scholarly journals Assessing the evidence for asymmetrical language switch costs and reversed language dominance effects - a meta analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Gade
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Dominance Effect ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Theory Development ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Linear Mixed Effects ◽  
Dominant Language ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
Switch Costs ◽  
Language Control

Two seemingly counterintuitive phenomena – asymmetrical language switch costs and the reversed language dominance effect – prove to be particularly controversial in the literature on language control. Asymmetrical language switch costs refer to the larger costs for switching into the dominant language compared to switching into the less dominant language, both relative to staying in either one language. The reversed language dominance effect refers to longer reaction times when in the more dominant of the two languages in situations that require frequent language switching (i.e., mixed-language blocks). The asymmetrical language switch costs are commonly taken as an index for processes of transient, reactive inhibitory language control, whereas the reversed language dominance effect is taken as an index for sustained, proactive inhibitory language control. In the present meta-analysis, we set out to establish the empirical evidence for these two phenomena using a Bayesian linear mixed effects modelling approach. Despite the observation of both phenomena in some studies, our results suggest that overall, there is little evidence for the generality and robustness of these two effects, and this holds true even when conditions – such as language proficiency and preparation time manipulations – were included as moderators of these phenomena. We conclude that asymmetrical switch costs and the reversed language dominance effect are important for theory development, but their utility for theory testing is limited due to their lack of robustness and the absence of confirmed moderatory variables.

Effects of language dominance on home reading practices of bilingual families

2020 ◽  
pp. 136700692093815
Author(s):  
Ana Maria Gonzalez-Barrero ◽  
Nicholas Salama-Siroishka ◽  
Daphnée Dubé ◽  
Melanie Brouillard ◽  
Krista Byers-Heinlein
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Reading Practices ◽  
Reading Behaviors ◽  
Dominant Language ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
Home Reading ◽  
Language Effects ◽  
Affected Parent ◽  
Bilingual Communities ◽  
Sociolinguistic Status

Aims and objectives: Many children grow up in bilingual families; however, little is known about how these families use their two languages in their home reading practices. The goal of this study was to examine the effect of language proficiency on the shared storybook reading practices of bilingual families. Methodology: We gathered questionnaire data about home reading activities in French–English bilingual families with 5-year-old children ( n = 66) who had different proficiency levels in each language. Data and analyses: We compared home reading environment, parent reading practices, and child learning and interest in books across the families’ dominant and non-dominant languages using a series of 2-way mixed analyses of variance. Findings: Families gave more emphasis to reading practices in the family’s dominant language: they owned more books, read more often, spent more time, and started reading to the child at an earlier age in the dominant than in the non-dominant language. Dominance also affected parent reading behaviors: parents reported more often translating words and switching from their non-dominant to their dominant language. Parents reported that children enjoyed being read to and readily learned new words in both languages, but ratings were higher for the dominant language. Effects of dominance were strongest in families with less balanced language dominance. Originality: This study compares bilingual families’ home reading practices in both of their languages, providing a clearer picture of how families navigate early dual-language literacy in a bilingual community where both languages are spoken in everyday life and have similar sociolinguistic status. Significance: Results suggest that even in bilingual communities, family home reading practices may exacerbate uneven development across children’s two languages. These findings highlight the importance of identifying strategies to support enriched home reading practices in bilingual families’ non-dominant language.

Effects of language dominance on home reading practices of bilingual families

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Maria Gonzalez-Barrero ◽  
Nicholas Salama-Siroishka ◽  
Daphnée Dubé ◽  
Melanie Brouillard ◽  
Krista Byers-Heinlein
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Reading Practices ◽  
Reading Behaviors ◽  
Dominant Language ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
Home Reading ◽  
Language Effects ◽  
Language Data ◽  
Affected Parent ◽  
Bilingual Communities

Aims and objectives: Many children grow up in bilingual families; however, little is known about how these families use their two languages in their home reading practices. The goal of this study was to examine the effect of language proficiency on the shared storybook reading practices of bilingual families. Methodology: We gathered questionnaire data about home reading activities in French–English bilingual families with 5-year-old children (N = 66) who had different proficiency levels in each language. Data and analyses: We compared home reading environment, parent reading practices, and child learning and interest in books across the families’ dominant and non-dominant languages using a series of 2-way mixed ANOVAs. Findings: Families gave more emphasis to reading practices in the family’s dominant language: they owned more books, read more often, spent more time, and started reading to the child at an earlier age in the dominant than in the non-dominant language. Dominance also affected parent reading behaviors: parents reported more often translating words and switching from their non-dominant to their dominant language. Parents reported that children enjoyed being read to and readily learned new words in both languages, but ratings were higher for the dominant language. Effects of dominance were strongest in families with less balanced language dominance. Originality: This study compares bilingual families’ home reading practices in both of their languages, providing a clearer picture of how families navigate early dual-language literacy in a bilingual community where both languages are spoken in everyday life and have similar sociolinguistic status.Significance: Results suggest that even in bilingual communities, family home reading practices may exacerbate uneven development across children’s two languages. These findings highlight the importance of identifying strategies to support enriched home reading practices in bilingual families’ non-dominant language.

