Bilingual Immigrants Research Articles

Schizophrenia in Bilingual Immigrants: is Verbal Fluency Preserved in Second Language Acquisition?

Objectives Language disturbances are the core symptoms of schizophrenia [Crow,2000]. Considering the influence of migration on the symptoms of schizophrenia [Bhugra, Gupta,2011] and few studies on the interaction of schizophrenia and bilingualism [Bersudsky, et al.,2005], we hope to clarify the linguistic profile of disorder and emphasize the role of language in schizophrenia research. Aim To examine the linguistic features of schizophrenia in the first (L1) and the second (L2) languages, particularly in fluency as the ability to cope with native and nonnative pragmatics. Methods Among sixty Russian immigrants to Israel diagnosed with schizophrenia, ten Russian-Hebrew fluent bilinguals met criteria for inclusion in the study (age: M=33.8,s.d.=11.0; length of residence: M=14.6,s.d.=6.8; time of immigration to diagnosis:M=5.3,s.d=3.9; PANSS Total score: M = 94.9,s.d = 9.8). Interviews were analyzed using clinical, linguistic and fluency speech markers. Statistical evaluation included t-test for dependent samples, two-way ANOVA(Fisher LSD post-hoc test). Results The mean length of language samples demonstrated more productivity in L1 (Table1). Clinical speech markers associated with thought disorders were similarly represented in both languages. Linguistic markers of schizophrenia occurred more often in L2. Discourse markers, as bilingual phenomenona, reflected more dysfluency in L1. Download : Download full-size image Conclusions 1) The higher frequency of linguistic schizophrenia markers in L2 shows more impairments in the syntax/semantic components of language, where different neural representations may underlay the two languages in a bilingual brain damaged by schizophrenia. 2) The higher frequency of fluency markers in L1 reflects attempts to maintain verbal fluency, evidenced by the use of L2 lexical items, which afford a compensatory resource for communicative discourse in schizophrenia.

Immigrant Status as an Influential Factor in Additional Language Learning: A Comparison of French Language Achievement of Canadian-born Monolinguals, Bilinguals and Bilingual Immigrants

This study compares the French as a second language achievement of Canadian-born English-speaking students, Canadian-born bilingual students and bilingual immigrant students as gathered by means of a multi-skills FSL test. In addition, it seeks to explain the differences in performance by investigating the impact of a variety of influential factors that have been previously identified in the literature to date: L1 use and context of learning for bilingual groups, motivation, attitude, willingness to communicate, metalinguistic awareness and strategy use for all groups.

Code-switching and screen translation in British and American films and their Italian dubbed version: a socio-linguistic and pragmatic perspective

Much attention has been recently focused on exploring how a language shapes its speakers’ identity in multiethnic contexts of interaction (Carter, 2004), where linguistic identities are constantly open to renegotiation, reconstruction and reinterpretation. From this perspective, multicultural audiovisual products prove to be one of the most apt media to represent the richness and complexity of real-life multilingual realities (Bleichenbacher, 2008) within which code-switching plays a crucial role. Starting from these assumptions, this paper sets out to investigate the conversational functions code-switching fulfils in two British and two American intercultural films: Bend it Like Beckham (Chadha, 2002), Ae Fond Kiss (Loach, 2004), Spanglish (Brooks, 2004) and Gran Torino (Eastwood, 2008), where it is functional both to plot development and to the bilingual immigrants’ characterisation (Wahl 2008). In establishing a specific socio-linguistic and pragmatic framing within which code-switching seems to operate in audiovisual products, the film scripts will be analysed: looking contrastively, in both the original and the Italian dubbed version, at the translation strategies of the different types of code-switching; focusing on the scenes where code-switching emphasizes the competing visions of the world held by the two generations (Myers-Scotton, 1993); pointing out which functions of code-switching are encoded in the Italian version and which ones are lost in translation; showing what can be achieved by both dubbing and subtitling in terms of transcultural transmission in conveying the “translaguaging space” (Wei, 2011, p. 1222) the immigrant characters live in.

