Ageing with bilingualism: benefits and challenges

Nickels, Lyndsey; Hameau, Solène; Nair, Vishnu K. K.; Barr, Polly; Biedermann, Britta

doi:10.1080/2050571x.2018.1555988

Cited by 15 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 199 publications

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“…Associated with overall population ageing, dementia prevalence in Australia is anticipated to be 590,000 by 2030 (Dementia Australia, 2018). Aphasia or loss of language is a common finding in people living with dementia, and among those who are bilingual or multilingual, non-primary languages such as English may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of cognitive decline (Tipping & Whiteside, 2015;Nickels et al, 2019). As the adage goes, 'last in-first out', a similarly, English may have been one of the later languages learned and therefore one of the first ones forgotten as dementia advances.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

English Language Proficiency Among Older Migrants in Australia, 2016–2046

Temple

Wilson

Brijnath

et al. 2021

Int. Migration & Integration

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Australia's population is growing, ageing and exhibiting increasing heterogeneity with respect to birthplace and ethnic composition. Yet, little is understood about the levels of English language proficiency among the next generation of older migrants in Australia. Utilising a modified cohort-component model incorporating detailed language proficiency transition probabilities, we project birthplace populations by levels of English language proficiency to mid-century. Our results show that although Asian-born migrants tend to have lower levels of English proficiency, the majority of older migrants with poor proficiency are currently from a predominantly European background. In the future, we project a strong shift in the population of poor English speakers toward an Asian-born dominance as some European-born migrant groups dwindle in size and cohort flow increases population growth among older Asian migrants. Specifically, most of the population growth among older migrants with poor English proficiency occurs among Chinese and Mainland Southeast Asian migrants. However, we demonstrate that population growth among the total migrant population with poor proficiency is considerably lower than populations with good proficiency or from English-speaking households. Over the projection horizon, the total older migrant population with poor English proficiency increases by under 80,000 compared with an increase of 726,000 with good levels of proficiency and 518,000 in English-speaking households. However, we caution against conflating improved English language proficiency with a policy shift away from ethno-specific aged care services as culture, which is more than language, strongly influences perceptions of quality of aged care.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

English Language Proficiency Among Older Migrants in Australia, 2016–2046

Temple

Wilson

Brijnath

et al. 2021

Int. Migration & Integration

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“…On the other hand, all subjects lived and functioned in a bilingual environment in Japan with highly unified social and economic factors, which suggests high reliability of the study findings. The strong correlations between L2 and cognitive function suggest learning a second language would be helpful to significantly delay the onset of dementia by changing brain activation pattern [ 2 , 15 , 47 , 48 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Accordingly, it has been well documented that there are structural, functional, and cognitive associations between language function and the prefrontal cortex activity of bilinguals. Therefore, it was suggested that L2 learning affects cognitive function [ 14 , 15 ]. Nowadays, with increasing longevity worldwide, and considering the onset of dementia is delayed in second-language speakers, this is an important area of research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of Activation in the Prefrontal Cortex of Native Speakers of Mandarin by Ability of Japanese as a Second Language Using a Novel Speaking Task

2021

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Evidence shows that second language (L2) learning affects cognitive function. Here in this work, we compared brain activation in native speakers of Mandarin (L1) who speak Japanese (L2) between and within two groups (high and low L2 ability) to determine the effect of L2 ability in L1 and L2 speaking tasks, and to map brain regions involved in both tasks. The brain activation during task performance was determined using prefrontal cortex blood flow as a proxy, measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). People with low L2 ability showed much more brain activation when speaking L2 than when speaking L1. People with high L2 ability showed high-level brain activation when speaking either L2 or L1. Almost the same high-level brain activation was observed in both ability groups when speaking L2. The high level of activation in people with high L2 ability when speaking either L2 or L1 suggested strong inhibition of the non-spoken language. A wider area of brain activation in people with low compared with high L2 ability when speaking L2 is considered to be attributed to the cognitive load involved in code-switching L1 to L2 with strong inhibition of L1 and the cognitive load involved in using L2.

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“…But, importantly, governments and service providers should not falsely assume that if it only allows those with high English proficiency to migrate then language barriers will be ameliorated in the end. Ageing and age-related conditions such as dementia can degrade people’s ability to communicate in their non-primary languages (Nickels, Hameau, Nair, Barr, & Biedermann, 2019 ; Tipping & Whiteside, 2015 ). Thus, whilst there may be high levels of English proficiency in some CALD communities, language barriers may still be present for the CALD person with dementia in aged care.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Past and projected growth of Australia’s older migrant populations

Wilson

McDonald

Temple

et al. 2020

Genus

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In recent years, Australia's older population (aged 65 and over) has been growing rapidly, accompanied by a shift in its country of birth composition. Although a great deal of research has been undertaken on past and current aspects of Australia's migrant groups, little attention has been paid to future demographic trends in older populations. The aim of this paper is to examine recent and possible future demographic trends of Australia's migrant populations at the older ages. We present population estimates by country and broad global region of birth from 1996 to 2016, and then new birthplace-specific population projections for the 2016 to 2056 period. Our findings show that substantial growth of the 65+ population will occur in the coming decades, and that the overseas-born will shift from a Europe-born dominance to an Asia-born dominance. Cohort flow (the effect of varying sizes of cohorts moving into the 65+ age group over time) will be the main driver of growth for most older birthplace populations. The shifting demography of Australia's older population signals many policy, planning, service delivery and funding challenges for government and private sector providers. We discuss those related to aged care, health care, language services, the aged care workforce, regulatory frameworks and future research needs in demography and gerontology.

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Ageing with bilingualism: benefits and challenges

Cited by 15 publications

References 199 publications

English Language Proficiency Among Older Migrants in Australia, 2016–2046

English Language Proficiency Among Older Migrants in Australia, 2016–2046

Comparison of Activation in the Prefrontal Cortex of Native Speakers of Mandarin by Ability of Japanese as a Second Language Using a Novel Speaking Task

Past and projected growth of Australia’s older migrant populations

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