Correlates of self-confidence with English among Chinese students in Toronto.

Examined the relation between 174 Chinese undergraduates' self-ratings of confidence with English and indicators of assimilation and psychological adjustment. Measures included adaptations of the Social Readjustment Rating Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale. Factor analysis revealed that confidence with English was positively associated with linguistic assimilation into English-Canadian society and with several components of psychological adjustment (e.g., sense of personal control, self-esteem). Indicators of cultural assimilation (e.g., social distance toward anglophone groups) and involvement in the Chinese community were not, however, related to confidence with English. Findings suggest that for some ethnolinguistic minorities in Canada, self-rated confidence with the language of the majority group is not necessarily indicative of the loss of ethno-cultural identity by its members. (French abstract) (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivational variables in second language acquisition: A study of Francophones learning English.

Assessed the motivational characteristics of Francophones learning English as a 2nd language. A total of 304 Grade 10 and 11 Montreal Francophone students responded to a battery of attitude and motivation scales (e.g., attitudes toward English Canadians, parental encouragement, and opportunity to use English). The correlations among these scales were factor analyzed together with indices of intelligence, and achievement in French, mathematics, and English. Results tend to support the generalization that an individual's motivation to learn a 2nd language is dependent upon favorable attitudes toward the 2nd language community (i.e., an integrative motive). However, while Ss' intentions to continue studying English were related to an integrative motive, actual competence in the 2nd language seemed to be more closely related to a dimension of motivation which is best described as self-confidence derived from prior experience with the language. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of cross-language transfer on first-language phonological awareness and literacy skills in Chinese children receiving English instruction.

The present investigation consists of two studies examining the effects of cross-language transfer on the development of phonological awareness and literacy skills among Chinese children who received different amounts of English instruction. Study 1 compared Chinese students in regular English programs (92 first graders and 93 third graders) with peers who did not receive English instruction (86 first graders and 91 third graders). Study 2 was a 2-year longitudinal study that followed Chinese children from the beginning of Grade 1 to the end of Grade 2; the children attended either an intensive English program (79 children) or a regular English program (80 children). In both studies, children received phonological awareness tasks in English and Chinese, and literacy measures in Chinese. Results suggest that (a) English instruction accelerates the development of Chinese phonological awareness and Pinyin skills through cross-language transfer; (b) the pattern of cross-language transfer reflects the phonological features of English, the source language; and (c) a threshold level of 2nd language proficiency is required before any positive effects can be detected in the 1st language. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors related to English reading performance in children with Chinese as a first language: More evidence of cross-language transfer of phonological processing.

Parallel measures of phonological, syntactic, and orthographic processing skill and reading were administered in English and in Chinese to 65 children whose 1st language (L1) was Cantonese and whose 2nd language (L2) was English. Phonological skill was correlated across L1 and L2. Phonological skill in both L1 and L2 was correlated with L2 reading and contributed a unique variance to L2 reading, even though the children's L1 was not written in an alphabetic orthography, whereas the 2nd language had an alphabetic orthography. This research adds to a growing body of evidence for cross-language transfer of phonological processing in L2 learning of English-as-a-Second-Language students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Identity and the language of the classroom: Investigating the impact of heritage versus second language instruction on personal and collective self-esteem.

The connection between heritage language instruction and self-esteem was investigated. Participants were Inuit, White, and mixed-heritage (Inuit-White) children living in a subarctic community. Testing occurred before and after their 1st year in a heritage language or a 2nd language program. Children from all 3 groups who were educated in their heritage language showed a substantial increase in their personal self-esteem, whereas Inuit and mixed-heritage children educated in a 2nd language did not. Among the Inuit, Inuttitut instruction was associated with positive regard for the ingroup, whereas English or French instruction was associated with preference for the White outgroup. The present findings support claims that early heritage language education can have a positive effect on the personal and collective self-esteem of minority language students—a benefit not provided by 2nd language instruction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peur d'assimilation et confiance en soi: Leur relation à l'alternance des codes et à la compétence communicative en langue seconde.

