Bilingual Research Articles

The effects of heritage multilingualism on foreign language learning: a comparison of children with typical language development and developmental language disorder

IntroductionBoth multilingualism and developmental language disorder (DLD) may be associated with inferior performance in the majority language, albeit for different reasons. At the same time, there is a growing body of evidence that multilingualism may have a positive effect on foreign language performance. This study tests the hypothesis that the positive effects of multilingualism on foreign language learning may be smaller in children with DLD compared to their multilingual peers with typical language development.MethodsIn a 2 × 2 design, we compare the effects of multilingualism and DLD on English as a foreign language performance and majority language performance of multilinguals and monolinguals with and without DLD. The participants were primary school children (aged 9–13) acquiring Dutch as the majority language and learning English as a school subject. English skills were measured with a vocabulary test, a grammar test and the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (MAIN). Dutch skills were assessed with the Litmus Sentence Repetition Task and the MAIN task. The MAIN narratives in both languages were analyzed for fluency, lexical diversity, syntactic complexity and grammatical accuracy. The control variables included age, working memory, declarative memory, procedural memory and (for English) amount of extracurricular exposure and length of instruction. Data were analyzed by means of multilevel linear regression.ResultsThe results demonstrate that both multilingualism and DLD were associated with lower scores on the Dutch Sentence Repetition Task and lower grammatical accuracy of narratives. In English, the multilinguals outperformed monolinguals on all measures, except grammatical accuracy of narratives, and the interactions between Background and Group were not significant. Another strong predictor of EFL performance, along with the multilingual status, was extracurricular exposure to English.

“Yeah, But I Don’t Speak English”: Critical Language Portrait Dialogues with Adult Multilingual Language Learners

ABSTRACT This study seeks to understand how adult Emergent Multilingual Language Learners (EMLLs) constructed their linguistic identities during the COVID-19 pandemic in response to English-only ideologies that view white bilingualism as an asset and racialized bilingualism as a deficit. To answer this question, adult EMLLs created online language portraits to represent their past, present, and future linguistic identities and then engaged in dialogue with one another about them. The results revealed that the participants have experienced the raciolinguistic chronotopes of anxiety, resistance, and deferral. These findings suggest a need for implementing transformative strategies like translanguaging pedagogy in adult education as well as a greater emphasis on multilingual and transnational experiences in policy reform.

Multilingualism and developmental language disorder in Southeast Asian speech-language pathology practice: An international survey

Purpose This study aims to explore the current practices and challenges faced by speech-language pathologists in three Southeast Asian countries (Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam) in assessing and treating multilingual children with developmental language disorder. Method A survey was designed and administered to 110 speech-language pathologists across Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The survey contained 60 questions on current practices and knowledge of existing resources for assessing and treating multilingual children with developmental language disorder. Data were analysed to identify relationships between practices and demographic variables including country of origin, years of service, and speech-language pathologists’ multilingual status. Result Current practices reveal little knowledge and/or use of standardised tests for developmental language disorder across countries, but relatively high self-perceived competence when working with multilingual clients for Indonesia and Malaysia. However, several challenges were perceived across the board in practice with multilingual children, including socioeconomic challenges (i.e. costs involved for families and social status), insufficient training on the relevant topics, and limited access to appropriate tools and resources in their current practice. Conclusion Findings suggest the need for training and appropriate assessment tools to ensure the adoption of evidence-based service delivery for multilingual caseloads, minimising misclassification of developmental language disorder and boosting confidence levels in speech-language pathologists in Southeast Asia.

Arabic Temporal Common Sense Understanding

Natural language understanding (NLU) includes temporal text understanding, which can be complex and encompasses temporal common sense understanding. There are many challenges in comprehending common sense within a text. Currently, there is a limited number of datasets containing temporal common sense in English and there is an absence of such datasets specifically for the Arabic language. In this study, an Arabic dataset was constructed based on an available English dataset. This dataset is considered a valuable resource for the Arabic community. Consequently, different multilingual pre-trained language models (PLMs) were applied to both the English and new Arabic datasets. Based on this, the effectiveness of these models in Arabic and English is compared and discussed. After analyzing the errors, a new categorization of errors was proposed. Finally, the ability of the PLMs to understand the input text and predict temporal features was evaluated. Through this detailed categorization of errors and classification of temporal elements, this study establishes a comprehensive framework aimed at clarifying the specific challenges encountered by PLMs in temporal common sense understanding (TCU). This methodology underscores the urgent need for further research on PLMs’ capabilities for TCU tasks.

