Bilingual Community Research Articles

The Comparative Study of Bilingualism in East and Southeast Asia

The comparative study of bilingualism in East (Taiwan) and Southeast Asia (Vietnam) includes two interrelated investigations. This study provides valuable insights into the processes of language and literacy development among children from minority groups and examine patterns of language acquisition within school-age populations in bilingual communities. The research contributes to a deeper understanding of how bilingualism affects educational outcomes in these distinct cultural and linguistic contexts. Study A involved in-depth interviews with 62 Vietnamese immigrant participants and aimed to explore their language learning experiences and related issues of adaptation to Taiwanese culture. Study B, which was located in the Thái-speaking district of Bá Thước in Thanh Hóa province, involved fieldwork that primarily focused on the development of bilingual children in first grade. In the Chinese-speaking community of Taiwan, evidence suggests that immigrant parents make significant progress in the second language learning of Chinese. In turn, first generation children appear to be making progress that is parallel to that of their Chinese native-speaking peers. Similarly, in the Thái-speaking communities, progress in mastering the national language, Vietnamese, as a second language is comparable to that in Vietnamese-speaking communities (Kinh monolingual children).

Exploring Bilingualism: Cognitive Benefits and Cultural Challenges

Bilingualism is a multifaceted phenomenon with profound implications for cognitive functioning and cultural identity. Research has consistently shown that being bilingual enhances cognitive abilities, such as improved executive function, greater cognitive flexibility, and superior problem-solving skills. These cognitive advantages stem from the constant mental exercise of managing two linguistic systems, which enhances brain plasticity and can even provide protective effects against cognitive decline in aging. However, the benefits of bilingualism are accompanied by cultural and identity challenges. Bilingual individuals often navigate complex social dynamics, including cultural duality, identity conflicts, and experiences of language stigmatization or marginalization. This article explores these cognitive benefits and cultural challenges, analyzing how bilingualism influences an individual's worldview and opens up diverse career opportunities. It also discusses the broader societal implications, highlighting the importance of creating supportive environments for bilingual and multilingual communities.

A matter of strength: language policy, attitudes, and linguistic dominance in three bilingual communities

ABSTRACT This article investigates the relationship between language attitudes and different bilingual language policies in three European communities where a regional/minority language is spoken: (1) the Lombard – Italian community in Italy, where Lombard does not benefit from any active policy; (2) the Moselle-Franconian – German community of the Belgian Eifel, where Moselle-Franconian speakers are a recognised linguistic minority, albeit as German-speaking, with Moselle-Franconian indirectly supported as a closely related German variety; and (3) the Welsh – English community in Wales, where the Welsh language enjoys full sociopolitical recognition. In two studies that combine a direct and an indirect method, we collected attitudinal data from a total of N = 235 participants (aged 23–38 years) across three locations. Results suggest a link between language policy and speakers’ attitudes, with Welsh scoring higher than both Moselle-Franconian and Lombard, and Moselle-Franconian scoring higher than Lombard. This trend is explained in view of a tripartite model that places horizontal bilingualism as the most positive societal situation for language maintenance, followed by diglossia, and with vertical bilingualism as the least desirable case.

Investigating morphosyntactic and semantic measures in bilingual Azeri-Persian speaking children aged 5.5 to 6.5 years with and without language impairment

The present study aims to investigate morphosyntactic and semantic measures in bilingual Azeri-Persian-speaking children aged 5.5–6.5 years with and without language impairment. In this cross-sectional study, the bilingual participants were thirty children with language impairment (LI) and fifteen typically developing children (TD) who were selected from nurseries and Speech therapy clinics. The language samples were collected through story-telling in Azeri and Persian languages, separately. The linguistic analysis was done based on morphosyntactic and semantic parameters. The Alberta Language and Development Questionnaire (ALDeQ) parent report questionnaire was completed via interviewing with the parents to differentiate language impairment from language differences. Study findings revealed a significant difference between the morphosyntactic and semantic scores in two groups of bilingual Azeri-Persian speaking LI and TD children (p ˂ 0.05). Also, the results demonstrated no significant relationship between the scores of linguistic scores and age in LI and TD children (p < 0.05). According to the result of the study, morphosyntactic and semantic parameters of language samples in bilingual Azeri-Persian-speaking children could be utilized to provide diagnostic information for speech and language pathologists in LI children among bilingual Azeri-Persian communities.

