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Grigor, Iuliia. "The Impact of Bilingualism on Acquiring Second Language Vocabulary: A Case Study." Master's thesis, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10362/12077.
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Trabalho de Projecto apresentado para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtençao do grau de Mestre em Didáctica do Inglês,In the modern scientific world, linguists have made a big buzz about the notion of bilingualism. Such a situation is the result of a persistent call of the European community for bilingualisation, which is dictated by a constant mobility of people around Europe. In order to grasp the nature of bilingualism, a vast majority of scientific papers have been published which rest upon the results of an enormous number of action researches held. But these papers deal primarily with the notion of bilingualism itself. Also, constant attempts to subdivide bilingualism can be found. If we will speak about the world of education, lots of linguists (not even practitioners) give you advice on how to foster a bilingual child. In this paper, through a detailed analysis of the relevant literature, we will try to understand what to do if you are working with children who happen to be bilinguals, what role bilingual education programs play in modern educational system, and what their objectives are. Also, how being bilingual will influence a child’s cognitive processes and their intelligence and how teachers can benefit from a child’s bilingualism. By means of an action research we will try to clarify how being bilingual will help children acquire vocabulary.
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Barr, Regina L. "Sociolinguistics and Bilingualism." University of Toledo / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1512423875160549.
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Barbiero, Giulia <1997>. "Attitudes Toward Bilingualism." Master's Degree Thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/21265.
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Questa tesi ha l’obiettivo di analizzare il bilinguismo dal punto di vista teorico, storico, linguistico e geografico. Il bilinguismo è un termine trattato in molti campi di studio tra cui quello linguistico, psicologico e pedagogico. Essendo un argomento così multidimensionale, è anche caratterizzato da numerose definizioni diverse, il bilinguismo infatti, non presenta una definizione univoca, ma piuttosto viene considerato diversamente dipendentemente dal campo di studi in cui viene trattato. Nel corso del tempo quindi, il bilinguismo è stato definito in maniera diversa e l’opinione generale delle persone è cambiata drasticamente. Questo cambiamento di opinione nei confronti del bilinguismo è stato poi applicato sia nella sfera familiare che in quella sociale. Il primo capitolo di questa tesi, dunque, si focalizza sulle varie definizioni di bilinguismo e sul cambiamento di opinione delle persone nel corso del tempo. Il secondo capitolo invece, si concentra sul ruolo della lingua inglese e di come, in particolare, sia arrivata ad essere considerata la lingua franca attuale da molti. Ne segue le definizioni di lingua franca e lingua globale. Il capitolo include inoltre una presentazione delle politiche linguistiche principali adottate nel corso degli anni. Il terzo capitolo descrive dal punto di vista storico l’approccio al bilinguismo di ogni continente, con un particolare focus sull’Europa. L’ultimo capitolo consiste in una serie di interviste a soggetti bilingui. Le interviste hanno lo scopo di analizzare le diverse esperienze e opinioni degli intervistati.
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Wright, Sue. "Bilingualism and educational achievement a study of young bilinguals in Birmingham schools and colleges /." Thesis, Online version, 1992. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?did=1&uin=uk.bl.ethos.332287.
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Bäckström, Elin. "Affective Emotions and Bilingualism." Thesis, Stockholm University, Department of English, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-6659.
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This essay deals with bilingualism and how affectionate feelings are expressed. There seems to be a difference in meaning between the English phrase I love you and the corresponding Swedish jag älskar dig, where the English phrase is used more frequently and casually than the Swedish phrase. In this paper, affective emotions in Swedish-English bilingualism is examined on two levels: 1) the expression of affectionate feelings in general and 2) the translatability and meaning of I love you and jag älskar dig.
A qualitative study, with the purpose to investigate how two groups of Swedish-English bilinguals experience meaning and translatability in their affective repertoires, was carried out. 25 people participated in the study, of whom those in the first group are L1 speakers of English who have acquired Swedish as a second language, and those in the second are L1 speakers of both English and Swedish with at least one parent from an English-speaking country. The results of the study were compared with results derived from previous research on language and emotion and bilingualism. Furthermore, a few professional translators were interviewed about the translatability of I love you and jag älskar dig.
The results from the study show a tendency for late learners of Swedish to use English rather than Swedish when expressing affection, while the childhood bilinguals of both Swedish and English show a general preference for Swedish. However, respondents show a high degree of accommodation; they choose their language based on the L1 or preferred language of the interlocutor. A vast majority in both groups reported experiencing feelings of affection to be expressed differently in their English-speaking culture compared to the Swedish culture. A majority of respondents in the first group do not experience a difference in meaning between I love you and jag älskar dig, while a majority in the second group, with both Swedish and English as L1, do. The results from the study cannot be claimed to account for more than the experiences and opinions of the 25 respondents, but correspond with previous research results within the fields of language and emotion and bilingualism.
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Trites, Monique Marie Gabrielle. "Bilingualism and reasoning ability." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1986. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/26619.
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The purposes of the present study were (1) to investigate relationships between levels of verbal and non verbal reasoning ability and second language acquisition and (2) to examine the concurrent validity of the Test Of Nonverbal Intelligence (TONI) using the WISC-R and the Children's Word Finding Test as criteria and to verify the equivalence of the two forms of the TONI.
The present study was conducted because of the controversy that exists in the literature, over the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive ability. While previous research used "general intelligence" tests to investigate differences between unilinguals and bilinguals, the present study examined a more precise construct: verbal and non-verbal reasoning ability in Grade 3 French Immersion students as compared to Grade 3 Non French Immersion Students.
All students came from homes in which English was the only language spoken, had been continuously enrolled from kindergarten through the end of Grade 3 in their current academic programs, and were not attending Learning Assistance centers. The two groups came from families with high socioeconomic status.
An analysis of variance was used to compare the two groups on the WISC-R, the TONI and the Children's Word Finding Test. Correlations between scores on the three tests were calculated to verify the level of equivalence of the two forms of the TONI, and of the validity of the TONI concurrently with the WISC-R and with the Children's Word Finding Test.
The French Immersion group scored higher than the Non-French Immersion group on the TONI -A (p = .07) and the Children's Word Finding Test (p = .10) and significantly higher on the Performance Scale and Full Scale of the WISC-R. After controlling for variability on cognitive ability levels (WISC-R), the French Immersion group still scored higher than the Non-French Immersion group on the TONI A and the Children's Word Finding Test (p = .09).
The TONI correlated poorly with the WISC-R, as well as with the Children's Word Finding Test. The low correlation of the TONI with the WISC-R was explained by the difference in the range of the age interval of the norms of each test.
The coefficient of equivalence of the two forms of the TONI was significantly lower than that reported by the authors of the technical manual. Furthermore, an order effect was found for both French Immersion and Non-French Immersion groups, when the Form A of the TONI was administered first (This was not however, the case when the Form B of the TONI was administered first). When the TONI A was given first the correlation between the scores of the TONI A and TONI B was high for the French Immersion group but not for the Non-French Immersion group.
It was concluded that although interpretation of the results is confounded by possible initial differences between groups, the French Immersion group demonstrated a tendency towards better verbal and non-verbal inductive and deductive reasoning ability (p = .09). Further, it was concluded that the two forms of the TONI are not equivalent and that there is an order effect when TONI A is administered first, but not when TONI B is administered first. Further research is needed on this test before it can be considered a reliable substitute for the WISC-R.Education, Faculty of
Graduate
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Roberts, Sean Geraint. "Evolutionary approach to bilingualism." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/7995.
