Multilingual Speakers Research Articles

Profiles of Linguistic Multicompetence in Vietnamese-English Speakers.

Purpose Speech-language pathologists work with increasing numbers of multilingual speakers; however, even when the same languages are spoken, multilingual speakers are not homogeneous. Linguistic multicompetence (aka multi-competence) considers competency across all languages and is associated with multiple demographic, migration, linguistic, and cultural factors. Method This article examines the linguistic multicompetence of adults with Vietnamese heritage living in Australia (n = 271) and factors associated with varying profiles of multilingualism. Participants completed a self-report questionnaire (available in English and Vietnamese) regarding their language proficiency and associated factors. Results Participants were largely (76.6%) first-generation migrants to Australia. Three distinct profiles of linguistic multicompetence were statistically identified using a cluster analysis: (a) Vietnamese proficient (n = 81, 31%), (b) similar proficiency (n = 135, 52%), and (c) English proficient (n = 43, 17%); that is, half were proficient in both languages. Multinomial logistic regression analyses compared participants profiled as having similar proficiency with those who were more dominant in one language. Factors associated with the Vietnamese proficient group (compared with the similar proficiency group) were that the participants used Vietnamese much more than English with different people across different situations, were more likely to believe that maintaining Vietnamese helped them communicate in English, and earned less. Participants in the English proficient group used English more than Vietnamese with different people across different situations, were more likely to have lived in English-speaking countries longer, were younger in age, and were less likely to believe that maintaining Vietnamese helped improve academic study than those with similar proficiency. Conclusion Undertaking a comprehensive language profile is an important component of any multilingual assessment to enable speech-language pathologists to develop an understanding of different presentations of linguistic multicompetence, engage in culturally responsive practice, and acknowledge that high levels of competence can be achieved across multiple languages. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14781984.

A Q Methodology Study Into Vision of Italian L2 University Students: An Australian Perspective

AbstractThis study explores language learners’ motivation from the perspective of vision, a concept that has specifically been identified as one of the next challenges for motivation research. Having conceptualized vision as a powerful motivational component of the language learning process, and focusing on the learner's individual perspective, we employed Q methodology to identify the visions, as imagined here and now, of students’ second language (L2) selves. While Q methodology is becoming increasingly popular in applied linguistics, thanks to its ability to offer a scientific and holistic investigation of subjectivity, no study has previously employed it to gain in‐depth understanding of how learners of Italian in an Anglophone context envision themselves as future bilingual or multilingual speakers. Students from an Australian university ranked statements related to imagined scenarios of L2 selves, and factor analysis of these ranks exposed 3 motivational profiles: ‘the multilingual fan with an edge,’ ‘the mobile and linguistically competent,’ and ‘the lover of the Italian culture.’ By engaging in new and fresh ways to understand language students and their self‐visions, this study contributes to the understanding of motivation and provides a useful tool for comparison for other languages, as well as other institutional and geographical contexts.

Evaluating the Russian Language Proficiency of Bilingual and Second Language Learners of Russian

The starting point of most experimental and clinical examinations of bilingual language development is the choice of the measure of participants’ proficiency, which affects the interpretation of experimental findings and has pedagogical and clinical implications. Recent work on heritage and L2 acquisition of Russian used varying proficiency assessment tools, including elicited production, vocabulary recognition, and in-house measures. Using such different approaches to proficiency assessment is problematic if one seeks a coherent vision of bilingual speaker competence at different acquisition stages. The aim of the present study is to provide a suite of validated bilingual assessment materials designed to evaluate the language proficiency speakers of Russian as a second or heritage language. The materials include an adaptation of a normed language background questionnaire (Leap-Q), a battery of participant-reported proficiency measures, and a normed cloze deletion test. We offer two response formats in combination with two distinct scoring methods in order to make the testing materials suited for bilingual Russian speakers who self-assess as (semi-) proficient as well as for those whose bilingualism is incipient, or declining due to language attrition. Data from 52 baseline speakers and 503 speakers of Russian who reported dominant proficiency in a different language are analyzed for test validation purposes. Obtained measures of internal and external validity provide evidence that the cloze deletion test reported in this study reliably discriminates between dissimilar target language attainment levels in diverse populations of bilingual and multilingual Russian speakers.