The Concept of Flexible Learning for Teaching Art Disciplines in Elementary Schools for National Minorities in modern PR China

The concept of flexible learning is increasingly important in contemporary education systems, particularly for teaching art and aesthetic disciplines. In China, this approach is especially relevant in schools serving national minorities, where diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds necessitate a more adaptable and inclusive educational framework. This article aims to explore the implementation of flexible learning for teaching art and aesthetic disciplines in modern elementary schools in China, focusing on the experiences and strategies used to organise the educational process for representatives of national minorities. When writing the article, the methods typical for researching papers in the field of general education and pedagogical comparative studies were used, in particular: literature review, case studies, document analysis, comparative analysis, observation. The article results. Flexible learning refers to educational approaches that provide students with choices regarding how, what, when, and where they learn. It emphasises adaptability to individual learning needs, preferences, and cultural contexts. Implementing flexible learning in art and aesthetic disciplines involves several strategies to accommodate the unique needs of national minority students (such as cultural and artistic integration, use of technology, community involvement and flexible learning environments) and is widely used in PR China in regions with significant populations of national minorities, providing valuable results. However, implementing flexible learning for art and aesthetic disciplines in schools for national minorities comes with challenges, including resource limitations and the need for special programs of teacher training activities including cultural sensitivity, which are the point of constant attention of the Chinese government. The study concludes that the implementation of flexible learning for teaching art and aesthetic disciplines in modern elementary schools in China, particularly for national minorities, demonstrates a commitment to inclusivity and adaptability in education. By integrating bilingual education, technology, community involvement, and flexible learning environments, these schools can provide a more personalised and culturally relevant education for their students. Despite the challenges, the benefits of this approach are significant and include promoting cultural preservation, artistic expression, and social cohesion.

Bridging the Language Gap in Healthcare: Implementing a Qualified Medical Interpreter Program for Lesser-Spoken Languages

Linguistic inequity drives systemic disparities in healthcare for non-native English speakers. This study evaluates a project to train and provide qualified medical interpreters (QMI) to assist volunteer and safety-net clinics and community-based organizations in supporting healthcare for immigrants and refugees. We provided scholarships to bilingual community members to take a medical interpreter training course and developed a workforce for those who passed the training course. We focused on lesser-spoken foreign languages such as Arabic, Amharic, Pashto, Dari, and Burmese. Those who passed the course participated in a semi-structured interview to learn about their experiences in the training program, as well as barriers and facilitators to becoming a QMI. To date, 23 people have passed the training and are part of the QMI workforce program that has provided 94 h of interpreter services over four months, serving 66 individual patients. The evaluation showed that community members have interest in becoming QMIs and many have the required language proficiency to enroll and pass training. Finding full-time employment for less spoken languages has proven to be challenging.

An Examination on the Planning and Practice of Bilingual Education in Primary and Secondary Schools in Taiwan

Over the past few years, several reforms in language education have been outlined to implement the full-scale bilingualization of the education system in Taiwan. Among the 3392 public primary and secondary schools, nearly one-third of them have been implementing bilingual education in certain subjects. The vast majority of these schools have adopted Immersion, CLIL, or EMI as models for bilingual education. It has been argued that these exotic models cannot be “transplanted” to the education context of Taiwan, and he proposes the FERTILE model. Adopting this model as the theoretical framework, this qualitative study aims to examine how school practitioners plan and practice bilingual education in Taiwan. Data were collected through the document analysis of the progress reports from thirty-five primary and secondary schools and three focus group discussions (FGDs) with nine subject teachers. The findings show that the participants made considerable efforts to construct a bilingual environment and have an identical understanding about the strategies for bilingual instruction that emphasize subject knowledge and students’ comprehension. However, the participants experienced a diverse ecology of bilingual teacher learning communities and received differential support from the principals. Qualified and stable teaching manpower was identified as the key to sustain bilingual education. Implications to different education stakeholders are also discussed.