Code-switching and screen translation in British and American films and their Italian dubbed version: a socio-linguistic and pragmatic perspective

Much attention has been recently focused on exploring how a language shapes its speakers’ identity in multiethnic contexts of interaction (Carter, 2004), where linguistic identities are constantly open to renegotiation, reconstruction and reinterpretation. From this perspective, multicultural audiovisual products prove to be one of the most apt media to represent the richness and complexity of real-life multilingual realities (Bleichenbacher, 2008) within which code-switching plays a crucial role. Starting from these assumptions, this paper sets out to investigate the conversational functions code-switching fulfils in two British and two American intercultural films: Bend it Like Beckham (Chadha, 2002), Ae Fond Kiss (Loach, 2004), Spanglish (Brooks, 2004) and Gran Torino (Eastwood, 2008), where it is functional both to plot development and to the bilingual immigrants’ characterisation (Wahl 2008). In establishing a specific socio-linguistic and pragmatic framing within which code-switching seems to operate in audiovisual products, the film scripts will be analysed: looking contrastively, in both the original and the Italian dubbed version, at the translation strategies of the different types of code-switching; focusing on the scenes where code-switching emphasizes the competing visions of the world held by the two generations (Myers-Scotton, 1993); pointing out which functions of code-switching are encoded in the Italian version and which ones are lost in translation; showing what can be achieved by both dubbing and subtitling in terms of transcultural transmission in conveying the “translaguaging space” (Wei, 2011, p. 1222) the immigrant characters live in.

Tips for Teachers to Help Bilingual Chinese Immigrant Children

Teachers of young children in Chinese immigrant families need to help children become proficient in English (ESL) while affirming the children's bilingual abilities. Pictures, gestures, pantomimes, and props as well as specific input of school-related words help bilingual young children learn English. Teachers read storybooks in English while supporting parental desires to continue to share storybooks in their native language. Ask children to teach the class some special words in Chinese and arrange for a variety of ethnic foods at some lunchtimes. Celebrate cultural holidays such as the Chinese New Year dragon festival parade.

Language Proficiency and Health Status

Bilingual immigrants appear to have a health advantage, and identifying the mechanisms responsible for this is of increasing interest to scholars and policy makers in the United States. Utilizing the National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS; n = 3,264), we investigate the associations between English and native-language proficiency and usage and self-rated health for Asian and Latino U.S. immigrants from China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Mexico, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. The findings demonstrate that across immigrant ethnic groups, being bilingual is associated with better self-rated physical and mental health relative to being proficient in only English or only a native language, and moreover, these associations are partially mediated by socioeconomic status and family support but not by acculturation, stress and discrimination, or health access and behaviors.

Immigrant Parents' Choice of a Bilingual Versus Monolingual Kindergarten for Second-Generation Children: Motives, Attitudes, and Factors

This study investigated how immigrant parents describe and explain their family language policy concerning their child's preschool bilingual development, and also explored the factors linked to the parents' choice of bilingual or monolingual kindergarten for their child. The study design was based on a comparison of 2 groups of parents: those who chose bilingual versus monolingual kindergartens. The research model consisted of 3 groups of variables: the sociocultural and linguistic profile of these groups of parents, their language policy (language ideology, practice, and management), and the parents' representations about their child's proficiency in the both languages. The article presents results of a self-administered questionnaire. The sample (n = 111) included bilingual (Russian–Hebrew) young adult immigrants in Israel from the former Soviet Union. Three factors were found to be most significantly related to the parents' choice of kindergarten and their general attitudes toward their child's bilingual development: the number of children in the family, the parents' identification with Russian culture, and the child's well-being as a motivating factor in the choice of kindergarten. The results also show that, for both groups, the FLP was vaguely defined and unplanned, and it varied considerably within 1 immigrant language community.

Getting Things Done in the L1 and L2: Bilingual Immigrant Women's Use of Communication Strategies in Entrepreneurial Contexts

The article examines the communication strategies of four bilingual, immigrant women entrepreneurs within the context of their businesses. The analysis revealed that L1 and L2 use is crucial to the business success of the participants. L1 conversations consisted of largely private speech and directives. The women positioned themselves as powerbrokers by creating cultural bridges and community networks with their in-group workers while facilitating business interaction with out-group customers. L2 use consisted of the mastery of basic conversation openings and closings, and various rapport-building methods such as small talk and socially expanded talk. Rapport-building strategies enabled the women to create lasting relationships as well as extended opportunities for English-language development. The study found that immigrant women entrepreneurs have a mastery of the pragmatic functions of speech that allow them to be competent communicators who know how to go about their business and how to get things done in the workplace.