The impact of typological similarities and differences between German and Italian on the acquisition of language-specific phonetic cues in bilingual children: insights from the T-complex

IntroductionLateral temporal neural measures (Na and T-complex Ta and Tb) of the auditory evoked potential (AEP) index auditory/speech processing and have been observed in children and adults. While Na is already present in children under 4 years of age, Ta emerges from 4 years of age, and Tb appears even later. The T-complex has been found to be sensitive to language experience in Spanish-English and Turkish-German children and adults. In particular, Ta elicited to a vowel has been found to be sensitive to language experience in bilingual preschool children. This paper examines neural responses in 4-to-6-year-old Italian-German bilingual and German monolingual children using language-specific phonetic cues for voicing.MethodsWe tested children's processing of voicing features in bilabial stop consonants in relation to (1) their language status (i.e., being monolingual vs. bilingual) as well as to (2) their relative amount of current exposure to the heritage (Italian) and the societal language (German). Italian-German bilingual and German monolingual children were hypothesized to encode the temporal properties of a set of Voice Onset Time (VOT) stimuli differently as indexed by Ta and Tb.ResultsThe results revealed no main effects of language group, but interactions of group with hemisphere and stimulus. In particular, bilingual children showed less hemispheric differentiation and an attenuated (less positive) response at the right site (T8) for the 0 ms VOT stimulus during the Ta-Tb time window. Children with more German (and consequently, less Italian) input showed a more positive T8 response for the Na, Ta and Tb time intervals.DiscussionThese findings partially replicated previous studies, but also revealed that stimulus factors modulate the response. They suggest that a delay in commitment is found only in bilinguals with less input in the target language, and those who are strongly dominant in one of the two languages will resemble monolinguals in the development of T-complex responses. However, the finding of greater Na positivity for German-dominant bilinguals suggests that their specific experience also influences processing, but perhaps via a different mechanism than found for the more balanced bilinguals.

The Complementary Principle and language dominance: mapping the language–domain relationships of Spanish–English bilinguals

Abstract While language dominance has been crucial in the study of bilingualism, recent research has called for more detailed measures to systematically account for the observation that bilinguals use different languages in different domains, a phenomenon formalized in the Complementary Principle. Few studies have systematically measured these language–domain relationships. Addressing these gaps, this study employs a novel, mixed-methods approach to identify the links between domain (i.e., topic) and language and to examine the effect of language dominance on language–domain relationships. Spanish–English bilinguals in the U.S. (N = 443) responded to open-ended prompts about the topics they discuss in each of their two languages and when code-switching. A qualitative thematic analysis was used to identify relevant topic categories and examine the relationships between topic and language. Subsequent analysis examined variability in language-domain mappings of bilinguals from across the language dominance continuum. Results showed that Spanish was most associated with topics of family and day-to-day life and English with academics and work. Little differentiation in language–domain mappings was found between English-dominant, Spanish-dominant, and balanced bilinguals. Findings are discussed with a focus on the methodological contributions and the implications for integrating the Complementary Principle in measures of language dominance.

Exploring the L2 Acquisition Outcome of Simultaneous Bilinguals and The Influence of Input

Simultaneous bilingualism refers to bilingualism where the bilingual is exposed to both languages from birth and learn two languages before the age of three. Such bilinguals become native-like in both languages (called balanced bilingualism), or have a stronger and weaker language (called unbalanced bilingualism). Therefore, this article depicts simultaneous bilinguals’ learning outcome of their weaker language from syntax, phonetics, and vocabulary acquisition, and discusses the influence of input on the acquisition process. Specifically, in their lesser exposed language, simultaneous bilinguals follow monolingual developmental patterns in syntax acquisition, maintain acceptable language-specific distinctions but produce non-nativelike overlaps phonetically, and generally have smaller a receptive and expressive vocabulary than monolinguals. Quantity of input is crucial to the success of simultaneous bilingualism and balanced bilingualism, and heavily influences vocabulary acquisition. This article provides directions for future research in simultaneous bilingualism and the function of input in language acquisition.

