Effects Of Bilingualism Research Articles

Are language-cognition interactions bigger than a breadbox? Integrative modeling and design space thinking temper simplistic questions about causally dense phenomena.

We affirm the utility of integrative modeling, according to which it is advantageous to move beyond "one-at-a-time binary paradigms" through studies that position themselves within realistic multidimensional design spaces. We extend the integrative modeling approach to a target domain with which we are familiar, the consequences of bilingualism on mind and brain, often referred to as the "bilingual advantage." In doing so, we highlight work from our group consistent with integrative modeling.

Linguistic distance dynamically modulates the effects of bilingualism on executive performance in aging

AbstractTo better explain various neurocognitive consequences of bilingualism, recent investigations have adopted continuous measures of bilingual experience, as opposed to binary bi/monolingual distinctions. However, few studies have considered whether bilingualism's effects on cognition are modulated by the linguistic distance (LD) between L1 and L2, and none of the existing studies has examined cognitive consequences of LD in aging populations. Here, we investigated the modulatory role of LD on the relationship between bilingualism, executive performance, and cognitive reserve (CR) in a sample of senior bilinguals. Our results show a dynamic trajectory of LD effects, with more distant language pairs exerting maximum effects at initial stages of bilingual experience – and closer language pairs at advanced stages. Bilingualism-related CR effects emerged only in the individuals with closer language pairs, suggesting that the language control stage of bilingual experience may play a key role in CR accrual, as compared to the L2 learning stage.

Do Bilinguals Outperform Monolinguals in Switching Tasks? Contrary Evidence for Nonlinguistic and Linguistic Switching Tasks.

The benefits of bilingualism in executive functions are highly debated. Even so, in switching tasks, these effects seem robust, although smaller than initially thought (Gunnerud et al., 2020; Ware et al., 2020). By handling two languages throughout their lifespan, bilinguals appear to train their executive functions and show benefits in nonlinguistic switching tasks compared to monolinguals. Nevertheless, because bilinguals need to control for the interference of another language, they may show a disadvantage when dealing with task-switching paradigms requiring language control, particularly when those are performed in their less dominant language. The present work explored this issue by studying bilingualism's effects on task switching within the visual and language domains. On the one hand, our results show that bilinguals were overall faster and presented reduced switch costs compared to monolinguals when performing perceptual geometric judgments with no time for task preparation. On the other hand, no bilingual advantage was found when a new sample of comparable bilinguals and monolinguals completed a within-language switching task. Our results provide clear evidence favoring the bilingual advantage, yet only when the task imposes greater executive demands and does not involve language control.

Can Machines Find the Bilingual Advantage? Machine Learning Algorithms Find No Evidence to Differentiate Between Lifelong Bilingual and Monolingual Cognitive Profiles.

Bilingualism has been identified as a potential cognitive factor linked to delayed onset of dementia as well as boosting executive functions in healthy individuals. However, more recently, this claim has been called into question following several failed replications. It remains unclear whether these contradictory findings reflect how bilingualism is defined between studies, or methodological limitations when measuring the bilingual effect. One key issue is that despite the claims that bilingualism yields general protection to cognitive processes (i.e., the cognitive reserve hypothesis), studies reporting putative bilingual differences are often focused on domain specific experimental paradigms. This study chose a broader approach, by considering the consequences of bilingualism on a wide range of cognitive functions within individuals. We utilised 19 measures of different cognitive functions commonly associated with bilingual effects, to form a “cognitive profile” for 215 non-clinical participants. We recruited Welsh speakers, who as a group of bilinguals were highly homogeneous, as means of isolating the bilingualism criterion. We sought to determine if such analyses would independently classify bilingual/monolingual participant groups based on emergent patterns driven by collected cognitive profiles, such that population differences would emerge. Multiple predictive models were trained to independently recognise the cognitive profiles of bilinguals, older adults (60-90 years of age) and higher education attainment. Despite managing to successfully classify cognitive profiles based on age and education, the model failed to differentiate between bilingual and monolingual cognitive ability at a rate greater than that of chance. Repeated modelling using alternative definitions of bilingualism, and just the older adults, yielded similar results. In all cases then, using our “bottom–up” analytical approach, there was no evidence that bilingualism as a variable indicated differential cognitive performance – as a consequence, we conclude that bilinguals are not cognitively different from their monolingual counterparts, even in older demographics. We suggest that studies that have reported a bilingual advantage (typically recruiting immigrant populations) could well have confounded other key variables that may be driving reported advantages. We recommend that future research refine the machine learning methods used in this study to further investigate the complex relationship between bilingualism and cognition.