The view from within: Gendered language ideologies of multilingual speakers in contemporary Berlin

AbstractDrawing on interview data on Kiezdeutsch, we argue that a focus on gendered language ideologies is much needed to understand the social meanings ascribed to multiethnolectal practices. By attuning carefully to the nuanced, subjective ideological stances of young multilingual women, we show that at the interactional level, Kiezdeutsch is constructed as a consequence of the interviewees' multilingual practice and thus activates a sense of belonging and entitlement. At the macro level, however, the belonging to a multilingual speech community is tied up with the representation of a racialized and ethnicized ‘other’ in the mainstream, dominant public discourse prevalent in Germany. As young males are the more salient figure in the construction this racialized and ethnicized ‘other’, Kiezdeutsch then becomes indexed with masculinity—even within the peer group. Saying that Kiezdeutsch is used among friends thus presents only a partial picture on how, for girls and young women, using Kiezdeutsch becomes socially sanctioned both in the public sphere and in private settings.

‘Who really speaks like that?’ – Children’s implicit and explicit attitudes towards multilingual speakers of Dutch

ABSTRACT This study investigates children’s explicit and implicit language attitudes in a highly diverse primary education. Set in the bilingual province of Fryslân, the Netherlands, the current research was carried out in the scope of the 3M-project (‘More opportunities with multilingualism’: Duarte & Günther-van der Meij, 2018a. A holistic model for multilingualism in education. EuroAmerican Journal of Applied Linguistics and Languages, 5(2), 24–43. https://doi.org/10.21283/2376905X.9.153), wherein pupils’ home languages are used as a resource to promote multilingualism and thereby facilitate learning. We examined socially significant language attitudes and children’s stereotypes towards prevalent minority and migrant languages. Participants consisted of 93 pupils (aged 7–12). They completed questionnaires to assess their explicit attitudes towards majority, migrant and minority languages. Additionally, 137 pupils performed an Implicit Association Test (IAT) to measure the relative attitudes of standard Dutch versus (1) the regional minority language (Frisian) and versus (2) a salient migrant language (Moroccan Arabic). Questionnaire results show significantly lower ratings for Moroccan Arabic and ‘other languages’ compared to Dutch, English and Frisian. Implicit results revealed a larger and significant preference for Dutch over Moroccan-Dutch accents and a smaller, non-significant, preference for Dutch over Frisian accents. Our results suggest a need for primary schools to explicitly address issues related to children’s attitudes towards different languages and accents.

Developing awareness of Global Englishes: Moving away from ‘native standards’ for Thai university ELT

Despite the continued growth of linguistic diversification and widespread utilization of English by multilingual and multicultural speakers, EFL-oriented pedagogies and native speakerism still profoundly dominate Thailand. To educationally maneuver away from this conceptualization, a new compulsory course called Global Englishes (GEs) was introduced at a Thai university. Using semi-structured interviews and weekly reflective journals for data collection, this qualitative study investigated the perceptions of 20 EFL university students before and after the course. The qualitative content-based analysis revealed an overwhelmingly positive shift in the students’ attitudes towards GEs. Before the course, the students reported that they regarded American or British as the only internationally acceptable English varieties; meanwhile intolerance, dissatisfaction, and depreciation were associated with non-native English varieties. After the course, the students had increased tolerance for English diversity and understood the ways that other English varieties are realistically hybridized or dehegemonized across countries. The findings also illustrated that the students appreciated the value of ‘Thai English’, as they no longer viewed it as a communicative barrier. Implications point toward the need for enhancing students’ awareness of English pluricentricity to push Thailand’s English language teaching towards a more practical track, consistent with today’s use of English in the real world.

Multilingual “Native” Speakers of the English Language: The Perceptions of University Students from the United Kingdom, Singapore and South Korea

ABSTRACT This study investigates what characteristics are considered important for a hypothetical multilingual person to be perceived as a “native” speaker of English. The data was collected from 521 participants from the United Kingdom, Singapore and South Korea, responding to a survey comprised of 30 questions with opportunities for qualitative comments. Several empirical statistical methods of analysis were employed to compare the data of three groups. The results indicated that expertise in the English language via education, self-perceived native speaker competence and a home language were the three most significant factors while ethnicity and nationality were the least important considerations for participants when perceiving multilingual speakers as “native” speakers of English. In this study, the stereotypically portrayed characteristics of “native speakers of English” as “innate,” “fixed” and “monolingual” were not significant. These findings can contribute to discussions about “native speakerism” and what constitutes a “native” speaker, which has no sign of abating.

