PROCESSING EMOTION WORDS IN THE LATE-LEARNED L2

Language-emotion link has been a subject of interest for several decades. It has been studied extensively both in the monolingual and bilingual literature. However, due to the numerous factors that are at play in bilingualism, i.e. age and context of acquisition, frequency of use, there is conflicting evidence regarding the emotional load of each language of bilinguals. A great bulk of evidence leans towards the L1 as the more emotional language. This study investigates the perceived emotionality in the late learned language. Our participants (N = 57) were late bilinguals who learned their second language (English) in formal contexts after their first language (Turkish). We used a lexical decision task in which the participants determined whether the visually presented emotion words were real words or non-words. In line with the literature, we report faster response times for positive than for negative words in both languages. Also, the results showed L1 superiority in word processing.

Teaching a while measuring b: cultural bias in assessing student performance

Purpose This paper aims to explore the impact of differences in educational traditions on conventions of teaching and learning, and on the measurement of learning outcomes. These are critical issues within the context of business schools that are steeped in one dominant tradition but have a large population of international students previously educated in other traditions. The paper argues that international students face the challenge of satisfactorily demonstrating learning according to foreign conventions that are different from what they would have been accustomed to within the framework of their home educational tradition. Design/methodology/approach This study draws on a bilingual literature review to capture differences in educational traditions between Australia and China. It then uses logistic regression to analyze the performance of 800 domestic and international Chinese students across a range of different assessment formats at a large Australian business school. Findings The study finds statistically significant differences in the performance of these two student groups on different assessment types. It concludes that the conventions on approaches to the assessment of learning shaped by a specific educational tradition can hamper the effective demonstration of learning among students from other educational traditions. Originality/value The paper focuses on issues related to the assessment of learning in multicultural higher education contexts, which has received less attention in the literature compared to issues on teaching approaches in multicultural contexts. The paper also highlights important implications on the validity of the measurement of learning outcomes and on the subsequent impact on graduate recruitment.

Measures of bilingual cognition – from infancy to adolescence

An extensive literature exists regarding the effect of bilingualism on cognition in developing populations. However, the term ‘cognition’ is vague and applies to a large number of different abilities. We reviewed 57 publications examining cognition in simultaneous bilingual children to understand what aspects of cognition have been studied in this population and what tasks have been used, in addition to qualitatively assessing the results of bilingual/monolingual comparisons. Executive function was the most frequently assessed cognitive ability across all age groups, paralleling the adult bilingual literature, with memory flexibility and theory of mind also emerging as common targets within infant and preschool age groups. Results are discussed in light of developmental trajectories and assessment methodologies currently available for the cognitive abilities represented in this literature.

Developmental trajectories of metacognitive processing and executive function from childhood to older age

The modern understanding of the term metacognition encompasses two levels of processing: a lower level awareness or knowledge of one’s own thoughts and a higher level regulation or control of our thinking. Metacognition, therefore, bears conceptual similarity with executive function: both are concerned with top-down monitoring and control of cognition in the service of ongoing goal-directed behaviour. Previous studies have shown a possible executive function advantage in multilingual speakers but also a possible disadvantage in metacognitive processing. To progress theory on metacognitive processing and the relationship with executive function and linguistic experience across the lifespan, we conducted a study testing 330 healthy individuals in four age groups from 7 to 80 years old. All participants performed a metacognition task and two measures of executive function, which included the Simon task and the Tower of London task. Half the participants were multilingual speakers since birth. We built developmental trajectories of metacognitive and executive function across the lifespan. The best metacognitive efficiency was observed in mid-adulthood, whereas the best executive function processing reached its peak in young adulthood. A steep cognitive decline was observed in older age, while metacognitive efficiency was preserved. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that metacognition and executive function are served by different factors across all ages. Contrary to previous findings in the bilingual literature, a multilinguistic experience conferred neither any significant advantage nor disadvantage in both executive function and metacognitive processing across the lifespan.