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The ability to learn multiple languages simultaneously is a fundamental human linguistic capacity. Yet there has been little attempt to explain this in evolutionary terms. Perhaps one reason for this lack of attention is the idea that monolingualism is the default, most basic state and so needs to be explained before considering bilingualism. When thinking about bilingualism in this light, a paradox appears: Intuitively, learning two languages is harder than learning one, yet bilingualism is prevalent in the world. Previous explanations for linguistic diversity involve appeals to adaptation for group resistance to freeriders. However, the first statement of the paradox is a property of individuals, while the second part is a property of populations. This thesis shows that the properties of cultural transmission mean that the link between individual learning and population-level phenomena can be complex. A simple Bayesian model shows that just because learning one language is easier than two, it doesn't mean that monolingualism will be the most prevalent property of populations. Although this appears to resolve the paradox, by building models of bilingual language evolution the complexity of the problem is revealed. A bilingual is typically defined as an individual with "native-like control of two languages" (Bloomfield, 1933, p. 56), but how do we define a native speaker? How do we measure proficiency? How do we define a language? How can we draw boundaries between languages that are changing over large timescales and spoken by populations with dynamic structures? This thesis argues that there is no psychological reality to the concept of discrete, monolithic, static `languages' - they are epiphenomena that emerge from the way individuals use low-level linguistic features. Furthermore, dynamic social structures are what drives levels of bilingualism. This leads to a concrete definition of bilingualism: The amount of linguistic optionality that is conditioned on social variables. However, integrating continuous variation and dynamic social structures into existing top-down models is difficult because many make monolingual assumptions. Subsequently, introducing bilingualism into these models makes them qualitatively more complicated. The assumptions that are valid for studying the general processes of cultural transmission may not be suitable for asking questions about bilingualism. I present a bottom-up model that is specifically designed to address the bilingual paradox. In this model, individuals have a general learning mechanism that conditions linguistic variation on semantic variables and social variables such as the identity of the speaker. If speaker identity is an important conditioning factor, then `bilingualism' emerges. The mechanism required to learn one language in this model can also learn multiple languages. This suggests that the bilingual paradox derives from focussing on the wrong kind of question. Rather than having to explain the ability to learn multiple languages simultaneously as an adaptation, we should be asking how and why humans developed a flexible language learning mechanism. This argument coincides with a move in the field of bilingualism away from asking `how are monolinguals and bilinguals different?' to `how does the distribution of variation affect the way children learn?'. In this case, while studies of language evolution look at how learning biases affect linguistic variation, studies of bilingualism look at how linguistic variation affects learning biases. I suggest that the two fields have a lot to offer each other.
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Ibrahim, Anna. "Bilingualism in translation tasks." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2014. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/6251/.
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Maltais, Cathy Florence. "Bilingualism in the Canadian federal public service : the value of the bilingualism bonus." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2018. http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3024217/.
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This study aims to investigate if the bilingualism bonus is a motivating factor for usage or acquisition of a second official language in the Canadian federal public service and also to investigate whether the bilingualism bonus plays a role in increasing the level of bilingualism in the public service or not. This was an action research based study in which mixed methods were utilised to collect data, including a survey of public servants. The study found that the bilingualism bonus does not perform the intended role of the bonus, which is to motivate employees to use or acquire their second official language. The study also shows that the bilingualism bonus does not play a role in increasing bilingualism in the public service as a whole. In applying the expectancy theory model, it was found that the reason the bonus does not motivate employees to learn and/or use their second official language is because some of the values in the expectancy equation are nil, therefore motivation is nil.
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Jones, Karen. "Marketing communications and bilingualism : the impact of bilingualism on consumers' response to marketing messages." Thesis, Bangor University, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.568764.
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Marketing communication focuses on employing strategies that appeal to its target audience and messages must identify the target audience and communicate in ways that appeal to its needs and expectations to be effective (Palmer 2009). However, targeting consumers with marketing messages in English regardless of cultural heritage and native language continues (Puntoni et al. 2009). Whilst language policies influence the public sector to target Welsh consumers with bilingual messages, the private sector continue to convey predominately-English messages. In contrast, faced with the same challenge, all commercial businesses try to stand out from their competitors (Bhargava 2008). Further, the number of Welsh first language speakers living in Wales is on the increase (Welsh Language Board, 2003). Therefore, contemporary marketing communication calls for marketing messages that appeal to a wider Welsh bilingual market. This thesis investigates the impact bilingual marketing stimuli has on comprehension, attitudes, and resulting behaviour of Welsh consumers. A large scale, holistic research approach was utilised in the study, mutually supported by a deductive and inductive mixed method design to produce robust data. This strengthens any weakness in the methods, as one compensated for the other (Fulcher and Scott 2007), thus cancelling out any limitations (Milliken 2001). A non-probability sampling method was adopted that would positively identify the target audience fitting the language criteria. Choosing a non-parametric route to the method of analysis is in light of non- probability sampling in addition to limitations in sample size and unknown normality of distribution. The e-Prime software application suite creates all the computerised experiment designs. The quantitative data was analysed using the statistical package for social science (SPSS), whilst using qualitative data, the content was analysed and thematic techniques used to uncover themes. Contributing data interpretation drawn from small samples acts as a platform for designing the confirmatory survey aimed at strengthening validity and reliability. The findings draw on narratives and statistical significant correlations in bilingual qualities of consumers that focus on the assumption that Welsh products are associated with quality goods that are higher in price. A strong sense of passion and pride for the Welsh language's development emerges from the analysis that has the potential to offer a lucrative business growth opportunity for local businesses. However, the additional costs of producing bilingual marketing messages are unjustified whilst consumer comprehension gaps in the Welsh language exist. From the analysis and discussions, the development of two distinctive framework models will assist businesses in directing contemporary marketing communications at specifically targeted audiences based on language proficiency and its motivational appeal. In addition, having to attend to only one academic level of Welsh, this adds to the comprehension gap problem making it difficult for creating marketing communications that challenge the comprehension gap. Commercial competitive advantages are difficult to achieve when language level variations are restricted in their use to segment the market to beat the competition. Support for a variation of language levels for businesses to use that target consumer groups within each comprehension level offer businesses more scope to adopt cost effective strategies that offer competitive advantages. Future proposed research directions include use of language proficiency as a tool to segment the bilingual market and, in doing so, test the effectiveness of marketing messages designed to identify with each target market. Also, there is opportunity to explore the impact such marketing messages may have on those not specifically targeted (non- Welsh speakers) as well as the effects of their appeal on the tourist trade.
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Banos, Smith Helen. "Phonological awareness, literacy and bilingualism." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.343434.
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De, Bruin Angela Maria Theresia. "Do bilinguals have a cognitive advantage? : examining effects of bilingualism and language use on executive control." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/25450.