Assessed the relationship between communicative competence and code choice and evaluated the relationship of both phenomena to fear of assimilation and self-confidence in an interethnic encounter, using 60 French-speaking undergraduates. Findings suggest that code switching is related to the level of proficiency in a 2nd language, while code mixing is strongly related to self-confidence. Results are discussed in terms of theories of linguistic accommodation and communicative competence. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Grouping and assimilation in perception, memory, and conditioning.

A group-assimilation theory hypothesizes that a Gestalt-like group is associated with assimilation among the parts of the group. Assimilation is an increase in the perceived or sensed similarity of 1 part to a 2nd part. Assimilation occurs for traditional parts such as color but also occurs for salience. The theory accounts for key outcomes in perception, memory, and conditioning. An important hypothesis is that traditional assimilation and salience assimilation tend to have opposing effects on identification. The traditional assimilation of a target to a 2nd part frequently impairs the target's identification. In contrast, the assimilation of a less salient target to a more salient 2nd part increases the salience of the target and thus improves the target's identification. The corresponding hypothesis that 2 groups are associated with contrast between those parts that belong to different groups is also considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond bilingualism: Social psychological studies of French Immersion Programs in Canada.

Reviews social psychological studies of immersion programs in Canada with reference to 2 issues: (1) bilingualism, ethnic identity, and intergroup perceptions; and (2) attitudinal and motivational factors and 2nd language use in bilingual settings. It is concluded that 2nd language learning in immersion programs is associated with social psychologically significant outcomes that are related to fairly specific aspects of the immersion experience. More specifically, it has been found that immersion students are not likely to experience a loss of ethnic identity with respect to their home culture and that they develop a greater sense of similarity to French Canadians. Immersion students express more positive attitudes toward the use of French than do nonimmersion students, and they report using French more often than nonimmersion students in a number of situations. The social psychological outcomes of immersion are discussed in terms of possible intergroup and motivational factors. (French abstract) (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Choix langagiers en milieu minoritaire: Attitudes et identité concomitantes.

Studied the relationship between language use and cultural identity. 85 mainly French-speaking students (mean age 16.4 yrs) from the North Shore of Algoma, Ontario, were administered a questionnaire concerning their identification with Ss using English vs French as their most usual mode of communication. Analyses of variance were performed. (English abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Speech perception, metalinguistic awareness, reading, and vocabulary in Chinese–English bilingual children.

In this study, we examined the intercorrelations among speech perception, metalinguistic (i.e., phonological and morphological) awareness, word reading, and vocabulary in a 1st language (L1) and a 2nd language (L2). Results from 3 age groups of Chinese–English bilingual children showed that speech perception was more predictive of reading and vocabulary in the L1 than L2. While morphological awareness uniquely predicted reading and vocabulary in both languages, phonological awareness played such a role after we controlled for morphological awareness only in the L2, which was alphabetic. L1 speech perception and metalinguistic awareness predicted L2 word reading but not vocabulary, after we controlled for the corresponding L2 variables. Hence, there are both similarities and differences between the 2 languages in how the constructs are related. The differences are attributable to variations in language properties and learning contexts. Implications of the present results for an effective L2 learning program are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cultural differences in strategic behavior: A study in computational estimation.

Imbo and LeFevre (2009) observed that Asians (responding in their 2nd language) selected strategies less adaptively than did non-Asians (responding in their 1st language). In the present research, we tested whether adaptive strategy selection is (a) really more resource demanding for Asians than for non-Asians or (b) more resource demanding for participants answering in a nonpreferred language. Three groups of participants were tested on a computational estimation task (e.g., 42 × 57 ≈ ?) in no-load and load conditions: 40 Belgian-educated adults who answered in their first language (Dutch), 40 Chinese-educated adults who answered in their first language (Chinese), and 40 Chinese-educated adults who answered in their second language (English). Although the Chinese were faster and more accurate than the Belgians, they selected strategies less adaptively. That is, the Chinese were less likely to choose the strategy that produced the best estimate; this was especially so when their working memory was loaded. Further, we also observed that the Chinese who answered in English were slower than the Chinese who answered in Chinese; this difference was larger for difficult strategies and under working memory load. These results are interpreted in terms of the encoding complex model, whereas the explanation for the adaptivity results is based on cultural differences in educational history. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attitudes and behaviour in second language acquisition: A social psychological interpretation.