Bilingualism's Effects on Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Background: Bilingualism is considered a cognitive reserve (CR) factor, due to the delay in the onset of dementia in bilinguals compared with monolinguals. Two neural mechanisms have been suggested to underlie CR: neural reserve and neural compensation. However, it is still unclear how bilingualism contributes to these mechanisms. Methods: In this study, we used cognitive tests, functional connectivity (FC), regional homogeneity, and fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) measures to study resting-state brain patterns in a sample of bilingual and monolingual subjects with mild cognitive impairment. Results: We found no significant differences between the groups in age, sex, education, or cognitive level, but bilinguals showed higher FC than monolinguals between the posterior part of the superior temporal gyrus and the precuneus, positively correlated with Mini-Mental State Examination scores, and higher fALFF in the thalamus bilaterally. Conclusions: Our results suggest that bilingualism may act as a CR factor that protects against dementia through neural compensation.

Bilinguals' comprehension of foreign-accented speech

Foreign accents represent a common challenge to successful speech recognition, and while much has been uncovered about the factors contributing to the intelligibility of foreign-accented speech, most of it is based on data from monolingual listeners. There is good reason to believe, however, that bilinguals have a different experience when decoding foreign-accented speech: their two phonologies offer both greater flexibility in phonological-lexical mapping (Samuel and Larraza, 2015) but also greater lexical competition (Marian & Spivey, 2003). Further, they are known to perform more poorly than monolinguals in speech-in-noise comprehension (Rogers et al., 2006). Given these consequences of bilingualism, the current study compares the intelligibility of foreign-accented speech for monolingual listeners and simultaneous bilingual listeners. Spanish-English bilinguals and English monolinguals performed a sentence repetition task for sentences produced by speakers of Mandarin-Chinese accented English with varying levels of proficiency in English. The competing hypotheses for this study are as follows: (1) because bilinguals' have a more flexible phonological-lexical mapping system, they will outperform the monolinguals in foreign-accented speech recognition; or, (2) greater lexical competition due to the bilinguals' L2 lexicon will result in poorer performance. The results will provide insight on bilingual sentence processing, and shed light on the shared and unique experiences of bilinguals and monolinguals.

Cognitive and Neurocognitive Effects From the Unique Bilingual Experiences of Interpreters.

For bilinguals, research suggests that both languages are constantly active and competing in the mind, even when only using one. However, this body of work has reported inconclusive results on the long-term effects of the constant parallel activation and use of more than one language on the brain. This has mostly been due to inconsistent comparisons between groups of bilinguals and monolinguals. Not all bilingualisms are the same. The investigation of the use of more than one language over a lifetime offers the opportunity to better understand the consequences of bilingualism on the brain. However, few studies have specifically looked at the long-standing effects of being an interpreter. In this paper, we review theories from the field of Translation and Interpreting Studies and provide a critical review of work that offers insight on the cognitive and neurocognitive effects that seem to arise from the unique, highly-cognitive-demanding practices experienced by interpreters.

