Linguistic Advantage Research Articles

Action and understanding in the semi-structured research interview: Using CA to analyse European research scientists’ attitudes to linguistic (dis)advantage

The semi-structured research interview is commonly used in EAP research to gain emic or insider perspectives. However, critics suggest that simplistic approaches to interview are pervasive, and that interview data is over-used and under-analysed by qualitative researchers. In this study, I consider the interactional nature of the EAP research interview by using the Conversation Analysis (CA) lens of action and understanding to enhance a more traditional qualitative analysis of interview data from semi-structured interviews with six European research scientists. I examine how the scientists position attitudes to the proposition that non-native English speakers are disadvantaged in writing for publication compared to their native speaker counterparts. The analysis focuses on how the scientists use pronominal subject + cognitive verb discourse markers (e.g., you know, I mean, I guess) to mark stance, shift focus, and renegotiate the linguistic (dis)advantage proposition. In doing so, they move beyond the native/non-native binary and introduce non-discursive factors as barriers to research publication success. The study highlights how an analysis of both the structure and the content of interview talk can enrich understanding of the worldviews of interview participants. It also illustrates how EAP researchers might address existing methodological critiques concerning the simplistic use of interview data.

Loss of MID in English: Free Peasantry and Their Linguistic Advantage

AbstractThe paper deals with the mysterious loss of a common preposition MID in the historical development of English. The issue is examined using a quantitative method combined with a historical sociolinguistic focus on the free peasantry in the East Midlands and Kent. Statistical results show East Midlands to be the leading region of the change, with Kent being the most conservative region. Given the special role of free peasantry in medieval society, it is proposed that they can exert disproportionate influence over linguistic changes in the feudal society, due to their free movement, well‐off socio‐economic status and higher prestige, and so are instrumental in the linguistic competition between MID and WIÐ.

On verbal memory span in Chinese speakers: Evidence for employment of an articulation-resistant phonological component

A striking feature of speakers of Chinese is the fact that their immediate verbal memory span tends to be substantially greater than is found for other languages. This is not limited to digits, nor is it is it adequately accounted for in terms of spoken duration. We explore two sources of this potential linguistic advantage, one is in terms of supplementary visual coding. We use the visual similarity effect to assess this hypothesis finding little support for its importance. The second approach assesses the role of subvocal articulation, using articulatory suppression which has been shown to remove the impact of phonological similarity on the recall of visually presented verbal sequences. We find that the phonological similarity effect remains in both Mandarin and Cantonese speakers, suggesting that Chinese language speakers may be able to maintain a phonological representation of the material despite concurrent articulation of an irrelevant utterance. We discuss a possible mechanism and its theoretical implications. Finally, we speculate that this enhanced capacity may reflect an adaptation to the demands of learning to map the Chinese writing system onto a complex tonal language.

Modality, presentation, domain and training effects in statistical learning

While several studies suggest that the nature and properties of the input have significant effects on statistical learning, they have rarely been investigated systematically. In order to understand how input characteristics and their interactions impact statistical learning, we explored the effects of modality (auditory vs. visual), presentation type (serial vs. simultaneous), domain (linguistic vs. non-linguistic), and training type (random, starting small, starting big) on artificial grammar learning in young adults (N = 360). With serial presentation of stimuli, learning was more effective in the auditory than in the visual modality. However, with simultaneous presentation of visual and serial presentation of auditory stimuli, the modality effect was not present. We found a significant domain effect as well: a linguistic advantage over nonlinguistic material, which was driven by the domain effect in the auditory modality. Overall, the auditory linguistic condition had an advantage over other modality-domain types. Training types did not have any overall effect on learning; starting big enhanced performance only in the case of serial visual presentation. These results show that input characteristics such as modality, presentation type, domain and training type influence statistical learning, and suggest that their effects are also dependent on the specific stimuli and structure to be learned.

Encouraging pointing with the right hand, but not the left hand, gives right-handed 3-year-olds a linguistic advantage.