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The daily practice of bilingual language control has been argued to affect both lexical processing and non-verbal executive control in bilingual speakers. On the one hand, bilingualism may slow down lexical processing in both languages. On the other hand, bilinguals have been said to show cognitive advantages compared to monolinguals, for example on inhibition and switching tasks. However, this ‘bilingual advantage’ is hotly debated, can often not be replicated, and language groups have been poorly matched on background variables in previous studies. Furthermore, I examined the reliability of the literature and found evidence for the existence of a publication bias (Chapter 3). This over-representation of positive studies compared to studies with null or negative findings hinders a reliable interpretation of the actual effects of bilingualism. The current thesis therefore aimed to examine possible effects of bilingualism on both lexical processing and executive control. Specifically, I investigated the effects of an understudied, but important feature of bilingualism: language use. Effects of bilingualism have been argued to be largest in older adults. Chapter 4 presents a study discussing inhibition and possible effects of age across various tasks. I show that inhibitory control and age effects depend on task-specific features, including the type of interference, type of stimuli, and processing speed. Next, I present a study (Chapter 5 and 6) examining the relation between bilingualism and both lexical processing and executive control in older adults. Importantly, bilingual and monolingual groups were matched on background variables including immigrant status. I furthermore compared a group of active to inactive bilinguals to assess effects of language use. On a lexical processing task, bilinguals had a disadvantage compared to monolinguals. This effect was modulated by language use, implying that not only language proficiency but also actual language use are needed to explain lexical effects of bilingualism. However, the non-verbal executive control tasks showed no consistent effects of bilingualism or language use on inhibition or task switching. Thus, this study did not replicate positive effects on executive control in older adults. Between-subject comparisons remain problematic as groups can never be matched perfectly. Furthermore, these designs cannot assess a causal effect of bilingualism. Therefore, I conducted another study using behavioural and EEG measurements to test for causal effects of language switching on task switching (Chapter 7). When young bilinguals completed a language-switching task prior to a verbal task-switching paradigm, they showed larger switching costs than after a monolingual naming task. However, this effect of language switching was not found for non-verbal task switching. Language switching may thus have a negative impact on verbal switching, but these effects did not extend to non-verbal executive control. Together, these studies suggest that bilingualism and language use affect lexical processing, but there was no evidence for effects of bilingualism and language use on non-verbal executive control in younger or older adults. In combination with other failed replications and the biased literature, this questions the reliability of cognitive benefits associated with bilingualism. However, executive control is not a unity and its manifestation depends on task-specific features. This task impurity, together with the degree to which participant groups are matched, may explain the inconsistency with which effects of bilingualism on executive control have been observed.
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Antonchuk, Daniela. "Bilingualism and access to a third language: Access to the Spanish language by Russian-Romanian bilinguals." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/394088.
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El presente trabajo aborda un tema tan fundamental e importante hoy en día como el bilingüismo, que es un proceso complicado que involucra una amplia variedad de aspectos, entre los que se comprende un sistema particular de la lengua, así como la capacidad de utilizarlo en la comunicación. Aparte del mero hecho de adquirir el conocimiento de una segunda lengua, el bilingüismo también implica el desarrollo de estructuración lingüística específica y el funcionamiento del cerebro diferentes de las de un individuo monolingüe.
La presente investigación tiene como objetivo evaluar la capacidad de comprensión de los informantes bilingües para referirse a un tercer idioma sin su aprendizaje previo y comparar los resultados obtenidos con las adquiridas para los individuos monolingües que presentan cada uno de los idiomas con el fin de verificar una hipótesis establecida. Este estudio se basa en el bilingüismo entre dos familias de lenguas diferentes, es decir, eslava y romance, en el ejemplo de los idiomas ruso y rumano, lo que resulta en tres grupos de informantes y que implica el análisis de una tercera lengua que pertenece a la familia de lenguas románicas en el ejemplo de la lengua española. Así, el estudio dado representa una investigación experimental con material especificado recogido y generado para un número de propósitos y objetivos, todos los cuales tienen como objetivo confirmar o refutar la hipótesis que se ha indicado anteriormente.The present work deals with such a fundamental and significant subject nowadays as bilingualism, which is a complicated process involving a variety of aspects, among which we can distinguish comprising a particular system of a language as well as the capacity to use it in communication. Apart from the mere fact of acquiring the knowledge of a second language, bilingualism also involves the development of specific linguistic structuring and brain functioning different from those of a monolingual individual. The present investigation is aiming to assess the comprehension capacity of bilingual informants to refer to a third language without its prior learning and to compare the obtained results with those acquired for monolingual individuals presenting each of the languages in order to verify an established hypothesis. This study is based on the bilingualism between two different language families, i.e. Slavic and Romance, on the example of the Russian and Romanian languages, thus, resulting in three groups of informants and involving the analysis of a third language belonging to the Romance language family on the example of the Spanish language. Thus, the given study represents an experimental research with specified material collected and generated for a number of purposes and aims, all of which having as objective proving or refuting previously stated hypothesis.
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Morris, Jonathan. "Sociolinguistic variation and regional minority language bilingualism : an investigation of Welsh-English bilinguals in North Wales." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2013. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/sociolinguistic-variation-and-regional-minority-language-bilingualism-an-investigation-of-welshenglish-bilinguals-in-north-wales(c666cc2a-c131-4dcf-8d74-1c86c9315099).html.
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This thesis investigates phonetic and phonological variation in the bilingual repertoire of adolescent Welsh-English bilinguals living in North Wales. It contributes to linguistic research by, firstly, providing an account of language variation in an under-studied area (N. Wales) and context (regional minority language bilingualism) and, secondly, by examining cross-linguistic variation, and the constraints on this variation, in bilingual speech. The two variables under discussion differ in how they are realised in the two languages: /l/ is thought to be heavily velarised in both languages as a result of long-term contact and phonological convergence. Variation in the production of /r/ and realisation of coda /r/ has hitherto been reported as language-specific, though frequent transfer is said to occur from Welsh to English in predominantly Welsh-speaking areas (e.g. Penhallurick 2004: 110; Wells 1982: 390).The first aim of the study is therefore to quantify claims of phonological convergence and transfer in the speech of Welsh-English bilinguals by using a variationist sociolinguistics methodology (e.g. Labov 1966), which also considers the influence of linguistic and extra-linguistic factors on variation. Particular attention is paid to differences between a majority Welsh-speaking town and a town where English is the main language. A further distinction is made between those from Welsh-speaking homes and those from English-speaking homes who have acquired Welsh through immersion education. The second aim is to make empirically-informed theoretical claims about the nature of phonological convergence and transfer, and conceptualise cross-linguistic interaction in the speech of Welsh-English bilinguals in light of existing frameworks. Data (sociolinguistic interviews and wordlists) were collected in Welsh and English from 32 Welsh-English bilinguals aged 16-18. The sample was equally stratified in terms of speaker sex, home language, and area. The two towns compared in the study are Caernarfon (N.W. Wales, where c.88% of the population speak Welsh) and Mold (N.E. Wales, where c. 20% Welsh of the population speak Welsh). The results indicate that English [ɫ] tends to be lighter than Welsh [ɫ] in word-initial onset position for females, and in word-medial intervocalic position for both males and females. The data also show linguistic influences on the realisation of [ɫ] in both languages, and differences between males and females. The realisation of coda /r/ and production of [r] and [ɾ] in English are confined to the speech of those from Welsh-speaking homes in Caernarfon. In Welsh, use of [ɹ] is widespread and is constrained by a more complex interaction between area, home language, and sex. On the basis of these findings, I conclude that features which have undergone phonological convergence due to long-term language contact may be subject to language-specific constraints when implemented phonetically. In terms of transfer, I argue for a ternary distinction between interference, transfer, and transfer which is constrained by linguistic and/or extra-linguistic factors (cf. Grosjean 2012). Finally, I suggest that Mufwene’s (2001) notion of the ‘feature pool’ is the most succinct way of conceptualising Welsh-English transfer and differentiate between more focussed accents of English and a less-focussed variety of North Wales Welsh.
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Stilwell, Becca L. "Bilingualism and language in older adults." Thesis, Bangor University, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.574548.
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This thesis comprises three distinct sections. Firstly a literature review is presented which explores the available evidence of language changes in bilingual individuals with Alzheimer's Disease (AD). The theoretical models presented are drawn from models based on healthy bilingual individuals, with hypotheses about how such models may be affected by AD. The quantitative papers are limited by being descriptive rather than theoretically driven, and the papers explored share similar methodological limitations in terms of being, and in terms of defining and selecting bilingual samples that share the key characteristics, and using suitable stimuli. The conclusions drawn are that both languages are affected by AD, with mixed tentative suggestions that the dominant language is more affected than the non dominant language, and that both languages are affected equally by. AD. The empirical study presents findings of an experimental study exploring verbal recall in Welsh/English bilingual older adults. A within subject analysis identified that bilingual individuals recalled significantly more Welsh words than English words. In addition, bilingual individuals mean recall for recall of English words on a standardised measure was not significantly different to the monolingual norms identified. Conclusions drawn were that in clinical practice English language norms are applicable to a Welsh/English bilingual population. In essence tentative recommendations can be made regards using established English language assessments with Welsh/English older adults but caution is required when generalizing across varied populations.