THE SCIENTIFIC HERITAGE OF THE PROMINENT ESTONIAN LINGUIST MATI HINT

The scientific views of the famous Estonian linguist, public figure and politician, legendary professor of the University of Tallinn, Mati Hint (1937-2019), cover a wide range of Estonian philology, from phonetics to linguistic politics and the research of linguistic landscape. The number of his scientific works is well over 300. Mati Hint was characterized by a constant opposition to the mainstream. He popularized the South Estonian Tartu literary language, which had become extinct at the beginning of the 20th century, by publishing several scientific articles on this subject. Hint provided an innovative description of the phonological system, morphophonology and the grade alternation of the Estonian language. According to his concept, in the Estonian language, three longitudes of phonemes cannot be distinguished. Three longitudes can have a syllable. Thus, Estonian is not an unique language that differs from all other languages of the world, but on the contrary, it fits perfectly into all languages of the world. In many works he explains the problems of contacts between the Estonian and the Russian languages. Hint indicates the consequences of bilingualism, which may result in semilingualism, and in extreme cases in a language shift. A large language can be pidginized and creolized. According to the current period, professor Hint attributed to the English language similar roles in relation to Estonian, which he attributed to the Russian language during Perestroika.

Lexical entrenchment and cross-language activation: Two sides of the same coin for bilingual reading across the adult lifespan

We used eye movement measures of paragraph reading to examine whether two consequences of bilingualism, namely, reduced lexical entrenchment (i.e., reduced lexical quality and accessibility arising from less absolute language experience) and cross-language activation (i.e., simultaneous co-activation of target- and non-target-language lexical representations) interact during word processing in bilingual younger and older adults. Specifically, we focused on the interaction between word frequency (a predictor of lexical entrenchment) and cross-language neighborhood density (a predictor of cross-language activation) during first- and second-language reading. Across both languages and both age groups, greater cross-language (and within-language) neighborhood density facilitated word processing, indexed by smaller word frequency effects. Moreover, word frequency effects and, to a lesser extent, cross-language neighborhood density effects were larger in older versus younger adults, potentially reflecting age-related changes in lexical accessibility and cognitive control. Thus, lexical entrenchment and cross-language activation multiplicatively influence bilingual word processing across the adult lifespan.

Increased processing speed in young adult bilinguals: evidence from source memory judgments

Although many studies have investigated the consequences of bilingualism on cognitive control, few have examined the impact of bilingualism on other cognitive domains, such as memory. Of these studies, most have focused on item memory and none have examined the role of bilingualism in source memory (i.e., the memory for contextual details from a previous encounter with a stimulus). In our study, young adult bilinguals and monolinguals completed a source memory test, whose different conditions were designed to stress working memory and inhibitory control. Bilinguals performed significantly faster than monolinguals across all conditions without compromising accuracy, and also showed an overall speed advantage on the Flanker task. We interpret these processing speed advantages within the context of current models of bilingual production.

Inhibitory and attentional control: the interaction between “professional activity” and bilingualism

This study investigates the consequences of bilingualism on inhibitory and attentional control. Findings garnered from studies about the so-called bilingual advantage in such executive functions are still controversial. This investigation tested 40 (20 monolinguals and 20 bilinguals) highly-educated middle-aged (ranging from 36–58 years old) businesspeople in two nonverbal cognitive tasks, the Simon task and the Attentional Network Task (ANT). No significant statistical differences were found in the interference effect between the groups, nor was there a bilingual advantage in any of the three attentional networks. The results suggest that variables such as level of education and professional activity might compete with the bilingual advantage, acting as possible research confounds.

Bilinguismo e controle inibitório: possíveis interferências das variáveis “profissão” e “escolaridade”

Recent studies have presented controversial results concerning the bilingual advantage (i.e., bilinguals’ tendency to outperform monolinguals on nonlinguistic interference tasks measuring executive functions (EFs) such as executive control (EC), attention, inhibition, problem solving). Recent research has shown that bilinguals tend to show a more robust advantage in overall reaction times (RTs), rather than an advantage on the magnitude of the interference effect. Irrespective of nature, the so-called bilingual advantage has been found in different age groups, but sometimes no bilingual advantage is actually found. This study investigates the consequences of bilingualism on inhibitory control, focusing on two variables that may compete with the bilingual advantage: “profession” and “level of education”. Two groups of highly-educated middle-aged professionals, businesspeople and teachers/professors, divided into bi/monolinguals, were tested in a nonverbal cognitive task, the Simon task, in order to replicate previous studies which have found a bilingual advantage in the interference effect for the same age group. Although bilinguals outperformed their monolingual counterparts, no signifi cant statistical differences were found in the interference effect, and both language groups were faster in the incongruent trials than in the congruent ones, resulting in null interference effects and thus countering the initial idea that participants always take longer to respond to incongruent trials. Results suggest that certain professional activities, as well as higher levels of education might act as confounds with the bilingual advantage. Keywords: bilingualism, executive functions, inhibitory control.