Cognitive restructuring in the multilingual mind: language-specific effects on processing efficiency of caused motion events in Cantonese–English–Japanese speakers

AbstractThe current study explores how multilingual speakers with three typologically different languages (satellite-framed, verb-framed and equipollent-framed) encode and gauge event similarity in the domain of caused motion. Specifically, it addresses whether, and to what extent, the acquisition of an L2-English and an L3-Japanese reconstructs the lexicalization and conceptualization patterns established in the L1-Cantonese when the target language is actively involved in the decision-making process. Results show that multilingual speakers demonstrated an ongoing process of cognitive restructuring towards the target language (L3) in both linguistic encoding (event structures and semantic representations) and non-linguistic conceptualization (reaction time). And the degree of the restructuring is modulated by the amount of language contact with the L2 and L3. The study suggests that learning a language means internalizing a new way of thinking and provides positive evidence for L3-biased cognitive restructuring within the framework of thinking-for-speaking.

“There’s No Discrimination, These Are Just the Rules of the Game”: Russian Scholars’ Perception of the Research Writing and Publication Process in English

This paper reports on the study of multilingual speakers’ perception of their research writing practices in English and in their local language—Russian—and the publication process in English. It is based on interviews with 18 scholars from social sciences and humanities working in a leading university in Russia. The study discusses social factors influencing multilingual scholars’ choice of languages as well as their personal motivation to choose English as the main language of publication. Special attention is given to their attitude to proofreading as part of the publication process. The interview results suggest that, from the participants’ perspective, the benefits they gain by publishing research in English seem to outweigh costs they experience in the process of writing and publishing. The study contributes to the on-going debate about the position of multilingual scholars in the competition to publish in top-rated journals, suggesting that the traditional doctrine of linguistic injustice, from the participants’ point-of-view, does not seem to be relevant for every multilingual scholar.

Multiple identities of multilingual minorities: Values and practices influencing social, national and personal identity formation

This empirical study examined the ways in which multilingualism influences the community identities of individuals and minority groups. The motivations for their specific social behaviors are rarely obvious to the multilingual speakers themselves, which made it necessary to scrutinize their behaviors and attitudes using a mixed-methods analysis (including sociolinguistic interviews, questionnaire surveys, and field observations) of the mostly unconscious processes of identity formation among multilingual Kui speakers in northeastern Thailand. The approach used, focusing on group behavior and analyzing extralinguistic sociocultural data in terms of social identity formation in a minority group, revealed specific rituals and practices. These findings add to the knowledge of overt multilingual language use in the context of multilingual Kui people and demonstrate how social psychology and sociology can be used to analyze the identities of multilingual minorities and show how multilingualism itself does not imply multiple identities. This investigation, using theories of multiple social and linguistic identities, demonstrates how important Thai national identity is and how strongly it influences identity formation in a minority group. Key words: Identity formation, minority languages, multilingualism, extralinguistic practices, social networks, group behavior.

Multilingual practices and normative work in the context of a civic integration project in Sweden

ABSTRACT This article explores multilingual practices and normative work in intercultural encounters in a language café set up as part of an integration project promoted by The Equmenia Church in Sweden. The method used in the study combines an ethnographic approach with two research methodologies used for studying interaction: conversation analysis and membership categorisation analysis. For this article, I have selected two examples extracted from video-recordings of interactions when volunteers and migrants at the café are engaged in normative work concerning sensitive, culture-related topics. The article zooms in on the mediating work of a multilingual facilitator, who is assigned the role of assisting as an interpreter in the integration project. It was found that the facilitator does something more than simply translate. Specifically, she also addresses moral issues through (i) explaining and clarifying; (ii) adding information; (iii) expanding on the agenda of the primary party; and (iv) expressing stances and taking sides. Based on these findings, I discuss the implications of this study, highlighting the role of lay multilingual speakers’ mediating work for intercultural communication and for migrants’ early process of integration.

From the oral-literate debate to the translanguaging paradigm – and back again

Abstract For several years now, the current debates on multilingualism and multi­literacy have revolved around the concept of translanguaging. In our paper we aim to contribute to the debate by presenting two theoretical approaches that have fueled the debate in the German-speaking academic context over the last thirty years and bringing them to the attention of an international readership. In discussing the analysis of written data of multilingual speakers from an acquisition perspective, we wish to demonstrate the fascinating aspects these works can contribute.

