scholarly journals The impact of individual differences on cross-language activation of meaning by phonology

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deanna C. Friesen ◽  
Veronica Whitford ◽  
Debra Titone ◽  
Debra Jared
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
English Word ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
Language Activation ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Target Words

We investigated how individual differences in language proficiency and executive control impact cross-language meaning activation through phonology. Ninety-six university students read English sentences that contained French target words. Target words were high- and low-frequency French interlingual homophones (i.e., words that share pronunciation, but not meaning across langauges; mot means ‘word’ in French and sounds like ‘mow’ in English) and matched French control words (e.g., mois – ‘month’ in French). Readers could use the homophones’ shared phonology to activate their English meanings and, ultimately, make sense of the sentence (e.g., Tony was too lazy to mot/mois the grass on Sunday). Shorter reading times were observed on interlingual homophones than control words, suggesting that phonological representations in one language activate cross-language semantic representations. Importantly, the magnitude of the effect was modulated by word frequency, and several participant-level characteristics, including French proficiency, English word knowledge, and executive control ability.

scholarly journals The impact of a momentary language switch on bilingual reading: Intense at the switch but merciful downstream for L2 but not L1 readers

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Gullifer ◽  
Debra Titone
Keyword(s):  
Primary Role ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
L2 Reading ◽  
Downstream Target ◽  
Reading Experiment ◽  
Language Activation ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Target Words

We investigated whether cross-language activation is sensitive to shifting language demands and language experience during first and second language (i.e., L1, L2) reading. Experiment 1 consisted of L1 French – L2 English bilinguals reading in the L2, and Experiment 2 consisted of L1 English - L2 French bilinguals reading in the L1. Both groups read English sentences with target words serving as indices of cross-language activation: cross-language homographs, cognates, and matched language-unique control words. Critically, we manipulated whether English sentences contained a momentary language switch into French before downstream target words. This allowed us to assess the consequences of shifting language demands, both in the moment, and residually following a switch as a function of language experience. Switches into French were associated with a reading cost at the switch site for both L2 and L1 readers. However, downstream cross-language activation was larger following a switch only for L1 readers. These results suggest that cross-language activation is jointly sensitive to momentary shifts in language demands and language experience, likely reflecting different control demands faced by L2 vs. L1 readers, consistent with models of bilingual processing that ascribe a primary role for language control.

scholarly journals Latent variable evidence on the interplay between language switching frequency and executive control in Spanish-Catalan bilinguals

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 912-930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor A. Sanchez-Azanza ◽  
Raúl López-Penadés ◽  
Eva Aguilar-Mediavilla ◽  
Daniel Adrover-Roig
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Age Of Acquisition ◽  
Switching Frequency ◽  
Language Switching ◽  
Second Language Proficiency ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
The Impact

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: We characterized the impact of several bilingualism-related factors on the executive control of Spanish-Catalan bilinguals. Design/methodology/approach: Participants self-reported information regarding their age of acquisition, second language proficiency and frequency of natural language switching, and performed non-linguistic tasks tapping into specific executive control subcomponents, including inhibition, switching and updating. Data and analysis: Data were analyzed by means of a structural equation model (SEM) approach. Findings/conclusions: Results revealed that the frequency of natural language switching positively modulated the executive control performance of Spanish-Catalan bilinguals, while neither age of acquisition nor second language proficiency had an effect. Moreover, we found that the impact of natural language switching exerted general-processing influences, affecting all subcomponents of executive control. Findings are discussed in relation to context-specific effects on the cognitive system of a particular bilingual population. Originality: The current study applied an SEM approach to provide new evidence on the previously ambiguous relation between bilingualism-related factors and executive control. Significance/implications: Our findings suggest that the frequency of natural language switching does globally influence the executive control of Spanish-Catalan bilinguals.

Bilingual advantage in L3 vocabulary acquisition: evidence of a generalized learning benefit among classroom-immersion children

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Florian Salomé ◽  
Séverine Casalis ◽  
Eva Commissaire
Keyword(s):  
Recognition Task ◽  
English Word ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
School Program ◽  
Bilingual Advantage ◽  
Emergent Bilingual ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The present study explored whether emergent bilingual children showed enhanced abilities to learn L3 vocabulary including written, spoken and conceptual forms compared to monolinguals, and the impact of L2/L3 cross-language similarities on such an effect. To this end, we contrasted the English word learning performance of French fifth-graders attending either a monolingual school program or a classroom-immersion program with German as an L2. Half of the items to be learned were German/English (L2/L3) cognate words while the other half were monolingual English (L3) words. Learning was assessed with a forced-choice recognition task, a go/no-go auditive recognition task and an orthographic judgment task. Results yielded a generalized bilingual advantage, with classroom-immersion children outperforming monolinguals on all tasks, irrespective of cognateness, except for the orthographic task. These findings advocate for a bilingual advantage in children that is globally not driven by the specific language properties of cognates, except for the written modality.

scholarly journals What Are the Modulators of Cross-Language Syntactic Activation During Natural Reading?

