Psycholinguistics for Language Teaching

BILINGUALISM,
COGNITION, TRANSFER
AND LEARNING
STRATEGIES
Muhammad Ricky Ramadhan 17202244021
Ardian Cahya Pratama 17202244023
Yusrina Qurrota’Ayun 17202244037
Rifka Hayu Indraswari 17202244039
01 Varieties of Bilingualism 05 Strategies for Second-Language
Rifka Hayu Indraswari
Production
Ardian Cahya Pratama
02 Is Bilingualism Beneficial or
Detrimental? 06 Strategies for Becoming a
Rifka Hayu, Muhammad Ricky
Better Second-Language Learner
Ardian Cahya Pratama
03 Sequential and Simultaneous
Learning Situations 07 Teaching Reading in a Bilingual
Yusrina Qurrota’Ayun

Ardian Cahya Pratama

04 Transfer Effects of Language 1 Situation at Home
on the Learning of Language 2
Ardian Cahya Pratama
Varieties of Bilingualism
 Any Two Languages: Speech, Sign or Written

We may say that a person is bilingual if he or she knows:

• Two languages in the same modality, e.g. two speech-based languages
such as spoken English and spoken German or two sign-based languages
such as American Sign Language and Japanese Sign Language,
OR
• Two languages based on different modalities, e.g. spoken German and
American Sign Language, or spoken French and written Sanskrit.

The languages that are most involved in research in bilingualism are mostly
ones that are speech based .
Proficiency in The Second Language
• Proficiency in the second language may be evaluated with respect to a variety of
variables, including knowledge of syntax, vocabulary, and pronunciation(signing or writing
for non-speech).
• A bilingual's language skills may vary across modalities as he or she may write well in one
language but speak better in the other.
• The bilingual's second language is of lower proficiency than the first.

Bidialectalism
• We wouldn't want to regard as bilingual someone who knows two dialects of the same
language, e.g, British Yorkshire English and American Midwestern English. While these
dialects differ in significant respects.
• Thus many of the concerns that are raised for bilingualism can be extended to
bidialectalism as well.
Is Bilingualism
Beneficial or Detrimental?
 Bilingualism and Society

• Knowledge of another language enables people to communicate with

members of other cultures in their own language.
• Language can be used as an instrument of national policy such as
forbidding the public use of a language in newspapers, books, or
newscasts, and the formal teaching of a language in order to weaken the
coherence of a cultural group so as to force integration.
 Bilingualism and the Individual

The arguments offered against bilingualism are restricted to young children

learning a second language.

Many people believe that if a second language is learned at an early age, it

can be harmful in two main respects:
• The learning of the second language would retard or negatively influence
the learning of the native language
OR
• It would intellectually retard the development of thinking and such cognitive
capacities as mathematics and reading.
 Effects on First-Language Development

• The issue here is whether learning a second language at an early age,

while the child is still in the process of acquiring the native or first language,
has a negative effect on acquisition of the native language.
• There is the concern that bilingualism might somehow retard first- or even
second-Ianguage development
• For example, a child raised with two languages might never really learn
either language as well as would monolingual speakers of those
languages.
Positive Effects with Very Different Languages

• ENGLISH and JAPANESE

• In a study of the first English immersion programme in Japan, Bostwick
(1999) compared two groups of Japanese students in the same elementary
school.
• Result: both groups performed equally well on tests of academic
achievement.
• Conclusion: The current state of this research demonstrate that immersion
can be highly successful even when the languages are as different as
English and Japanese.
Methodological difficulties in doing valid research

• Whether the parents of the children may have in some way affected the outcome
• The attitude and motivation of the parents regarding bilingualism must be matched
• Researchers are allowed to randomly assign children to monolingual or bilingual
programmes regardless of the wishes if their parents
• Only few parents would be willing to have their children’s education determined by
chance assignment to groups for the purpose of some research study

However, with some creative thinking it is possible to arrange circumstances so that

an equitable assignment of children may be achieved. In any case, it is clear from
research that there are no detrimental in early second-language learning.
Conclusion regarding effects on language

There is no evidence that early bilingualism has any adverse effects on

language acquisition, be it in the first or second language. there is no good
reason not to give a child the chance to harvest the potentially great beneficial
effects from second-language learning
 Effects on Intelligence

In this section, we will discuss about negative reports and positive reports of
learning second language at an early age.
Negative reports