Multilingual proficiencies and L1 attitudes of ethnic minority students in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT This study examined proficiency levels and attitudes of main languages in use among ethnic minority students in Hong Kong. We surveyed 260 students from primary and secondary schools with English as the medium of instruction. They were multilingual speakers who were proficient in spoken English and Cantonese. Our results revealed asymmetric and correlated proficiency levels including in the students’ native languages (L1s). Their multilingual proficiencies were also affected by factors such as age variables and associated with aspects of L1 attitudes. Our key finding corroborated previous research claims that mastery of multiple languages could allow ethnic minority students to construct a more powerful multilingual and multicultural identity.

Generative Grammar: A Meaning First Approach.

The theory of language must predict the possible thought—signal (or meaning—sound or sign) pairings of a language. We argue for a Meaning First architecture of language where a thought structure is generated first. The thought structure is then realized using language to communicate the thought, to memorize it, or perhaps with another purpose. Our view contrasts with the T-model architecture of mainstream generative grammar, according to which distinct phrase-structural representations—Phonetic Form (PF) for articulation, Logical Form (LF) for interpretation—are generated within the grammar. At the same time, our view differs from early transformational grammar and generative semantics: We view the relationship between the thought structure and the corresponding signal as one of compression. We specify a formal sketch of compression as a choice between multiple possible pronounciations balancing the desire to transmit information against the effort of pronounciation. The Meaning First architecture allows a greater degree of independence between thought structures and the linguistic signal. We present three arguments favoring this type of independence. First we argue that scopal properties can be better explained if we only compare thought structures independent of the their realization as a sentence. Secondly, we argue that Meaning First architecture allows contentful late insertion, an idea that has been argued for in Distributed Morphology already, but as we argue is also motivated by the division of the logical and socio-emotive meaning content of language. Finally, we show that only the Meaning First architecture provides a satisfying account of the mixing of multiple languages by multilingual speakers, especially for cases of simultaneous articulation across two modalities in bimodal speakers. Our view of the structure of grammar leads to a reassessment of priorities in linguistic analyses: while current mainstream work is often focused on establishing one-to-one relationships between concepts and morphemes, our view makes it plausible that primitive concepts are frequently marked indirectly or unpronounced entirely. Our view therefore assigns great value to the understanding of logical primitives and of compression.

Why multilingual, and how to keep it-An evolutionary dynamics perspective.

While many languages are in danger of extinction worldwide, multilingualism is being adopted for communication among different language groups, and is playing a unique role in preserving language and cultural diversities. How multilingualism is developed and maintained therefore becomes an important interdisciplinary research subject for understanding complex social changes of modern-day societies. In this paper, a mixed population of multilingual speakers and bilingual speakers in particular is considered, with multilingual defined broadly as zero, limited, or full uses of multiple languages or dialects, and an evolutionary dynamic model for its development and evolution is proposed. The model consists of two different parts, formulated as two different evolutionary games, respectively. The first part accounts for the selection of languages based on the competition for population and social or economic preferences. The second part relates to circumstances when the selection of languages is altered, for better or worse, by forces other than competition such as public policies, education, or family influences. By combining competition with intervention, the paper shows how multilingualism may evolve under these two different sources of influences. It shows in particular that by choosing appropriate interventional strategies, the stable co-existence of languages, especially in multilingual forms, is possible, and extinction can be prevented. This is in contrast with major predictions from previous studies that the co-existence of languages is unstable in general, and one language will eventually dominate while all others will become extinct.

Role of Regional Language Background and Speech Styles on the Production of Voice Onset Time (VOT) in English among Indonesian Multilinguals

This paper seeks to contribute to the nature of cross-linguistic transfer in the production of English Voice Onset Time (VOT) by adult multilingual speakers in Indonesia in view of how different regional home languages and speech settings shape the phonetic realizations. Three adult multilinguals participated in this pilot project. They are all learners of English as the third language (L3) at the Department of English of a state university in Malang, Indonesia who acquire different regional home languages – Javanese, Sundanese, and Madurese – as the first language (L1) and speak Indonesian as the second language (L2). The participants’ production of bilabial stop consonants of English /p/ and /b/ were elicited from two different speech settings; a careful speech via text readings (monologue and dialogue) and wordlist reading, and a spontaneous speech through natural conversation among participants. 21 tokens from each participant were then analyzed acoustically in Praat. The findings show that the bilingual speaker with L1 Sundanese consistently produced the shortest VOT values of both /p/ and /b/. The Javanese speaker produced the intermediate lag, whereas the Madurese speaker produced the longest aspiration interval. It is shown that the Sundanese language provides the strongest transfer effect, while Madurese gives the least effect. In light of cross-linguistic transfer, however, the overall VOT productions clearly put forth evidence of L1 phonological transfer. The production of non-native bilabial stop VOTs of English is largely due to the absence of this phonetic property in Javanese and Sundanese while Madurese shows marginal similarities. The findings also demonstrate that speech styles play only a marginal role in determining the production of VOTs that the VOTs of /p/ and /b/ in careful speech is found to be slightly longer than in the spontaneous settings. This study makes an original contribution to the area of phonological acquisition in adult speakers by giving attention to the understudied languages of Indonesia in order to more fully understand the interaction of different language systems in multilingual language acquisition and development.