The influence of contextual faces on bilingual language control

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (9) ◽  
pp. 2313-2327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cong Liu ◽  
Kalinka Timmer ◽  
Lu Jiao ◽  
Yuan Yuan ◽  
Ruiming Wang
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Switch Cost ◽  
Dominance Effect ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
The Face ◽  
Language Control ◽  
Global Language

How do faces with social-cultural identity affect bilingual language control? We approach this question by looking at the switch cost patterns and reversed language dominance effect, which are suggested to reflect bilingual language control mechanisms, in the absence (i.e., baseline context) or presence of faces with socio-cultural identity (Asian or Caucasian). In separate blocks, the face matched (i.e., congruent context) or mismatched (i.e., incongruent context) the language to be spoken. In addition, cue preparation time was manipulated to be long (Experiment 1) or short (Experiment 2). In both experiments, a unique asymmetric switch cost with larger costs for L2 was observed in the congruent context as compared with the baseline and incongruent contexts. Furthermore, the reversed language dominance effect was not modulated across contexts. These results suggest a critical role of contextual faces in modulating local but not global language control. Thus, bilingual language control changes flexibly within an environment that includes faces with socio-cultural identity.

scholarly journals On the flexibility of bilingual language control: The effect of language context

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 555-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
KALINKA TIMMER ◽  
INGRID K. CHRISTOFFELS ◽  
ALBERT COSTA
Keyword(s):  
Control System ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Linguistic Context ◽  
Dominant Language ◽  
Switch Costs ◽  
Switching Patterns ◽  
Language Control ◽  
Language Context ◽  
Naming Latencies ◽  
The Way

How flexible is bilingual language control and how does it adapt to the linguistic context of a conversation? We address this by looking at the pattern of switch costs in contexts involving mostly the use of a dominant or non-dominant language. This linguistic context affected switching patterns: switching was equally costly for both languages in a dominant (L1) context, while switching was harder for the weaker language in the non-dominant (L2) context. Also, naming latencies for each language were affected by the linguistic contexts: only the dominant L1 context led to slower latencies for the dominant language. This latter finding was also present when looking at the LPC component, which may reveal differences in the way inhibitory control is applied depending on the linguistic context. These results reveal that the bilingual language control system is flexible and that it adapts to the linguistic context in which the speaker is placed.

scholarly journals The gradient effect of context on language switching and lexical access in bilingual production

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 725-756 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANIEL J. OLSON
Keyword(s):  
Switching Costs ◽  
Fixed Ratio ◽  
Language Switching ◽  
Dominant Language ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
Switch Costs ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Inhibitory Mechanisms ◽  
Language Selection ◽  
Language Context

ABSTRACTPrevious research on bilingual language switching costs has demonstrated asymmetrical switch costs, driven primarily by language dominance, such that switches into a more dominant language incur significantly greater reaction time delays than switches into a less dominant language. While such studies have generally relied on a fixed ratio of switch to nonswitch tokens, it is clear that bilinguals operate not in a fixed ratio, but along a naturally occurring bilingual continuum of modes or contexts. Bridging the concepts of language switching and language context, the current study examines language switching costs through a cued picture-naming study with variable contexts or modes. The results demonstrate that switch costs are dependent upon both language dominance and language context, with asymmetrical costs found in more monolingual modes and symmetrical costs found in bilingual modes. Implications are discussed with respect to language mode and gradient inhibitory mechanisms of language selection.

scholarly journals Language distance modulates cognitive control in bilinguals

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Narges Radman ◽  
Lea Jost ◽  
Setareh Dorood ◽  
Christian Mancini ◽  
Jean-Marie Annoni
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Linguistic Distance ◽  
Eeg Data ◽  
Language Control ◽  
Switching Task ◽  
Naming Tasks ◽  
Control Regions

AbstractLinguistic processes in the bilingual brain are partially shared across languages, and the degree of neural overlap between the languages is influenced by several factors, including the age of acquisition, relative language proficiency, and immersion. There is limited evidence on the role of linguistic distance on the performance of the language control as well as domain-general cognitive control systems. The present study aims at exploring whether being bilingual in close and distant language pairs (CLP and DLP) influences language control and domain-general cognitive processes. We recruited two groups of DLP (Persian–English) and CLP (French–English) bilinguals. Subjects performed language nonswitching and switching picture-naming tasks and a nonlinguistic switching task while EEG data were recorded. Behaviorally, CLP bilinguals showed a lower cognitive cost than DLP bilinguals, reflected in faster reaction times both in language switching (compared to nonswitching) and nonlinguistic switching. ERPs showed differential involvement of cognitive control regions between the CLP and DLP groups during linguistic switching vs. nonswitching at 450 to 515 ms poststimulus presentation. Moreover, there was a difference between CLP and DLP groups from 40 to 150 ms in the nonlinguistic task. Our electrophysiological results confirm a stronger involvement of language control and domain-general cognitive control regions in CLP bilinguals.