English Use Among Older Bilingual Immigrants in Linguistically Concentrated Neighborhoods: Social Proficiency and Internal Speech as Intracultural Variation

This research focuses on patterns of English proficiency and use-of-English among older immigrants living in linguistically concentrated, ethnic neighborhoods. A sample (n = 60) of older Puerto Ricans, who moved from the island to the mainland in their twenties, were divided into English proficiency groups (fluent, high intermediate, low intermediate) via the Adult Language Assessment Scales. Participants then provided self-ratings of their English proficiency (understanding, speaking, reading, and writing), their use of English in social domains (language spoken with own-family, in-laws, spouse, children, neighbors, and workmates), and their use of English in private psychological domains (language of talking to oneself, counting, writing notes to oneself, thinking, dreaming, praying, and expressing feelings). Finally, all participants completed the Puerto Rican Bicultural Scale. Results show a cohort of immigrant elders whose first language is protected by their ethnic neighborhoods but whose domestic and private lives are increasingly permeated by English. In particular, children emerge as powerful forces of language socialization in English for their parents. Further, there are important individual differences by level of proficiency, with a lowest proficiency group that is less acculturated, lower in socioeconomic status, and even more linguistically isolated than groups with higher proficiency. In essence, level of second language proficiency is a potent source of intracultural variation. Methodologically, the paper makes the important point that self-rated patterns of language use are consistent with scores on formal measures of proficiency. The paper also provides empirical verification of the logic of dividing language use into external, social speech and internal, psychological speech.

The effect of linguistic proficiency, age of second language acquisition, and length of exposure to a new cultural environment on bilinguals' divergent thinking

The study argues that, in addition to advantages in conscious attention-demanding processing, bilinguals may also exhibit enhanced unconscious divergent thinking. To investigate this issue, the performance of Russian–English bilingual immigrants and English monolingual native speakers was compared on the Abbreviated Torrance Test for Adults, which is a traditional assessment tool of divergent thinking. The study reveals bilinguals' superiority on divergent thinking tasks that require the ability to simultaneously activate and process multiple unrelated concepts from distant categories. Divergent thinking was facilitated by bilinguals' proficiency in two languages, the age of acquisition of these languages and the length of exposure to the new cultural settings that accompanies the acquisition of a new language. A specific architecture of bilingual memory in which two lexicons are mutually linked to the shared conceptual system is theorized to facilitate the functioning of the language mediated concept activation, thereby encouraging bilinguals' divergent thinking performance.

Third Language Acquisition in Immersion: A Case Study of a Bilingual Immigrant Learner

This article reports on a diary study conducted to explore third language acquisition in the immersion setting in Mexico as experienced by a bilingual Russian/English learner of Spanish who had recently immigrated to the USA from Russia. Language learning is approached as a socialization process that involves negotiation of meaning (Vygotsky, 1978) and identities (Gee, 1999; Norton, 2000). The study reveals links between self-assessment, autonomy and identity, documenting how the learner utilized her bilingualism as an important resource in learning Spanish, shifted between languages and cultures and employed a variety of self-assessment techniques. The findings of the study suggest that immersion in a new language could make a powerful impact on how bilingual immigrant learners self-interpret themselves in their first and second language. The study emphasizes the contextual nature of identity and highlights the importance of introspection as an effective method of raising critical language awareness.

From Russian to Hebrew via HebRush : Intergenerational Patterns of Language Use among Former Soviet Immigrants in Israel

The immigrant family is the principal domain where cultural and linguistic heritage can be preserved and transferred to the younger generation. This paper explores how the macro-level sociolinguistic processes in Israel – the increasing ethnic power of Russian speakers during the 1990s and the ensuing higher status of the Russian language – have shaped intra-familial linguistic patterns among former Soviet Jewish immigrants. My analysis is based on participant observation and in-depth interviews conducted with members of three-generational immigrant families who arrived in Israel during the 1990s and in the earlier wave of the 1970s. The study shows that bilingualism of the last-wave immigrants often manifests as a linguistic hybrid known as HebRush – a lingo that is used both in public and private realms. Conversely, among veteran immigrants of the 1970s the dismissed Russian has made a comeback into private family usage after years of oblivion, reflecting its recent upsurge as the main 'minority language' of Jewish Israel. The language choices of bilingual immigrants and the use of Russian between immigrant parents and children are shaped by their dominant sociolinguistic milieu, core cultural values, and the perceived status of this minority language in Israel. In conclusion, I offer some reflections on the interface between core cultural values, family roles and language maintenance among recent immigrants.

