Academic literature on the topic 'Verbal learning; Bilinguals'

Developing literacy in two languages can be challenging for young bilingual children. This longitudinal study investigates the effects of bilingualism in the spelling strategies of English-Portuguese speaking children. A total of 88 six-to-seven-year-old bilinguals and monolinguals were followed during one academic year and data gathered on a range of verbal and written language skills and non-verbal measures while controlling for SES. For both bilinguals and monolinguals letter knowledge, phonological awareness and word concept were significant predictors of spelling. However, non-verbal reasoning played an increasing role in explaining spelling variance for bilinguals, suggesting that learning to spell in two alphabetic languages places more demands on non-verbal processing skills. Spelling error analyses further revealed that bilinguals when compared to monolinguals showed more reliance on phonological strategies, less compliance with the L1 orthographic system and at times transference from L2. The results suggest important implications for our understanding of spelling acquisition and the development of effective intervention practices for bilingual children.

AbstractThe effect of bilingualism on qualitative aspects of verbal learning and memory was investigated. Equivalent list learning tests in English and Spanish were carefully constructed, and compared across two bilingual Hispanic groups of Mexican origin that differed in their level of English proficiency (“balanced” and “nonbalanced” bilinguals) and a group of monolingual English-speaking non-Hispanic subjects. Groups were matched for age, education, and gender composition. Nonbalanced bilinguals assessed in English utilized semantic clustering to the same extent as monolinguals, but learned fewer words overall, and demonstrated lower retention scores compared to monolinguals. Comparisons of groups assessed in their dominant languages, however, revealed no significant differences on any of the learning and memory indices examined. In addition to comparisons with standard clinical memory indices, assessment issues concerning bilingual individuals are addressed. (JINS, 1995, I, 10–16.)

The present study compared the influence of bi-literate bilingualism versus mono-literate bilingualism on the development of literary skills in English as L3. Two main predictions were made. First, it was predicted that Russian (L1) literacy would benefit decoding and spelling acquisition in English (L3), that is, bi-literate bilingualism would be superior to mono-literate bilingualism. Second, it was hypothesized that there would be positive transfer of phonological processing skills from L1 Russian to L3 English even in the context of two linguistically and orthographically distinct languages. The sample of 107 11-year-old children from Haifa, Israel, were divided into three groups matched in age, gender, social-economic level, verbal and non-verbal IQ: bi-literate bilinguals, mono-literate bilinguals and mono-literate monolinguals. The research was conducted in two stages. In the first stage a wide range of linguistic, meta-linguistic, cognitive and literacy tasks in Hebrew (L2) and in Russian (L1) were administered. In the second stage linguistic, meta-linguistic and literacy skills in English (L3) were assessed. The results demonstrated that bi-literate bilinguals outperformed mono-literate bilingual and mono-lingual children on a number of basic literacy measures (phoneme deletion and analysis, pseudoword decoding and spelling) in English (L3). Even after controlling for (L2) Hebrew reading accuracy, bi-literacy independently explained 16% of the variance in English reading accuracy among Russian-Hebrew fifth grade bilinguals.

Studies of the effects of bilingualism on cognition have given results that do not consistently replicate, reflecting at least in part wide differences in criteria for bilingualism and heterogeneity of language combinations within studied samples. We examined the bilingual advantage in attention, working memory and novel-word learning in early sequential Hindi–English bilinguals. We sought to clarify the aspects of cognition that benefit from bilingualism by using multiple measures and a sample sufficiently well-defined to permit independent replication. Bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on response inhibition, novel-word learning and almost all working memory tasks. In contrast, both groups performed comparably on selective attention. Analyses of individual differences showed that bilingual novel-word learning was related to their verbal working memory and ability to inhibit an ongoing action, whereas this was not the case for monolinguals. Results indicate a specific bilingual advantage that is confined to some but not all aspects of cognition.

