The Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q): Assessing Language Profiles in Bilinguals and Multilinguals

Marian, Viorica; Blumenfeld, Henrike K.; Kaushanskaya, Margarita

doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2007/067)

Cited by 1,470 publications

(1,185 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Their language profile was determined via the Dutch version of LEAP-Q (Marian, Blumenfeld, & Kaushanskaya, 2007). Two (one Switching and one NonSwitching participant) were exposed to both Dutch and English from an early age (< 4).…”

Section: Methods Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

If you stay, it might be easier: Switch costs from comprehension to production in a joint switching task.

Gambi¹,

Hartsuiker²

2016

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

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Switching language is costly for bilingual speakers and listeners, suggesting that language control is effortful in both modalities. But are the mechanisms underlying language control similar across modalities? In this study, we attempted to answer this question by testing whether bilingual speakers incur a cost when switching to a different language than the one just used by their interlocutor. Pairs of unbalanced Dutch (L1) -English (L2) bilinguals took turns naming pictures in a pure Dutch, a pure English, and a mixed-language block. In the mixed block, one participant (Switching Participant) voluntarily switched between Dutch and English, whereas the other (NonSwitching Participant) named all pictures in Dutch. Within the mixed block, the Non-Switching participant took longer to name pictures when the Switching participant's response on the preceding trial had been in English rather than Dutch, and this local switch cost was larger the more the NonSwitching participant was proficient in English. Additionally, there was strong cross-person itemlevel interference: The Non-Switching participant named pictures more slowly in Dutch if the Switching participant had previously named those same pictures in English rather than Dutch.These findings indicate that comprehension of utterances produced by another speaker in L2 makes subsequent production of L1 utterances more costly. We interpret this as evidence that language control mechanisms are shared between comprehension and production, and specifically that bottom-up factors have a considerable influence on language selection processes in both modalities.Keywords: voluntary language switching; joint task; comprehension; production. Bilinguals often switch between their languages, especially during informal conversations with other bilinguals (e.g., Grosjean, 2001). However, switching language leads to slower responses in laboratory tasks, both when bilinguals produce a switch (e.g., Meuter & Allport, 1999) and when they comprehend a switch (e.g., Thomas & Allport, 2000). Showing that language switches are costly to process in comprehension and to execute in production is relevant for theories of bilingual dialogue since bilingual interlocutors tend to switch between their shared languages within their respective turns (e.g., Grosjean, 2001). But furthermore, in some bilingual conversations, each interlocutor consistently uses only one language (normally her first language, L1), so that switches occur between turns (if the two bilinguals have different L1's). Thus, bilinguals may also be confronted with switches from comprehension (of their interlocutor's utterance) to production (of their own utterance).The goal of the present study was to investigate whether comprehension of utterances produced by another speaker in one's second language (L2) makes subsequent production of L1 utterances more costly. As we explain below, the occurrence of cross-person switch costs is compatible with theories of bilingual lexical selection that assume shared language contro...

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Section: Methods Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

If you stay, it might be easier: Switch costs from comprehension to production in a joint switching task.

Gambi¹,

Hartsuiker²

2016

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

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“…Excluding these five participants did not change the overall pattern of results and they are therefore included in the analyses reported below. Thirty-eight participants (42%) spoke more than one language with at least adequate proficiency (as assessed by the LEAP-Q; Marian, Blumenfeld, & Kaushanskaya, 2007; see below for details) and an additional 19 (20%) reported minimal proficiency in a language other than English. Eight participants were left-handed (i.e., had negative scores on the Edinburgh 1 One additional reason not to rely on group assignment is that our participants did not appear to have been overly concerned about meeting group criteria; e.g., eleven participants who responded to the 'musician' recruitment ads later reported having had between 0-5 years of music lessons.…”

