What is it about bilingualism that affects Boston Naming Test performance? A reply to commentaries

Abstract

We reported that bilingualism affects BNT performance, and that people who are “more bilingual” show larger “bilingual effects” on naming. The commentators suggested the interesting possibilities that degree of bilingualism may not be as critical as immersion in two different language environments over the course of a lifetime (Bialystok & Craik, this issue), and that proficiency in Spanish (or lack thereof in English-dominant speakers; Acevedo & Lowenstein, this issue) may be more powerful predictors of the effects we reported. In our response, we use the literature on bilingualism, and additional exploratory analyses of the data we published in this issue to predict that our findings will generalize (a) to bilinguals who speak languages other than Spanish and English, and perhaps even to (b) English-dominant bilinguals who were educated in an English speaking environment. (JINS, 2007, 13, 215–218.)