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Chapter Eight - Conclusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2023

John W. Schwieter
Affiliation:
Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario
Julia Festman
Affiliation:
University College of Teacher Education Tyrol
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Summary

In this chapter, we reinforce the book’s aim to shed light on changes inflicted on language, cognition, and the brain rather than to focus on advantages and disadvantages of being bilingual. To obtain a more realistic picture of bilingualism, its assets (i.e., what is easier), and its difficulties (i.e., what is taxing and leads to high consumption of mental resources), we have drawn on research from various disciplines. We conclude the book by identifying complexity as the major issue for research on bilingualism. The complexity problem is fundamental to definitions of bilingualism and the characterization of bilingual participants in empirical studies, leading to discussions about its assessment as a dichotomous or continuous variable. Considering bilingualism as an experience and how such experience impacts overall language development, cognition, and the brain at different levels are related to usage-based approaches of examining bilingualism as well as a concern regarding confounding and moderating variables. The shift for designing research in the field of bilingualism seems to necessarily be more interdisciplinary in nature than in the past.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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References

Further Reading

Andrews, E. (2014). Neuroscience and multilingualism. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fabbro, F. (1999). The neurolinguistics of bilingualism: An introduction. Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Garraffa, M., Sorace, A., & Vender, M., with Schwieter, J. W. (2023). Bilingualism matters: Language learning across the lifespan. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Grosjean, F., & Li, P. (2013). The psycholinguistics of bilingualism. Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Kersten, K., & Winsler, A. (Eds.). (2023). Understanding variability in second language acquisition, bilingualism, and cognition: A multi-layered perspective. Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Willem, R. (Ed.). (2015). Cognitive neuroscience of natural language use. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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  • Conclusion
  • John W. Schwieter, Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario, Julia Festman
  • Book: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Bilingualism
  • Online publication: 01 October 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108178501.008
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  • Conclusion
  • John W. Schwieter, Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario, Julia Festman
  • Book: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Bilingualism
  • Online publication: 01 October 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108178501.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Conclusion
  • John W. Schwieter, Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario, Julia Festman
  • Book: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Bilingualism
  • Online publication: 01 October 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108178501.008
Available formats
×