Two Languages in Mind

A series of discoveries in the past two decades has changed the way we think about bilingualism and its implications for language and cognition. One is that both of the bilingual’s languages are always active. The parallel activation of the two languages is thought to give rise to competition that imposes demands on the bilingual to control the language not in use to achieve fluency in the target language. The second is that there are consequences of bilingualism that affect the native as well as the second language: The native language changes in response to second-language use. The third is that the consequences of bilingualism are not limited to language but appear to reflect a reorganization of brain networks that hold implications for the ways in which bilinguals negotiate cognitive competition more generally. The focus of recent research on bilingualism has been to understand the relations among these discoveries and their implications for language, cognition, and the brain across the life span.

What bilinguals tell us about culture, cognition, and language

In the last 25 years, cognitive scientists have come to see that using more than one language is a natural circumstance of human experience, not an exceptional condition that produces disordered speaking or thinking (1). The revision of previously held negative views about bilingualism is largely attributable to the finding that although bilinguals appear to activate both languages when reading, listening to speech, and speaking one language alone, they do not suffer notable disruptions (2). Bilingual speakers can choose the language they wish to speak, but at the same, switch back and forth from one language to the other, often in midsentence, with others who are similarly bilingual. The evidence suggests that the consequences of bilingualism are largely positive, with features of bilingual minds and brains reflecting the benefits of a life spent negotiating the presence of two languages and acquiring the skill to select the appropriate language in the intended context (3, 4). In a fascinating PNAS report, Zhang et al. (5) demonstrate that bilingual speakers are sensitive to cultural cues in the environment that signal the presence of the native language. Contrary to the claim that bilingualism confers benefits to those who speak more than one language, the form of the sensitivity demonstrated in the Zhang et al. research is negative, with slower speech when speaking the second language, L2, in the presence of first language, L1. Most dramatically, these disruptions to L2 speech occur when bilinguals are speaking to the faces of other bilinguals with the same L1.

Gender Differences in Young Latino Adults’ Status Attainment: Understanding Bilingualism in the Familial Context

Abstract: Previous studies have demonstrated that bilingualism among Latinos in the United States may not necessarily result in negative status attainment consequences. Such studies have typically overlooked gender differences in the consequences of bilingualism. Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study (N= 866 females; 737 males), we analyzed gender differences in how bilingualism among Latino families (as experienced in childhood and adolescence) may affect the status attainment of young adults. Results indicated that females were more substantially affected by language use and ability in the family context than males. The findings suggest that gender roles within Latino families are interwoven with the effects of bilingualism. Practice and policy implications include how schools and educators must address the gendered nature of bilingualism.

Bilingual Children's Reflections on Writing and Diglossia

This investigation of the development of metalinguistic consciousness examines bilingual children's perceptions of language contact in a situation of marked social imbalance between their first and second languages. Forty-five Spanish/Nahuatl bilinguals (Central Mexico) were assessed on a series of language awareness tests and sociolinguistic interviews. The exploratory investigation focused on how school-age bilinguals view written forms in Spanish and Nahuatl; the former associated with literacy learning, academic discourse generally, and interethnic communication outside of the community as well as within, the latter with oral domains, traditional, familial and intimate interpersonal contexts. The study addresses key issues in the discussion on the relationship between bilingualism and metalinguistic consciousness, reporting findings related to the factors of language proficiency, attitudes and perceptions, and awareness of language form. How these factors interact within the overall context of a kind of defacto additive bilingual situation, in turn, suggests a different approach to the broader debate on the general cognitive/linguistic consequences of bilingualism.