Four behaviors involved in the acquisition of a 2nd language are achievement in the language, the decision to remain in the language program, behavior in the classroom, and social contact with members of the 2nd language community. In general, these behaviors have been considered in isolation of formal psychological models and of each other. The present authors review research relevant to each of these behaviors, examining them within the theoretical frameworks proposed by M. Fishbein (1967), Fishbein and I. Ajzen (1975), and K. Lewin (1951). It is suggested that a better understanding of the role of attitudes in 2nd language acquisition can be achieved by postulating a general motivational syndrome, the integrative motive, which involves a complex of attitudinal/motivational variables. This model is related to the formulations of Fishbein and Ajzen, and Lewin, and the general approach appears to have implications for situations concerned with the interplay of attitudes and behavior. (French summary) (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Category and perceptual interference in second-language phoneme learning: An examination of English /w/-/v/ learning by Sinhala, German, and Dutch speakers.

The present study investigated the perception and production of English /w/ and /v/ by native speakers of Sinhala, German, and Dutch, with the aim of examining how their native language phonetic processing affected the acquisition of these phonemes. Subjects performed a battery of tests that assessed their identification accuracy for natural recordings, their degree of spoken accent, their relative use of place and manner cues, the assimilation of these phonemes into native-language categories, and their perceptual maps (i.e., multidimensional scaling solutions) for these phonemes. Most Sinhala speakers had near-chance identification accuracy, Germans ranged from chance to 100% correct, and Dutch speakers had uniformly high accuracy. The results suggest that these learning differences were caused more by perceptual interference than by category assimilation; Sinhala and German speakers both have a single native-language phoneme that is similar to English /w/ and /v/, but the auditory sensitivities of Sinhala speakers make it harder for them to discern the acoustic cues that are critical to /w/-/v/ categorization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early predictors of biliteracy development in children in French immersion: A 4-year longitudinal study.

English language predictors of English and French reading development were investigated in a group of 140 children who were enrolled in French immersion programs. Children were first tested in kindergarten, and their reading achievement was tested yearly in both English and French from Grades 1 to 3, with word-level and passage-level measures that assessed accuracy as well as fluency. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine which English variables predicted Grade 3 outcomes and growth rates in English and French, and to determine the set of predictors that accounted for the most variance in outcomes and growth rates in English and French reading. The variables that predicted English reading development were consistent with studies of monolingual English children, even though participants were concurrently learning to read in French. Our findings provide evidence that at least some of the skills that play a role in learning to read are general cognitive and linguistic skills that transfer across languages. Phonological awareness, letter-sound knowledge, rapid automatized naming, and grammatical ability in English were able to predict reading ability in French. In contrast, English receptive vocabulary was a language-specific predictor. These findings demonstrate that first-language measures can be useful in the early identification of children at risk for difficulty in learning to read in a second language. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Language proficiency as a moderator variable in testing academic aptitude.

Students from 3 public (n?=?225) and 3 private schools (n?=?186) in Puerto Rico took the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), Prueba de Aptitud Académica (PAA), Pruebas de Aprovechamiento Académico, and Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The strength of the relationship between scores on the SAT given in English and on the PAA given in Spanish increased as proficiency in English as a 2nd language increased. It is concluded that scores on tests of student proficiency in English as a 2nd language, such as the TOEFL for an international population or the English as a Second Language Achievement Test for a Hispanic population, not only indicate readiness for academic study in English but may also bear on the interpretation and use of other tests given in English. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Languages, scripts, and the environment: Factors in developing concepts of print.

