Bilingual Perception Research Articles

Reframing developmental dyslexia and bilingualism: An overview to enhance strengths and advantages

This paper explores the evolving perceptions of bilingualism and developmental dyslexia, shifting from viewing them as deficits to acknowledging their inherent strengths. This overview contributes to the evolving narrative surrounding dyslexia and bilingualism, urging a revaluation of these conditions from deficit-centered perspectives to recognize the diverse cognitive abilities and adaptive advantages they offer. It delves into the positive aspects associated with developmental dyslexia, highlighting cognitive strengths like visuospatial skills, narrative reasoning, and dynamic reasoning.Additionally, it examines the multifaceted nature of bilingualism, outlining distinctions between types of bilingualism and emphasizing cognitive benefits such as enhanced cognitive flexibility, attentional skills, and executive functions among bilingual individuals. The complexities of language acquisition, socioeconomic factors, and societal support are discussed in understanding the interplay between language acquisition and cognitive development in bilingual contexts. Furthermore, the paper navigates the intricate connection between dyslexia and bilingualism, emphasizing factors like language exposure, linguistic characteristics, and individual cognitive processes that influence their interaction. Dyslexia significantly impacts language acquisition and proficiency in both native and second languages, requiring tailored assessments and interventions for dyslexic bilingual individuals.

Early childhood teachers’ perceptions of bilingualism in multicultural families

Early childhood teachers’ perceptions of bilingualism in multicultural families

“It’s normal. That’s just my life”

Abstract This study explores Tatar-Russian bilinguals’ dynamic translanguaging and tranßcripting practices in Tatar, Russian, English, and Arabic. Based on interviews with six Tatar-Russian bilinguals as well as their written social media postings and audio recordings of voice messages over six months, the study illustrates the participants’ linguistic practices and their perceptions of bilingualism and relevant practices. The results demonstrate that the bilinguals engaged in various forms of translanguaging practices and regarded them as their everyday practices, emphasizing their ordinariness for bilingual interaction. The results also show that they expanded and reinvented their translanguaging into creative and playful tranßcripting practices in social media, regardless of their divergent attitudes towards each of the languages. The bilinguals projected their identity as cool multilingual youth through the tranßcripting practices that cross the linguistic boundaries between Russian (dominant state language), Tatar (dominant local), Arabic (religious), and English (peripheral global). By examining complex and dynamic relationships between multiple languages in an underrepresented region, this study highlights how translanguaging and tranßcripting practices reflect multilinguals’ everyday practices and their dynamic identity that go beyond the boundaries of the local languages and cultures.

An exploratory study of mainland Chinese parents’ ideologies about bilingualism and bilingual education

ABSTRACT The current study investigates mainland Chinese parents’ ideologies on bilingualism and biliteracy, specifically for those who chose Mandarin-English bilingual education for their children. We explored children’s language and literacy usage at home as they attend school with Mandarin and English as the instructional languages. Three hundred and eight survey responses were collected from parents in Shanghai, China. Results from an exploratory factor analysis showed that parents generally held positive attitudes toward both bilingualism and bidialectalism. Additionally, multiple correspondence analyses demonstrated that parents who reported more multilingual usage in daily conversation at home with their children generally aspired for their children to develop an identity of being a global citizen, whereas parents who reported more Mandarin literacy activities engagement typically expected their children to (a) have a flexible mind for learning regardless of the instructional language, (b) become internationally competitive, and (c) be communicative within diverse social groups. It is suggested that parental perceptions of the importance of bilingualism and bidialectalism should be taken into consideration in curriculum planning and language policy making. Understanding parents’ perception of bilingualism may facilitate schools to partner with parents and devise responsive language education goals in schools.

The Perception of Malaysian Undergraduates towards Bilingualism and Multilingualism in Language Learning

Language is essential to human communication and identity. Individuals may have different language abilities in one or more languages. Bilingualism refers to the ability to use two languages proficiently, whereas multilingualism is characterised by the ability to use more than two languages. Cultural background, societal views, and personal experiences can significantly impact perceptions. Bilingualism and multilingualism may be viewed positively by some students while negatively by others. In today's globalised society, language diversity is growing, yet there is little research on students' perceptions of bilingualism and multilingualism in higher education in the Malaysian context. The study seeks to identify Malaysian undergraduates' perceptions towards bilingualism and multilingualism in language learning. Conducted among 51 undergraduate students at an engineering university in Malaysia, this quantitative study employed a survey-based approach. The result revealed positive perceptions of bilingualism and multilingualism in language learning influenced by the bilingual education system in Malaysia and globalisation. The present research has proved that students favour bilingualism and multilingualism, enhancing their motivation to acquire additional languages. This inclination stems from the belief that having proficiency in more than two languages confers a more excellent knowledge upon individuals.

