Balancing Bilinguals

Lexical-Semantic Production and Cognitive Processing in Children Learning Spanish and English

kkohnert{at}crl.ucsd.edu

The present study investigated developmental changes in lexical production skills in early sequential bilinguals, in both Spanish (L1) and English (L2), exploring the effects of age, years of experience, and basic-level cognitive processing (specifically the ability to resist interference) within a timed picture-naming task. To assess resistance to interference, naming was compared in low competition (blocked-single language) vs. high competition (mixed-alternating language) conditions. Participants were 100 individuals, 20 at each of 5 different age levels (5–7, 8–10, 11–13, 14–16, & young adults). All had learned Spanish as a first language in the home, with formal English experience beginning at 5 years. Gains were made in both languages across age. However, there was a developmental crossover from Spanish dominance in the youngest children, through a period of relatively balanced Spanish and English skills in middle childhood, culminating in a clear pattern of English dominance among adolescents and young adults. Although all groups experienced a greater slowing of response times in the mixed-language condition relative to the blocked-language condition, developmental changes in the pattern of speed-accuracy trade-offs in the mixed condition can be interpreted to reflect a change in the ability to resist cognitive interference during word production.

KEY WORDS: early sequential bilingualism, lexicon, inhibition, vocabulary

Submitted on September 16, 1998
Accepted on April 27, 1999

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				E. G. Bar-Shalom and E. Zaretsky Selective attrition in Russian-English bilingual children: Preservation of grammatical aspect International Journal of Bilingualism, December 1, 2008; 12(4): 281 - 302. [Abstract] [PDF]

				G. A. Cheatham, R. Milagros Santos, and Y. Ellie Ro Home Language Acquisition and Retention for Young Children With Special Needs Young Exceptional Children, October 1, 2007; 11(1): 27 - 39. [PDF]

				V. Marian, H. K. Blumenfeld, and M. Kaushanskaya The Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q): Assessing Language Profiles in Bilinguals and Multilinguals J Speech Lang Hear Res, August 1, 2007; 50(4): 940 - 967. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. S. Hammer, B. L. Rodriguez, F. R. Lawrence, and A. W. Miccio Puerto Rican Mothers' Beliefs and Home Literacy Practices Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch, July 1, 2007; 38(3): 216 - 224. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. S. Hammer, F. R. Lawrence, and A. W. Miccio Bilingual Children's Language Abilities and Early Reading Outcomes in Head Start and Kindergarten Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch, July 1, 2007; 38(3): 237 - 248. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. Hemsley, A. Holm, and B. Dodd Diverse but not different: The lexical skills of two primary age bilingual groups in comparison to monolingual peers International Journal of Bilingualism, December 1, 2006; 10(4): 453 - 476. [Abstract] [PDF]

				G. Jia, K. Kohnert, J. Collado, and F. Aquino-Garcia Action Naming in Spanish and English by Sequential Bilingual Children and Adolescents. J Speech Lang Hear Res, June 1, 2006; 49(3): 588 - 602. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Montrul On the bilingual competence of Spanish heritage speakers: Syntax, lexical-semantics and processing International Journal of Bilingualism, March 1, 2006; 10(1): 37 - 69. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Montrul Second language acquisition and first language loss in adult early bilinguals: exploring some differences and similarities Second Language Research, July 1, 2005; 21(3): 199 - 249. [Abstract] [PDF]

				P. Ecke Language attrition and theories of forgetting: A cross-disciplinary review International Journal of Bilingualism, September 1, 2004; 8(3): 321 - 354. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. A. Hwa-Froelich and D. C. Vigil Three Aspects of Cultural Influence on Communication: A Literature Review Communication Disorders Quarterly, January 1, 2004; 25(3): 107 - 118. [Abstract] [PDF]