Chinese American Pain Experience Project (CAPE): Perceptions, Expectations, and Attitudes on Pain Management among Chinese American Postoperative Patients.

Chinese Americans are one of the fastest growing racial and ethnic groups and represent the largest subgroup of the Asian American population in the US and in New York City (NYC) where they number 573,528 in 2021. Despite their numbers, current pain perceptions, expectations, and attitudes of Chinese Americans remains poorly understood, especially as related to postoperative pain. A better understanding of pain experience among Chinese American patients is needed to inform strategies on improving pain management satisfaction. A total of 27 Chinese American postoperative patients from a NYC health system were recruited for face-to-face surveys and interviews with a trained bilingual and bicultural Community Health Worker. Questions from the Survey on Disparities in Quality of Healthcare and Kleinman's Explanatory Model of Illness were integrated into the survey and topic guide. Topics of discussion included satisfaction with healthcare and pain management during hospital stay and health beliefs and practices. More than half of participants experienced language challenges that made it difficult to communicate with healthcare staff. In general, high levels of satisfaction with pain management were reported; however, participants reported feeling less comfortable asking healthcare teams questions. Common themes across interviews included: (1) pain was an expected outcome of the procedure and was thus perceived as tolerable; (2) the wish to not be a burden to others; (3) concerns about side effects of pain medications; and (4) a cultural and language mismatch between healthcare teams and patients on words being used to elicit pain and discomfort. Our project findings can inform pain management strategies and tools to serve the Chinese American patient population.

Creating a Bilingual Community Advisory Board to Promote Kidney Research and Academic-Community Collaborations

Creating a Bilingual Community Advisory Board to Promote Kidney Research and Academic-Community Collaborations

Implementing an Alert System for Communicating Actionable Wastewater Surveillance Results to School Communities, Houston, Texas, 2023-2024.

In 2020, the Houston Health Department (HHD) in Texas launched a citywide wastewater surveillance program, including a pilot program that monitored manholes at schools in Houston's largest school district (prekindergarten-12th grade). By 2022, the pilot program monitored wastewater for SARS-CoV-2, influenza A and B, and respiratory syncytial virus. To ensure effective communication of wastewater surveillance results to school communities, HHD designed and implemented a text- and email-based alert system using existing City of Houston resources. This alert program informs recipients about the presence of a virus at their schools and actions to protect themselves and others against that virus. To promote alert program sign-ups, a dedicated bilingual community involvement coordinator conducted in-person outreach geared toward school nurses and student caregivers. From September 2023 through February 2024, a combined 5178 alerts for 43 schools were sent following virus detections. As a supplemental initiative, HHD offered vaccination events to pilot program schools with consistent virus detection. As wastewater surveillance becomes more common across the United States, this alert program presents a framework for other public health agencies to scale and adapt according to their resources.

The Implementation of Bilingual Education in Taiwan: A Case Study of Two Junior High Schools with a Bilingual Curriculum in Taipei City Using the FERTILE Model

The development of bilingual education has rapidly grown in the past few decades, with v and ying implementations reflecting each country’s political, social and cultural contexts. In response, the Taiwanese government launched the Bilingual 2030 policy in Taiwan to improve international competitiveness and communication. Employing the FERTILE model as the theoretical framework, this case study focuses on (1) comprehending the role of the administrative team in implementing bilingual education within schools and (2) exploring the function of bilingual teacher professional learning communities. The results indicate that the involvement of school administrative teams, along with the support from BPLCs, are essential for implementing bilingual education in schools. More importantly, this research highlights the importance of administrative teams in providing a supportive environment. Also, the support from administrative teams is significant for enhancing the function of BPLCs, which play a key role in improving teachers’ instructional strategies. The findings of this study can generate both theoretical and practical contributions to bilingual education in Taiwan. First, the findings provide schools and policy makers in Taiwan with valuable insights for fostering bilingual teacher professional learning communities. Second, the findings from the two case studies, which utilised the FERTILE model to implement bilingual education, can serve as references for its nationwide promotion.

Discerning Deinfibulation: Impact of Personal, Professional, and Familial Influences on Decision-Making.