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Ocampo, Dina. "Effects of bilingualism on literacy development." Thesis, University of Surrey, 2002. http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/2817/.
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This thesis comprised an investigation of literacy development and literacy difficulties in the context of bilingualism involving 479s ix to thirteen year old children bilingual in two languages The children in this study were required to learn literacy in two writing systems namely Filipino and English.' Me context of concurrent earning and a bilingual background provided a unique context for studying biliteracy development and difficulties. Additionally variations in the orthographio complexity between e two scripts( Filipino is transparent, whilst English is complex) allowed an assessment of current cross-language perspective ins literacy difficulties. The main aim of the research was to investigate cognitive and linguistic factors that are related to literacy difficulties in a bilingual population. This was achieved via two additional ims:i e, to understand the development of, and the skills involved in , literacy acquisition. This required assessment of the impact of processes within and between the languages of literacy. 'Me results in dicate that the predominant theories on literacy developmengte nerated on the basiso f monolingual English-speaking cohortd o not explain literacyp rocesses amongt he bilingual-biliterate children in this study. Although predictions base do n these theories found some support in the English based data, the were inconsistent with the data produced by the same children in Filipino. The second main conclusion asserttsh at the central processing hypothesis and the script dependent hypothesis are complementary explanations of bilingual reading. Although development seems to progressa t different rates underlyings kills in literacys how a high degree of crosslanguage interdependence Finally, in examining literacy difficulties a mongth e children in this study, it was found that group c omparisondsi d not provides ufficientb asisto characterise ingle word literacy difficulties Howevert he analysiys of single cases indicated different manifestations of literacy difficulties across the two languages These findings1 )indicate that illiteracy resents a fundamentally different context in which to investigate and assess literacy difficulties2, ) highlight the importance of assessments in all languages of literacy and3 ) demonstrate the need to assesm sore than single word processing deficits, particularly when dealing with a highly transparent writing system.
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Jha, Shailjanand. "Language maintenance and bilingualism in Darbhanga." Thesis, University of York, 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.358195.
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Ramírez, Martínez Marta, and Martínez Marta Ramírez. "Velar Palatalization: Catalan, Spanish and Bilingualism." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/624564.
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The present investigation examines the process of velar palatalization, a feature of Catalan, as seen in the Catalan and in the Spanish of the bilingual speech community of Majorca, Spain. Velar palatalization involves a change in a velar consonant’s place of articulation from velar to palatal; that is, /k, g/ acquire a secondary palatal articulation or acquire a completely new place of articulation. Velar palatalization usually occurs before /i, e, ɛ/ due to coarticulation. Some languages, however, also present this feature before /a, ə/ and word-finally. This is the case of certain dialects of Majorcan Catalan. Traditional descriptions have observed (a) the presence of velar palatalization before front vowels in all dialects of Majorcan Catalan (non-palatalizing area), and (b) the presence of velar palatalization also before /a, ə/, and word-finally only in certain areas of Majorca (palatalizing area). The aims of this dissertation are threefold. The first aim is to provide acoustic data for /k/ in the Catalan spoken in the traditionally palatalizing area, taking as an example the dialect of Manacor, a town of 43,000 inhabitants on the southeastern area of Majorca; and in the Catalan spoken in the non-palatalizing area, taking as an example the dialect of Artà, a town of 7,400 inhabitants on the northeastern coast of Majorca. Providing acoustic data for this contrast is relevant because it has only been documented through descriptive observations. Secondly, my dissertation analyzes vowel /a/ in the Catalan spoken in the two areas. It has been suggested that velar palatalization before /a/ can occur in languages in which /a/ is especially fronted (e.g. French). A comparison of /a/ production from both areas can provide clues regarding the relationship between the process of /k/ palatalization and /a/ fronting (i.e., if /a/ is equally fronted for both areas but there is a palatalization distinction, this could be interpreted as evidence that /a/-fronting triggered /k/-palatalization for the palatalizing area). The third aim of this dissertation is related to societal bilingualism. In situations of language contact, it is not unusual for cross-linguistic transfer to occur; that is, it is common for a bilingual’s language A to affect the perception and production of this bilingual’s language B speech sounds. In particular, this dissertation examines whether velar palatalization, for the individuals that prove to manifest it in their Catalan, is transferred from their first to their second language. The results suggest, first, that there exists, in fact, a difference in the distribution of the process of velar palatalization between the two communities and, importantly, that the process of velar palatalization has been phonologized for the speakers of the palatalizing area. Secondly, the findings suggest that the processes of velar palatalization and /a/-fronting might have stemmed from a relationship of mutual influence in its inception. Finally, there is no evidence of phonological transfer of the process of velar palatalization from dominant to non-dominant speech. The implications of these findings to theories of phonologization as well as of consecutive bilingualism are discussed.
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Roch, Natalie Tina. "Bilingualism and cognition : an ERP approach." Thesis, Bangor University, 2015. https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/bilingualism-and-cognition--an-erp-approach(72bb4d3e-7100-4a99-9e37-b706528cd591).html.
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The topic of bilingualism and cognition has been well debated in recent years, particularly in relation to cognitive gains as a consequence of speaking multiple languages. There is a long established belief that the experience of learning a second language, be it simultaneously with another from birth or later in childhood/early adulthood, leads to advantages in executive functioning (Bialystok, 2005). However, it has also been proposed that the cognitive advantages seen previously in studies with bilingual populations are not clear cut and that other factors may be influencing the results (Gathercole et al., 2014; Hilchey and Klein, 2011; Paap and Greenberg, 2013). The studies presented in this thesis addressed bilingualism and its effects on cognition in both infant and young adult participants taken from the North Wales area and the Bangor University student population. The infant study addressed semantic priming and working memory, and the young adult studies addressed response inhibition and suppression. The results of these studies proved inconclusive and suggest that the topic of bilingualism and cognition is a complex one. There are many factors that need to be considered and controlled in future studies with bilingual populations including age of acquisition, amount of exposure, language dominance, socioeconomic status, proficiency, and general intelligence. The experience of acquiring multiple languages places demands on cognitive load, which perhaps in turn results in advantages on tasks requiring executive functioning. These advantages may also be gained from other experiences that place demands on cognitive load such as musical training, video gaming, and dancing. Experiences shape the brain and the process of unraveling which experiences lead to these changes is a multifaceted process that needs to be prudently approached.
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Ricciardelli, Lina. "Childhood bilingualism, metalinguistic awareness and creativity /." Title page, contents and abstract only, 1989. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09phr492.pdf.
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Caralla, Agnese <1987>. "Advantages of Bilingualism: Theory and Practice." Master's Degree Thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/7599.
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The aim of this work is to explain what bilingualism is and what it means being bilingual or even plurilingual, investigating both positive and negative cognitive aspects. The first chapter will be a debate on which differences there are between plurilingualism and multilingualism, and on the cognitive advantages and disadvantages of being bilingual. What seems to come out from this analysis is that, besides the positive development of executive control (EC) and of a deeper metalinguistic competence, there is a less positive aspect for bilinguals: the low development of vocabulary in both languages. The second chapter will be an introduction to the connection between language teaching, neurosciences and psychology. The purpose it to explain to what extent they are involved in the development of new effective theories regarding language education, investigating the role of emotions in the learning process. The focus of the third chapter will be on bilingual children, what happens in their brain and if they have any particular characteristic. The last chapter of this work will include teaching units with activities related to bilingual education. By the end of this work, we will be able to understand why a bilingual brain works differently from any other monolingual brain, how learning languages can help a positive increasing development of our neural connections, and how teachers can help the process of learning different languages.
