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This study investigated the role of domain-general inhibitory control in trilingual speech production. Taking an individual differences approach, we examined the relationship between performance on a non-linguistic measure of inhibitory control (the Simon task) and a multilingual language switching task for a group of fifty-six native English (L1) speakers learning French (L2) and Spanish (L3). Better inhibitory control was related to reduced switch costs, but only when switching into or out of the more dominant L1, where inhibitory control has been theorized to be most important (Green, 1998). The results provide evidence of a direct link between inhibitory control abilities and language switching capabilities, and suggest constraints on the conditions under which a domain-general inhibitory control mechanism supports language switching.

The Hispanic population and their high school dropout rates in the United States have greatly increased over the last several decades. This study investigates linguistic and cultural issues that may have an association with high school abandonment among migrant Hispanic students. Open-ended interview questions were posed to a bilingual education administrator and four migrant Hispanic students in a small Midwestern high school in the United States. Participants reported that migrant Hispanic students are not prepared to live linguistically in the academic setting but merely to survive in it. From a cultural perspective, the data suggested that migrant Hispanic students can either allow social and cultural pressures within the school and community to negatively affect their educational engagement or they can acculturate with the dominant culture to minimize their "differentness." (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

In the present study, Vygotsky's (1978, 1986) sociocultural framework of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) and scaffolding writing (Bodrova & Leong, 1995, 1996; Ross, 1976) are used as the theoretical basis to study the development of second language writing. A course project is presented in which advanced English language learners of Spanish acted as authors and editors to create their own professional magazines for an authentic audience. In the project, each student authored four essays which went through four peer- and instructor-edited stages of scaffolding writing techniques. After each stage, ratings were given by the editors who also facilitated feedback debriefing sessions (Lidz, 1991). Statistical analyses revealed significant improvement within the four essays demonstrating writing development of subsequent revisions of a single essay. There was also significant improvement between the four essays revealing a linear, continuous writing development. In all, these results support a notion that scaffolding writing techniques and feedback debriefing sessions within the ZPD effectively develops writing skills in second language learning when contextualized through a writing workshop involving the creation of a professional magazine designed for an authentic audience. (Contains 5 figures and 4 tables.)

Ensuring that students spend time preparing for class has always been one of the challenges of teaching. Indeed, when students are given an assignment that they are required to do before coming to the next lecture--whether it be written exercises or just studying--one wonders how often they are actually doing it. There are many ways in which teachers can evaluate whether or not students are prepared for class (i.e., have done "their reading"). Some of these methods to promote more out-of-class studying have included collecting written homework, giving quizzes, and even extra credit. This paper discusses the role of technology in the classroom as an alternative means to ensure student preparation for class lectures. In particular, this paper reports on a particular hybrid Spanish language program which was implemented at a large university in the United States. In this program, in addition to spending the traditional class time with an instructor, students are engaged in on-line, out-of-class activities related to the immediate subsequent class lecture. Solidly grounded in contemporary theories of second language acquisition, this program has shown that students are not only more prepared for class, but that the instructor is able to devote more class time to practice meaningful communicative activities in Spanish with the students. This paper ends with a section reporting opinions and testimonials from instructors and students of the Spanish hybrid language program.