• Goddard (1917) conducted a test involving 30 recently arrived adult immigrants. It was
found that less than half of the adult immigrants could provide only 60 words on word-
fluency, much below the 200 words that 11-year-old American children could provide. In
other hand, Goddard used such research to petition Congress to enact more restrictions to
limit immigration to America.
• Saer (1922, 1923) also found similar results in comparison of monolinguals and bilinguals in
Wales. Saer concluded that bilinguals’ thinking processes were confused by the use of two
languages.
• Languages plays a great role in determining the outcome of scores on the intelligence test.
A low level of language knowledge will result in a low score and hence a low level of
intelligence. Other methodological problems with these early studies include the failure to
equate groups on socio-economic status. Typically monolinguals were from higher socio-
economic classes while bilinguals were from lower social classes. In the 1960s and 1970s
began to use tests in both of the bilinguals’ languages and to control for all sorts of other
variables including socio-economic background.
Positive reports :
• In the early 1960s was the beginning of more adequate test began to use. The work of
Lambert showed the way in use of proper methodology.
• Peal and Lambert (1962) conducted a test. The subjects were equally in the same level of
socio-economic background. The result showed the bilinguals had significant higher scores
on 15 out of the 18 measures of intelligence. Peal and Lambert concluded that bilingualism
results in greater mental flexibility and abstract thought. Rather than the two languages
causing ‘confused thinking’, bilingualism improved thinking.
• Bain and Yu (1980) compared monolingual and bilingual young children in different parts of
the world. The results on some cognitive performance tests showed the bilinguals to be
superior to the monolinguals, in addition to their having acquired two different languages.
• Hakuta (1986) challenges the Bain and Yu, the parents of the bilinguals may have had more
advantageous beliefs and attitudes and this could have biased the findings. The results are
indicative of an intellectual advantages for the bilinguals.
Conclusion regarding effect on intelligence

There is no evidence that early bilingualism will harm the intellectual or cognitive,
development of the child in any way. Besides, it may even benefit the child
intellectually.
Sequential and Simultaneous
Learning Situations
 Two conditions a person may become
bilingual

Acquired sequentially (such as the second language being learned later at

school

Acquired simultaneously (such as where the young child is exposed to two

different languages in the home at the same time
 sequential learning of two languages
First language in the home, second language on the
community.
Parents speak one language and the community at large speaks another.
Example: Chinese parents who live in America send their 4 year old daughter to an
English-speaking pre-school but they continue to speak only Chinese at home. By the
time the child is 5 years old, she is speaking fluent English with her playmates and
teachers while continuing to speak Chinese at home. The child has learned two
languages, Chinese and English, sequentially; with the second language being
introduced after a great deal of the first language had been learned.
What is sequential is the different starting time, with a four-year gap before the
introduce of the second language.
Developmental of a second language
four common stages in sequential bilingualism of young children
a) SILENT: Children attempt to use the language learned at home with other children
where a different language is used. But they give up to do so because others do
not understand their home language.
b) GESTURE: They abandon their home language in favor of communication
through gesture. Children begin to comprehend some of the second language.
c) PRODUCE ABBREVIATED UTTERANCES: The children begin to use the second
language in ways similar to children learning a first language.
d) PRODUCE GRAMMATICAL UTTERANCES

Young children can learn a second language faster than the first
language
It is often that young children can learn an entire language in year or less. Theoretically,
it must be the case that the learning of a second language is facilitated by the prior
learning of the first language. as the child gets older, the time needed for second
language acquisition grows longer.
 Simultaneous learning
One person speaks one language only, or, one person speaks
two language
a. One-person-uses-one-language-only (1P-1L)
When the mother speaks one language (e.g. Spanish) while the fathers speaks
another (e.g. English). Each person uses one language exclusively.
b. Same person uses two different languages (1P-2L)
When the mother uses both Spanish and English and the father does the same. The
two languages are mixed by each parent.

The 1P-1L situations is better (faster and less mixing)

Reason why 1P-1L is better would be due to consistency. The child on hearing
speech would not have puzzle over which of the two sets of language knowledge is
being referred to. The grammars can be maintained separately right from the start.
Developmental stages in bilingual language learning
in the two- and three-word stages some mixing might occur between the two languages
(esp. 1P-2L). This is simply the children switch between two languages. They who cannot
think of a word in one language might use a word or phrase while speaking the second
language (codeswitching)

Advice to parents
It is highly recommended for parents who have bilingual abilities and have decided to
raise their children in a bilingual situation to use the language in the 1P-1L fashion right
from the start.
 Consciousness and Learning
In Ianco-Worrall’s (1972) research, the result shows that:
• The bilingual children were more semantically oriented than the
monolingual children
• The bilingual children were more likely to be aware of the
psycholinguistic concept.
• The bilingual children understand that a spoken word has no real
relation to an object and is only an arbitrary name for it.
Transfer Effects of Language 1
on the Learning of Language 2
 First-language and Second-Language
Relations Affect Learnability
• The nature of the similarity relationship between the first and second
languages will determine the rate of learning. Studies in Finland provide
evidence that it is easier to learn a second language that is similar to the
first (Ringbom, 1978; Sjoholm, 1979).
• The greater the similarity between two languages in terms of their syntax,
vocabulary, and sound system, the more rapid the rate of acquisition in the
two languages.
 Facilitation Occurs even between Very
Different Languages
There is some sort of commonality among languages that is separate from the usual
similarity measures which are used in comparing languages. Such commonalities
would consist of such principles as:
1. words have a morpheme structure and a phoneme structure, words combine into
phrases and into sentences and clauses.
2. Basic constituents must be ordered in some way, and
3. Such operations as substitution, deletion, and addition are involved.

