Developmental changes associated with cross-language similarity in bilingual children

Abstract

Abstract:The main goal of the present study was to investigate how the degree of orthographic overlap between translation equivalents influences bilingual word recognition processes at different stages of reading development. Spanish-Basque bilingual children with ages ranging from 8 to 15 years were tested in an explicit translation recognition task with a large set of items.Critically, the degree of cross-language similarity (i.e., the cognate status) between the references and the correct targets was manipulated along a continuum in order to investigate how the reliance on cross-language orthographic overlap varies as a function of reading experience.Results showed that younger children were significantly more sensitive to the cognate status of words than older children while recognizing translation equivalents, and that this difference did not depend on the speed of response of the participants. These results demonstrate that the influence of cross-language similarity progressively diminishes as a function of increased exposure to print together with the maturation of the mechanisms responsible for language interference suppression, as suggested by developmental models of bilingual lexical access. Short title:Cognate effects during childhood.

The effects of language and emotionality of stimuli on vocabulary learning

“…When calculating the LD, the number of insertions, deletions, and alterations needed to get from the produced word-the recalled string-to the original wordthe studied string-is taken into account to calculate a standardized value. Then, these values are divided by the word length in order to normalize the value [55][56][57]. We also ran a model on the LD between the produced word and the correct response.…”

Emotional Diglossia in Multilingual Classroom Environments: A Proposal

“…Moreover, it is well known that, in addition to explicit and manifest translation processes, multilingual persons also carry out implicit and seemingly automatic translation processes, transforming the written or verbal forms of one language into the other(s) language(s) in fractions of a second, often being unaware of this action. [28][29][30][31][32] Considering that the cognitive cost of comprehension and production in more than one language does not seem to impact educational processes negatively, and that the multilingual brain automatically performs linguistic juggling between languages, it is possible that the inclusion of native languages in contexts that so far were exclusive to foreign languages could help dissipate emotional diglossia. In fact, recent studies suggest a close link between the strength of cross-language interactions with the native language and the performance in foreign language tests.…”

Changes in the Sensitivity to Language-Specific Orthographic Patterns With Age

“…Although adults are sensitive to markedness (Casaponsa et al, 2014), it is not clear whether this sensitivity is maintained throughout the lifespan or whether it is developed during a specific period of literacy consolidation. Previous research following the trajectory of biliteracy acquisition in bilingual children has shown that at initial stages of the development, word recognition heavily relies upon cross-language word similarity (see Duñabeitia et al, 2016). In this line, Duñabeitia et al (2016) showed that cross-language lexical interactions in L1 and L2 word reading were reduced as the age of the readers increased.…”

“…Previous research following the trajectory of biliteracy acquisition in bilingual children has shown that at initial stages of the development, word recognition heavily relies upon cross-language word similarity (see Duñabeitia et al, 2016). In this line, Duñabeitia et al (2016) showed that cross-language lexical interactions in L1 and L2 word reading were reduced as the age of the readers increased. These results suggest that as bilinguals become more skilled readers, they rely less upon cross-language similarity in order to access the meaning of the words they read.…”