Multilingualism, multicultural personality, and foreign language anxiety as predictors of Chinese international students’ intercultural willingness to communicate

ABSTRACT Intercultural willingness to communicate (IWTC) is essential to an individual’s success in intercultural communication. However, few studies investigated the factors that influence IWTC. This study examined the predictive effects of multilingualism, multicultural personality traits (i.e. social initiative, open-mindedness, cultural empathy, flexibility, and emotional stability), and foreign language anxiety (FLA) on the IWTC of Chinese international students studying abroad. The participants were 545 Chinese university students studying at 26 countries. Correlation analysis revealed that multilingualism, social initiative, open-mindedness, and cultural empathy were positively correlated with IWTC, whereas FLA and flexibility were negatively correlated. We then conducted multiple regression analysis and dominance analysis to examine the relative importance of the significant predictor variables in predicting the IWTC. Dominance analysis showed that social initiative, open-mindedness, and cultural empathy were the top three important and positive predictive variables, followed by multilingualism, whereas FLA had a significant but weaker negative effect. These results suggest that social-perceptual traits (i.e. social initiative, open-mindedness, and cultural empathy) and language experience-related variables (i.e. multilingualism and FLA) are important individual difference factors affecting IWTC. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

AUDIO TO SIGN LANGUAGE CONVERSION

Due to high demand for inclusive technologies and the rapid electrons communication age, there is growing interest in automatic audio to sign language conversion systems. This article has given the relevant way to solve this problem by converting spoken language into sign languages in real time using machine translation that can shape communication path for deaf and dumb community. In our method, we use Natural Language Processing (NLP) to transcribe audio into text and then deep learning for sign language generation. The system recognizes keywords and important phrases in the transcribed text, associates them with corresponding sign language gestures, and presents such signs animations using an avatar-based visualization. The recent accomplishment is different from previous systems that work directly and only translate a sentence to its corresponding sign, rather focusing on the contextual analysis for better conveying of meaning. Key Words: Audio to Sign Language Translation, Speech- to- Text Conversion, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Translation, Deep Learning, Gesture Recognition, Avatar-based Sign Language Visualization, Accessibility, Multilingual Sign Language

Teachers’ Strategies to Enhancing Reading Skill as The Base Components for Multilingual Invants in The Classroom

English has the prominent role in the society. As taught in recent cases the language implied their characteristics in any evidences. Moreover, English for Foreign Learner (EFL) have adapted to learn and produce something available for the future. This research have presented along the community where the writer intended for study. Applied linguistics were exporting in English Second Language (ESL) which determining the application of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). The paper is using multilingualism and English Language Teaching (ELT) as the study objects through Target Text (TT) and Source Text (ST). To determine the discussion and finding, the writer intended in library research with qualitative study, open-ended questions, and analytical methods. As the final results, there will be teacher strategies to apply some plans and general introductions for L2 learner in Indonesia.

Realtime Multilingual Sign Language Translation App

In a globalized world, effective communication is a necessity. As we live in rapidly changing world, communication enables individuals to adapt to new circumstances, innovate, and seize opportunities. It an important aspect which focuses on building relationships facilitates the exchange of ideas, thoughts, feedback, and feelings with others. Thus, hearing people breakdown and smash those barriers encountered by the Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities. The main barrier is communication. Sign language is just like any other language used for communication purpose. Addressing this challenge, the development of a Multilingual Sign Language App is proposed. This app aims to bridge the communication gap by offering a comprehensive platform for learning and using sign languages from around the world and is designed to be a versatile and inclusive tool that caters to the unique linguistic and cultural aspects of different sign languages. The app includes features such as sign language dictionaries with video demonstrations, interactive learning modules, translation tools, customizable learning experiences, and a vibrant user community. Users can access content in various sign languages. The app promotes not only language acquisition but also cultural understanding. By addressing linguistic diversity and cultural nuances, this app stands as a vital resource for both Deaf and hearing communities, fostering a more inclusive and understanding world

Three decades of research on the model of investment in applied linguistics: a bibliometric analysis and research agenda

ABSTRACT As of 2024, nearly three decades have passed since Bonny Norton introduced the investment model. This bibliometric review analyses research on this model using metadata from 424 publications indexed in the Web of Science database. Employing bibliometric techniques, the study identifies and visually presents significant sources, countries, institutions, and leading authors. It also examines influential works through h-classics publications. The findings reveal (a) a consistent increase in research related to the investment model over the past decade; (b) a broad range of dissemination sources across disciplines like linguistics, sociolinguistics, education, psychology, cultural studies, and sociology; (c) the prominent role of Norton in research and collaborations; and (d) a strong focus on language learners and teachers’ identity construction and agency, multilingual education, language learning and teaching investment, and cultural and ideological factors, with significant attention to technology and power dynamics. Additionally, the review of the h-classics suggests future research directions, including the (dis)investments of international students, immigrants, and asylum seekers in learning languages other than English (LOTEs), investments in teaching LOTEs in Asia and exploration of language teacher identities and their challenges related to race, sexual orientation, and legitimacy. This research is essential for advancing inclusive language education in multilingual contexts.