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Baker, Christine M. "Effects of bilingualism on working memory ability." Thesis, California State University, Long Beach, 2013. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=1522557.
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Much evidence exists in support of the notion known as a bilingual advantage, the idea that some bilinguals benefit from an executive functioning system superior to monolinguals. The majority of research investigating the bilingual advantage lies in metalinguistic awareness, conflict resolution, and inhibition; however, this thesis examines working-memory abilities by comparing the performance of English monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual groups in a dual task paradigm, taxing lexical retrieval and memory maintenance and manipulation. Participants were asked to perform a lexical retrieval task eliciting high-frequency abstract nouns or adjectives while simultaneously memorizing an accumulating list of target abstract words to be later recalled. Although no difference in immediate recall between language groups was found, bilinguals remembered significantly more target words 5 days after testing. Evidence suggests that bilinguals may build new memory representations that are more resistant to decay than monolingual memory representations.
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Brannick, Peter James. "Bilingualism in Bolzano-Bozen : a nexus analysis." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2016. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/6683/.
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This study is about discourses of bilingualism in Bolzano-Bozen, Italy, and what they reveal about language, identity, hegemony and the production of social space. The theoretical and methodological framework I use is Nexus Analysis and Geosemiotics: approaches developed by Scollon and Wong Scollon (2004 and 2003, respectively). These approaches have revealed how and why place names, their public placement, Fascist-era monuments and bilingual education maintained a constant presence, under broader discourses on bilingualism, during the research period. Nexus Analysis focuses on social action and Geosemiotics pays meticulous attention to fundamental aspects of signs, including where they are in the material world, and how social actors interact with them. This has led to an investigation of the historical past, and how this is represented, understood and indexed in the present by those who align (or not) to ideologies of language and nation. In the complex multilingual context of this study, this approach has revealed how such ideologies are mobilized to contest ownership of geographic place and to make social space. I have traced discourses across disparate discursive genres, to reveal the complex interrelationships between language and other social semiotic data in discourses on bilingualism in Bolzano-Bozen through time, and across space.
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Malfarà, Marianna. "Analysing and disproving misconceptions about early bilingualism." Bachelor's thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2021. http://amslaurea.unibo.it/23675/.
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The inaccurate conclusions reached through earlier studies on bilingualism have heavily contributed to the establishment of myths and misconceptions, impacting people’s perception of the topic up to present day. In fact, although bilingualism is quickly becoming the new norm, some parents and even professionals may still show signs of hesitance when deciding to raise children bilingually. Through the analysis of research on bilingualism and how it has evolved over the last century it is possible to trace some of the misinformation back to methodological errors in data collection. Poor knowledge of the topic and failure to account for crucial variables have deflected from the potential benefits of bilingualism. However, as more recent research abides by specific criteria, new social and cognitive advantages are being discovered, like the delay of dementia as a consequence of aging.
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Stairs, William J. "The Conservative Party and bilingualism 1967-1976." Master's thesis, Université Laval, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/29219.
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Sosso, Dorine. "Equality Beyond Translation: Societal Bilingualism in Cameroon." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/40402.
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Researchers are increasingly drawn to the study of societal bilingualism (or multilingualism), which is the study of the specific nature of bilingualism practiced by a nation, state, province or territory. Such studies seek to identify the institutions and legal frameworks put in place to regulate and reproduce bilingualism, as well as to understand groups which practice bilingualism. Drawing on a descriptive approach that flows from a sociological model of critical theory and conflict theory, this study is based on societal bilingualism in Cameroon, the only other country in the world, apart from Canada, that has both English and French as its only official languages. Cameroon is also one of the few African countries that do not have a local language as an official language. Acknowledging the central role of texts and their analysis in understanding social practices, this case study is carried out using critical document analysis to examine previous research, mass media products, government reports, historical data and information, laws, orders, press releases and speeches to uncover the precise nature of official language bilingualism in Cameroon. The study offers insights into the relevant historical and language background against which a critical discussion on official language bilingualism and an analysis of the legal frameworks and institutions set up to regulate and reproduce this bilingualism can be carried out. Attention is given to translation policies and to the most recent measures taken to foster State bilingualism in Cameroon. Indeed, official language bilingualism has been heavily predicated on translation, its institutions and legal framework. This timely case study traces the nation’s failure, as witnessed by the current situation of unrest, to successfully implement, mainly through translation, an official language bilingualism policy that grants equal status to English and French across the national territory. This research concludes that an alternative solution would be to introduce bilingual education as well, particularly from the nursery and elementary school levels, given that, for a long time now, Cameroon has had early simultaneous bilinguals who speak both English and French before they attain school age. A brief comparison between the context of official language bilingualism within the educational system in Cameroon and in Canada highlights the fact that Cameroon has the potential to establish one of the strongest forms of bilingual education in the world.
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Tagaya, Eri. "The cognitive effects of bilingualism language lateralization and problem solving /." Diss., Connect to the thesis, 2006. http://thesis.haverford.edu/145/01/2006TagayaE.pdf.
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Nielsen, John B. "Spanish Heritage Bilingual Perception of English-Specific Vowel Contrasts." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2017. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/6305.
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Theories of lexical storage differ in how entries are encoded in the lexicon. Exemplar-based accounts posit that lexical items are stored with detailed acoustic information, while abstract accounts argue that fine acoustic detail is removed and an item is stored in more basic phonological units. These separate accounts make distinct predictions about cross-linguistic and bilingual perception. Studies asking participants to compare non-native vowels have shown that people tend to associate multiple non-native phonemes to a single L1 phoneme when the contrast between the two does not exist in the L1. However, several studies have shown that the ability to discriminate sounds is never lost. A line of research has focused on how bilinguals perceive contrasts in their second language. One such study, Pallier et al. (2001) looked at early bilinguals of Spanish and Catalan, testing whether the native Spanish speakers, who were highly proficient in Catalan, perceived certain Catalan minimal pairs as homophones. Importantly, the contrasts of these minimal pairs were exclusive to Catalan. The native Spanish bilinguals heard pairs such as /neta/-/nεta/ in an audio-only lexical decision task (LDT), and showed responses to the second item that were not significantly different from actual item repetitions (i.e., /neta/-/neta/). These results were taken as evidence in favor of abstractionist models of lexical storage. This study was based on Pallier et al, (2001), examining instead the perceptions of heritage speakers of Spanish (HSSs) in the U.S., children of native Spanish speakers who get early and sustained exposure to their second language, English. Unlike the bilinguals studied in Pallier et al., heritage bilinguals receive little linguistic or social support for development of their first language. The L1 proficiency of adult heritage bilinguals varies considerably. In this study, a group of these HSSs participated in an LDT testing their perception of English-exclusive phonemic vowel contrasts (i.e., peak-pick). It was hypothesized that, like Pallier et al.'s highly proficient bilinguals, HSSs would show responses to the second item of these minimal pairs as if it were a repetition of the first. Results of the LDT did not confirm the hypothesis. The heritage Spanish speakers did not perform significantly differently from the native English controls on English-specific contrasts (p = .065), and it was found that the native English speakers showed higher priming on these minimal pairs than HSSs. These results run counter to those of previous studies, and may disfavor an abstract account of lexical storage. At the very least, the construct validity of this methodology is questionable when the control and experimental participants reverse hypothesized behavior.
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Erthal, Cecilia Ines. "A sociolinguistic analysis of bilingualism at Antônio Rebouças." reponame:Repositório Institucional da UFPR, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1884/24347.