AbstractObjectives:Maintaining two active languages may increase cognitive and brain reserve among bilingual individuals. We explored whether such a neuroprotective effect was manifested in the performance of memory tests for participants with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI).Methods:We compared 42 bilinguals to 25 monolinguals on verbal and nonverbal memory tests. We used: (a) the Loewenstein-Acevedo Scales for Semantic Interference and Learning (LASSI-L), a sensitive test that taps into proactive, retroactive, and recovery from proactive semantic interference (verbal memory), and (b) the Benson Figure delayed recall (nonverbal memory). A subsample had volumetric MRI scans.Results:The bilingual group significantly outperformed the monolingual group on two LASSI-L cued recall measures (Cued A2 and Cued B2). A measure of maximum learning (Cued A2) showed a correlation with the volume of the left hippocampus in the bilingual group only. Cued B2 recall (sensitive to recovery from proactive semantic interference) was correlated with the volume of the hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex of both cerebral hemispheres in the bilingual group, as well as with the left and right hippocampus in the monolingual group. The memory advantage in bilinguals on these measures was associated with higher inhibitory control as measured by the Stroop Color-Word test.Conclusions:Our results demonstrated a superior performance of aMCI bilinguals over aMCI monolinguals on selected verbal memory tasks. This advantage was not observed in nonverbal memory. Superior memory performance of bilinguals over monolinguals suggests that bilinguals develop a different and perhaps more efficient semantic association system that influences verbal recall. (JINS, 2019, 25, 15–28)

Abstract Purpose: This study examined the effects of language impairment (LI) and bilingualism across vocabulary, morphology and verbal memory in a sample of children learning Dutch. Methods: Children (MAGE = 71 months) were assigned to a monolingual group with typical development (TD) (n = 30), bilingual TD (n = 30), monolingual LI (n = 30) or bilingual LI group (n = 30). Vocabulary was measured with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, morphology with the Taaltoets Alle Kinderen, verbal short-term (VSTM) and working memory (VWM) with forward and backward digit span tasks. Results: Language knowledge (vocabulary, morphology) was affected by LI and bilingualism. Language processing (VSTM, VWM) was influenced by LI only. When language knowledge was controlled, the bilinguals outperformed the monolinguals on VSTM and VWM when TD and LI were collapsed. Bilingualism aggravated the effects of LI for vocabulary. Conclusions: Bilingualism may create a risk for the vocabulary knowledge of children with LI, but might be beneficial for their verbal memory.

This study explored language dominance, verbal fluency, and language control abilities of two groups of younger and older Russian–English bilinguals who had spent similar amounts of time as immigrants in the U.S. Verbal fluency tasks (based on letter and semantic cues, including a new method to elicit parallel letter-fluency data for Russian and English) were used to measure the bilinguals’ current lexical retrieval skills in addition to self-assessments of language proficiencies at time of study and time of arrival. Stroop tasks (naming colors with incongruent cues) were used to measure younger and older bilinguals’ ability to control interference during color-naming. Findings demonstrate that the older immigrants were less fluent in L2 naming tasks and that they remained dominant (more proficient) in their L1 whereas the younger immigrants had become relatively balanced bilinguals in terms of proficiency, fluent in both the L1 and L2. Younger and older bilinguals were equally capable of controlling interference across and within the two languages. We propose that it is not balance in bilingual proficiency that positively affects language control abilities, but balance as stability of language systems. Stability of language systems can be achieved if bilingual usage patterns remain relatively constant over several years and if no radical changes in language learning and maintenance efforts are required.

This article gives an overview of the current status of the problem of plastic brain changes in connection with the study of a foreign language. It links learning of languages with bilingualism, which is a widespread phenomenon in contemporary world. Recent surveys indicate that learning and using additional languages has a direct impact on the overall human cognitive functions whose mechanisms are relatively unknown. In this regard, the most important challenge facing the world today is neuro-biological mechanisms of interaction of languages in the brain of a bilingual and their impact on verbal and nonverbal brain function. Despite the large amount of experimental material on this issue, the data remains controversial, and many authors put under question the existence of such benefits. Possible reason for the discrepancy is a great heterogeneity among bilinguals. In conclusion the article stresses the importance of research of cognitive control in bilinguals in different groups of bi-and multilingual subjects.