Linguistic development of a child and the role of a Polish speech–language pathologist in the environment of Polish–Swedish bilingualism: opinions of parents of Polish children abroad (case studies)

This text presents the survey carried out among parents on the issue of speech development in their children raised in the environment of Polish–Swedish bilingualism in Sweden and convictions about the role of a speech-language pathologist in bilingual upbringing. The aim of this study is to fill the gap in speech-language pathology research on the parental perception of bilingualism in their children. Thematic analysis, a method applied in speech-language pathology abroad, was employed to obtain the results. The selected themes and the accompanying notions were characterised by diversity and multi-sidedness, which permits the conclusion on the holistic need to consider the subject of Polish–Swedish bilingualism in children. Keywords: bilingualism – children – opinions – parents – Polish-Swedish bilingualism – speech development – speech-language pathologist.

Parental perceptions of bilingualism and home language vocabulary: Young bilingual children from low-income immigrant Mexican American and Chinese American families.

Dual language learners (DLLs), especially those from immigrant families in the United States, risk losing their home language as they gradually shift to speaking English as they grow up. Given the potential benefits of bilingualism on children's cognitive, linguistic, and social-emotional development, it is crucial to maintain children's home language to foster bilingual development. The current literature suggests that parental beliefs toward bilingualism and the language and literacy environment are linked to children's language development. With the growing number of DLLs living in the United States, little is known about what parental beliefs about bilingualism of their children are integrated into these bilingual households and parents' role in home language maintenance. The present study addresses the gap in the literature by investigating low-income immigrant families, specifically Chinese American and Mexican American families, and exploring the parental perceptions of children's bilingual language learning. Further, the present study examines the relations among parental perceptions of bilingualism, home language and literacy practices, and home language oral proficiency. Data were collected from a total of 41 Mexican American and 91 Chinese American low-income immigrant families with DLLs ages 50-88 months who had been recruited from Head Start programs and state-funded preschools in Northern California when the children were 3-4 years old. Information about shared reading frequency, home language exposure and usage, and parental perceptions of bilingualism was collected through parental interviews, and DLLs' home language oral proficiency was individually assessed. No significant difference in home language oral proficiency was observed between the two groups. Principal Components Analysis on the parental perceptions of bilingualism measure revealed two components, "Importance of Being Bilingual" and "English over Bilingualism." Stepwise regression analysis results show that "Importance of Being Bilingual" was associated with children's home language oral proficiency after controlling for culture, child age, the frequency of home language shared book reading, and child home language exposure and use. The results show that parents' positive beliefs toward bilingualism are related to the children's use of that language and their children's language outcomes. Implications and suggestions for home language and literacy support for DLLs are discussed.

1.5-generation Korean-New Zealanders’ perceptions of bilingualism, heritage language competence, and identity

Abstract This study explores four 1.5-generation Korean-New Zealanders’ perceptions of bilingualism, heritage language (HL) competence, and identity. Drawing on interview data, the study shows that the participants were strongly connected to their ethnic group and strove to accept and strengthen their hyphenated Korean-New Zealander identities through foregrounding their bilingual and bicultural competence. In addition to their Korean use at home, socializing with other Korean speakers at church and in peer groups aided their learning of a wide range of registers in context, while providing culturally sensitive places for the participants to explore their identities. Nevertheless, the study also found that the participants encountered racial and linguistic hierarchical structures from which they were marginalized, which delayed their construction of positive bilingual identities. The findings enable a deeper understanding of how family-internal and family-external factors shape immigrant children’s identities, and suggest that substantial institutional and societal support are needed to foster immigrant children’s bilingualism and biculturalism.

Content Learning through Languaging: Translingual Practices in a Graduate-level Teacher Preparation EMI Course in South Korea

A shift in the global teacher education landscape has led to an increase in the number of teacher candidates from all over the world seeking out degree-granting programs in non-Western, Asia-Pacific countries, including South Korea. While teacher education programs in Asia-Pacific countries are accepting more teacher candidates from abroad, few studies have examined teacher education practices and their effectiveness in this context and whether they prepare teachers to deal with the diversifying student population worldwide. While many higher education institutions in Asia-Pacific countries use English as a medium of instruction (EMI) in response to the increasing number of students from abroad, research contends that high-quality learning opportunities for these students are limited. This study explored alternative approaches to facilitating teacher candidates' acquisition of content knowledge and promoting fluid stances in languaging. The purpose of this study was to examine international teacher candidates' content learning and languaging experiences in a graduate-level multicultural education course that employed EMI and translingual practices. Data collection consisted of two questionnaires, and individual in-depth interviews in the 2021 fall semester (September to December). Study results report the impact of EMI and translingual practices on prospective teachers' content and language acquisition, as well as their evolving perceptions of bilingualism and multicultural education. Implications for research and teacher education practice are discussed.