Bilingual Learning for Young Children

This study examines the impact of immersion education on the native language (L1) proficiency of adolescent bilingual learners. Immersion education, where most academic instruction is provided in a second language (L2), aims to foster bilingualism while achieving academic competence. However, there are concerns about the effect of this educational model on learners' L1 development, particularly during adolescencea critical period for cognitive and academic language growth. Drawing from existing research on bilingualism and immersion education, this paper explores the balance between L2 acquisition and L1 maintenance. It emphasizes the role of home language support, school environment, and broader sociocultural contexts in shaping language outcomes. The findings suggest that while immersion programs are effective in promoting L2 proficiency, they may lead to a decline in L1 academic skills unless deliberate efforts are made to support L1 development. Key factors influencing L1 maintenance include the amount of L1 exposure, parental and community support, societal attitudes towards bilingualism, and specific classroom practices that integrate L1 use. This study underscores the importance of balanced bilingualism, where both L1 and L2 are valued, and provides practical implications for educators and policymakers to create supportive environments for adolescent bilingual learners.

Limited input: Circumstances and consequences

Aims and Objectives: The aim of this introductory chapter to Effects of Limited Input, a Special Issue of the International Journal of Bilingualism, is to give a brief overview of how the topic of limited linguistic input is situated within the study of bilingualism and language contact. The seven chapters—which present samples of the varied circumstances in which bilinguals acquire, use, maintain, and sometimes suppress areas of their languages—are introduced. Research Questions: The authors of this collection address the following kinds of questions: What are the circumstances—and consequences—of limited linguistic input? What kinds of changes are likely or unlikely to happen when the amount of input is low and stylistically reduced? How meager can the input be for some degree of functional bilingualism to still develop? Design/Methodology: The methods used in the seven articles in this collection vary; they include case studies, observations, speech-rate measurements, oral narration tasks, comparisons of production vs. comprehension, and longitudinal approaches. Data and Analysis: The studies in this collection draw from a wide variety of data sets, including bilingual corpora and naturally occurring or elicited speech. The data come from children, youth, and adults, from various languages and language contact settings, and from populations with varying degrees of bilingualism. Findings/Conclusions: We argue that limited input is not restricted to bilingual situations alone; it relates also to the mastering of monolingual registers. The key argument of this introductory chapter is that limited input is the rule, not the exception, as it is very rare to find a language contact situation wherein all contact varieties are equally represented in the input that speakers receive. Therefore, we argue against the theoretical notion of “balanced bilingualism” as a realistic outcome of bilingualism and claim that variations in the circumstances of language exposure will naturally lead to different consequences and configurations in the outcomes of bilingual acquisition. One inevitable outcome is language change. Originality: All the articles in this collection are original, providing new angles to the complex topic of variation in speakers’ access to their languages in contact settings. Significance: The authors of this collection look at various aspects of language contact situations through the lens of limited input. This emphasis allows us to view bilingualism as a special case of monolingual register variation and reject the concept of “balanced bilingualism.”

“This is Tunisia, Speak Arabic:”: Multi lingual Ideology and Identities in Tunisia

In multilingual societies, it is common for the individual languages used to have specific and contrasting associations, classically with power versus solidarity. Drawing on ethnographic projects over many years, this article portrays a more complicated language ideology in Tunisia. Depending on context, both French and Arabic can be languages of power and solidarity. Gender and class play important contextual roles, with men’s French being popularly held to be distinctly different from women’s French. The shifting associations with Arabic and French follow a recursive pattern, always depending on a relative comparison. Residents of Tunis may categorize themselves and their language use one way in contrast to Europe, but in a completely other way in contrast to rural Tunisia, or North Africa as a whole. Both Arabic and French can feel institutional and oppressive or comfortable and friendly, depending on who is speaking, how they are speaking, and where.

Measurement Invariance for Multilingual Learners Using Item Response and Response Time in PISA 2018

AbstractThis study examines potential assessment bias based on students' primary language status in PISA 2018. Specifically, multilingual (MLs) and nonmultilingual (non‐MLs) students in the United States are compared with regard to their response time as well as scored responses across three cognitive domains (reading, mathematics, and science). Differential item functioning (DIF) analysis reveals that 7–14% of items exhibit DIF‐related problems in scored responses between the two groups, aligning with PISA technical report results. While MLs generally spend more time on the test than non‐MLs across cognitive levels, differential response time (DRT) functioning identifies significant time differences in 7–10% of items for students with similar cognitive levels. It was noticeable that items with DIF and DRT issues show limited overlap, suggesting diverse reasons for student struggles in the assessment. A deeper examination of item characteristics is recommended for test developers and teachers to gain a better understanding of these nuances.