Previous research has shown a strong positive association between right-handed gesturing and vocabulary development. However, the causal nature of this relationship remains unclear. In the current study, we tested whether gesturing with the right hand enhances linguistic processing in the left hemisphere, which is contralateral to the right hand. We manipulated the gesture hand children used in pointing tasks to test whether it would affect their performance. In either a linguistic task (verb learning) or a non-linguistic control task (memory), 131 typically developing right-handed 3-year-olds were encouraged to use either their right hand or left hand to respond. While encouraging children to use a specific hand to indicate their responses had no effect on memory performance, encouraging children to use the right hand to respond, compared to the left hand, significantly improved their verb learning performance. This study is the first to show that manipulating the hand with which children are encouraged to gesture gives them a linguistic advantage. Language lateralization in healthy right-handed children typically involves a dominant left hemisphere. Producing right-handed gestures may therefore lead to increased activation in the left hemisphere which may, in turn, facilitate forming and accessing lexical representations. It is important to note that this study manipulated gesture handedness among right-handers and does therefore not support the practice of encouraging children to become right-handed in manual activities. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Right-handed 3-year-olds were instructed to point to indicate their answers exclusively with their right or left hand in either a memory or verb learning task. Right-handed pointing was associated with improved verb generalization performance, but not improved memory performance. Thus, gesturing with the right hand, compared to the left hand, gives right-handed 3-year-olds an advantage in a linguistic but not a non-linguistic task. Right-handed pointing might lead to increased activation in the left hemisphere and facilitate forming and accessing lexical representations.

Abstract WP173: Children’s Post-Stroke Expressive Language Outcomes Are Affected By Bilingual Exposure

Introduction: Approximately 2/3 of children face neurological deficits following arterial ischemic stroke (AIS). In neurotypical development, bilingualism is thought to confer certain linguistic and cognitive advantages. However, research on whether this may affect development in bilingual pediatric stroke patients is scarce. Objectives: To evaluate the effects of bilingual vs. monolingual exposure on language and cognitive outcomes in children following arterial ischemic stroke across two studies: (1) large-scale group analysis using the Pediatric Stroke Outcome Measure (PSOM); (2) exploratory case studies using neuropsychological measures. Methods: An institutional stroke registry and chart review were used to gather patient and stroke data, including the Pediatric Stroke Outcome Measure (PSOM) and standardized neuropsychological measures performed at several timepoints post-stroke in children with AIS. In Study 1, growth curve modeling based on PSOM subscales, predicted by age at stroke groups, language groups and their interactions was used. In Study 2, comparative case studies were conducted with a monolingual-bilingual pair, aged 7 and 8 at stroke onset. Results: In Study 1, 237 patients were identified (44%, bilingual patients). Patients were stratified based on age at stroke onset i.e. neonatal (<28 days of life), first-year (28 days-12 months) and childhood (13 months - 18 years). On the PSOM’s language expression subscale, an interaction revealed better post-stroke outcomes among bilingual children aged 1-12 months at stroke (beta = -0.32, t =-2.33, p = 0.02). In Study 2, the bilingual’s performance on neuropsychological assessments corroborated findings of Study 1, favoring a recovery of expressive language. Conclusion: Overall, we found no negative consequences of a bilingual environment on post-stroke outcomes. Additionally, it is possible that bilingualism has a faciliatory effect on expressive language development post-stroke. Further research should evaluate linguistic advantage effects prospectively in bilingual children with stroke and a control group.

Musicians use speech-specific areas when processing tones: The key to their superior linguistic competence?

It is known that musicians compared to non-musicians have some superior speech and language competence, yet the mechanisms how musical training leads to this advantage are not well specified.This event-related fMRI study confirmed that musicians outperformed non-musicians in processing not only of musical tones but also syllables and identified a network differentiating musicians from non-musicians during processing of linguistic sounds.Within this network, the activation of bilateral superior temporal gyrus was shared with all subjects during processing of the acoustically well-matched musical and linguistic sounds, and with the activation distinguishing tones with a complex harmonic spectrum (bowed tone) from a simpler one (plucked tone). These results confirm that better speech processing in musicians relies on improved cross-domain spectral analysis.Activation of left posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), premotor cortex, inferior frontal and fusiform gyrus (FG) also distinguishing musicians from non-musicians during syllable processing overlapped with the activation segregating linguistic from musical sounds in all subjects. Since these brain-regions were not involved during tone processing in non-musicians, they could code for functions which are specialized for speech. Musicians recruited pSTS and FG during tone processing, thus these speech-specialized brain-areas processed musical sounds in the presence of musical training.This study shows that the linguistic advantage of musicians is linked not only to improved cross-domain spectral analysis, but also to the functional adaptation of brain resources that are specialized for speech, but accessible to the domain of music in the presence of musical training.

