulated the sharing of same languages by pairing 118 English-speaking bilingual participants either with someone who shares the same two spoken languages as themselves (English-same pair) or with someone who differs in one language (English-different pair). We explored whether such sharing of the same languages enhances collaborative problem-solving in multilingual pairs. Participants completed the Raven’s Matrices individually, as well as an insight problem-solving task (Triangle of Coins task) and a divergent thinking task (Mind-mapping) in pairs. English-same pairs performed better than English-different pairs in the insight problem-solving task but not in the divergent thinking task. English-different pairs collaborated (mean number of turns per minute) and communicated (mean number of utterances) more than English-same pairs in the divergent thinking task, although the effect of pair type on communication was fully mediated by a difference in ethnicity within pairs. More collaboration could have been needed between English-different pairs in the divergent thinking task to achieve comparable performance as English-same pairs, possibly due to the different communication processes experienced by English-different pairs. This study provides insights to the role of sharing spoken languages in enhancing collaborative problem-solving in small multilingual groups.

Highlights

Working in small groups becomes increasingly crucial as problems become more complex
This study aims to explore the effect of similarities in spoken language between members of a team on collaborative problem-solving performance
There were no significant differences found between male and female pairs in performance, communication, and collaboration on the insight problem-solving task and the divergent thinking task, so we collapsed the data across gender

Summary

Introduction

Working in small groups becomes increasingly crucial as problems become more complex. Collaborative problem-solving, is defined as the mutual engagement of participants in a coordinated effort to solve a problem together (Roschelle and Teasley, 1995). This is different from cooperative work, or tasks that the labor is divided but completed individually (Dillenbourg, 1999; Roschelle and Teasley, 1995). In mathematical problem-solving, if one person does the first subpart and the other does the second subpart, this would be termed as cooperative work. This study aims to explore the effect of similarities in spoken language between members of a team on collaborative problem-solving performance

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