ERIC Number: EJ743246
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006-Sep
Pages: 18
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0278-7393
EISSN: N/A
How Do Highly Proficient Bilinguals Control Their Lexicalization Process? Inhibitory and Language-Specific Selection Mechanisms are Both Functional
Costa, Albert; Santesteban, Mikel; Ivanova, Iva
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, v32 n5 p1057-1074 Sep 2006
The authors report 4 experiments exploring the language-switching performance of highly proficient bilinguals in a picture-naming task. In Experiment 1, they tested the impact of language similarity and age of 2nd language acquisition on the language-switching performance of highly proficient bilinguals. Experiments 2, 3, and 4 assessed the performance of highly proficient bilinguals in language-switching contexts involving (a) the 2nd language (L2) and the L3 of the bilinguals, (b) the L3 and the L4, and (c) the L1 and a recently learned new language. Highly proficient bilinguals showed symmetrical switching costs regardless of the age at which the L2 was learned and of the similarities of the 2 languages and asymmetrical switching costs when 1 of the languages involved in the switching task was very weak (an L4 or a recently learned language). The theoretical implications of these results for the attentional mechanisms used by highly proficient bilinguals to control their lexicalization process are discussed.
Descriptors: Bilingualism, Language Research, Code Switching (Language), Language Proficiency, Task Analysis, Age, Second Language Learning, Language Processing
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A