Chapter 6 - Gender differences in language are small but matter for disorders

Gender differences in language can be signs of cognitive differences, but can also by themselves be the cause for such differences. Females have a slight linguistic advantage over males, but effect sizes are small, and gender explains very little of the variance seen in the normal population (1%-2%). However, males outnumber females in the lowest 10th percentile in language tests (2:1), causing males to more often be diagnosed with developmental disorders, which rely on tests of language development. Thus, gender differences in language are negligible, if you focus on the whole population, but if you focus on language deficits, gender differences are outspoken. Differences in voice and word use can be observed among the genders, making it possible to predict gender from these measures with a high degree of certainty. A subtle finding is that women use more first person pronouns. This is also observed in depression, which is more prevalent in females, opening up a potential link. Sex chromosome trisomies are often accompanied by language deficits, but the causes for this are not known. No gender differences are observed in the linguistic symptoms of neurodegenerative disorders. Poststroke aphasia is more prevalent among women than among men, but this seems to be an age-effect. A link between the brain and gender differences in language is thus missing.

The traditions of massive and spiritual music in Bob Chilcott's “A Little Jazz Mass” (interpreted by Chinese choirs)

The relevance of the article is due to the need to fill the gap in scientific analytics that allows us to consider the features of the jazz mass, as a genre located at the intersection of two different cultural currents — religious ritual and jazz music as well as the need to determine the peculiarities of interpretation by Chinese choir groups of music of European genesis in view of the active process of interaction between cultures of the east and the west.The purpose of the article is the identification of the features of the interaction of traditional genre traits of mass and jazz style in “A Little Jazz Mass” by British composer Bob Chilcott, also process of identifying the characteristics of the performing strategy at the Shanghai Fudan University Choir.The methodology of the study involves the use of historical, structural, functional and comparative methods of analysis. The combination of these methods provides a wide view of the B. Chilcott jazz. The genre-style attribution of the work combined with a comparative approach made it possible to identify the stable and mobile components of the jazz mass genre. Comparative analysis becomes the basis of the style attribution of the performing version of the choir.The main results of the study. Bob Chilcott's “Little Jazz Mass” is one of the striking pieces that emerged from the interpenetration of church singing and jazz music. The popularity of this work, its continuing role in the repertoire of choral groups from different points of the globe, indicates the indisputable success of the British composer, who made an attempt to voice the ancient conservative genre by means of modern mass musical language. B. Chilcott's Mass is an example of “artistic jazz”. This is a work written in the original Latin text with the preservation of the main components of the Mass (except Credo). Nevertheless, the degree of distance of the work from the original kind of genre is very noticeable. The analysis of the style features of the work revealed the parity of the interaction of the characteristic features of spiritual liturgical music and jazz stylistics, as well as to establish the important role of the formative foundations of church music in the external linguistic advantage of jazz components of the musical language. Jazz Mass has been proven to be an important stage in the development of a genre that reflects the cultural process of returning to eternal spiritual values. It was found that the principles of the jazz mass performed by the Shanghai Fudan University choir correspond to the jazz style of the work, through a fairly free reading of the individual elements of the whole, which leads to the loss of the main meaning of the mass as a genre embedded in sacred words and to highlighting the concerto.

Making the most of an early start to L2 instruction

AbstractResearch over more than forty years has shown consistently that earlier L2 starters do not in the long term maintain the linguistic advantage of an early start over older starters. What, then, in the light of the widespread setting aside of the evidence regarding the apparent uselessness of an early start, is one to advise in respect of early L2 instruction? In this paper we discuss four factors which emerge as perhaps having relevance in this regard: the role of (bi)literacy skills, the role of language learning motivation, the role of factors relating to the transition from primary to secondary school, and the role of intensity of L2 instruction. We suggest that there are a number of broader macro-institutional factors, such as the impact of classroom experiences, that may impede the goal sought by the offering of numerous years of continued FL instruction.