Previous studies have debated whether the ability for bilinguals to mentally control their languages is a consequence of their experiences switching between languages or whether it is a specific, yet highly-adaptive, cognitive ability. The current study investigates how variations in the language-related gene FOXP2 and executive function-related genes COMT, BDNF, and Kibra/WWC1 affect bilingual language control during two phases of speech production, namely the language schema phase (i.e., the selection of one language or another) and lexical response phase (i.e., utterance of the target). Chinese--English bilinguals (N = 119) participated in a picture-naming task involving cued language switches. Statistical analyses showed that both genes significantly influenced language control on neural coding and behavioral performance. Specifically, FOXP2 rs1456031 showed a wide-ranging effect on language control, including RTs, F(2, 113) = 4.00, FDR p = .036, and neural coding across three-time phases (N2a: F(2, 113) = 4.96, FDR p = .014; N2b: F(2, 113) = 4.30, FDR p = .028, LPC: F(2, 113) = 2.82, FDR p = .060), while the COMT rs4818 (ts >2.69, FDR ps < .05), BDNF rs6265 (Fs >5.31, FDR ps < .05), and Kibra/ WWC1 rs17070145 (ts > -3.29, FDR ps < .05) polymorphisms influenced two-time phases (N2a and N2b). Time-resolved correlation analyses revealed that the relationship between neural coding and cognitive performance is modulated by genetic variations in all four genes. In all, these findings suggest that bilingual language control is shaped by an individual's experience switching between languages and their inherent genome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Cross-language interference studies of language control mainly focus on the lexical level, whereas language control may occur at the smallest unit phonemic level of language. In the present study, we examined the role of language control during cross-language phoneme processing. Design: Participants used one language to name pinyin or alphabet in the single-language blocks, and they used two languages for naming in the mixed-language blocks. Data and analysis: Using a linear mixed-effects model, we built models for mixing costs and switching costs based on reaction times (RTs) and accuracy. Findings: Switching between Chinese (L1) and English (L2) phonetic symbols revealed both mixing and switching costs. Originality: The findings suggest that switching of cross-language phonemes requires not only global control of the non-target phonemes, but also local control of the non-target phonemes. Significance: Just as cross-language interference control occurs at the lexical level, this study demonstrates that control also occurs at the phonemic level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the effects of learning environment on second language (L2) gender agreement. English speakers learning L2 Spanish participated in a self-paced reading task and a picture selection task prior to and after a short-term study abroad experience. The results from the self-paced reading task showed that their reliance on the masculine article as the default (e.g., McCarthy, Corrine. 2008. Morphological variability in the comprehension of agreement: An argument for representation over computation. Second Language Research 24(4). 459–486) was reduced over time abroad. Findings from the picture selection task showed that the learners did not attend to the gender of articles unless it was their only cue, but that after the study abroad experience they began to use gender as an anticipatory cue for lexical selection. We interpret these results as support for an adapted version of the Shallow Structures Hypothesis (Clahsen, Harald & Claudia Felser. 2006a. Grammatical processing in language learners. Applied Psycholinguistics 27(1). 3–42; Clahsen, Harald & Claudia Felser. 2006b. How native-like is non-native language processing? Trends in Cognitive Sciences 10(12). 564–570) and the notion that in immersion contexts L2 learners shift their parsing strategy to be more communicatively focused (Schwieter, John W. & Gabrielle Klassen. 2016. Linguistic advances and learning strategies in a short-term study abroad experience. Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education 1(2). 217–247). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self‐positivity bias is a common psychological phenomenon in which individuals often associate positive information with themselves. However, little is known about how self‐positivity bias is modulated by different language contexts (e.g., a first vs. second language). To this end, we analyzed behavioral and electrophysiological data to examine whether first or second languages play differential roles in the self‐positivity bias effect. We used a modified self‐positivity bias task which required Chinese–English bilinguals to judge strings of letters or characters as realwords or not and match associations between identity (self, other) and a geometric shape (circle, triangle). The target words in the experiment consisted of positive, negative, and neutral emotional words. The results showed that in the L2 context, the self‐positivity condition elicited a smaller N400 effect relative to the self‐negativity condition and a larger late positive component effect relative to the self‐negativity and self‐neutrality conditions. Furthermore, the other‐positivity condition elicited a stronger N400 effect than the other‐neutrality condition. These patterns did not emerge in the L1 context. We discuss the implications and contributions of these findings to better understand the interaction between emotion and self‐concept in different language contexts. A modified version of the self‐positivity bias task examined the role of the first languages (L1s) and second languages (L2s) in self‐concept bias.The results revealed self positive effects in the L2 but not in the L1. This pattern is consistent with the conceptual model, indicating that the higher demand of cognitive resources in the L2 may increase the attentional resources that are allocated to emotional stimuli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]