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The goal of the current study was to examine whether language and Executive Function (EF) skills predict Theory of Mind (ToM) performance in bilingual and monolingual children. Design/methodology/approach: Participants included 44 monolingual English-speaking children ( MAge = 7.03, SD = 1.23), 44 simultaneous English-Spanish bilingual children ( MAge = 7.36, SD = 1.18), and 27 English first language (L1) bilinguals (native English speakers learning Spanish through dual immersion programs; MAge = 7.58, SD = 1.24). In the second-order false belief task, children were asked to reason about one character’s thoughts about another character’s thoughts. Three components of EF were measured: inhibition (via a flanker task); updating of working memory (via a Corsi blocks task); and shifting (via a card sort task). The Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals 4th Edition indexed omnibus English language skills. Data and analysis: Separate logistic regression models were constructed to analyze the predictors of ToM performance for each group controlling for age, socioeconomic status, and non-verbal IQ. Findings/conclusions: Language ability, but not EF skills, predicted ToM performance in simultaneous bilinguals. In contrast, EF skills but not language predicted ToM performance in monolinguals and in English L1 bilinguals. Originality: This is the first study to show that children with distinct language acquisition histories approach verbal ToM problems differently. Significance/implications: It appears that the linguistic demands of the ToM task take priority for children with lower levels of target-language ability, while the cognitive demands of the task take priority for children with higher levels of target-language ability.