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Hermes, Jenifer. "Attitudes to bilingualism among Japanese learners of English /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/7590.
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Clancy, Rosemary. "Childhood bilingualism : socio-economic status and cognitive gains /." Title page, contents and abstract only, 1990. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09AR.PS/09ar.psc587.pdf.
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Byers-Heinlein, Krista. "Bilingualism in infancy : a window on language acquisition." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/23504.
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To rise to the challenge of acquiring their native language, infants must deploy tools to support their learning. This thesis compared infants growing up in two very different language environments, monolingual and bilingual, to better understand these tools and how their development and use changes with the context of language acquisition.
The first set of studies − Chapter 2 − showed that infants adapt very early-developing tools to the context of their prenatal experience. Newborns born to bilingual mothers directed their attention to both of their native languages, while monolinguals preferred listening to their single native language. However, prenatal bilingual experience did not result in language confusion, as language discrimination was robustly maintained in both monolinguals and bilinguals. Thus, learning mechanisms allow experience-based listening preferences, while enduring perceptual sensitivities support language discrimination even in challenging language environments.
Chapter 3 investigated a fundamental word learning tool: the ability to associate word and object. Monolinguals and bilinguals showed an identical developmental trajectory, suggesting that, unlike some aspects of word learning, this associative ability is equivalent across different types of early language environments.
Chapters 4 and 5 explored the development of a heuristic for learning novel words. Disambiguation is the strategy of associating a novel word with a novel object, rather than a familiar one. In Chapter 4, disambiguation was robustly demonstrated by 18-month-old monolinguals, but not by age-matched bilinguals and trilinguals. The results supported the “lexicon structure hypothesis”, that disambiguation develops with mounting evidence for a one-to-one mapping between words and their referents, as is typical for monolinguals. For bilinguals, translation equivalents (cross-language synonyms) represent a departure from one-to-one mapping. Chapter 5 directly tested the lexicon structure hypothesis, by comparing subgroups of bilinguals who knew few translation equivalents to bilinguals who knew many. Only the former group showed disambiguation, supporting the lexicon structure hypothesis.
The series of studies presented in this thesis provides a window into language acquisition across all infants. Whether growing up monolingual or bilingual, infants harmonize their development and use of the tools of language acquisition to the particular challenges mounted by their language environment.
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Sutherland, Hilary L. "Sign bilingualism through the eyes of a child." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2007. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.489529.
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This six year longitudinal study concerns deaf children who use British Sign Language and the Sign Bilingual approach to their education. The central research question is: 'From the deaf child's perspective, what are the advantages and disadvantages of Sign Bilingual education?
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Appelblad, Erik, and Olov Sandzén. "Bilingualism and the Simon effect: A multimodal approach." Thesis, Umeå universitet, Institutionen för psykologi, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-105201.
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Previous research has studied the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive abilities. In some of those studies results have shown that bilinguals perform better than monolinguals in visual Simon tasks (i.e. they are less distracted by the incongruent stimuli). The aim of the current study is to see if a similar effect can be found in Simon tasks using the tactile and auditory sensory modalities. In this study bilingual participants (36 university students) with different proficiency in their second language performed a Simon task employing two intensities of vibration and two different sounds as the relevant stimuli. The results indicated no negative correlation between either bilingual proficiency and Simon effect or daily use of the second language and Simon effect when controlling for working memory. Without controlling for working memory a negative correlation for the tactile condition and a positive correlation for the auditory condition between Simon effect and daily use of the second language was found. It’s concluded that the statistical power of this study suffers from a lack of participants and that if the test was reproduced with more participants with a greater spread in their language abilities a stronger effect might be seen. Also concluded is that more cross-modal studies need to be performed before conclusions about general cognitive effects of bilingualism can be drawn.Tidigare forskning har studerat sambandet mellan tvåspråkighet och kognitiva förmågor. Vissa av dessa studiers resultat har visat att tvåspråkiga individer presterar bättre än enspråkiga i visuella Simon-uppgifter (dvs. de blir mindre distraherade av inkongruenta stimuli). Syftet med den aktuella studien är att se om man kan hitta en liknande effekt i Simon-uppgifter inom de taktila och auditiva sensoriska modaliteterna. I denna studie fick tvåspråkiga deltagare (36 universitetsstudenter) med olika kunskaper i sitt andraspråk utföra en Simon-uppgift där två intensiteter av vibrationer och två olika ljud används som relevanta stimuli. När resultaten var kontrollerade för arbetsminne så visades ingen negativ korrelation mellan varken tvåspråkig förmåga och Simon effekt eller daglig användning av det andra språket och Simon effekt. Utan att kontrollera för arbetsminne så fanns det en negativ korrelation för den taktila betingelsen och en positiv korrelation för den auditiva betingelsen mellan daglig användning av andra språk och Simon effekt. Slutsatsen dras att den statistiska kraften i denna studie lider av brist på deltagare och att om testet reproduceras med fler deltagare, med en större spridning i språkförmåga, så skulle en starkare effekt kunna ses. Det konkluderas även att fler tvärmodala studier behöver utföras innan slutsatser om generella kognitiva effekter av tvåspråkighet kan dras.
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Leung, Constant H. "Bilingualism and English language teaching : an underdeveloped alliance." Thesis, University of Westminster, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.237508.
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Stripp, M. G. "Syntagmatic associations in cross-language studies and bilingualism." Thesis, University of Reading, 1985. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.370820.
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Reynolds, Rose-Anne. "Shifting family bilingualism: two South African case studies." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14008.
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This ethnographic, sociolinguistic study describes the home language practices of two Afrikaans/English bilingual families, living in two middle-class English-dominant neighbourhoods, with the youngest children attending an English-medium primary school. In this study, I investigate if these families maintain their existing Afrikaans-dominant bilingualism, or shift towards greater use of English. According to the sociolinguistic literature, there is an on-going relationship between the processes of language maintenance and shift. Factors that influence these processes include bilingualism, marriage patterns, socio-economic status, prestige of dominant languages, domains, educational environment, school peer group and attitudes as well as perceptions about languages and language use. The database consists of naturalistic observations, interviews and language diaries. Conversations between family members in their respective homes were audio-recorded (32 hours of observations in total) and open-ended interviews were conducted with family members about their language use and attitudes. The children completed language diaries where they self-reported their language use at home and at school. The findings are as follows: both families speak English, Afrikaans as well as varieties of English and Afrikaans characterised by code-switching, code-mixing and borrowings in the home. The Petersen family presents with intergenerational transmission and maintenance of Afrikaans from the mother and brothers to the younger daughters. ‘Teaching moments’ in this family, characterised by an active interrelationship between English and Afrikaans, result in the transmission and use of Afrikaans and English between the family members. As a result of the domestic Afrikaans maintenance, the two daughters continue to speak Afrikaans and express a positive attitude toward the language in general and their bilingual identity in particular.
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Lanza, Elisabeth. "Language mixing in infant bilingualism : a sociolinguistic perspective /." Oxford : Clarendon press, 1997. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb375118643.
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Schaengold, Charlotte C. "Bilingual Navajo mixed codes, bilingualism, and language maintenance /." Connect to this title online, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1092425886.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004.Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 189 p.; also includes graphics. Includes bibliographical references (p. 168-174).
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Tamburelli, Marco. "The role of lexical acquisition in simultaneous bilingualism." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2007. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1446131/.