Long-term language attainment of bilingual immigrants: Predictive variables and language group differences

This study examined the variables related to US immigrants' long-term attainment in English, their second language (L2), and their native language (L1). For 44 Mandarin–English bilinguals, with increasing age of arrival (AOA) in the United States, their accuracy in L2 grammaticality judgment tasks decreased and accuracy in an L1 grammaticality judgment task increased. Moreover, both AOA in the United States and mothers' English proficiency uniquely predicted a significant proportion of the variance for bilinguals' L2 proficiency. Finally, as a group, 72 speakers of three Asian languages showed lower levels of L2 proficiency and stronger AOA effects on the task performance than 32 speakers of six European languages. These differences in language proficiency were associated with differences in language use, language learning motivation, and cultural identification between the two groups. These findings suggest that L2 acquisition in the immigration setting is a complicated process involving the dynamic interactions of multiple variables.

Community Language Resources in Dual Language Schooling

This ethnographic case study was concerned with the role of comniunity-based, minority-language resources in dual language schooling, and their influence on the use of Spanish by children from English-speaking and Spanish-speaking homes. Integrating theory from the fields of language planning, language revitalization, community participation, and funds of knowledge, the study triangulated data from participant observation in classrooms; interviews with educators, parents, and community members; and document and archival analysis. Examination of minority-language use at an established, highly regarded dual language school and of the shiftingpatterns oflanguage dominance in the Mexican American neighborhood surrounding it revealed that the minority-language resources most immediately available—held by fluent bilingual elders and recent immigrants from Mexico—were less likely to be incorporated into planned curriculum than the knowledge and experiences of majority-language parents and elite bilinguals. This finding is attributed to the social distance between educators and neighborhood families, the ambivalence of Mexican American parents and school staff toward the use of non-standard varieties of Spanish in schooling, and the need for greater awareness of processes oflanguage shift and loss. Implications for dual language practice and further research are discussed.

Globalization, Transnationalism and Trade

Investigating the relationship between immigration, middleman minority status, transnationalism and US foreign trade, the author assembled a census-based data file that contains aggregate-level variables for 88 foreign born groups by national-origin between 1980 and 1990. Immigrant characteristics and immigration volume were regressed upon time-lagged import/export statistics from the same 88 nations between 1985 and 1995. Results show the independent influence on exports of immigrant entrepreneurship, transnationalism and middleman minority status. But these variables had no effect on US imports; they only affected exports. The discrepancy between imports and exports arises because of the dominance of English as a world business language, itself a product of globalization. Foreigners need no help from immigrants when they export to the United States, but native-born, monolingual Americans need the help of bilingual immigrants when they export. Globalization has eventuated in the worldwide dominance of English, which causes this situation to arise.

English Fluency of Recent Hispanic Immigrants to the United States in 1980 and 1990

Previous articleNext article No AccessEnglish Fluency of Recent Hispanic Immigrants to the United States in 1980 and 1990Alberto Davila and Marie T. MoraAlberto DavilaUniversity of Texas—Pan American Search for more articles by this author and Marie T. MoraNew Mexico State University Search for more articles by this author University of Texas—Pan AmericanNew Mexico State UniversityPDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Economic Development and Cultural Change Volume 48, Number 2January 2000 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/452463 Views: 37Total views on this site Citations: 12Citations are reported from Crossref © 2000 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Joyce M. Northwood, Sherrie L.W. Rhine , Journal of Consumer Affairs 52, no.22 ( 2018): 317.https://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12150Veena S. Kulkarni, Xiaohan Hu English Language Proficiency among the Foreign Born in the United States, 1980–2007: Duration, Age, Cohort Effects , International Migration Review 48, no.33 (Jul 2018): 762–800.https://doi.org/10.1111/imre.12060Ilana Redstone Akresh, Douglas S. Massey, Reanne Frank Beyond English proficiency: Rethinking immigrant integration, Social Science Research 45 (May 2014): 200–210.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2014.01.005Yuval Arbel, Danny Ben-Shahar, Yossef Tobol The Correlation among Immigrant Homeownership, Objective and Subjective Characteristics, and Civic Participation: New Evidence from the Israeli Experience, Urban Studies 49, no.1111 (Dec 2011): 2479–2499.https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098011427187Ilana Redstone Akresh, Reanne Frank At the intersection of self and other: English language ability and immigrant labor market outcomes, Social Science Research 40, no.55 (Sep 2011): 1362–1370.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2010.05.007Michael McCarthy Spoken fluency revisited, English Profile Journal 1 (Sep 2010).https://doi.org/10.1017/S2041536210000012Robert W. Schrauf English Use Among Older Bilingual Immigrants in Linguistically Concentrated Neighborhoods: Social Proficiency and Internal Speech as Intracultural Variation, Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology 24, no.22 (Jan 2009): 157–179.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10823-009-9091-0Donald R. Haurin, Stuart S. Rosenthal Language, Agglomeration and Hispanic Homeownership, Real Estate Economics 37, no.22 (Jun 2009): 155–183.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6229.2009.00238.xIlana Redstone Akresh Contexts of English Language Use among Immigrants to the United States, International Migration Review 41, no.44 (Dec 2007): 930–955.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2007.00106.xAnthony P Mora, Marie T Mora, Alberto Dávila The English-Language Proficiency of Recent Immigrants in The U.S. During the Early 1900s, Eastern Economic Journal 33, no.11 (Jan 2007): 65–80.https://doi.org/10.1057/eej.2007.4Marie T. Mora, Alberto Dávila Hispanic Ethnicity, Gender, and the Change in the LEP-Earnings Penalty in the United States During the 1990s, Social Science Quarterly 87, no.s1s1 (Dec 2006): 1295–1318.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2006.00429.xMarie T. Mora English-Language Assistance Programs, English-Skill Acquisition, and the Academic Progress of High School Language Minority Students, Policy Studies Journal 28, no.44 (Nov 2000): 721–738.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-0072.2000.tb02059.x