Preschool children bilingual in English and Hebrew were investigated for their understanding of concepts of print by means of two tasks. In the first, children had to understand that a printed word did not change its meaning if it moved to a new location. In the second, children had to make judgments about word length and ignore the size of the named objects. Previous research had shown bilingual French–English and Chinese–English children to excel in the first task, but only older Chinese–English bilinguals had an advantage in the second. The present study extended those results by investigating the effect of writing system in more detail. The study also examined the effect of the language of the environment by conducting parallel studies in environments in which either English or Hebrew was the community language. The results show that the bilingual children in both settings were more advanced than the monolinguals in both tasks and in both settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The intriguing role of spanish language vocabulary knowledge in predicting English reading comprehension.

This study explored a holistic model of English reading comprehension among a sample of 135 Spanish-English bilingual Latina and Latino 4th-grade students This model took into account Spanish language reading skills and language of initial literacy instruction. Controlling for language of instruction, English decoding skill, and English oral language proficiency, the authors explored the effects of Spanish language alphabetic knowledge, fluency, vocabulary knowledge, and listening comprehension on English reading comprehension. Results revealed a significant main effect for Spanish vocabulary knowledge and an interaction between Spanish vocabulary and English fluency, such that faster English readers benefited more from Spanish vocabulary knowledge than their less fluent counterparts. This study demonstrates the existence of literary skills transfer from the 1st to the 2nd language, as well as limits on such transfer. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of Stroop interference in Chinese-English bilinguals.

120 Chinese-English bilingual students in Grades 2, 4, 8, and 10 in college used both Chinese and English to name the colors of patches and Chinese and English words that consisted of incongruent color names. Examples of stimulus items for the Stroop test are included. Ss of all levels showed greater within- than between-language interference when responding in their primary language, Chinese. When English was the response language, however, a developmental shift from greater between-language interference to greater within-language interference was observed. These results argue against E. Magiste's (see record 1985-06307-001) language proficiency hypothesis and suggest that the pattern of the between- and within-language interference in bilinguals is determined by both language similarity and language proficiency. Further implications of the obtained results for language processing of bilinguals and for the traditional horse race model of the Stroop effect are also discussed. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Communicating across cultures: Social determinants and acculturative consequences.

Past research has consistently documented the relations between interethnic contact, language behavior, and identity on the one hand, and the relations between interethnic contact and psychological adjustment on the other. This study combines these 2 lines of research through a consideration of the influence of ethnolinguistic vitality on these variables' interrelations. The participants included 285 English-Canadian and 243 French-Canadian students at a bilingual university who originated from high and low ethnolinguistic vitality contexts. The results of analyses of variance showed that vitality and native language group membership influenced the extent of ethnic identification, interethnic contact, and self-confidence in the 2nd language, but did not affect the levels of psychological adjustment. Path analyses supported a model in which linguistic self-confidence mediated the relations between interethnic contact and identity and adjustment, although the patterns of relations differed depending upon the vitality of the group. It is suggested that 1 reason why ethnolinguistic vitality is an important moderator of cross-cultural adaptation is because it implies group differences in the experience of interethnic contact and linguistic self-confidence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acculturation experiences, appraisal, coping, and adaptation: A comparison of Hong Kong Chinese, French, and English students in Canada.

42 Chinese students from Hong Kong, 43 French-Canadian students, and 42 English-Canadian students completed questionnaires pertaining to various aspects of their lives and personalities, their coping styles, their psychological and physical health, and their satisfaction with their coping abilities. All 3 groups reported their 3 most serious problems at university to be uncertainty for the future, academic difficulties, and loneliness. However, the Chinese Ss experienced higher Trait Anxiety, more prejudice, more adaptation and communication problems, lower English language competence, and lower perceived social support of friends than the French and English Ss. In addition, the Chinese reacted to their problems with less positive-thinking and less tension-reduction coping responses than the French and English Ss, respectively. The Chinese Ss also experienced poorer health and lower coping satisfaction. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)