The Role of Language Aptitude in First Language Attrition: The Case of Pre-pubescent Attriters

Bylund, Emanuel; Abrahamsson, Niclas; Hyltenstam, Kenneth

doi:10.1093/applin/amp059

Cited by 55 publications

(58 citation statements)

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“…Andersen (1982), for example, stated that without a decrease in L1 contact it is 'unlikely that there will be much attrition at all' (90). The studies by Bylund, Abrahamsson, and Hyltenstam (2010), Hakuta and D'Andrea (1992) and Yeni-Komshian, Flege, and Liu (2000) report statistically significant, positive correlations between L1 proficiency and degree of L1 contact (defined, for example, as 'language spoken at home') (for the role of L1 contact in young attriters/incomplete learners, see also , Merino 1983;Mueller Gathercole 2002).…”

Section: L1 Attrition In a L2 Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a recent study on a group of speakers who experienced reduced L1 contact before 12 years of age, Bylund, Abrahamsson, and Hyltenstam (2010) showed that those participants who achieved the highest score on a grammaticality judgement test (GJT) were more likely to possess a high degree of language aptitude (as measured through the Swansea Language Aptitude Test; Meara, Milton, and Lorenzo-Dus, 2003). Moreover, it was found that L1 contact and test performance were significantly correlated among the participants with below average aptitude, but not among those with above average aptitude.…”

Section: L1 Attrition In a L2 Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To date, the factor that has been shown to exert the greatest effect on L1 maintenance among speakers who arrived in the L2 setting as children or young adolescents is, not surprisingly, the degree of L1 contact (e.g. Bylund, Abrahamsson, and Hyltenstam 2010;de Leeuw, Schmid, and Mennen 2010;Hakuta and D'Andrea 1992;YeniKomshian, Flege, and Liu 2000). However, studies on L1 attrition in speakers who arrived in the L2 setting before adulthood seldom take into account the possibility that their participants could also have received formal instruction in the L1 through some form of heritage language (HL) education.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effects of heritage language instruction on first language proficiency: a psycholinguistic perspective

Bylund

Díaz

2012

International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

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This study investigates the effects of weekly heritage language (HL) classes on first language (L1) proficiency in speakers who arrived in the second language (L2)-dominant setting before the onset of puberty. Two groups of L1 Spanish Á L2 Swedish bilingual high school students living in Sweden participated in the study. One group currently attended HL classes once a week, whereas the other group was no longer doing so. The two groups did not differ with regard to the total number of years of HL class attendance, age of arrival in Sweden, length of residence or degree of L1 contact. Results from a grammaticality judgement test and a cloze test showed that the group that currently attended HL classes outperformed the non-attending group. Using a framework that emphasises heightened attrition susceptibility among speakers who lost contact with the L1-dominant setting before puberty, the study suggests that HL classes function as a factor that, all other things being equal, may counterweigh attrition susceptibility. Moreover, it is suggested that the effects of HL classes on L1 proficiency are short term rather than long term. That is to say, once attendance ceases the counterweighing effect is less visible.

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Section: L1 Attrition In a L2 Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: L1 Attrition In a L2 Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effects of heritage language instruction on first language proficiency: a psycholinguistic perspective

Bylund

Díaz

2012

International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism

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“…Opitz (2011) ascribes this hypothesised ‘trade-off’ in proficiency to the languages “competing for potentially insufficient resources required for maintaining the languages simultaneously at the desired high level” (p. 81). Other studies, however, have hypothesised that the development of proficiency in both L1 and L2 may be less straightforward, highly task-dependent, and modulated by other factors – for example, a high level of language aptitude may allow a particular speaker to acquire and maintain high proficiency levels in both languages (e.g., Cummins, 1991; Bylund et al, 2009; Cherciov, 2013). …”

Section: Investigations Of Development In Both Languagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of Language Dominance: An Integrated Analysis of First Language Attrition and Second Language Acquisition in Late Bilinguals

Schmid

Yılmaz

2018

Front. Psychol.