Can digitisation help overcome linguistic and strategic disadvantages in international media markets? Exploring cross-border business opportunities for German-language media companies

The media economy and production literature offers insights into the international activities of media companies that provide products in ‘world languages’. Researchers point out that English-language content and, thus, English-language companies have a linguistic advantage and dominate the global media market. In comparison, there is limited knowledge of how companies that originate from non-dominant-language territories expand their activities abroad. This is all the more relevant as digitisation and fragmentation transform markets and new business opportunities arise. Against this background, we ask whether media companies from non-dominant-language markets can benefit from new constellations and business models to overcome linguistic and strategic disadvantages. We use the example of German-language media companies to explore whether and how digitisation and, to some extent, fragmentation mediate the cross-border activities of non-dominant-language media companies. Using qualitative interviews with top media managers, we address their market perceptions and strategies regarding cross-border activities. In sum, market hierarchies remain persistent, as new challenges, such as portfolio redefinition and rising competition, emerge. However, companies focusing on generic products or niche markets can benefit from digitisation, as can companies that have already grew large and overcome their linguistic constraints.

Collaborative Teacher-Students Talks on the Identity of Native vs. Nonnative English Teachers

The rise of English as an international language and English globalization has rekindled the debate over native vs.nonnative teachers’ identity in terms of their strengths and weaknesses in foreign language education. To contributeto the debate, this study explored EFL learners’ and teachers’ perceptions of native and nonnative teachers’ identity.Six nonnative teachers and their students (N=40) participated in collaborative talks to construct teacher identity inseparate discussion sessions. The conversations were transcribed to extract the main themes through content analysis.The findings showed that, from the students’ point of view, nonnative teachers enjoy bilingual advantage, have abetter understanding of learners’ culture, and are more capable in establishing rapport with learners. Regardingnative teachers, the students believed that they enjoy linguistic advantage and transfer L2 culture more competentlythan non-native teachers. The teachers had similar opinions about linguistic advantage, advanced/elementary levelinstruction, and art of teaching. However, they did not fully agree with nonnanative teachers’ bilingual advantage.The findings indicated that EFL learners and teachers prefer native and nonnative teachers in different respects andthat nativeness is not the sole determining factor in teacher identity.

Native speaker advantage in academic writing? Conjunctive realizations in EAP writing by four groups of writers

This paper joins the Native vs. Non-native writer dichotomy discussion of whether native speakers of English enjoy advantage in the academic writing context from the linguistic perspective by analyzing conjunctive realizations of four groups of writers: English L1 and L2 graduate students; English L1 and L2 scholars in applied linguistics. Fifteen essays from each group are compared on their explicit conjunctions and Logical Grammatical Metaphors (LGMs). Both graduate student groups employ explicit conjunctions more than the two scholar groups. For LGMs, not only do both graduate student groups differ from the two scholar groups, they also differ significantly from each other. In contrast, the two scholar groups show similar usage in explicit conjunctions and LGMs. Qualitative differences of conjunctive usage and lexical varieties are also found among the four groups. The study points out that writer experience overweighs their native-speaker status in academic writing. The findings question the native-speaker linguistic advantage to a certain extent and indicate complexity of this issue. As language for academic purposes is strikingly different from spoken language and cognitively more demanding, academic language needs to be learned and developed out of disciplinary studies with targeted instruction for all novice writers, regardless of their native or non-native speaker status.

The preference satisfaction model of linguistic advantage

In this article, I argue that we should measure a person’s linguistic advantage within a particular linguistic environment according to the extent to which his or her preferences about that environment are satisfied. I begin by outlining three criteria that a model of linguistic advantage should satisfy, if it is to serve as a plausible guide for theories of linguistic justice. I then describe a model that is capable of satisfying these criteria – the preference satisfaction model – and defend it from several potential objections. Finally, I consider some practical implications of the PSM, and describe how the model should be modified in cases where there are insufficient resources for it to be fully implemented.

The Babylonian benefit: Neurological research shows that being bilingual enhances mental performance and may protect from Alzheimer's disease.

The Babylonian benefit: Neurological research shows that being bilingual enhances mental performance and may protect from Alzheimer's disease.