Статтю присвячено спробі дослідити двомовний ментальний лексикон. Головне питання дослідження – встановити, чи персько-англійські білінгви можуть досягнути ефекту семантичного / асоціативного або перекладацького праймінгу. Для відповіді на це питання було застосовано масковану праймінгову парадигму як техніку, що відображає автоматичні когнітивні процеси, що тривають під час семантичної обробки, а не стратегічного використання прайму. Із метою вирішення лексичного завдання було сформовано чотири типи цільових пар праймінгу (перекладацькі еквіваленти, семантично подібні, асоціативно та семантично пов’язані пари). Загалом у дослідженні взяло участь 85 персько-англійських білінгвів. Хоча ефекту праймінгу не було виявлено для перших трьох груп, респонденти із семантично пов’язаних пар (найміцніше пов’язаних слів) відповіли приблизно на 29 мс швидше. Результати засвідчили, що білінгви мають спільні уявлення для асоціативних семантично пов’язаних слів. Отже, навчання новим словам другої мови, шляхом поєднання їх із асоціативно пов’язаними словами першої мови, може привести до кращих результатів. Література References Balota, D. A., & Lorch, R. F. (1986). Depth of automatic spreading activation: Mediated priming effects in pronunciation but not in lexical decision. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, Cognition, 12, 336–345. Chiarello, C., Burgess, C., Richards, L., & Pollock, A. (1990). Semantic and associative priming in the cerebral hemispheres: Some words do, some words don’t…Sometimes, some places. Brain and Language, 38, 75–104. Collins, A. M., & Loftus, E. F. (1975). A spreading activation theory of semantic priming. Psychological Review, 82, 407–428. Coltheart, M. (1981). The MRC Psycholinguistic Database. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 33A, 497–505. Costa, A., Colome, A., & Caramazza, A. (2000). Lexical access in speech production: The bilingual case. Psicologica, 21, 403–437. de Groot, A. M. B., & Nas, G. L. (1991). Lexical representation of cognates and non-cognates in compound bilinguals. Journal of Memory and Language, 30, 90–123. Dijkstra, A. F. J., & Van Heuven, W. J. B. (2002). The architecture of the bilingual word recognition system: From identification to decision. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 5(3), 175-197. Duyck, W. (2005). Translation and associative priming with cross-lingual pseudohomophones: Evidence for nonselective phonological activation in bilinguals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 31, 1340–1359. Fischler, I. (1977). Semantic facilitation without association in a lexical decision task. Memory & Cognition, 5, 335–339. Forster, K. I., & Davis, C. (1984). Repetition priming and frequency attenuation in lexical access. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 10, 680–698. Forster, K. I., & Forster, J. C. (2003). DMDX: A Windows display program with millisecond accuracy. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 35(1), 116–124. Fotovatnia, Z., & Taleb, F. (2012). Masked noncognate priming across Farsi and English. Journal of Teaching Language Skills, 4(1), 25–48. French, R. M., & Jacquet, M. (2004). Understanding bilingual memory. Trends in Cognitive Science, 8, 87–93. Grainger, J., & Frenck-Mestre, C. (1998). Masked priming by translation equivalents in proficient bilinguals. Language and Cognitive Processes, 13(6), 601–623. Jiang, N., & Forster, K. I. (2001). Cross-language priming asymmetries in lexical decision and episodic recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 44(1), 32–51. Kotz, S. A. (2001). Neurolinguistic evidence for bilingual language representation: A comparison of reaction times and event-related brain potentials. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 4, 143–154. Kroll, J. F., & Stewart, E. (1994). Category interference in translation and picture naming: Evidence for asymmetric connections between bilingual memory representations. Journal of Memory and Language, 33,149–174. Lupker, S. J. (1984). Semantic priming without association: A second look. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 23, 709–733. Perea, M., Duñabeitia, J. A., & Carreiras, M. (2008). Masked associative/semantic priming effects across languages with highly proficient bilinguals. Journal of Memory and Language, 58, 916–930. Perea, M., & Rosa, E. (2002). The effects of associative and semantic priming in the lexical decision task. Psychological Research, 66, 180–194. Samani, R., & Sharifian, F. (1997). Cross-language hierarchical spreading of activation. In Sharifian, F. (ed.), Proceedings of the Conference on Language, Cognition, and Interpretation (pp. 11–23). Isfahan: IAU Press. Sanchez-Casas, R. M., Davis, C. W., & Garcia-Albea, J. E. (1992). Bilingual lexical processing: Exploring the cognate/non-cognate distinction. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology Special Issue: Multilingual Community, 4(4), 293–310. Williams, J. N. (1994). The relationship between word meanings in the first and second language: Evidence for a common, but restricted, semantic code. European Journal of Psychology, 6, 195–220.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of learning and rehearsal on verbal and visual memory in 15 Native American students ranging in age from 9 to 16 years. Subjects were administered the Verbal Learning (VL) and Visual Learning (VIL) subtests of the WRAML. These subtests assess the ability to retain verbal (list of words) and visual (location of designs) information presented over 4 trials. A 5th trial assesses retention after a short delay. The study additionally aimed to relate scores on these tasks with overall scores on the WRAML, the WISC-III and the DAS. A description of mean standard/scaled scores for each of these measures is provided. Concurrent with previous research, mean Verbal IQ on the WISC-III was significantly below the normative mean while the Performance IQ was in the average range. Mean Verbal and Visual Memory Indexes on the WRAML reflected this pattern. Performance on all three subtests of the DAS (Arithmetic, Spelling, Word Reading) were significantly below average. Results of one-way repeated measures ANOVAs based on z scores indicate no significant difference from the norm in overall performance on both learning subtests. However, z scores on the VL subtest showed a significant difference across trials. While performance on the VL subtest was slightly below the normative average on trial 1, this difference appears to have been erased by trial 2. Performance on delayed recall trials for both subtests were comparable to the norm group. Correlation coefficients show a significant relation between the learning subtests and the Visual, Learning and General-Memory Index scores on the WRAML. They also show a significant relation between the VL subtest and the Verbal and Full Scale IQs on the WISC-III. Neither of the learning subtests shows a significant correlation with subtests on the DAS. Results argue against a verbal learning "weakness" in Native American children. Findings also suggest that instead of focusing on teaching to the Native Americans' "visual strength," the use of a multi-trial approach when presenting Native American children with verbal material in English would enhance learning and retention.