Ethnicity and Immigrant Values: Religion and Language Choice

While the British literature on multilingualism has invoked value differentials not only between Asian immigrant groups and the host culture but also amongst the former, no empirical evidence actually exists. Hence, an extended Rokeach Value Survey was administered to three Asian groups (Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs) and to a British indigenous sample; the bilingual immigrants were offered a choice of the questionnaire in their own ethnic tongue or in English. Canonical variate analyses showed large intergroup value differentials with language choice having an effect for all Asian groups (greatest for Sikhs and least for Hindus). The specific differentials, however, depended on the dimension examined. Immigrants choosing English had a value position intermediate to the indigenous group and the Asians choosing their ingroup tongue.

Errata

Einar Haugen's review of Scandinavian language contacts, P. Sture Ureland and Iain Clarkson (eds.) (vol. 15, no. 1, March 1986), should read as follows from page 119, line 16:On the other hand, he has overlooked items that I did question, for example, how många ‘how many’, as du forstår ‘as you understand’, di småla liven ‘the small lives’, pregnant. He also neglects my reference to Walter Johnson's word list of Chisago Swedish (1942) as well as my examination of the Andrew Peterson diary, in which I found only one of the controversial Moberg examples. But his gravest oversight is of Walter Johnson's definitive article of 1971, “The recording of American Swedish,” in which this son of the Chisago Lake community speaks out and calls Moberg's mixed language “disconcerting.” We may grant that what I have called the “communicative norm” has a wide variation in situations of semi-speakers engaged in “language suicide,” without granting that bilingual immigrants are utterly unsystematic in their usage, as Ureland seems to say.The volume under review thus offers us a smörgasbord of situations in which Scandinavian languages have been involved, …The title of the Broch and Jahr reference should be Russenorsk - et pidginspråk i Norge.Alan Rumsey's review of Talk never dies: The language of Huli disputes, Laurence Goldman (vol. 15, no. 2, June 1986), should be corrected as follows:p. 250, first sentence should read: “By comparison to the amount of anthropological literature on other aspects of Highland New Guinea social life, surprisingly little has been published on talk, even within analyses of disputes.”p. 253, line 14 should read: “… related minimal pairs such as lāro ”I am saying' versus láro ‘I am causing to be/happen’; …”p. 254, first sentence should read: “By contrast to the nondirective quality of a mediator's speech when he has the floor, competition for the floor is fierce and peremptory.”

Shifts and Constancies in Rorschach Responses as a Function of Culture and Language

This study examined the relationship between Korean and American cultures and languages on Rorschach responses. The Rorschach Inkblot Test was individually administered to 20 Korean monolinguals, 20 American monolinguals, 20 Korean bilingual immigrants, and 10 American bilingual missionaries returned from Korea. The bilingual subjects took the test in Korean and in English. The results showed some shifts as well as some constancies in Rorschach responses as a function of culture. The results on the effect of language on Rorschach responses were less clear.

The Teaching of Bilingual Infant Immigrants in a Swedish Town

The Teaching of Bilingual Infant Immigrants in a Swedish Town