War of Social Messaging Platforms

This chapter studies four social messaging platforms, including WhatsApp (United States), WeChat (China), LINE (Japan), and KakaoTalk (South Korea), and applies a relational view of design to explore how the material and the discursive are fused to articulate culturally sustaining value propositions and global mobilities. Based on a multiyear, multisited transnational study and bilingual literature research, it traces the genre development of four local uptakes of a global technology assemblage from the angle of affordances. In exploring the culturally constructed and technology-mediated process of global mobilities, the chapter discusses how discursive affordances of the local uptakes presented culturally sustaining value propositions to spearhead businesses in global competitions, and how the artifact-based and distributed affordances together enhanced individual users to form identities of global mobilities within their communication ecologies for engagement and empowerment. It asks us to consider how we as designers should address the tension between cultural diversity and cultural sensitivity as part of today’s global cultural diversity reality for social media design.

„Ajm Polisz i mieszkam w Glasgowicach”. Wybrane zjawiska kontaktu językowego w tekstach pisanych na przykładzie zbioru wspomnień Wyfrunęli

The aim of the study was to indicate the features of bilingual literature and discussthe language of narrative in texts of contemporary migrant literature. The material used for the analysis was a Memoirs’ Collection “Wyfrunęli”, which was written by Poles who migrated to the UK and Ireland after 2004. A detailed analysis points out some features in the lexical, grammatical and spelling-related aspects of the texts which suggest the bilingual natureof the linguistic data. The lexical analysis involved studying both proper and common nouns in the context of semantic fields, which, as argued by Elżbieta Sękowska (1994), can bea useful tool in an analysis of lexical innovations in bilingual speech. The analysis of grammar concentrated on issues related to accommodation and grammatical gender. The discussionof the spelling focused on the function of incomplete borrowing.

Person-Centered Dementia Care in China: A Bilingual Literature Review

We conducted a bilingual literature review of the existing studies focusing on person-centered dementia care in China. We synthesized key findings from included articles according to three overarching themes: Chinese cultural relevance of person-centered care (PCC), perceived needs for PCC for older adults in China, implementation and measurement of PCC in China, and person-centered dementia care model. We also drew on frameworks, theories, and other contents from the examined articles to develop a person-centered dementia care model with specific relevance to China. The model is a good starting point to help us operationalize globally relevant core principles of PCC in the specific sociocultural context of China. The framework will be informed by more empirical studies and evolve with the ongoing operationalization of PCC. Although PCC is a new concept and has not been vigorously or systematically studied in China, it is attracting increasing attention from Chinese researchers. More empirical studies are needed to link PCC to measurable outcomes, enrich the framework for applying PCC, and construct assessment and evaluation systems to facilitate the provision of PCC across countries and cultures. Global consortia and collaborations with multidisciplinary expertise to develop a PCC common data infrastructure that is internationally relevant for data sharing and comparison are needed.

Shared core meanings and shared associations in bilingual semantic memory: Evidence from research on implicit memory

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The degree of overlap across languages in bilingual semantic memory has been debated in the cognitive bilingual literature for decades. This paper focuses on theory and recent evidence addressing the questions of whether translation-equivalent words in a bilingual person’s two languages access common core-meaning representations and whether long-standing semantic/conceptual associations among words are language-general or language-specific. Design/methodology/approach: We explain a theoretical approach to this problem and review recent evidence that addresses it. The empirical work cited used primarily memory tasks in which the languages of the word stimuli or responses changed from encoding to test. Data and analysis: Several studies are reviewed. In most cases, data were analyzed using an analysis of variance. Findings/conclusions: Robust between-language priming was observed for concrete nouns, abstract nouns, verbs, and adjectives using a variety of specific tasks, indicating that the semantic representations of translation equivalents overlap. The reduction in priming relative to within-language conditions could be explained in some cases by repetition of language-specific processes in the within-language conditions. Results of repetition-priming and false-memory experiments that involved semantic associations showed that category–exemplar, noun–verb, antonym, and other semantic relationships are shared across languages in a common semantic system. Originality: Many of the results are interpreted with respect to questions that have not been addressed in previous work. Significance/implications: The nature of semantic system integration is important for understanding bilingual cognition. Episodic memory tasks can be a useful way to study the organization of core-meaning representations in bilinguals, and indicate that these representations are shared across languages. However, these procedures do not capture other aspects of semantic representation that may differ across languages.