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This thesis addresses a central issue within the field of Bilingual First Language Acquisition (BFLA) by exploring the extent to which the two languages can affect each other during development. The aim of this work is twofold. Firstly, it proposes a particular formalisation of the acquisition process which is based on a set of assumptions that are mostly drawn from standard linguistic theory. It then argues for a theory of the acquisition of lexical properties that is based on the interaction between two higher level systems. The first of these is a system dedicated to organising the developing lexicon into paradigms while the second is an informationally monotonic updating system whose role is to add newly acquired lexical information to those items that are not yet fully developed. It is then argued that this model can accommodate transfer effects as an inevitable consequence of BFLA. Given that the lexicon of a bilingual child is larger than that of monolinguals, the updating mechanism has a wider field of application and therefore---besides over-generalisation---transfer effects will also obtain. An important consequence of this claim is that the only difference between a monolingual and a bilingual child lies in the domain within which the updating mechanism applies. The fact that language production in bilingual children differs from that of monolinguals does not force the postulation of special bilingual strategies but can be accounted for by appealing to the very two aspects that monolinguals and bilinguals do not have in common, namely the input and the number of developing lexical sets. A substantial part of the thesis is dedicated to evaluating the empirical coverage of this model. This involves discussion of data from case-studies as well as experimental work both old and new.
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Beck, Carina Ann. "Bilingualism, Executive Function, and Attention Deficit/hyperactivity Disorder." OpenSIUC, 2014. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/1555.
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In an era where the diagnosis of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is as high as 7% in school-aged children, the search for causes and preventions has never been more important. Current research indicates a positive relationship between bilingualism, particularly native bilingualism, and executive function in normally developing individuals. This study served to examine the potential relationship between bilingual education in a public school setting and the presence of ADHD symptoms in that school's students. This was a comparative analysis of students in a South Florida School District's two-way immersion program with the national average in terms of frequency of ADHD symptoms using the NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale and the Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham (SNAP). The results did not show any significant differences between groups in terms of language history, gender, race, or family structure.
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Maluch, Jessica. "Bilingualism and its Effect on Foreign Language Learning." Doctoral thesis, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.18452/19221.
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In vielen Staaten unterscheidet sich die Leistung von Schülern mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund. Schüler mit Migrationshintergrund sprechen eine Minderheitensprache sowie die Zielsprache des Wohnlandes, das führt zu einem gewissen Grad der Zweisprachigkeit. Die Zweisprachigkeit ist mit Entwicklungsmustern verbunden, die das Fremdsprachenlernen der bilingualen Schüler positiv beeinflussen können. Diese Dissertation untersucht die Beziehung zwischen Zweisprachigkeit und Fremdsprachenlernen.
Die erste Studie untersuchte die Wirkung der Zweisprachigkeit von Schülern mit Migrationshintergrund auf das Erlernen von Englisch als Fremdsprache. Die Ergebnisse zeigen einen positiven Trend zwischen Zweisprachigkeit und Lernerfolg. Dieser Trend unterschied sich deutlich zwischen Gruppen verschiedener Heimatsprachen mit den Kenntnissen der Unterrichtssprache als stärksten Prädiktor.
Die zweite Studie betrachtete die Wirkung von Zweisprachigkeit auf die Leistung in Englisch als Fremdsprache von der Grundschule bis zur weiterführenden Schule. Die Analysen zeigen, dass, ein wesentlicher Vorteil der Zweisprachigkeit in der Grundschule vorliegt, dieser aber in der Sekundarstufe I verschwindet. Dies führt zu unterschiedlichem Leistungszuwachs von zweisprachigen und einsprachigen Schülern.
Die dritte Studie untersuchte die Wirkung der Zweisprachigkeit auf das Erlernen von Englisch als Fremdsprache unter Berücksichtigung der Auswirkungen von Methode und Abfolge des Erlernens der Zweitsprache sowie des Sprachgebrauchs. Die Ergebnisse zeigen Leistungsvorsprünge in der Drittsprache für Zweisprachige, die in ihrer Minderheitensprache unterrichtet werden, beide Sprachen simultan erwerben und häufiger zwischen beiden Sprachen wechseln.
Diese Dissertation gibt weitere Hinweise darauf, dass unter bestimmten Voraussetzungen Zweisprachige mit Migrationshintergrund im Vergleich zu einsprachigen Schülern Vorteile im Fremdsprachenlernen haben, obwohl sich dieser Befund im Laufe der Zeit verändert.There is a large achievement gap between students with immigrant background and their peers. Many students with immigrant backgrounds speak a minority language at home as well as the majority language of the larger society, resulting in some level of bilingualism. Bilingualism is associated with unique patterns of development that may affect their foreign language learning (FLL) in positive ways. This thesis explores the relationship between bilingualism and FLL, focusing on factors that affect this relationship. The first study investigates the effect of immigrant bilingualism on English FLL, examining confounding background variables and the effect of instructional language proficiency. The results showed a general positive trend between bilingualism and FLL. This positive trend differed between bilingual groups with different home languages with the strongest predictor for FLL being instructional language proficiency. This second study considers the effect of bilingualism on the FLL from elementary to secondary school. Although a significant advantage of bilingualism is found in elementary school, it disappeared as students proceed into secondary school, yielding differential gains for the language minority and monolingual groups. The level of exposure to the minority language played an important role for the FLL development. The third study examines the effect of bilingualism on FLL, considering the impact of manner and age of bilingual acquisition as well as language use practices. The results showed higher FLL for bilinguals who received formal instruction in their minority language, had acquired both languages simultaneously, and switched more often between their two languages, when compared to their other bilingual and monolingual peers. The findings of this thesis add to the evidence that under certain conditions, some bilinguals from immigrant communities have advantages in FLL compared to their monolingual peers although this pattern does change over time.
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Sabbadin, Giorgia <1992>. "A comparison between bilingualism and developmental language disorder." Master's Degree Thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/16251.
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The present work is structured into three parts. The first part presents some definitions of language and language acquisition in case of typical development.
In the second part bilingualism and specific language impairment are defined and discussed.
The third part will be a comparison between the syntactic competence of bilingual children and children with specific language impairment.
Particular attention will be given to the difficulties encountered in the use of clitic pronouns and in the repetition of non-words. A comparison between studies that analysed the use of these structures will be provided. The aim is to highlight the difficulties that bilinguals and people affected by Specific Language Impairment encounter when they have to produce and/or comprehend clitic pronouns and repeat non-words.
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Covazzi, Camilla. "Italian - Friulian children: an investigation into their bilingualism." Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi di Padova, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/11577/3425424.
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The present thesis investigates the bilingualism involving Italian majority language and Friulian minority language. Preschool children aged 4 to 6 years old from the town of Gemona del Friuli in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region were tested through a picture supported elicited production experiment designed to investigate relative clauses acquisition (cf. COST Action 33, Friedmann et al. in prep.). Two research questions were addressed: the first concerned the acquisition of relative clauses, in order to verify whether the Italian-Friulian children productions would be comparable with the related cross-linguistic literature; the second question concerned the type of bilingualism found, in order to provide a characterization of its peculiarities: the results were then analysed also with respect to specific bilingual factors as cross-linguistic influence, language dominance and input role. As far as the first research question is concerned, the data presented in this thesis confirm that Italian-Friulian children’s performance is in line with cross-linguistic results in all conditions, namely for SRCs, ORCs, and PPRCs. Specifically, in line with the predictions made following the Relativized Minimality approach (Rizzi 1990, 2004; Friedmann et al. 2009), results support both the subject-object asymmetry and the ORCs and PPRCs performance similarity. Moreover, through a further investigation of PPRCs, an effect of the type of prepositions was found: in the case of PPRCs with lexical prepositions children produced more target-like structures than with PPRCs with functional prepositions. However, it should be added that PPRCs are still scarcely investigated and further research would be needed to better understand the issue. Turning to the second research question, results were analysed comparing the Italian and the Friulian experimental session, also with respect to specific bilingual factors such as cross-linguistic influence, language dominance and input role (Mioni 1979; Meisel 2004; Gorsjean 2011; Rowe and Grohmann 2013). Having considered that the children’s production was essentially in Italian regardless of the language of elicitation being Friulian or Italian, and the ameliorating role played by Italian in influencing the children’s results, it can be said that the Italian-Friulian bilingualism is unbalanced with Italian being the strongly dominant language and Friulian being the weak one. Nonetheless, even if Italian is certainly the dominant language, it should be noted that specific influences of Friulian on Italian were indeed present in the children’s production, regardless of the children being described by their parents as receiving or not receiving a minimum Friulian input. This suggests that even if it is not clear to which extent, still Friulian is alive and productive in those contexts in which the children grow.