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given evidence (albeit mixed) for a greater prevalence of lefthandedness in musicians (Aggleton, Kentridge, & Good, 1994), handedness effects on musical ability (e.g., Kopiez, Galley, & Lee, 2006;Jäncke, Schlaug, & Steinmetz, 1997), and handedness effects on cognitive tasks (also with somewhat mixed findings; e.g., Beratis, Rabavilas, Kyprianou, Papadimitriou, & Papageorgiou, 2013;Nettle, 2003;Powell, Kemp, & García-Finaña, 2012), we administered the Edinburgh handedness inventory (Oldfield, 1971). Finally, bilingualism has been found to predict aspects of EF (e.g., Bialystok, Craik, Green, & Gollan, 2009), so we administered the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q; Marian et al, 2007): participants were considered bilingual if they reported speaking a second language with a mean self-rated proficiency of at least 5 on a 1 to 10 scale (where 5 is defined as "adequate"), averaged across ratings of ability in second language speaking, understanding, and reading.…”

Section: Other Background and Demographic Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tuning the mind: Exploring the connections between musical ability and executive functions

et al. 2016

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A growing body of research suggests that musical experience and ability are related to a variety of cognitive abilities, including executive functioning (EF). However, it is not yet clear if these relationships are limited to specific components of EF, limited to auditory tasks, or reflect very general cognitive advantages. This study investigated the existence and generality of the relationship between musical ability and EFs by evaluating the musical experience and ability of a large group of participants and investigating whether this predicts individual differences on three different components of EF – inhibition, updating, and switching – in both auditory and visual modalities. Musical ability predicted better performance on both auditory and visual updating tasks, even when controlling for a variety of potential confounds (age, handedness, bilingualism, and socio-economic status). However, musical ability was not clearly related to inhibitory control and was unrelated to switching performance. These data thus show that cognitive advantages associated with musical ability are not limited to auditory processes, but are limited to specific aspects of EF. This supports a process-specific (but modality-general) relationship between musical ability and non-musical aspects of cognition.GRAMMY Foundatio

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“…One subject (Spanish-dominant) was eliminated for failing to complete all parts of the task. Each participant's language background was assessed using a modified version of the LEAP-Q (Marian, Blumenfeld & Kaushanskaya 2007) and relied on self-ratings, which have been shown to be an accurate representations of linguistic performance in bilingual speakers (Chincotta & Underwood 1998, Flege, Yeni-Komshian & Liu 1999, Jia, Aaronson & Wu 2002. The language background questionnaires were prepared in both English and Spanish, and participants were free to choose their preferred version.…”

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of code-switching and language context in bilingual phonetic transfer

Olson

2016

Journal of the International Phonetic Association

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The present study examines the effect of two potential catalysts for interlanguage phonetic interaction, code-switching and language mode, on the production of voice onset time (VOT) to better understand the role of (near) simultaneous dual language activation on phonetic production, as well as the nature of phonetic transfer. An oral production paradigm was carried out in which Spanish-English bilinguals produced words with initial voiceless stops as non-switched tokens, code-switched tokens in an otherwise monolingual context, and code-switched tokens in a bilingual context. Results demonstrated a degree of phonetic transfer associated with code-switching, either unidirectional or bi-directional. Specifically, English, with long lag VOT, was more susceptible to phonetic transfer than Spanish (short lag). Contrary to expectations, while the code-switching effect was present in both monolingual and bilingual mode, there was no additional transfer, or additive effect, of bilingual language mode. Differences in the effects of code-switching on English and Spanish are discussed with respect to the inherently different acceptable VOT ranges in the two languages. Furthermore, the lack of difference in VOT between the code-switched tokens in the monolingual and bilingual contexts is taken to suggest limits on phonetic transfer.

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The Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q): Assessing Language Profiles in Bilinguals and Multilinguals

Abstract: The LEAP-Q is a valid, reliable, and efficient tool for assessing the language profiles of multilingual, neurologically intact adult populations in research settings.

Cited by 1,470 publications

References 66 publications

If you stay, it might be easier: Switch costs from comprehension to production in a joint switching task.

If you stay, it might be easier: Switch costs from comprehension to production in a joint switching task.

Tuning the mind: Exploring the connections between musical ability and executive functions

The role of code-switching and language context in bilingual phonetic transfer

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