The effects of bilingualism on learning to read English: evidence from the contrast between Urdu‐English bilingual and English monolingual children

2001 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shazia Mumtaz ◽  
Glyn Humphreys
Keyword(s):  
Learning To Read ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
English Monolingual

scholarly journals The Roots of Bilingualism in Newborns

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krista Byers-Heinlein ◽  
Tracey C. Burns ◽  
Janet F. Werker
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Chinese And English ◽  
Intermediate Pattern ◽  
English Monolingual

The first steps toward bilingual language acquisition have already begun at birth. When tested on their preference for English versus Tagalog, newborns whose mothers spoke only English during pregnancy showed a robust preference for English. In contrast, newborns whose mothers spoke both English and Tagalog regularly during pregnancy showed equal preference for both languages. A group of newborns whose mothers had spoken both Chinese and English showed an intermediate pattern of preference for Tagalog over English. Preference for two languages does not suggest confusion between them, however. Study 2 showed that both English monolingual newborns and Tagalog-English bilingual newborns could discriminate English from Tagalog. The same perceptual and learning mechanisms that support acquisition in a monolingual environment thus also naturally support bilingual acquisition.

Performance on Auditory and Visual Tasks of Inhibition in English Monolingual and Spanish–English Bilingual Adults: Do Bilinguals Have a Cognitive Advantage?

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 410-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie L. Desjardins ◽  
Francisco Fernandez
Keyword(s):  
Incongruent Trial ◽  
Dichotic Listening ◽  
Simon Task ◽  
Congruent Trial ◽  
Irrelevant Information ◽  
Visual Test ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Visual Tasks ◽  
Listening Task ◽  
English Monolingual

Purpose Bilingual individuals have been shown to be more proficient on visual tasks of inhibition compared with their monolingual counterparts. However, the bilingual advantage has not been evidenced in all studies, and very little is known regarding how bilingualism influences inhibitory control in the perception of auditory information. The purpose of the current study was to examine inhibition of irrelevant information using auditory and visual tasks in English monolingual and Spanish–English bilingual adults. Method Twenty English monolinguals and 19 early balanced Spanish–English bilinguals participated in this study. All participants were 18–30 years of age, had hearing thresholds < 25 dB HL from 250 to 8000 Hz, bilaterally (American National Standards Institute, 2003), and were right handed. Inhibition was measured using a forced-attention dichotic consonant–vowel listening task and the Simon task, a nonverbal visual test. Results Both groups of participants demonstrated a significant right ear advantage on the dichotic listening task; however, no significant differences in performance were evidenced between the monolingual and bilingual groups in any of the dichotic listening conditions. Both groups performed better on the congruent trial than on the incongruent trial of the Simon task and had significantly faster response times on the congruent trial than on the incongruent trial. However, there were no significant differences in performance between the monolingual and bilingual groups on the visual test of inhibition. Conclusions No significant differences in performance on auditory and visual tests of inhibition of irrelevant information were evidenced between the monolingual and bilingual participants in this study. These findings suggest that bilinguals may not exhibit an advantage in the inhibition of irrelevant information compared with monolinguals.

New perspective on intrasentential code-switching: A study of Korean– English switching

1992 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 433-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keumsil Kim Yoon
Keyword(s):  
Code Switching ◽  
Language Group ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Part Of Speech ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Social Code ◽  
Linguistic Constraints ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
English Monolingual

AbstractThis article explores typology-based differences in patterns of bilingual behavior by analyzing code-switches of Korean-English bilingual speakers, a language group that has not received much study so far. Data collected from 20 balanced bilinguals was analyzed to address the issues of linguistic constraints on code-switching and applicability of the concepts of nonce borrowing, language assignment, and neutrality to the phenomena observed. Two interesting code-switching phenomena were found: a change of the part of speech in the process of making small-size nonequivalence constituent switches and an introduction of Korean “operating verbs,” which are inflected to indicate the degree of respect to the interlocutor. Four subjects (two males, two females), who were taped in two different contexts, showed a reduction in social code-switching and a higher rate of English monolingual sentences when talking to their spouses than to an acquaintance.

Gesture restriction affects French–English bilinguals’ speech only in French

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 340-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANGÉLIQUE LAURENT ◽  
ELENA NICOLADIS
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Access ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Information Packaging ◽  
English Monolingual

Some studies have shown that bilinguals gesture more than monolinguals. One possible reason for the high gesture frequency is that bilinguals rely on gestures even more than monolinguals in constructing their message. To test this, we asked French–English bilingual adults and English monolingual adults to tell a story twice; on one occasion they could move their hands and on the other they could not. If gestures aid bilinguals in information packaging and/or lexical access, bilinguals should tell shorter stories with fewer word types than monolinguals when their gestures are restricted. In fact, we found that gesture restriction affected bilinguals’ stories only in French, the language in which they used more gestures. These findings challenge the interpretation that bilinguals gesture frequently as an aid in constructing their message. We argue that cultural norms in gesture frequency interact with gesture use in message construction.