Research suggests that children are only able to flexibly apply more than one label (e.g. mouse and animal) in one situation with one conversational partner after they pass standard false belief tasks. Both abilities have been attributed to the understanding of perspective. The aim of the studies was to extend previous research to examine the disambiguation effect, children’s tendency to select an unfamiliar object in the presence of another but familiar object as referent for a novel word. Theoretical considerations suggest this effect initially results from a lack of understanding perspective. Five studies were conducted in Scotland and Austria, involving 243 children between the ages of 2.5 and 6.5. Studies 1 to 3 compared the standard disambiguation task with a task in which a strong pragmatic cue indicates the familiar object is the correct referent. Performances on these tasks were compared with performances on the false belief task, the alternative naming task, as well as tests of executive functioning. Studies 4 and 5 extended these methods to examine bilingual children’s metacognitive abilities in relation to word learning. Children become able to suspend the disambiguation effect when presented with strong pragmatic cues at the same time as they pass false belief and alternative naming tasks (Experiment 1). This can neither be attributed to impulsivity or the ability to inhibit a response, nor order effects of pragmatic cues and novel words (Experiment 2). Children’s ability to apply two labels to one object in a correction task also related to their perspectival understanding. Previous findings that suggested that younger children could produce multiple labels in a misnaming paradigm were not replicated (Experiment 3 a, b). The developmental change in children’s metalinguistic behaviour was demonstrated to follow the same trajectory in monolinguals, bilinguals and children exposed to another language (Experiment 4 and 5). Bilinguals show a marginally better ability to recall novel foreign language labels. The disambiguation effect is the result of cognitive immaturity in young children. Older children show a change in behaviour at the same time as they present more metacognitive maturity. Common development with theory of mind and metalinguistic abilities is attributed to an understanding of perspective.

A presente pesquisa pertence à área de conhecimento chamada Lexicografia e trata da inserção de colocações verbais em dicionários bilíngües e bilemáticos de alemão-português. Tendo em vista que a maioria dos livros didáticos de alemão como língua estrangeira não dá um tratamento adequado a elas, é necessário que o aprendiz procure-as nos dicionários, tanto no momento da decodificação, quanto no da codificação de textos. Essa pesquisa levantou certo número de colocações verbais consideradas fundamentais na formação de um vocabulário-base em situações rotineiras de comunicação, verificando em três dicionários se elas ocorrem e como ocorrem, na tentativa de estabelecer até que ponto tais dicionários se constituem numa ajuda efetiva não só na compreensão, como (principalmente) na produção de textos.
This research belongs to the area of knowledge called Lexicography and treats of the insertions of verbal collocations in bilingual and bilemmatical German- Portuguese dictionaries. Considering that the majority of the didactic books of German as foreign language does not treat them properly, it is necessary that the learner looks them up in dictionaries at the moment of the decoding as well as when coding texts. For this research we selected a certain number of verbal collocations considered fundamental to the formation of a basic vocabulary for routine communication situations, checking in three dictionaries if they occur and how they occur, in an attempt to establish how these dictionaries represent an effective help not only for comprehension but also for text production.