The past decades have seen large numbers of Somali women migrate across the globe. It is critical for healthcare workers in host countries to understand healthcare needs of Somali women. The majority of Somali female migrants experience female genital cutting (FGC). The most common type in Somalia is Type 3 or infibulation, the narrowing of the vaginal introitus. Deinfibulation opens the introitus to reduce poor health outcomes and/or allow for vaginal births. In this study, we explored the perspectives of Somali women living in the United States about deinfibulation. We recruited 75 Somali women who had experienced FGC through community-based participatory research methods. Bilingual community researchers conducted qualitative interviews in Somali or English. University faculty and community-based researchers coded data together in a participatory-analysis process. We identified four themes. (1) Personal Views: participants reported positive attitudes toward deinfibulation and varied on the appropriateness of deinfibulation before marriage. (2) Benefits: identified benefits included alleviation of health problems; improved sexual health, in particular reduction or prevention of sexual pain; and reclamation of body and womanhood. (3) Barriers: these included associated stigma and lack of knowledge by providers. (4) Decision-Making: most reported that husbands, healthcare providers, and elder female community members may provide advice about if and/or when to seek deinfibulation, though some felt deinfibulation decisions are solely up to the impacted woman. An ecological framework is used to frame the findings and identify the importance of healthcare workers in assisting women who have been infibulated make decisions.

KAJIAN SOSIOLINGUISTIK BAHASA INDONESIA PADA PETANI DAN BURUH TANI DI KECAMATAN COMAL

This research is based on the use of Indonesian among marginalized communities. In everyday life, Indonesians still does not attract public attention. This research aims to describe the use of Indonesian among farming communities and farm workers in Comal District, Pemalang Regency. This type of research is descriptive qualitative which aims to describe the use of Indonesian in the people of Sikayu Village, Comal District, Pemalang Regency. The data collection technique in this research was carried out using skilled listening and involvement techniques.The results of the research show that in the language variation category, farmers and farm workers predominantly master Javanese. This is confirmed by the results of interviews which state that the most dominant language used is Javanese. Meanwhile, the results of interviews with the speech community category show that farmers and farm workers are already accustomed to using Javanese when communicating or interacting anywhere. Based on the results of this analysis, it can be concluded that the use of Indonesian in the speech community in Sikayu Village, Comal District, Pemalang Regency, is an example of a bilingual community. The use of Indonesian among marginal farmers and farm laborers in Sikayu Village is influenced by social status and the place of use.

Expressing diminutive meaning in heritage Spanish: linking the heritage experience to diminutive use in everyday speech

