Picture Naming in Early Sequential Bilinguals

A 1-Year Follow-Up

kohne005{at}umn.edu

In a previous study, a cross-sectional approach was used to investigate developmental changes in basic-level lexical production and cognitive processing in early sequential bilinguals, exploring the effects of age and years of experience during single-language (Spanish or English) and mixed-language (alternating between Spanish and English) picture naming (K. Kohnert, E. Bates, & A. E. Hernandez, 1999). The current study reports on the performance, 1 year later, of a subgroup of these original study participants (n=28; mean age=10.2 years) on the same experimental task. Overall, from Time 1 to Time 2 testing, gains were greater in English than in Spanish and in the high-competition mixed-language processing condition than in the single-language processing condition. These results reinforce previous findings of a shift toward greater strength in L2 with increasing age (and years of language experience), as well as the primary role of cognitive development in control of the dual-language system. In addition, examination of individual performance revealed a complex non-monotonic pattern of L1–L2 change across time within an overall pattern of increasing speed, accuracy, and control of the dual-lexical system.

KEY WORDS: second language, lexicon, bilingualism

Submitted on July 9, 2001
Accepted on April 2, 2002

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This article has been cited by other articles:

				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]