Second Language Flashcards
Metalinguistics Awareness
Understanding about how language works
four bilingual advantages
Metalinguistic awareness
Creativity
Problem-solving
Multitasking
Adaptive Control Hypothesis
Proposal suggesting that bilinguals’ constant need to monitor and control their languages leads to benefits in nonverbal cognition.
Interference Inhibition
The ability to ignore distracting or misleading information.
Selective Attention
The ability to direct and focus attention on the current task.
Mental Flexibility
The ability to rapidly switch from one cognitive task to another.
Executive Control
The management of cognitive resources to perform tasks efficiently.
Flanker Task
Experimental procedure in which participants respond to the direction of the central arrow in an array regardless of the direction the other arrows are pointing. (Fig 9.8)
Simon Task
Experimental procedure that requires participants to respond to the color of a stimulus regardless of its location.
Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex
An area of the brain involved in executive control
two white matter connection networks that are more extensive for bilinguals.
White fiber tracts extending from the frontal lobe to the basal ganglia and back – inhibition of unintended language.
White matter tracts extending from the frontal lobe to the parietal lobe – implicated in switching tasks.
What area of the auditory cortex is larger (more grey matter) in bilinguals
Heschl’s gyrus
Cognitive Reserve
Engaging in stimulating mental or physical activity on a regular basis helps maintain cognitive functioning as we age and protects against dementia.
Should children with autism or SLI be instructed in only one language?
No evidence that bilingualism is detrimental
Family may provide a model of imperfect English
Limitations in the heritage language limit social interactions with family and lead to social isolation
Child may benefit from cognitive “bilingual advantages” in executive control and selective attention
Ultimate Attainment
The endpoint of second language acquisition that typically falls short of full mastery.
general rule for ultimate attainment
Those who learn the language after puberty will speak with a foreign accent even if their ultimate attainment is very high.
Critical Period Hypothesis
The idea that children have a biological predisposition to learn languages that they lose around puberty.
Cerebral plasticity
the brains ability to modify its structure in response to new experiences
Sensitive Period
The time early in life when language learning is more likely to be successful.
Speech Learning Model
The proposal that a foreign accent is the result of an imbalance between the amount of time spent using the first and second languages.
the One parent, One language Approach
Strategy for raising bilingual children that has one parent speaking the heritage language and the other parent speaking the societal language.
One language at home, One language outside Approach
A strategy for raising bilingual children in which the heritage language is learned from family at home and the societal language is learned at school.
First Language Attrition
The situation where a bilingual favours the second language to the extent that first language ability is lost.
Two-Way Immersion Program
Form of bilingual education that is intended to develop fully bilingual and biliterate students.
5 negative consequences associated with transitional programs?
First language attrition Less solidarity with families and ethnic communities Lower self esteem Poorer academic performance Higher incidence of behavior problems
Transitional Program
A form of bilingual education that is intended to assimilate heritage language students into the mainstream language and culture.