Immigration and student achievement in Spain: evidence from PISA

This paper provides the first evidence on the dynamics of immigrant students’ achievement following their migration to Spain. Using the data from 2003, 2006 and 2009 wave of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), we show that immigrant students tend to perform significantly worse than native students, but that their performance improves with time spent in Spain. Among immigrants, Latin Americans enjoy an initial linguistic advantage, which, however, does not help them to catch up faster. The rate of improvement is such that students who stay almost all their lives in Spain still perform worse than natives in all domains analyzed by PISA. To better understand this achievement gap, we decompose it into parts attributable to school quality and to family characteristics. We observe that most of the gap is explained by individual and family characteristics and that less than 15 % of it can be attributed to differential school attendance. Overall, the evidence suggests that policies that do not target the learning environment in disadvantaged families are likely to have a limited impact on the native-immigrant achievement gap.

Toward understanding the variability in the language proficiencies of Arabic heritage speakers

Previous research on Arabic heritage speakers points to notable variability in the language proficiencies of Arabic heritage speakers, both as individuals and as groups (Albirini & Benmamoun, 2012; Albirini, Benmamoun, & Saadah, 2011). This study examines the language proficiencies of Egyptian and Palestinian heritage speakers, assesses the relationship between their L1 proficiency levels and other linguistic, socio-affective, socio-contextual, and demographic factors, and explores the relative significance of these factors in determining proficiency in heritage Arabic. A total of 20 Egyptian and 20 Palestinian heritage speakers completed an oral narrative that was used for assessing three dimensions of their language proficiencies, namely fluency, grammatical accuracy, and syntactic complexity. In addition, the participants filled in a 182-item questionnaire about the factors potentially influencing their heritage language skills, including language input, language use, language attitudes, ethnic identity, family role, community support, school, and demographics. The study also involved follow-up interviews with a sample of five Palestinian and five Egyptian participants.The results showed that the Palestinian speakers outperformed their Egyptian counterparts in terms of language fluency, accuracy, complexity, and overall proficiency. Pearson and Spearman correlations indicated that language use, language input, family role, community support, and parents’ language correlate positively with language proficiency. Multiple regression analyses showed that language use (in terms of frequency, range, and contexts) is the only significant predictor of the variability in heritage language proficiency. Lastly, the interviews revealed that the Palestinian heritage speakers’ linguistic advantage over their Egyptian counterparts might be attributed to their commitment to Arabic as a main marker of their heritage and identity, the encouragement of their families to maintain their heritage language, and the wider social networks to which they had access. The implications of the study are discussed.

Facebook revolutions: Transitions in the Arab world, transitions in media coverage? A comparative analysis of CNN and Al Jazeera English’s online coverage of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions

This study compared how CNN online and Al Jazeera English online covered the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt through their use of journalistic sources and channels. Sigal’s source theory (1973) provided the theoretical framework for the study. A content analysis was conducted examining a total of 941 sources in 70 news stories from the two outlets. Findings show that CNN resorted to the use of American officials and routine channels to report on the uprisings. In comparison,Al Jazeera English mostly used Tunisian and Egyptian citizens as sources as well as enterprise channels. The use of social media by Tunisian and Egyptian activists in the uprisings led the researchers to believe that there would be an extensive use of informal channels in both outlets, but that was not the case. Future studies should examine CNN and Al Jazeera English’s coverage of ‘neutral events’ where no one outlet has a cultural or linguistic advantage.

Marriage of convenience? Public service broadcasters’ cross-national partnerships in factual television

This article explores how public service broadcasters (PSBs) in Europe form cross-national partnerships to secure factual television programming and develop new television channels in response to globalization and transformations within the media sector. The article’s main case study is the BBC/Discovery partnership — the most extensive formal agreement in international television history for factual television. This partnership serves as a case to explore the feasibility of such collaborations for other PSBs in Europe. In doing so, two different regional partnership models emerge: the Nordic public—public model and the model adopted by PSBs in German-speaking Europe that mixes the Nordic and the BBC’s Anglo-American approach. While the BBC/Discovery partnership is unique in scale and global impact due to Discovery’s financial weight, and the BBC’s production experience and position in the programming market, as well as the partners’ linguistic advantage, the two other models exemplify the possibilities for less wealthy European PSBs in smaller linguistic markets.

Foreword

Foreword