From Translation to Naturalization, from Translanguaging to Lingua Universalis

In many multilingual societies, English serves as a Lingua Franca, which refers to the use of English language as a way to communicate among speakers with diverse native languages, representing a bridge language. It is noteworthy that in these sociolinguistic multilingual settings language users are bilinguals, acting some language practices requiring specific cognitive strategies. The language practices that occur are languaging, translanguaging, and translation. Two previously reported cognitive strategies are discussed in the present paper as being used in multicultural, multilingual settings, codeswitching and code-mixing, which are correlated with two language practices, languaging and translanguaging, respectively. Moreover, here, in the present paper, a novel cognitive strategy is identified and introduced for the first time, the ‘two-way code-flowing’, which is coupled with the ‘naturalization process’ during translation. Differently from code-switching and codemixing, in two-way code-flowing, the languages flow back and forth reciprocally, and the activity always yields only one language.

Moving beyond the initial stages in L3/Ln research: toward theorising L3 development

ABSTRACT This article serves as an introduction to the present special issue, which focuses on third language (L3) development. It provides a brief overview of the theoretical foundations necessary to map L3 (grammatical) development, with particular attention to the recently proposed Cumulative Input Threshold Hypothesis (Cabrelli & Iverson, 2023). Additionally, the introduction offers a brief overview of the six contributions included in this issue, originally presented at the Workshop on Multilingual Language Acquisition, Processing, and Use, held at King’s College London in 2024. The introduction concludes by outlining what I consider to be the next logical steps in the study of L3 grammatical development.

Exploring Multilingual Large Language Models for Enhanced TNM Classification of Radiology Report in Lung Cancer Staging.

This study aimed to investigate the accuracy of Tumor, Node, Metastasis (TNM) classification based on radiology reports using GPT3.5-turbo (GPT3.5) and the utility of multilingual large language models (LLMs) in both Japanese and English. Utilizing GPT3.5, we developed a system to automatically generate TNM classifications from chest computed tomography reports for lung cancer and evaluate its performance. We statistically analyzed the impact of providing full or partial TNM definitions in both languages using a generalized linear mixed model. The highest accuracy was attained with full TNM definitions and radiology reports in English (M = 94%, N = 80%, T = 47%, and TNM combined = 36%). Providing definitions for each of the T, N, and M factors statistically improved their respective accuracies (T: odds ratio [OR] = 2.35, p < 0.001; N: OR = 1.94, p < 0.01; M: OR = 2.50, p < 0.001). Japanese reports exhibited decreased N and M accuracies (N accuracy: OR = 0.74 and M accuracy: OR = 0.21). This study underscores the potential of multilingual LLMs for automatic TNM classification in radiology reports. Even without additional model training, performance improvements were evident with the provided TNM definitions, indicating LLMs' relevance in radiology contexts.

Language Dominance and Cultural Identity Predict Variation in Self-Reported Personality in English and Spanish Among Hispanic/Latino Bilingual Adults

Language is a fundamental aspect of human culture that influences cognitive and perceptual processes. Prior evidence demonstrates personality self-report can vary across multilingual persons’ language contexts. We assessed how cultural identification, language dominance, or both dynamically influence bilingual respondents’ self-conception, via self-reported personality, across English and Spanish contexts. During separate English and Spanish conditions, 133 Hispanic/Latino bilingual participants (70 female) completed the Big Five Inventory of personality. We used language use and acculturation surveys completed in both languages to calculate participants’ relative language dominance and identification with U.S.-American and Hispanic culture. Participants reported higher levels of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism in English relative to Spanish. Language dominance predicted cross-language differences in personality report, with higher extraversion reported in participants’ dominant language. Within each language, greater endorsement of U.S.-American identity was associated with higher extraversion and conscientiousness and lower reported neuroticism. Agreeableness report in both languages was positively predicted by Hispanic identification. Our results clarify existing literature related to language and cultural effects on personality report among U.S. Hispanics/Latinos. These findings could inform assessments of self-relevant cognitions across languages among bilingual populations and hold relevance for health outcomes affected by cultural processes.