MOST BESEABCH on second-language acquisition has been concerned with the measurement of an "ability for languages," the assumption being that achievement is largely due to a linguistic aptitude. However, when measures of aptitude are correlated with grades in language courses, the validity coefficients show considerable variability from situation to situation even with tests developed through factor analytic methods (2), suggesting that variables other than linguistic aptitude are involved. Researchers have mentioned that motivation and interest probably play important roles in second-language acquisition (4,5,8,16,18), but perhaps because of difficulties in measuring them, these aspects have not been given systematic attention.Theoretical attempts to explain how the child learns his first language have emphasized a particular type of motivation. Mowrer's theory (11) suggests that language acquisition is motivated by a desire to be like valued members of the family and, later, of the whole linguistic community. Ervin (6) has extended this view, suggesting that emotional dependence or respect for another individual may account for some instances of marked success in second-language achievement. Support for this extended interpretation has been found in recent studies where (a) fluency in the second language was found to depend upon an active interest in members of the other linguistic community ( 19); (fo) both extent of bilingualism ( 12) and advanced level of language study (7) were associated with lower F-scores; (c) dominance in the acquired language was related to personal dissatisfactions with one's own group (9). In line with this latter finding, adults electing to study French conversational courses scored higher on Srole's Anomie Scale ( 14) than students enrolled in the more grammatical courses, suggesting that adults 1 This research was supported by the Canadian Defence Research Board, Grant no. D77-94-01-10 and by a Ford Foundation Grant to D. O. Hebb. We are grateful to both Professor G. A. Ferguson (McGffl) and Professor J. B. Carroll (Harvard) for their advice on statistical analysis. In particular, we want to thank J. T. Mcllhone of the Catholic School Board of Montreal for his co-operation and kindness in permitting us to carry out this study.
POKEN language is an identifying feature of members of a national or cultural group and any listener's attitude toward members of a particular group should generalize to the language they use. From this viewpoint, evaluational reactions to a spoken language should be similar to those prompted by interaction with individuals who are perceived as members of the group that uses it, but because the use of the language is one aspect of behavior common to a variety of individuals, hearing the language is likely to arouse mainly generalized or stereotyped characteristics of the group. Thus, when one hears a radio broadcast of an international meeting and encounters passages of a foreign language, one's evaluational reactions to the communication are attributable, in part, to the language used and likely reflect generalized attitudinal reactions to the group that uses it.The purpose of the present investigation was to determine the significance spoken language has for listeners by analyzing their evaluational reactions to English and French. Since we were interested in reactions that are attributable primarily to the language itself, we attempted to minimize the effects of both the voice of the speaker and his message by employing bilingual speakers reading the same message in two languages. In view of previous studies (sec Licklider & Miller, 1951 which have shown that evaluations of personality based solely upon voice have little or no reliability, it was predicted that the differences in the favorableness of any S's, evaluations of the French and English guises of speakers would reflect his attitude toward members of his own and members of the other language group. The study was carried out with 5s living in Montreal, a community whose history centers largely in a French-English schism
The present research was designed to examine more extensively the effects of bilingualism on the intellectual functioning of children and to explore the relations between bilingualism, school achievement, and students' attitudes to the second language community. The subjects were 10-year-old school children from six French schools under the jurisdiction of the Catholic School Commission of Montreal. The testing took place in the classroom and was divided into five sessions of 1 hour each, spaced about a week apart. All instructions to the children were given in French by native speakers of French, except for the test of English vocabulary which was administered by a native speaker of English. Verbal and nonverbal intelligence tests and measures of attitudes to the English and French communities were successfully administered. Contrary to previous findings this study found that bilinguals performed significantly better than monolinguals on both verbal and nonverbal intelligence tests. Several explanations are suggested as to why bilinguals have this general intellectual advantage. It is argued that they have a language asset, are more facile at concept formation, and have a greater mental flexibility. The results of factor analyses applied to the data supported the hypothesis that the structures of intellect for the two groups differ. The bilinguals appear to have a more diversified set of mental abilities than the monolinguals. The correlations of the attitude measures with other variables are also discussed.
Other contributions in this series have drawn attention to various aspects of bilingualism, each of great importance for behavioral scientists. For instance, we have been introduced to the psychologist's interest in the bilingual switching process with its attendant mental and neurological implications, and his interest in the development of bilingual skill; to the linguist's interest in the bilingual's competence with his two linguistic systems and the way the systems interact; and to the social-anthropologist's concern with the socio-cultural settings of bilingualism and the role expectations involved. The purpose of the present paper is to extend and integrate certain of these interests by approaching bilingualism from a social-psychological perspective, one characterized not only by its interest in the reactions of the bilingual as an individual but also by the attention given to the social influences that affect the bilingual's behavior and to the social repercussions that follow from his behavior. From this perspective, a process such as language switching takes on a broader significance when its likely social and psychological consequences are contemplated, as, for example, when a language switch brings into play oontrasting sets of stereotyped images of people who habitually use each of the languages involved in the switch. Similarly, the development of bilingual skill very likely involves something more than a special set of aptitudes because one would expect that various social attitudes and motives are intimately involved in learning a foreign language. Furthermore, the whole process of h e c o~n~h i l i n~a l can he eqected to involve ma\ox conflicts of values and allegiances, and bilinguals could make various types of 91 92
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.