Cette recherche propose une étude des séquences explicatives relevées au sein de cours de disciplines non-linguistiques dispensés en langue étrangère. Elle s'inscrit dans le cadre plus général des travaux ayant pour objet l'analyse des interactions de classes dans des structures d'enseignement bi- ou plurilingues. La première partie vise à caractériser le terrain spécifique qui est le nôtre : à la lumière des typologies existantes, nous y présentons le système d'enseignement bilingue adopté parles écoles de l'UNRWA (Liban). Ces repères sociolinguistiques donnés, nous apportons des éléments relatifs à notre démarche méthodologique en questionnant le rôle du chercheur et en nous arrêtant sur ce qui a guidé notre collecte et notre analyse de données. Nous définissons ensuite ce que nous entendons par "séquences explicatives" en situant ces séquences au sein des discours de la classe. La deuxième partie est consacrée à l'analyse de nos données et nous permet de travailler sur la réalisation de quatre tâches du cours de DNL : comprendre un document scientifique en classe de biologie, mener une expérience en physique-chimie, écrire un compte-rendu d'expérience dans cette même discipline et résoudre une équation en mathématiques. Notre analyse s'articule principalement autour de trois critères : celui de l'intégration entre langue et discipline, celui du mode bilingue de conversation et enfin celui des formes que prennent les interactions pédagogiques
This research studies explanatory discourse as it occures in CLIL classrooms. It is set in the widerfield of classrooms' interaction analysis in the context of bi- or multilingual education. The first partaims at specifying the characteristics of our field of research : in the light of existing typologies, wepresent the bilingual education system adopted by UNRWA schools in Lebanon. We will first takeinto account some sociolinguistic elements and then present our methodological approach. We thendefine explanatory discourse, considering it as a part of classroom discourse. The second part isdevoted to our data analysis. We focus on four tasks : understanding a scientific document inbiology, experiment and write a experiment report in physics and chemistry, solve an equation inmathematics. Our analysis first focuses on the issue of language and content integration, then dealswith the question of code-switching and at least studies the participation of each in the interaction

The use of default agreement plays a key role in morphological theories from diverse perspectives, as well as in many analyses of child language acquisition. In this paper, the development of ergative and dative agreement and case in 20 bilingual and 11 monolingual Basque-speaking children between 2;00-3;06 years old is examined. I propose that the most commonly-produced errors in child Basque involve the substitution of unmarked absolutive forms for ergative and dative case and dative verbal morphemes; for independent reasons, the absolutive is considered to be unmarked inflection in adult Basque (Arregi and Nevins, 2012). These errors suggest that in early stages of morphological acquisition, children learning Basque use default forms which encode a subset of the morphemes as a “best match” to support their developing language when they are unable to produce or retrieve target forms.

Depression has been identified as the most prevalent mental disorder worldwide. Due to the stigma of mental illness, the population remains unidentified, undiagnosed, and untreated. Various studies have been carried out to detect and track depression following symptoms of dichotomous thinking, absolutist thinking, linguistic markers, and linguistic behavior. However, there is little study focused on the linguistic behavior of bilingual and multilingual with anxiety and depression. This chapter aims to identify the bi-multilingual linguistic markers by analyzing the recorded verbal content of depressive discourse resulting from life situations and stressors causing anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. Different contextual domains of word usage, content words, function words (pronouns), and negative valance words have been identified as indicators of psychological process affecting cognitive behavior, emotional health, and mental illness. These findings are discussed within the framework of Beck's model of depression to support the linguistic connection to mental illness-depression.

Integrating corpus consultation to help students' re-use of vocabulary items for essay-drafting has not been sufficiently examined in instructional contexts. This chapter investigated the linguistic features of target words for which students consulted concordance programs to include in essays by documenting the DDL of three groups of EFL students in a Taiwanese college writing program. Participant essays, video files of consultation processes, responses to questionnaires, interviews, and written records of corpus consultation were examined. Researchers found 88.14% of all consulted words were incorporated into essays, with learners looking up 3.18 words. The lexical profile of consulted words indicates that learners mainly used the most common 1,000 to 2,000 words with more verbs more frequently consulted than nouns. Students queried words for confirmation or incorporated the discovered vocabulary into essays. As emergent pattern hunters, the participants made only limited use of dictionaries and bilingual resources. Implications of the findings are discussed.