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Vingron ◽  
Pauline Palma ◽  
Jason W. Gullifer ◽  
Veronica Whitford ◽  
Deanna Friesen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Target Language ◽  
English Reading ◽  
Language Effects ◽  
Reading Experiment ◽  
Language Activation ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
Multiple Languages

Bilinguals juggle knowledge of multiple languages, including syntactic constructions that can mismatch (e.g., the red car, la voiture rouge; Mary sees it, Mary le voit). We used eye-tracking to examine whether French-English (n = 23) and English-French (n = 21) bilingual adults activate non-target language syntax during English L2 (Experiment 1) and L1 (Experiment 2) reading, and whether this differed from functionally monolingual English reading (Experiment 3, n = 26). People read English sentences containing syntactic constructions that were either partially shared across languages (adjective-noun constructions) or completely unshared (object-pronoun constructions). These constructions were presented in an intact form, or in a violated form that was French-consistent or French-inconsistent. For both L2 and L1 reading, bilinguals read French-consistent adjective-noun violations relatively quickly, suggesting cross-language activation. This did not occur when the same people read object-pronoun constructions manipulated in the same manner. Surprisingly, English readers exposed to French in their lifetime but functionally monolingual, also read French-consistent violations for adjective-noun constructions faster, particularly for some items. However, when we controlled for item differences in the L2 and L1 reading data, cross-language effects observed were similar to the original data pattern. Moreover, individual differences in L2 experience modulated both L2 and L1 reading for adjective-noun constructions, consistent with a cross-language activation interpretation of the data. These findings are consistent with the idea of syntactic cross-language activation during reading for some constructions. However, for several reasons, cross-language syntactic activation during comprehension may be overall more variable and challenging to investigate methodologically compared to past work on other forms of cross-language activation (i.e., single words).

scholarly journals Bilingual lexical access: A dynamic operation modulated by word-status and individual differences in inhibitory control

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 537-554
Author(s):  
ARUNA SUDARSHAN ◽  
SHARI R. BAUM
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Simon Task ◽  
Word Type ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Lexical Selection ◽  
Lexical Representations ◽  
Language Activation ◽  
Cross Language

A question central to bilingualism research is whether representations from the contextually inappropriate language compete for lexical selection during language production. It has been argued recently that the extent of interference from the non-target language may be contingent on a host of factors. In two studies, we investigated whether factors such as word-type and individual differences in inhibitory control capacities influence lexical selection via a cross-modal picture-word interference task and a non-linguistic Simon task. Highly proficient French–English bilinguals named non-cognate and cognate target pictures in L2 (English) while ignoring auditory distractors in L1 (French) and L2. Taken together, our results demonstrated that lexical representations from L1 are active and compete for selection when naming in L2, even in highly proficient bilinguals. However, the extent of cross-language activation was modulated by both word-type and individual differences in inhibitory control capacities.

The Impact of Individual Differences on Students' Perception of Writing Practice in Blogosphere

2015 ◽  
pp. 251-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Nami
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Educational Values ◽  
English Writing ◽  
Present Case Study ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Writing Practice

Over the past few decades, weblogs have widely made their way into English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching and learning. Despite this growing research on the educational values of weblogs, the impact of individual differences on students' perception toward blogging has been rarely explored. In an attempt to fill this gap, the present case study reports on the impact of individual differences on 28 BA level, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology major students' perceptions of English writing practice in blogosphere. Data was collected from participants' responses to a post-course written interview. Adopting qualitative and quantitative data analysis procedures, it was observed that English language proficiency significantly influenced students' perceived effectiveness of writing practice in the classroom blog. The findings of this study offer several practical implications for research on weblog-enhanced language learning.

The Impact of Individual Differences on Students' Perception of Writing Practice in Blogosphere

2019 ◽  
pp. 648-668
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Nami
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Educational Values ◽  
English Writing ◽  
Present Case Study ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Writing Practice

Over the past few decades, weblogs have widely made their way into English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching and learning. Despite this growing research on the educational values of weblogs, the impact of individual differences on students' perception toward blogging has been rarely explored. In an attempt to fill this gap, the present case study reports on the impact of individual differences on 28 BA level, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology major students' perceptions of English writing practice in blogosphere. Data was collected from participants' responses to a post-course written interview. Adopting qualitative and quantitative data analysis procedures, it was observed that English language proficiency significantly influenced students' perceived effectiveness of writing practice in the classroom blog. The findings of this study offer several practical implications for research on weblog-enhanced language learning.

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