The commonalities facilitate language learning even though it may not be

immediately apparent. The reason that adults are not able to make such rapid gains
as children is, in our view, due to the rich natural situation for the child and its
excellent memory as opposed to the relatively impoverished natural situation for
adults along with their reduced memory ability.
 Second-Language and Third-Language
Intrusions when Learning Another
Language
There is a case that someone is a native speaker of English who learned
French as a second language in school. When, late in life, he started to
learn Japanese, French words would often come to mind even though it was
a language with which he had not been in contact since leaving Canada for
the USA some 15 years earlier. This French interference with Japanese
continued intermittently for almost a year but then disappeared completely
as his Japanese improved. Yet when he took a trip to France a few years
later, to his surprise his newly learned Japanese unexpectedly came to mind
when he tried to speak French! Most of this interference occurred in his
mind and generally he was able to control himself from uttering it out loud.
It would seem that what is happening here is thar when one wants to produce
something in a new language, a more established second (or third) Language may
be accessed. Somehow the neural pathways have not been so firmly connected that
they are able to automatically access a particular desired non -native language.
 Is One First Language more Difficult than
Another?

• No language is inherently more difficult than any other. Children

everywhere can carry on a conversation in their native language by the age
of 4.
• No language has been found which is more complex than any other, and
there is no such thing as a primitive language, as modern linguistic
research shows.
Strategies for
Second-Language Production
 The First-Language Strategy and the
Second-Language Strategy
Most errors are systematic, being the result of the application of what we shall call the
'First-Language Strategy' and the 'Second-Language Strategy'. These strategies are
applied when relevant second-Language knowledge is not yet available or is
incomplete.

• First language strategy (applying first-language knowledge to the second-language).

When second-language knowledge is lacking, this strategy is very useful. It is better
to say something, even if wrong, than say nothing.

• Second-language strategy (applying general knowledge of the second language to

production of the second-language).
 Strategies for Sentence Production and
Communication
• Strategies that are used for the purpose of keeping the conversation going are
known as 'communication' strategies (Faerch & Kasper, 1983; Kasper & Kellerman,
1997).
• Communication strategies may have an effect on learning since the more the
learner speaks the greater linguistic input the learner will receive. The greater the
input, the more the opportunity for language learning. This type of strategy
includes overgeneralization, in which a rule of the second language is applied in
inappropriate contexts such as the definite article being used with 'dinner' in the
example above. Communication strategies may also involve using words or
phrases from the first language when they are unknown in the second language
(codeswitching), or coining new words such as 'airball' for 'balloon' (Varadi, ~983
1997).
Strategies for Becoming
a Better Second-Language Learner
 Strategies for Becoming a Better Second-
Language Learner
According to Rubin (1981) the strategies used by successful language learners
include:
1. Verification: checking to see if their hypotheses about the language are correct.
2. Inductive processing: creating hypotheses about the second language based on
one's second- or first language knowledge.
3. Deductive reasoning: using general logic in problem solving.
4. Practice: such as repetition, rehearsal, and imitation.
5. Memorization: including mnemonic strategies and repetitions for the purpose of
storage and retrieval, and
6. Monitoring: being alert to the making of errors and paying attention to how one's
message is received by the listener.
Teaching Reading in
a Bilingual Situation at Home
How to Teach the reading of Two Languages
• The parents should be using the One Person-One Language (1P1L)
approach.
• We recommend that the teaching be done sequentially, with the
second language following the first after a year or two.
• The parents should start teaching the child to read First-Language
• After about a year or so, by which time First-Language reading is
established in the child, then the teaching of Second-Language would
be started. The lead teacher should be the parent who speaks the
Second-Language to the child.
The simultaneous teaching of reading is not advisable, not because the child
would not be able to handle two writing systems, but because the parents
would be greatly burdened. They would have to keep and use two sets of
reading materials and vie for time for teaching. Since many of the reading
activities involve placing cards on objects, the clutter with two cards, each in
a different language on each object, might be excessive, and perhaps
confusing to the child.
Which Language should be Read First?
It should be the language that is used in the community and in school. By
learning to read the language of the community, the child will be able to
read the signs that are everywhere outside the home. This will reinforce
the child's learning at home and motivate the child to read more. Attaining
a high level of reading before the child begins school, where such
reading is the norm, will assist the child in being able to deal with
whatever is offered in school in terms of reading, and give the child a
head start, The second language will not be hard to teach to read,
because once the first language is established, the child will have learned
all of the basic principles of reading. These principles can make the
learning of second language reading all the easier.
Reference(s)
Steinberg, et al. (2001). Psycholinguistics Language Mind and
World. New York: Pearson Education Limited.
Thanks!