Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T04:07:20.145Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Language of instruction affects language interference in the third language

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2021

Brendan Tomoschuk ,
Wouter Duyck ,
Robert J. Hartsuiker Open the ORCID record for Robert J. Hartsuiker [Opens in a new window] ,
Victor S. Ferreira  and
Tamar H. Gollan
Brendan Tomoschuk*
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, United States
Wouter Duyck
Affiliation:
Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Robert J. Hartsuiker
Affiliation:
Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
Victor S. Ferreira
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, United States
Tamar H. Gollan
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, United States
*
Address for correspondence: Brendan Tomoschuk, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Applied linguistic work claims that multilinguals’ non-native languages interfere with one another based on similarities in cognitive factors like proficiency or age of acquisition. Two experiments explored how trilinguals regulate control of native- and non-native-language words. Experiment 1 tested 46 Dutch–English–French trilinguals in a monitoring task. Participants decided if phonemes were present in the target language name of a picture, phonemes of non-target language translations resulted in longer response times and more false alarms compared to phonemes not present in any translation (Colomé, 2001). The second language (English) interfered more than the first (Dutch) when trilinguals monitored in their third language (French). In Experiment 2, 95 bilinguals learned an artificial language to explore the possibility that the language from which a bilingual learns a third language provides practice managing known-language interference. Language of instruction modulated results, suggesting that learning conditions may reduce interference effects previously attributed to cognitive factors.