scholarly journals Masked English Speech Recognition Performance in Younger and Older Spanish–English Bilingual and English Monolingual Children

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (12) ◽  
pp. 4578-4591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret K. Miller ◽  
Lauren Calandruccio ◽  
Emily Buss ◽  
Ryan W. McCreery ◽  
Jacob Oleson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Speech Recognition ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
English Language ◽  
Maternal Education ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
English Monolingual

Purpose The purpose of this study was to compare masked English speech recognition thresholds between Spanish–English bilingual and English monolingual children and to evaluate effects of age, maternal education, and English receptive language abilities on individual differences in masked speech recognition. Method Forty-three Spanish–English bilingual children and 42 English monolingual children completed an English sentence recognition task in 2 masker conditions: (a) speech-shaped noise and (b) 2-talker English speech. Two age groups of children, younger (5–6 years) and older (9–10 years), were tested. The predictors of masked speech recognition performance were evaluated using 2 mixed-effects regression models. In the 1st model, fixed effects were age group (younger children vs. older children), language group (bilingual vs. monolingual), and masker type (speech-shaped noise vs. 2-talker speech). In the 2nd model, the fixed effects of receptive English vocabulary scores and maternal education level were also included. Results Younger children performed more poorly than older children, but no significant difference in masked speech recognition was observed between bilingual and monolingual children for either age group when English proficiency and maternal education were also included in the model. English language abilities fell within age-appropriate norms for both groups, but individual children with larger receptive vocabularies in English tended to show better recognition; this effect was stronger for younger children than for older children. Speech reception thresholds for all children were lower in the speech-shaped noise masker than in the 2-talker speech masker. Conclusions Regardless of age, similar masked speech recognition was observed for Spanish–English bilingual and English monolingual children tested in this study when receptive English language abilities were accounted for. Receptive English vocabulary scores were associated with better masked speech recognition performance for both bilinguals and monolinguals, with a stronger relationship observed for younger children than older children. Further investigation involving a Spanish-dominant bilingual sample is warranted given the high English language proficiency of children included in this study.

Phonetic equivalence in the acquisition of /l/ by Spanish–English bilingual children

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
JESSICA A. BARLOW ◽  
PAIGE E. BRANSON ◽  
IGNATIUS S. B. NIP
Keyword(s):  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Phonetic Category ◽  
Contextual Variation ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Second Formant ◽  
English Monolingual

Spanish [l] is characterized as clear, and is associated with a high second formant (F2) frequency and a large difference between F2 and the first formant (F1) frequencies. In contrast, English [l] is darker (with a lower F2 and a relatively smaller F2–F1 difference) and also exhibits contextual variation due to an allophonic velarization rule that further darkens [l] postvocalically. We aimed to determine if Spanish–English bilingual children evidence these differences productively, in a manner comparable to that of monolinguals, or if they produce an [l] that is intermediate to that of Spanish and English monolinguals. We acoustically analyzed [l] productions of seven Spanish–English bilingual, seven Spanish monolingual, and seven English monolingual children. Results showed that the bilinguals had similar prevocalic F2 and F2–F1 values for [l] in both languages, comparable to those of Spanish monolinguals, but significantly higher than those of English monolinguals. The bilinguals also produced English (but not Spanish) [l] with significantly lower postvocalic F2 and F2–F1 values. We assume that the bilinguals have a merged phonetic category for prevocalic [l] but not postvocalic [l], and further, that they maintain separate grammars, allowing the allophonic velarization rule to apply in English but not Spanish.

scholarly journals Cultural differences in the content of child talk: evaluative lexis of English monolingual and Spanish–English bilingual 30-month-olds

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 844-869
Author(s):  
Martha SHIRO ◽  
Erika HOFF ◽  
Krystal M. RIBOT
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Semantic Categories ◽  
Vocabulary Skills ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
English Monolingual

AbstractWe examined the size, content, and use of evaluative lexis by 26 English monolingual and 20 Spanish–English bilingual 30-month-old children in interaction with their mothers. We extracted the evaluative words, defined as words referring to cognition, volition, or emotion. Controlling for overall vocabulary skills as measured by the MacArthur-Bates inventories, monolinguals had a larger evaluative lexicon than the bilinguals’ Spanish evaluative lexicon, but no difference was found between monolinguals’ and bilinguals’ English evaluative lexicons. There were differences between the monolinguals and bilinguals in the distribution of evaluative words across semantic categories: English monolingual children used more words pertaining to volition and cognition and talked more about volition than the Spanish–English bilingual children. These results suggest that the development of evaluative lexicons is influenced by cultural differences, and consequently, bilingual children, who are also bicultural, follow a different developmental path in both languages from the path followed by their monolingual peers.

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