Forward and backward transfer of sentence processing cues in English and Mandarin Chinese: A call for approximate replication of Liu, Bates, and Li (1992) and Su (2001)

AbstractThe Competition Model has served as a functional explanation of cross-linguistic influence and transfer for more than 30 years. A large number of studies have used the Competition Model to frame investigations of sentence processing strategies in different types of bilingual and multilingual speakers. Among the different bilingual speakers investigated, Mandarin Chinese and English bilinguals represent a clear testing ground for the claims of the Competition Model. This is because of purportedly stark contrasts in sentence processing strategies between the two languages. Previous studies investigating sentence processing strategies of English L2 and Mandarin L2 bilinguals suggests forward transfer of L1 cues to the L2, moderated by L2 proficiency. In this paper, we argue for replication of two of these studies, namely Liu, Bates, and Li (1992) and Su (2001). These studies continue to be cited today as evidence of differences between English and Mandarin sentence processing strategies which is in turn taken as support for the predictions of the Competition Model. However, both studies presented methodological limitations in terms of measures of proficiency, participant and stimuli selection, and the statistical analysis. We suggest approximate replication of both of these studies and provide suggestions for how such replications might be conducted.

Intelligibility Enhancement via Telepractice During COVID-19 Restrictions

Purpose Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) may be approached by multilingual speakers seeking to improve their intelligibility in English. Intelligibility is an essential element of spoken language proficiency and is especially important for multilingual university students given their need to express complex ideas in an additional language. Intelligibility Enhancement is an assessment and intervention approach that aims to improve the intelligibility of consonants, vowels, and prosody with multilingual speakers who are learning to speak English. This article describes the student-led delivery of Intelligibility Enhancement with multilingual clients in a university clinic using a telepractice model after restrictions were imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions Telepractice offered an appropriate mode of service delivery that facilitated a high-quality, best practice, and continuous service to Intelligibility Enhancement clients while also permitting student SLPs' ongoing clinical education employing an increasingly utilized technology. Previous research demonstrated the effectiveness of the Intelligibility Enhancement Assessment and Intervention Protocols in increasing English intelligibility in multilingual university students. The modifications necessary to provide this intervention via telepractice in a student-led clinic not only offer a possible solution to supporting multilingual university students' English intelligibility during the COVID-19 pandemic but also will inform the understanding of SLPs providing similar interventions in the future.

Use of Monolingual English Guidelines to Assess Stuttering in Bilingual Speakers:

Speech-language pathologists can identify stuttering in multiple languages,even if they do not speak the language. However, due to differences in languagedevelopment, multilingual speakers have been documented with higherlevels of typical disfluencies in their speech than monolingual speakers. Thesehigher levels of disfluency put multilingual speakers at greater risk of misdiagnosis as individuals who stutter, due to poor understanding of the nature of the manifestation of stuttering in two or more languages and reliance on monolingual-English diagnostic criteria. The purpose of the present systematic review is to explore how stuttering is identified in multilingual speakers who are described as participants who stutter, and whether monolingual English-speaking guidelines were the most commonly used reference for determining the presence of stuttering.

Finding a Balance between Diversity and Target Language: A Case of a Japanese Language Program in a Private University

One of the challenges that language professionals face in our increasingly diverse communities is establishing a balance between diversity and language standards. While Standard Japanese can be considered a common language to interact with the majority of Japanese speakers who may not be accustomed to nonnative speech (ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, 2012), the strict requirement to follow the monolingual standard may disregard the legitimacy of multilingual speakers, including nonstandard dialect speakers. This article discusses pros and cons of setting standards in language programs and relevant findings concerning the native speaker fallacy (Author, 2019). Then the author will share his shifting perspectives on errors, interlanguage, dialectal differences, and certain “nonstandard” practices (e.g. translanguaging) in his experience of training, hiring, and supervising teaching assistants at Brigham Young University.