Academic literature on the topic 'Bilingualism Bilingualism Language acquisition'

To rise to the challenge of acquiring their native language, infants must deploy tools to support their learning. This thesis compared infants growing up in two very different language environments, monolingual and bilingual, to better understand these tools and how their development and use changes with the context of language acquisition. The first set of studies − Chapter 2 − showed that infants adapt very early-developing tools to the context of their prenatal experience. Newborns born to bilingual mothers directed their attention to both of their native languages, while monolinguals preferred listening to their single native language. However, prenatal bilingual experience did not result in language confusion, as language discrimination was robustly maintained in both monolinguals and bilinguals. Thus, learning mechanisms allow experience-based listening preferences, while enduring perceptual sensitivities support language discrimination even in challenging language environments. Chapter 3 investigated a fundamental word learning tool: the ability to associate word and object. Monolinguals and bilinguals showed an identical developmental trajectory, suggesting that, unlike some aspects of word learning, this associative ability is equivalent across different types of early language environments. Chapters 4 and 5 explored the development of a heuristic for learning novel words. Disambiguation is the strategy of associating a novel word with a novel object, rather than a familiar one. In Chapter 4, disambiguation was robustly demonstrated by 18-month-old monolinguals, but not by age-matched bilinguals and trilinguals. The results supported the “lexicon structure hypothesis”, that disambiguation develops with mounting evidence for a one-to-one mapping between words and their referents, as is typical for monolinguals. For bilinguals, translation equivalents (cross-language synonyms) represent a departure from one-to-one mapping. Chapter 5 directly tested the lexicon structure hypothesis, by comparing subgroups of bilinguals who knew few translation equivalents to bilinguals who knew many. Only the former group showed disambiguation, supporting the lexicon structure hypothesis. The series of studies presented in this thesis provides a window into language acquisition across all infants. Whether growing up monolingual or bilingual, infants harmonize their development and use of the tools of language acquisition to the particular challenges mounted by their language environment.

In vielen Staaten unterscheidet sich die Leistung von Schülern mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund. Schüler mit Migrationshintergrund sprechen eine Minderheitensprache sowie die Zielsprache des Wohnlandes, das führt zu einem gewissen Grad der Zweisprachigkeit. Die Zweisprachigkeit ist mit Entwicklungsmustern verbunden, die das Fremdsprachenlernen der bilingualen Schüler positiv beeinflussen können. Diese Dissertation untersucht die Beziehung zwischen Zweisprachigkeit und Fremdsprachenlernen. Die erste Studie untersuchte die Wirkung der Zweisprachigkeit von Schülern mit Migrationshintergrund auf das Erlernen von Englisch als Fremdsprache. Die Ergebnisse zeigen einen positiven Trend zwischen Zweisprachigkeit und Lernerfolg. Dieser Trend unterschied sich deutlich zwischen Gruppen verschiedener Heimatsprachen mit den Kenntnissen der Unterrichtssprache als stärksten Prädiktor. Die zweite Studie betrachtete die Wirkung von Zweisprachigkeit auf die Leistung in Englisch als Fremdsprache von der Grundschule bis zur weiterführenden Schule. Die Analysen zeigen, dass, ein wesentlicher Vorteil der Zweisprachigkeit in der Grundschule vorliegt, dieser aber in der Sekundarstufe I verschwindet. Dies führt zu unterschiedlichem Leistungszuwachs von zweisprachigen und einsprachigen Schülern. Die dritte Studie untersuchte die Wirkung der Zweisprachigkeit auf das Erlernen von Englisch als Fremdsprache unter Berücksichtigung der Auswirkungen von Methode und Abfolge des Erlernens der Zweitsprache sowie des Sprachgebrauchs. Die Ergebnisse zeigen Leistungsvorsprünge in der Drittsprache für Zweisprachige, die in ihrer Minderheitensprache unterrichtet werden, beide Sprachen simultan erwerben und häufiger zwischen beiden Sprachen wechseln. Diese Dissertation gibt weitere Hinweise darauf, dass unter bestimmten Voraussetzungen Zweisprachige mit Migrationshintergrund im Vergleich zu einsprachigen Schülern Vorteile im Fremdsprachenlernen haben, obwohl sich dieser Befund im Laufe der Zeit verändert.<br>There is a large achievement gap between students with immigrant background and their peers. Many students with immigrant backgrounds speak a minority language at home as well as the majority language of the larger society, resulting in some level of bilingualism. Bilingualism is associated with unique patterns of development that may affect their foreign language learning (FLL) in positive ways. This thesis explores the relationship between bilingualism and FLL, focusing on factors that affect this relationship. The first study investigates the effect of immigrant bilingualism on English FLL, examining confounding background variables and the effect of instructional language proficiency. The results showed a general positive trend between bilingualism and FLL. This positive trend differed between bilingual groups with different home languages with the strongest predictor for FLL being instructional language proficiency. This second study considers the effect of bilingualism on the FLL from elementary to secondary school. Although a significant advantage of bilingualism is found in elementary school, it disappeared as students proceed into secondary school, yielding differential gains for the language minority and monolingual groups. The level of exposure to the minority language played an important role for the FLL development. The third study examines the effect of bilingualism on FLL, considering the impact of manner and age of bilingual acquisition as well as language use practices. The results showed higher FLL for bilinguals who received formal instruction in their minority language, had acquired both languages simultaneously, and switched more often between their two languages, when compared to their other bilingual and monolingual peers. The findings of this thesis add to the evidence that under certain conditions, some bilinguals from immigrant communities have advantages in FLL compared to their monolingual peers although this pattern does change over time.

This dissertation analyzes the language used by 20 adult heritage Welsh speakers now living in London, i.e., bilinguals who shifted to English dominance in childhood, and whose Welsh proficiencies now show divergences from baseline norms as a result of incomplete acquisition and attrition. The grammars of these heavily imbalanced bilinguals are compared with baseline informants (20 Welsh-dominant controls) on a narrative elicitation task, in which the informants tell the story of a children's wordless picture book (Frog, Where Are You? by Mercer Mayer). The samples collected for this project (Appendix II.1) constitute the first corpus of heritage Welsh.<br>Celtic Languages and Literatures