IntroductionThis paper studies the pragmatic force that heritage speakers may convey through the use of the diminutive in everyday speech. In particular, I analyze the use of the Spanish diminutive in 49 sociolinguistic interviews from a Spanish–English bilingual community in Southern Arizona, U.S. where Spanish is the heritage language. I compare the use of the diminutive in heritage Spanish to the distribution of the diminutive in the speech of a Spanish monolingual community (18 sociolinguistic interviews) from the same dialectal region. Although Spanish and English employ different morphosyntactic strategies to express diminutive meaning, the analysis reveals that the diminutive morpheme -ito/a is a productive morphological device in the Spanish-discourse of heritage speakers from Southern Arizona (i.e., similar diminutive distributions to their monolingual counterparts). While heritage speakers employed the diminutive -ito/a to express the notion of “smallness” in their Spanish-discourse, the analysis indicates that these language users are more likely to invoke a subjective evaluation through the diminutive -ito/a when talking about their family members and/or childhood experiences. This particular finding suggests that the concept “child” is the semantic/pragmatic driving force of the diminutive in heritage Spanish as a marker of speech by, about, to, or with some relation to children. The analysis further suggests that examining the pragmatic dimensions of the diminutive in everyday speech can provide important insights into how heritage speakers encode and create cultural meaning in their heritage languages.MethodsIn this study, I analyze the use of Spanish diminutives in two U.S.-Mexico border regions. The first data set is representative of a Spanish–English bilingual community in Southern Arizona, U.S., provided in the Corpus del Español en el Sur de Arizona (The CESA Corpus). The CESA Corpus comprises 49 sociolinguistic interviews of ~1 h each for a total of ~305,542 words. The second data set comprises 18 sociolinguistic interviews of predominantly monolingual Spanish speakers from the city of Mexicali, Baja California in Mexico, provided in the Proyecto Para el Estudio Sociolingüístico del Español de España y de América (PRESEEA). The Mexicali data set consists of ~119,162 words.ResultsThe analysis revealed that the Spanish diminutive morpheme -ito/a is a productive morphological device in the Spanish-discourse of heritage speakers from Southern Arizona. In addition to its prototypical meaning (i.e., the notion of “smallness”), the diminutive morpheme -ito/a conveyed an array of pragmatic functions in the everyday speech of Spanish heritage speakers and their monolingual counterparts from the same dialectal region. Importantly, these pragmatic functions are mediated by speakers' subjective perceptions of the entity in question. Unlike their monolingual counterparts, heritage speakers are more likely to invoke a subjective evaluation through the diminutive -ito/a when talking about their family members and/or childhood experiences. Altogether, the study suggests that the concept “child” is the semantic/pragmatic driving force of the diminutive in heritage Spanish as a marker of speech by, about, to, or with some relation to children.DiscussionIn this study, I followed Reynoso's framework to study the pragmatic dimensions of the diminutive in everyday speech, that is, speakers' publicly conveyed meaning. The analysis revealed that heritage speakers applied most of the pragmatic functions and their respective values observed in Reynoso's cross-dialectal study of Spanish diminutives, and hence providing further support for her framework. Similarly, the study provides further evidence to Jurafsky's proposal that morphological diminutives arise from semantic or pragmatic links with children. Finally, the analysis indicated that examining the semantic/pragmatic dimensions of the diminutive in everyday speech can provide important insights into how heritage speakers encode and create cultural meaning in their heritage languages, which can in turn have further ramifications for heritage language learning and teaching.

Learning from a community bilingual classroom: Toward a translanguaging literacies pedagogy with Chinese American bilinguals

ABSTRACT Situated in the Midwest region of the United States, this study draws on translanguaging literacies to critically examine the discussions and sense-making that was taking place in a Mandarin-English bilingual community classroom between a Chinese bilingual teacher and three Chinese American bilingual students while engaging in discussions of language, culture, and history with children’s literature. Our findings demonstrate that the teacher carefully applied translanguaging literacies as deliberate pedagogy to help bilingual students understand language in the world, normalize linguistic freedom and respect, and critically make sense of their complex identities and histories with and through their entire linguistic repertoires.

The Power of Tailoring a Government-Funded Heart Health Program for Marginalized Women: Lessons from WISEWOMAN and Mujer Poderosa/Powerful Woman.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's DP18-1816 Well-Integrated Screening and Evaluation for Women Across the Nation (WISEWOMAN) award to the Pennsylvania Department of Health combats the leading cause of death in Pennsylvania, cardiovascular disease. Pennsylvania's program (PA-WISE) includes an innovative approach to engage low-income women in cardiovascular disease prevention. PA-WISE collaborated with Latino Connection to pilot Mujer Poderosa/Powerful Woman (MP/PW), utilizing bilingual community health workers to engage, educate, and empower marginalized women to improve their health. Latino Connection discovered different approaches were needed by each community for engaging women and connecting with resources. MP/PW tailored outreach and intervention approaches to women's needs and expectations, responding to differences in education levels, acculturation, immigration status, and levels of trust. The experiences of MP/PW provide lessons on the importance of having and maintaining flexibility in responding to women's backgrounds and community characteristics and tailoring to meet the needs of marginalized women.

Tracing the History: Language Education Policy and Emergent Bilingual Learners in the United States

Since the passage of the 1968 Bilingual Education Act, the meaning, function, and connotation of bilingual education in the United States have undergone significant changes. In this article, the author outlines the evolution of U.S. language education policies for emergent bilingual learners since the 19th century. In particular, the article demonstrates the major waves and shifts of language education policies that either support or oppress the linguistic rights of language minoritized students, and captures how the changing social, political, and economic climate has shaped the nation’s response to language diversity. Importantly, reviewing the historical evolution of language policies not only echoes the importance of policy decisions in impacting bilingual students’ educational trajectories, but also informs future policy decisions in order to disrupt deficit positioning of bilingual communities.