Perspectives on Second-Language Development: Implications for Bilingual Education

This article provides a guide to basic research in second-language acquisition by characterizing distinct perspectives from foreign language teaching, first-language acquisition, psycholinguistics, and sociocultural factors. The research in these areas provides some answers to common questions about second-language acquisition, including those of optimum age, factors that facilitate learning, the consequences of bilingualism, individual differences, and assessment techniques. It is argued that the crucial insights of the sociocultural perspective must be introduced if we are to have adequate assessments of bilingual individuals or evaluation of bilingual programs.

Bilingualism or Not: The Education of Minorities.

This book deals with bilingualism, particularly as it relates to migrants and indigenous minorities. People from (linguistic) minorities often have to become bilingual in order to cope in the larger society, while majority representatives may voluntarily become bilingual. The book begins with a purely linguistic coverage of bilingualism and then deals with the prerequisites and consequences of bilingualism from the perspectives of psychology and pedagogy. It then moves on from the family and the school to international comparisons of societies with different minority policies. It also analyses controversies about the education of migrants and minorities and places them in the wider political context. Among the topics covered are - the mother tongue, its development and significance and how it differs from languages learned later - definitions and measurement of bilingualism - different ways of becoming bilingual for different groups, in the school and the family - bilingualism, cognitive development and school achievement - semilingualism - guest worker policy and immigrant policy - violence in minority education.

Taalgebruik, van Surinaamse Kinderen op de Basisschool

While research data indicate that Dutch education is problematic for Surinamese children, Dutch educational policy takes the view that the children can adapt to the curriculum quickly or even im-mediately, because they supposedly have a Dutch-speaking background. However, the language situation of Surinamese children is complex: a vast proportion of the children is bilingual and speaks a non-standard variety of Dutch: Surinamese Dutch (SN). Therefore, it is important to find out how the school fits the specific situa-tion of these children. The curriculum and the demands of the school, as well as the expectations of the teachers toward the children partly define the success of failure of the child. Language attitudes, too, can lead to a self fulfilling prophecy as regards to teacher expectations. This article deals with the perceptions of teachers with respect to language problems in the school and with teacher attitudes con-cerning the language use of Surinamese children. According to the majority of the teachers. Surinamese children have difficulties with a number of schoolsubjects as a consequence of their different home language. In particular the 'concentration schools', schools with a population of more than 15% Surinamese children, experience these problems most acutely. The majority of teachers indicate that they pursue command of the standard language as an objective. Most of the teachers locate the problems with the chil-dren, not with the school system itself. Investigating to what extent teachers-attitudes influence the educational results of the children is a complex task. First of all, the question needs to be answered wether teachers already have specific attitudes toward SN, since it is a rather new phenomenon to have Surinamese children in the classroom. The data suggest that, at this point, many teachers do not view SN as a seperate language variety, but as 'poor Dutch'. Nevertheless they are reasonably positive about the characteristics of SN, which may reflect their insecurity about this variety of Dutch. Comparing attitudes towards urban dialects and SN shows that teachers have a more pronounced and somewhat more negative attitude towards the urban dialects of their Dutch pupils. There is an important attitudinal difference between teachers from different cities. Teachers do not express stereotypes about the consequences of bilingualism for a child's intellectual development, but as regards the specific classroom situation, the majority of the teachers reports difficulties for children with a different home language. However, most teachers oppose special provisions in the school for use of the home language as a medium of instruction or as a subject. It seems that the views of teachers are linked to societal norms and educational policy, in which an ethnocentric point of view predominates. While information about sociolinguistic insights may not on its own change these norms, ignoring such information will certainly not bring about a change. Therefore, specific language curricula need to be developed.

The cognitive consequences of bilingual education in northern Belize

Interest in the consequences of bilingualism has been long standing in anthropology and psychology. Recent work has emphasized the value of bilingualism and reported that the experience yields highly differentiated, stable cognitive structures. This paper argues that the effects of the bilingual experience are in large measure situation specific. Using data from Belize, Central America, it shows that bilingualism acquired in a stressful environment results in predictable decrements in the patterning of semantic knowledge.