In the present article we provide evidence for the occurrence of transfer of conceptualization patterns in narratives of two German-Turkish bilingual groups. All bilingual participants grew up in Germany, but only one group is still resident in Germany (n = 49). The other, the returnees, moved back to Turkey after having lived in Germany for thirteen years (n = 35). The study is based on the theoretical framework for conceptual transfer outlined in Jarvis and Pavlenko (2008) and on the typology of satellite-framed and verb-framed languages developed by Talmy (1985Talmy ( , 1991Talmy ( , 2000a and Slobin (1987Slobin ( , 1996Slobin ( , 2003Slobin ( , 2004Slobin ( , 2005Slobin ( , 2006

More and more students study outside their own countries and by 2020 a rise to 7 million international students is predicted world-wide. The present study investigates the level of language proficiency that is necessary for international students to study successfully at universities in English-speaking countries and how this proficiency can be measured. Standardized tests such as the International English Language Test System (IELTS) or the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) are carefully developed and constantly scrutinized by the research community, and they provide a valid cut-off point for entry to university, but they do not seem to be good predictors of study success on their own. This is mainly due to the fact that most students who enter universities with these tests have similar scores which leave researchers with a truncated sample where correlations between these test scores and study success, e.g. marks obtained after one year, are necessarily low. The present study investigates alternative measures of language proficiency that can predict the study success of international students. In a longitudinal study with 74 international students a battery of language tests was used at the beginning of the academic year to predict the average marks that the students obtained at the end of the academic year. Several multiple regressions show that between 33% and 96% of the marks can be predicted with tests based mainly on vocabulary knowledge. The findings of the present study have implications for decisions on admission criteria and for language support provision in addition to subject specific learning. There may be many factors other than language proficiency that influence study success of international students such as cultural factors, motivation and familiarity with the subject area. However, our findings indicate that language proficiency and especially vocabulary knowledge is the key factor that explains in some cases almost entirely the final marks that the students achieve.

Aims and objectives: The threshold hypothesis is one of the most influential theoretical frameworks on the relation between bilingualism and cognition. This hypothesis suggests a bilingual cognitive disadvantage at a low proficiency level and a cognitive advantage at a high proficiency level in both languages. The aim of our study is to contribute to the operationalisation of the threshold hypothesis by analysing parental support for L1 and its influence on the cognitive development of bilingual children. Data and analysis: We analyse data from 100 Turkish–English successive bilingual children and from their parents, and investigate the relation between bilingualism and cognition. The data from the children are scores on receptive and productive vocabulary tests and a non-verbal intelligence test (Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices). In addition, the parents filled in a questionnaire on language use at home and a questionnaire on language dominance. Findings and conclusions: Our study shows a bilingual advantage for those children whose parents use more L1 at home and have higher dominance scores for L1. These children outperform the monolingual control groups in our study in terms of non-verbal intelligence scores. Originality: The originality of the present study resides in the fact that, to our knowledge, for the first time parental support for L1 and dominance in L1 is linked to the cognitive development of the children. Significance and implications: In this way, we can operationalise the threshold hypothesis and get further insights in the relation between bilingualism and cognition. This will allow informed decisions on the use and support for L1 in bilingual families. Limitations: One limitation of the present study is the fact that our sample is only from middle-class families, and conclusions about other bilingual settings are therefore limited.

In this paper we show that heritage speakers and returnees are fundamentally different from the majority of adult second language learners with respect to their use of collocations (Laufer & Waldman, 2011). We compare the use of lexical collocations involving yap-"do" and et-"do" among heritage speakers of Turkish in Germany (n=45) with those found among Turkish returnees (n=65) and Turkish monolinguals (n=69). Language use by returnees is an understudied resource although this group can provide crucial insights into the specific language ability of heritage speakers. Results show that returnees who had been back for one year avoid collocations with yap-and use some hypercorrect forms in et-, whilst returnees who had been back for seven years upon recording produce collocations that are quantitatively and qualitatively similar to those of monolingual speakers of Turkish. We discuss implications for theories of ultimate attainment and incomplete acquisition in heritage speakers.

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