Who spoke that language? Assessing early face-language associations in monolingual and bilingual infants.

In bilingual communities, knowing the language each speaker uses may support language separation and, later, guide language use in a context-appropriate manner. Previous research has shown that infants begin to form primary associations between the face and the language used by a speaker around the age of 3 months. However, there is still a limited understanding of how robust these associations are and whether they are influenced by the linguistic background of the infant. To answer these questions, this study explores monolingual and bilingual infants' ability to form face-language associations throughout the first year of life. A group of 4-, 6-, and 10-month-old Spanish and/or Catalan monolingual and bilingual infants were tested in an eye-tracking preferential-looking paradigm (N = 156). After the infants were familiarized with videos of a Catalan and a Spanish speaker, they were tested in two types of test trials with different task demands. First, a Silent test trial assessed primary face-language associations by measuring infants' visual preference for the speakers based on the language they had previously used. Then, two Language test trials assessed more robust face-language associations by measuring infants' ability to match the face of each speaker with their corresponding language. When measuring primary face-language associations, both monolingual and bilingual infants exhibited language-based preferences according to their specific exposure to the languages. Interestingly, this preference varied with age, with a transition from an initial familiarity preference to a novelty preference in older infants. Four-month-old infants showed a preference for the speaker who used their native/dominant language, while 10-month-old infants preferred the speaker who used their non-native/non-dominant language. When measuring more robust face-language associations, infants did not demonstrate signs of consistently matching the faces of the speakers with the language they had previously used, regardless of age or linguistic background. Overall, the results indicate that while both monolingual and bilingual infants before the first year of life can form primary face-language associations, these associations remain fragile as infants seemed unable to maintain them when tested in a more demanding task.

Third language English performance at the onset of schooling: effects of bilingualism and exposure in Catalan-Spanish bilingual children

ABSTRACT Research on the effects of bilingualism on third language (L3) development set in bilingual communities is scarce, outdated, and has provided mixed results. This study investigated the effects of exposure and age of onset of acquisition (AOA) of L3-English, as well as first and second language (L1/L2) skills and use, in the development of L3-English lexical and grammatical receptive abilities in Catalan-Spanish bilingual learners in Catalonia. The study followed a longitudinal design with three data collection times: Times 1 and 2 took place at the onset and the end of Grade 1, respectively, and Time 3 happened at the end of Grade 2. Results showed an overall growth of vocabulary and grammar over the first two years of primary schooling. In addition to testing time, L3-English exposure outside of school predicted higher receptive vocabulary and grammar skills, whereas an older English AOA predicted lower skills. The L1/L2 variables showed different associations to the vocabulary and grammar scores. However, the minoritized language, Catalan, bore a stronger association with the two L3 outcomes than the majority language, Spanish.

Pilot Testing Transcreated Spanish-Language Study Materials for Symptom Research With Infants and Parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Rising admission rates of Hispanic/Latinx families to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) have increased the number of non-English-speaking individuals who may wish to participate in research studies. However, a lack of appropriately translated research study materials may limit the opportunity for these families to be involved in research that could impact the care that infants and families receive in the NICU. The primary purpose was to pilot test study materials that were transcreated from English to Spanish with the assistance of a bilingual community advisory board with Spanish-speaking parents of NICU infants. A total of 19 Spanish-speaking parents (15 mothers and 4 fathers) who were representative of the population of interest completed paper-and-pencil surveys, along with a cognitive interview. Preliminary data related to decision-making and goals of care, infant symptoms, and their experiences in the NICU were also collected. The internal reliability of the transcreated study instruments ranged from good to excellent (α= 0.82-0.99). Participants reported that study materials were not offensive and did not make them feel uncomfortable; however, they found some words/phrases to be confusing. Parents had the opportunity to provide suggested wording changes. Language barriers and a lack of cultural responsiveness can affect the care that infants and their families receive. More accurate and culturally appropriate transcreation of study materials can remove barriers to research participation and facilitate better communication with non-English-speaking families, which may lead to the development of better-informed evidence-based interventions and clinical practices in the NICU.