A qualitative inquiry of professionals’ perceptions of bilingualism for children with language delay

Purpose: This study aimed to understand the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of early childhood health and education professionals on bilingualism and heritage language maintenance for children with language delay, and how their interactions with caregivers may influence the decision-making process to maintain or not maintain speaking heritage languages with children. Method: A qualitative methodology was used to explore the research aims. Seven early childhood health and education professionals with experience working with bilingual families participated in in-depth interviews. Data were analysed using a grounded theory approach and a symbolic interactionism theoretical framework. Result: Understandings of bilingualism and language development were strongly influenced by socially and culturally contextualised factors, such as the linguistic context in Australia. Barriers and facilitators to supporting bilingualism and helping caregivers make informed choices included: unique child and family characteristics, the level of trust in professional advice, and the level of professional agency to support knowledge and practice. Conclusion: Findings highlighted the need to focus on the processes involved in supporting caregivers to make informed decisions about bilingualism and heritage language maintenance for children with language delay. The need for professional development on bilingualism and language development for early childhood health and education professionals was also highlighted.

La era del bilingüismo educativo.

La transformación social que trajo consigo la globalización ha supuesto que el inglés sea considerado el idioma más extendido mundialmente hablando. Esto ha implicado a la educación europea, y también a la española, en la cual se han implantado diferentes programas bilingües en las instituciones educativas para mejorar la formación de los adolescentes. Esta investigación examina el pensamiento de los alumnos del Máster de Formación del Profesorado de la Universidad de Murcia sobre el bilingüismo de los centros educativos, en función de su género, su experiencia dando clase, su lugar de residencia y la especialidad cursada. Los resultados evidencian que los alumnos del máster tienen una buena percepción del bilingüismo, aunque se hayan diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre sus opiniones.

Bilingualism for students with disabilities, deficit or advantage?: Perspectives of Latinx mothers

ABSTRACT While access to bilingual education programs is on the rise, Emergent Bilingual Learners Labeled as Dis/abled (EBLADs) continue to experience English-mostly educational placements. Analysis of interviews with ten Latinx mothers of EBLADs revealed that educators recommended their children be placed in English-only instructional programs to avoid linguistic confusion. The mothers first resisted, but subsequently internalized, educators’ deficit-perspectives about their children’s language skills and accepted decisions to provide special education services to EBLAD children in English-only settings. Findings suggest that bilingual educators have contributed to the shift from perceptions of bilingualism as a deficit to bilingualism as an advantage and from bilingual education as a right to bilingual education as a privilege. These shifts have negatively impacted the education of EBLADs by limiting their access to multilingual instruction. Bilingual educators must advocate to safeguard bilingualism as a basic human right of EBLADs.

Language Specificity in Phonetic Cue Weighting: Monolingual and Bilingual Perception of the Stop Voicing Contrast in English and Spanish

Background/Aims: This work examines the perception of the stop voicing contrast in Spanish and English along four acoustic dimensions, comparing monolingual and bilingual listeners. Our primary goals are to test the extent to which cue-weighting strategies are language-specific in monolinguals, and whether this language specificity extends to bilingual listeners. Methods: Participants categorized sounds varying in voice onset time (VOT, the primary cue to the contrast) and three secondary cues: fundamental frequency at vowel onset, first formant (F1) onset frequency, and stop closure duration. Listeners heard acoustically identical target stimuli, within language-specific carrier phrases, in English and Spanish modes. Results: While all listener groups used all cues, monolingual English listeners relied more on F1, and less on closure duration, than monolingual Spanish listeners, indicating language specificity in cue use. Early bilingual listeners used the three secondary cues similarly in English and Spanish, despite showing language-specific VOT boundaries. Conclusion: While our findings reinforce previous work demonstrating language-specific phonetic representations in bilinguals in terms of VOT boundary, they suggest that this specificity may not extend straightforwardly to cue-weighting strategies.

Household Perspectives on Minority Language Maintenance and Loss: Language in the Small Spaces

Household Perspectives on Minority Language Maintenance and Loss: Language in the Small Spaces

Perceptions and Linguistic Actions of Bilingual Speakers of Turkish and English: An Explanatory Study

Due to the globalized world, sixty percent of world’s population is bilingual today. Such a population calls for the need to understand bilinguals from a holistic perspective since it is likely that we are surrounded by bilinguals and we are raising bilingual children. Therefore, this study investigates bilingualism from five different dimensions; their perception of bilingualism and languages as Turkish and English, prosodic features in these two languages, sense of self, biculturalism and their language choice to get an overview about bilingual speakers of Turkish and English by adopting a qualitative design. Moreover, this study is one of the few studies involving bilinguals of Turkish and English. The data was collected from 29 bilinguals through an open-ended questionnaire. In data analysis, participants were divided into two main groups as early and late bilinguals; the origins of the bilinguals were also taken into account. Bilinguals’ responses were examined by using inductive data analysis. The results show that bilingual speakers have a unique profile and they make their decisions depending on the context, culture, self-perception and sense of self. Each bilingual is found to be idiosyncratic with linguistic and non-linguistic behaviour he/she displays.