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Hummel, Kirsten M. (Kirsten Marlene). "Bilingual memory : the effect of two languages on the retention of prose." Thesis, McGill University, 1985. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=73985.
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Gutierrez, Marisela. "A study of possible pre-cognitive advantages of bilingualism." To access this resource online via ProQuest Dissertations and Theses @ UTEP, 2009. http://0-proquest.umi.com.lib.utep.edu/login?COPT=REJTPTU0YmImSU5UPTAmVkVSPTI=&clientId=2515.
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Iyer, Gowri Krovi. "Cross-linguistic studies of lexical access and processing in monolingual English and bilingual Hindī-English speakers." Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to SDSU campuses, 2006. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p3237601.
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Zeiter, Xenia. "Zur Eignung Bilingualer als Dolmetscher. Eine empirische Studie." Master's thesis, Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig, 2013. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:15-qucosa-124380.
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Als ich noch im Grundstudium von zwei Dozenten hörte, dass Zweisprachige nicht zum Dolmetschen und noch weniger zum Übersetzen geeignet seien, war ich sehr überrascht. Warum sollten gerade sie ungeeignet sein? Die Begründung sahen beide Dozenten darin, dass Bilinguale keine ihrer Muttersprachen richtig beherrschten. Demgegenüber steht die (oft laienhafte) Meinung, sie würden beide Sprachen perfekt beherrschen und seien zum Dolmetschen geradezu prädestiniert. Beide Behauptungen stützen sich auf einen sehr unterschiedlichen Ausgangspunkt, was die Kompetenz solcher Menschen in ihren beiden Muttersprachen anbelangt. Tatsächlich teilen viele Monolinguale, die ich getroffen habe, eine dieser Vorstellungen von Zweisprachigen. Welche dieser doch sehr widersprüchlichen Behauptungen ist nun aber richtig? Oder beschreiben beide das Phänomen Bilingualismus und damit die Eignung solcher Menschen als Dolmetscher nur unzureichend?
Ich bin selbst zweisprachig aufgewachsen und würde mich weder zur ersten noch zur zweiten Gruppe zählen, ebenso wenig wie den Großteil der Bilingualen, die ich kenne. Die meisten Zweisprachigen in meinem Bekanntenkreis beherrschen eine ihrer Muttersprachen doch spürbar besser als die andere.
In mindestens zwei der drei Fremdsprachen, die ich studiere, habe ich – den jedes Semester vom Prüfungsamt des Instituts für Angewandte Linguistik und Translatologie der Universität Leipzig (IALT) ausgehängten Prüfungsergebnissen nach zu urteilen – das Studium überdurchschnittlich gut absolviert. Mir war bewusst, dass das Dolmetschstudium eine hervorragende Beherrschung v. a. des Deutschen erfordern würde. Vor Studienbeginn beschäftigte mich deshalb die Frage, ob es das richtige für mich sei und v. a. ob ich als zweites Nebenfach lieber meine andere Muttersprache oder noch eine Fremdsprache studieren sollte. Schließlich entschied ich mich für letztere. Auch andere Zweisprachige stehen vor der Entscheidung für oder gegen dieses Studium und vor der Frage, ob sie beide Muttersprachen und wenn ja, in welcher Kombination sie sie studieren sollen. Ich halte es außerdem für möglich, dass der Anteil der Bilingualen unter den Studieninteressenten und - bewerbern im Zuge der Migration und einer zunehmenden Zahl bikultureller Partnerschaften zunehmen wird. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit könnten in Verbindung mit denen hoffentlich folgender Studien zu diesem Thema in der Beratung von Studieninteressenten Anwendung finden.
Aus diesem Grund soll die Eignung von Zweisprachigen zum Dolmetschen in dieser Arbeit untersucht werden. Wie gut beherrschen sie ihre beiden Sprachen denn wirklich? Sind sie zum Dolmetschen so ungeeignet, wie von manchen Übersetzern behauptet? Wenn nicht, für welche Sprachkombination eignen sich ihre beiden Muttersprachen? Es sei darauf hingewiesen, dass die Eignung von Bilingualen zum Dolmetschen an sich untersucht wird und es nicht Ziel dieser Arbeit ist, deren Eignung oder Leistung mit der von Einsprachigen zu vergleichen.
Die Arbeit unterteilt sich dabei in fünf Kapitel. Nach dieser Einleitung wird in Kapitel 2 in das Gebiet der Zweisprachigkeit und die Diskussionen um die Definition dieses Terminus’ eingeführt. Es folgt die Vorstellung einer Auswahl verschiedener (gegensätzlicher) Konzepte zum Bilingualismus und Typen der Bilingualität. Auch neurologische Aspekte zu diesem Thema werden beleuchtet, außerdem die Sprachkompetenz von Zweisprachigen, der Sprachwechsel und die Bikulturalität. Zum Ende dieses Kapitels soll geklärt werden, was in dieser Arbeit unter Zweisprachigen zu verstehen ist.
Kapitel 3 stellt eine Einführung ins Dolmetschen dar. Nach einer Begriffsklärung wird auf die Arbeitssprachen, Dolmetschrichtung und die verschiedenen Erscheinungsformen eingegangen. Bei den Dolmetschkompetenzen liegt der Schwerpunkt auf denjenigen, in denen bei Bilingualen Unterschiede im Vergleich zu Monolingualen am ehesten zu erwarten sind, nämlich der Sprach- und der Kulturkompetenz.
In Kapitel 4 werden schließlich beide Aspekte zusammengeführt und die Eignung von Zweisprachigen zum Dolmetschen untersucht. Nach der Formulierung und Präzisierung des Forschungsproblems soll kurz auf die Planung und Vorbereitung der Erhebung eingegangen werden. Danach wird die Datenerhebung mittels persönlicher und schriftlicher Befragungen (PB und SB) beschrieben und das Material ausgewertet. Zur Auswertung der PB dient dabei die qualitative Inhaltsanalyse nach Mayring (2000). Dabei soll das Thema sowohl aus der Sicht von bilingualen Dolmetschstudenten und -absolventen (BDSA) als auch aus dem Blickwinkel von Dolmetschdozenten (DD) und einem staatlichen Prüfungsamt analysiert werden. Die sich aus den Untersuchungen herauskristallisierenden Tendenzen werden schließlich in einem Bericht zusammengefasst und diskutiert.
Den Abschluss der Arbeit bildet Kapitel 5 mit einem Resümee der Ergebnisse und Limitationen dieser Arbeit. Im Sinne einer besseren Lesbarkeit verwende ich die männliche Form. Sie schließt aber gleichermaßen Frauen mit ein. Zweisprachigkeit, Bilingualismus und Bilingualität werden in dieser Arbeit synonym genutzt, ebenso wie Zweisprachige und Bilinguale und die dazugehörigen Adjektive. Selbiges gilt für einsprachig und monolingual und die entsprechenden Substantive.
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Leung, Yin-bing. "Constraints on intrasentential code-mixing in Cantonese and English." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 1987. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B31949137.
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Shel, Siu-lun, and 佘少倫. "Bilingualism in a legalistic setting: the HKUinquiry of 2000." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2003. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B26842476.
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