scholarly journals Language Dominance and Sociolinguistic Experience Are Related to Language Control and Domain-General Monitoring Control: An Investigation in Bilinguals Who Live in a Minority/Majority Sociolinguistic Setting

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruilin Wu ◽  
Esli Struys
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
Language Switching ◽  
Response Latencies ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Cross Domain ◽  
Switch Costs ◽  
Domain Generality ◽  
Language Control

Bilingual language control in production tasks with language switches is supposed to be linked to domain-general cognitive control. In the present study, we investigated the role of language dominance, measured on a continuous scale, in the relationship between measures of language control elicited through language switching in a picture naming task and non-linguistic cognitive control induced by stimulus-response interference in a Simon task. In our sample of bilinguals who speak both a minority and majority language (language pair of Uyghur-Chinese), the results showed that as bilinguals were more L2-dominant, a pattern of reversed asymmetry switch costs in language control, i.e., larger L2 than L1 switch costs, was observed. Furthermore, the findings showed that recent exposure to the L1 minority language was associated with the change in language switch costs in terms of both response latencies and accuracy rates. This suggests a role for sociolinguistic context in bilingual language control. Concerning cross-domain generality, globally sustained language control was found to be correlated with domain-general monitoring control in response latencies for all bilingual participants. It lends support to the idea that bilinguals tap into monitoring control in the context of language switching. Additionally, the cross-domain overlap was found between two non-equivalent measures (global language control vs. cognitive inhibitory control) in response latencies, specifically for L1-dominant bilinguals. This suggests that language dominance may have an impact on cross-domain generality in language-switching processes.

scholarly journals Assessing the Evidence for Asymmetrical Switch Costs and Reversed Language Dominance Effects – A Meta-Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Gade ◽  
Mathieu Declerck ◽  
Andrea M. Philipp ◽  
Alodie Rey-Mermet ◽  
Iring Koch
Keyword(s):  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
Switch Costs

scholarly journals Bilingual Language Control Flexibly Adapts to Cultural Context

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cong Liu ◽  
Lu Li ◽  
Lu Jiao ◽  
Ruiming Wang
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Switch Cost ◽  
Dominance Effect ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
Language Control

How does bilingual language control adapt to the cultural context? We address this question by looking at the pattern of switch cost and reversed language dominance effect, which are suggested to separately reflect reactive and proactive language control mechanisms, in the contexts with culturally-neutral pictures (i. e., baseline context) or culturally-biased pictures (i.e., congruent context where culture matched the language to be spoken or incongruent context where culture mismatched the language to be spoken). Results showed an asymmetric switch cost with larger costs for L2 in the congruent context as compared with the baseline and incongruent contexts, but the reversed language dominance effect was not changed across contexts, suggesting that cultural context plays a critical role in modulating reactive but not proactive language control. These findings reveal the dynamic nature of language control in bilinguals and have important implications for the current models of bilingual language control.

Proactive language control during bilingual sentence production

2021 ◽  
pp. 136700692110478
Author(s):  
Mathieu Declerck ◽  
Jonathan Grainger ◽  
Robert J Hartsuiker
Keyword(s):  
Dominance Effect ◽  
Word Production ◽  
Sentence Production ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
Control Processes ◽  
Filled Pauses ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Mixed Language ◽  
Language Control

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: While evidence for proactive language control processes has been found during single word production, very little and conflicting evidence has been observed for such control processes during sentence production. So, the main goal of this study was to investigate whether proactive language control can occur during sentence production. Design/methodology/approach: To investigate proactive language control during sentence production, we relied on a description task in single and mixed language blocks. Data and analysis: Mixing costs and the reversed language dominance effect of language intrusions and filled pauses were used to examine proactive language control. Findings/conclusions: Evidence for proactive language control during sentence production came from the mixing cost effect observed with both language intrusions and filled pauses. Whereas no reversed language dominance effect was observed in mixed language blocks, a significant difference in language pattern was observed between single and mixed language blocks, indicating that proactive language control of the first language might be implemented in mixed language blocks during sentence production. Originality: Unlike the vast majority of studies investigating language control, this study relied on sentence production instead of single word production. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine filled pauses to gain insight into language control. Significance/implications: These data indicate that proactive language control can be implemented during bilingual sentence production.

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