‘Spanish at home, English at school’: how perceptions of bilingualism shape family language policies among Spanish-speaking parents of preschoolers

ABSTRACT In the United States nearly one third of children under five live in homes where a non-English language is spoken. However, many of these language-minority (LM) children shift towards English monolingualism after beginning school in early childhood. While language input and usage are central to acquisition and maintenance in each language, less is known about parents’ perceptions of bilingualism and how perceptions inform parents’ actions to support their child's bilingual development in early childhood. By applying a family language policy framework to data from 14 in-depth qualitative interviews, this study explores the beliefs and practices of Spanish-speaking mothers of preschoolers in a small northeastern US city. Thematic analyses revealed that mothers viewed Spanish maintenance alongside English acquisition as essential for economic opportunity and family communication, yet differed in their perceptions of how bilingualism was best supported. Some implemented a Spanish-only-at-home policy, delegating their child's English development to the school setting. Others avoided setting rigid boundaries, instead employing various discourse strategies to motivate their child's active Spanish use at home and seeking out school-based supports. Social pressures on the child, incomplete knowledge of local bilingual programs, and the current political climate countered mothers’ efforts to support their child's emergent bilingualism.

Modifications of Semantic Space of Interpersonal Perception of Bilingualism at Different Levels of Discursive Abilities

The article is devoted to psychosemantic research of interpersonal perception of bilinguals by people with different level of discursive abilities. The construct “discursive abilities” was introduced in the study of the formation of artificial bilingualism. Discursive abilities allow a person to effectively initiate, support, deploy and complete the communication process. The influence of discursive abilities on the structure of the semantic space has not previously been explored. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the modification of the semantic space of interpersonal perception of bilinguals and its dependence on the level of development of discursive abilities. The reconstruction of the semantic space of interpersonal perception of bilinguals on the two contrasting samples showed that the dimension and content of the semantic spaces of people with high and low level of discursive abilities are significantly different. For the sample with a high level of discursive abilities, four significant factors of semantic space were identified: enthusiasm, sympathy, friendliness, caution. The semantic sample space with a low level of discursive abilities turned out to be three-dimensional: enthusiasm, sympathy, openness to experience. To compare both spaces, the “pooled data method” was used. This allowed us to identify two areas of significant differences in the interpersonal perception of bilinguals in people with a low and high level of discursive abilities: the higher the level of discursive abilities, the more people tend to perceive bilinguals as more active and open in communication.

“Analyzing the Bi-Lingual Perceptions of Education within Undergraduate University of Sindh, Pakistan”

“Analyzing the Bi-Lingual Perceptions of Education within Undergraduate University of Sindh, Pakistan”

Bilingual tricksters: Conflicting perceptions of bilingualism in the informal labor economy

This article explores the value of bilingualism in the informal labor economy by analyzing how Latin American immigrants in the United States draw on their language abilities when asserting their socioeconomic positionality as workers. Bilingual day laborers in the U.S.-Mexico border region cultivate bilingual identities through their work as language brokers in ways that augment their social status and facilitate employment. Yet, despite the perceived advantages of bilingualism for day laborers, their monolingual Spanish-speaking peers often evaluate bilinguals unfavorably—as tricksters—because of their ability to communicate in Spanish and English. Ultimately, by exposing the benefits and burdens of bilingualism for day laborers in the border region, this article describes the intersection of the social and economic contours of language contact.

L’Écriture en langue étrangère comme pratique et comme poétique: le cas de deux écrivains « francographes », Nancy Huston et Andreï Makine

This article examines the claims made by translingual writers Nancy Huston and Andreï Makine about the literary function of the foreign language, and also analyses how the poetic potential of foreign words is thematized in their fiction. It focuses on two novels which portray artistic trajectories in search of a language distinct from the imperfect words of everyday expression, be it through a nostalgically opaque language of childhood as in Le Testament français, or through an exploration of the meeting point of music and language as in Lignes de faille. While both writers emphasize the defamiliarizing function of the foreign language which, for Huston in particular, draws attention to its material form, their novels shift the site of linguistic defamiliarization from formal linguistic innovation to bilingual perception, which is likened to a ‘magic’ of words, an ‘optical illusion’ which serves to preserve childhood wonder and sensitivity.