Keywords

bilingualismforeign language effectL2 Status Factorphoneme monitoringlanguage learning
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , August 2021 , pp. 707 - 718
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bardel, C and Falk, Y (2012) The L2 Status Factor and the Declarative/Procedural distinction. Third language acquisition in adulthood 46, 61–78. https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.46.02amaCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barr, DJ, Levy, R, Scheepers, C and Tily, HJ (2013) Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal. Journal of memory and language 68(3), 255–278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2012.11.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartolotti, J and Marian, V (2019) Learning and processing of orthography-to-phonology mappings in a third language. International Journal of Multilingualism 16(4), 377–397. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2017.1423073CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bogulski, CA, Bice, K and Kroll, JF (2019) Bilingualism as a desirable difficulty: Advantages in word learning depend on regulation of the dominant language. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 22(5), 1052–1067. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728918000858CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bruyer, R and Brysbaert, M (2011) Combining speed and accuracy in cognitive psychology: is the inverse efficiency score (IES) a better dependent variable than the mean reaction time (RT) and the percentage of errors (PE)?. Psychologica Belgica 51(1), 5–13. https://doi.org/10.5334/pb-51-1-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colomé, À. (2001) Lexical activation in bilinguals' speech production: Language-specific or language-independent? Journal of memory and language 45(4), 721–736. https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.2001.2793CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costa, A, Caramazza, A and Sebastian-Galles, N (2000) The cognate facilitation effect: implications for models of lexical access. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 26(5), 1283. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.26.5.1283Google ScholarPubMed
Costa, A, Pannunzi, M, Deco, G and Pickering, MJ (2017) Do bilinguals automatically activate their native language when they are not using it?. Cognitive science 41(6), 1629–1644. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12434CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Bot, K (2000) A bilingual production model: Levelt's “speaking” model adapted. The bilingualism reader 420–442. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003060406-37Google Scholar
De Bot, K and Jaensch, C (2015) What is special about L3 processing?. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 18(2), 130–144. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728913000448CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dijkstra, T and Van Heuven, WJ (2002) The architecture of the bilingual word recognition system: From identification to decision. Bilingualism: Language and cognition 5(3), 175–197. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728902003012CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ecke, P (2015) Parasitic vocabulary acquisition, cross-linguistic influence, and lexical retrieval in multilinguals. Bilingualism: language and cognition 18(2), 145–162. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728913000722CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elston-Güttler, KE, Gunter, TC and Kotz, SA (2005) Zooming into L2: Global language context and adjustment affect processing of interlingual homographs in sentences. Cognitive Brain Research 25(1), 57–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2005.04.007CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Falk, Y and Bardel, C (2011) Object pronouns in German L3 syntax: Evidence for the L2 status factor. Second Language Research 27(1), 59–82. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658310386647CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gollan, TH, Weissberger, GH, Runnqvist, E, Montoya, RI and Cera, CM (2012) Self-ratings of spoken language dominance: A Multilingual Naming Test (MINT) and preliminary norms for young and aging Spanish–English bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 15(3), 594–615. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728911000332CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, DW (1998) Mental control of the bilingual lexico-semantic system. Bilingualism: Language and cognition 1(2), 67–81. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728998000133CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartsuiker, RJ, Pickering, MJ and Veltkamp, E (2004) Is syntax separate or shared between languages? Cross-linguistic syntactic priming in Spanish-English bilinguals. Psychological science 15(6), 409–414. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00693.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hughes, MM, Linck, JA, Bowles, AR, Koeth, JT and Bunting, MF (2014) Alternatives to switch-cost scoring in the task-switching paradigm: Their reliability and increased validity. Behavior research methods 46(3), 702–721. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-013-0411-5CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jiang, N and Forster, KI (2001) Cross-language priming asymmetries in lexical decision and episodic recognition. Journal of Memory and Language 44(1), 32–51. https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.2000.2737CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keuleers, E and Brysbaert, M (2010) Wuggy: A multilingual pseudoword generator. Behavior research methods 42(3), 627–633. https://doi.org/10.3758/brm.42.3.627CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kroll, JF and De Groot, AM (Eds.) (2009) Handbook of bilingualism: Psycholinguistic approaches. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.2008.0062Google Scholar
Kroll, JF and Gollan, TH (2013) Speech planning in two languages. In The Oxford Handbook of Language Production. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199735471.013.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lemhöfer, K, Dijkstra, T and Michel, M (2004) Three languages, one ECHO: Cognate effects in trilingual word recognition. Language and cognitive processes 19(5), 585–611. https://doi.org/10.1080/01690960444000007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lijewska, A and Chmiel, A (2015) Cognate facilitation in sentence context–translation production by interpreting trainees and non-interpreting trilinguals. International Journal of Multilingualism 12(3), 358–375. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2014.959961CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meisel, JM (1983) Transfer as a second-language strategy. Language & communication 3(1), 11–46. https://doi.org/10.1016/0271-5309(83)90018-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Odlin, T (1989) Language transfer: Cross-linguistic influence in language learning. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1177/026765839100700305CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Otwinowska, A and Szewczyk, JM (2017) The more similar the better? Factors in learning cognates, false cognates and non-cognate words. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2017.1325834Google Scholar
Puig-Mayenco, E, González Alonso, J and Rothman, J (2020) A systematic review of transfer studies in third language acquisition. Second Language Research 36(1), 31–64. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658318809147CrossRefGoogle Scholar
R Core Team (2013) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria.Google Scholar
Rice, CA and Tokowicz, N (2020) A Review of Laboratory Studies of Adult Second Language Vocabulary Training. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 42(2), 439–470. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263119000500CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ringbom, H (2007) Cross-linguistic similarity in foreign language learning (Vol. 21). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Runnqvist, E, Strijkers, K and Costa, A (2014) Bilingual Word Access. The Oxford handbook of language production 182. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199735471.013.028Google Scholar
Singleton, D (1987) Mother and other tongue influence on learner French: A case study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 9(3), 327–345. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263100006719CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thierry, G and Wu, YJ (2007) Brain potentials reveal unconscious translation during foreign-language comprehension. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104(30), 12530–12535. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0609927104CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tomoschuk, B, Ferreira, VS and Gollan, TH (2018) When a seven is not a seven: Self-ratings of bilingual language proficiency differ between and within language populations. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728918000421Google Scholar
Van Assche, E, Duyck, W, Hartsuiker, R and Diependaele, K (2009) Does bilingualism change native-language reading? Cognate effects in sentence context. Psychological Science 20(8), 923–927. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02389.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Hell, JG and Dijkstra, T (2002) Foreign language knowledge can influence native language performance in exclusively native contexts. Psychonomic bulletin & review 9(4), 780–789. https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03196335CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vanhove, J and Berthele, R (2015) The lifespan development of cognate guessing skills in an unknown related language. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 53(1), 1–38. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2015-0001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wendorf, CA (2004) Primer on multiple regression coding: Common forms and the additional case of repeated contrasts. Understanding Statistics 3(1), 47–57. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15328031us0301_3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Westergaard, M, Mitrofanova, N, Mykhaylyk, R and Rodina, Y (2017) Crosslinguistic influence in the acquisition of a third language: The Linguistic Proximity Model. International Journal of Bilingualism 21(6), 666–682. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006916648859CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, S and Hammarberg, B (1998) Language switches in L3 production: Implications for a polyglot speaking model. Applied linguistics 19(3), 295–333. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/19.3.295CrossRefGoogle Scholar