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Late bilinguals who spend (part of) their adult lives in an environment where a language other than the one they learned in childhood is spoken typically experience a range of language development phenomena. Most obviously, they will acquire some level of receptive and/or productive knowledge of the new, or second, language (L2). How basic or advanced that level will be is determined by a range of environmental, experiential, attitudinal and individual factors. Secondly, they will most likely find the knowledge of their native language (L1) beginning to diverge from that of monolingual speakers in their country of origin, a process known as language attrition. In the course of this developmental process, some L2 skills may eventually match or even overtake the corresponding skill in the L1. This shift in the balance between L1 and L2 is the focus of investigations of language dominance. The present study explores language dominance in four migrant populations (Germans in the Netherlands and Canada, Turks and Moroccans in the Netherlands). Investigating both the development of formal/controlled skills and more automatic aspects of lexical access and fluency, we aim to attain an understanding of how extralinguistic factors contribute to the development of both languages. We argue that an integrated perspective can contribute more profound insights into the predictors of this complex process of bilingual development. In particular, our findings show that statistical models based on linear relationships fall short of capturing the full picture. We propose an alternative method of analysing data, namely discriminant function analysis, based on a categorisation of the populations, and demonstrate how this can enhance our understanding. Our findings suggest that different aspects of the bilingual experience contribute differently to language development, regardless of language combination and type of skill measured. Contrary to what previous research suggests, measures relating to the intensity of informal use of both the L1 and the L2 in daily life are important in determining whether someone is a good or a poor L1 maintainer, while high vs. low success in acquisition appears to be predominantly associated with personal factors such as educational level.

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“…(For further discussion of the role of aptitude and explicit learning in SLA, see, e.g. Paradis, 2009; for evidence of their role in L1 attrition, see, e.g., Bylund et al, 2010).…”

Section: Individual Differences In Native Language Attainment and Thementioning

confidence: 99%

Individual differences in native language attainment and their implications for research on second language acquisition

DeKeyser

2012

LAB

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Ewa Dąbrowska's article points to a much-neglected phenomenon indeed: variation in native language (L1) morphosyntax that is not sociolinguistic in nature, but which suggests competence differences that result from slightly different ways of solving the problem of inferring L1 grammar, in spite of learning mechanisms and input both being largely the same as for other learners of that same L1.In my comments I would like to focus on what this means for second language acquisition (SLA), and in particular for research on age effects in SLA. While Dąbrowska does not explicitly say so, she hints on several occasions that the oftendocumented differences between child L1 and adult second language (L2) acquisition may not loom as large as they are generally considered, provided that the L1 variability she describes is taken into account. Indeed, the tacit assumption in the literature on age effects in SLA is often that children learn "the target language" perfectly, and Dąbrowska's findings imply this constitutes an unfair comparison.The extent to which this has affected the literature so far, however, is rather minimal, given that most research has either focused on very basic and minimally variable structures (e.g. DeKeyser, 2000;Johnson and Newport, 1989) or has indeed included native speaker comparisons (e.g. Abrahamsson and Hyltenstam, 2009;Mueller et al., 2005). More important is the question of what this implies for future research on this topic. It seems to me that there are two implications. First, avoid structures for which quite a bit of variability has been documented; otherwise it is a foregone conclusion that the ranges of L1 and L2 variation are going to overlap. Secondly, where there is less obvious variation, but there very well may be some, given Dąbrowska's findings, either have native speaker comparisons OR have a complete age range of bilinguals represented, so that the youngest acquirers can serve as point of comparison. The latter will be preferred by most researchers in the area or bilingualism, because it has been argued that a bilingual is not the

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The Role of Language Aptitude in First Language Attrition: The Case of Pre-pubescent Attriters

Cited by 55 publications

References 15 publications

The effects of heritage language instruction on first language proficiency: a psycholinguistic perspective

The effects of heritage language instruction on first language proficiency: a psycholinguistic perspective

Predictors of Language Dominance: An Integrated Analysis of First Language Attrition and Second Language Acquisition in Late Bilinguals

Individual differences in native language attainment and their implications for research on second language acquisition

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