ERIC Number: EJ937616
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Oct
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1366-7289
EISSN: N/A
Semantic Competitor Priming within and across Languages: The Interplay of Vocabulary Knowledge, Learning Experience and Working Memory Capacity
Hong, Li; MacWhinney, Brian
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, v14 n4 p433-443 Oct 2011
This paper reports three studies of bilingual lexical processing, using the semantic competitor priming (SCP) method of Lee and Williams (2001). Study 1 found a trend of within-language SCP effect for Chinese-English bilinguals with both higher and lower levels of vocabulary knowledge. There was also a cross-language SCP effect, but this was restricted to bilinguals with a lower level of vocabulary knowledge. Study 2 found a cross-language SCP effect for Chinese learners of English in the classroom context. Study 3 found both within- and cross-language SCP effects for bilinguals with study-abroad experience as well as Chinese-English classroom learners who had a higher working memory capacity. Those findings are interpreted in terms of a dynamic view of bilingual language selection.
Descriptors: Priming, Semantics, Short Term Memory, Vocabulary Development, Learning Experience, English (Second Language), Language Processing, Bilingualism, Chinese, Second Language Learning, Transfer of Training, Second Language Instruction, Study Abroad
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
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Language: English
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