From tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) data to theoretical implications in two steps: When more TOTs means better retrieval.

Two experiments in which participants named pictured objects with difficult or easier names, and a reanalysis and review of published data, reveal that problematic measures used in previous studies obscured the implications of group differences in tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) rates. In Experiment 1, increased age led to more TOTs for difficult but not easy targets. In Experiment 2, bilinguals had more TOTs than monolinguals for easy targets but fewer TOTs for difficult targets. The authors developed a theoretically motivated measure that clarifies the implications of TOT data by linking all responses elicited in the TOT paradigm with either success or failure in completing 2 retrieval steps in current models of language production. The 2-step analysis reveals a common mechanism for the age and bilingualism effects and implies that age has both positive and negative effects on retrieval. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The bounds on flexibility in speech perception.

Dutch listeners were exposed to the English theta sound (as in bath), which replaced [f] in /f/-final Dutch words or, for another group, [s] in /s/-final words. A subsequent identity-priming task showed that participants had learned to interpret theta as, respectively, /f/ or /s/. Priming effects were equally strong when the exposure sound was an ambiguous [fs]-mixture and when primes contained unambiguous fricatives. When the exposure sound was signal-correlated noise, listeners interpreted it as the spectrally similar /f/, irrespective of lexical bias during exposure. Perceptual learning about speech is thus constrained by spectral similarity between the input and established phonological categories, but within those limits, adjustments are thorough enough that even nonnative sounds can be treated fully as native sounds. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Global–local and trail-making tasks by monolingual and bilingual children: Beyond inhibition.

In 3 experiments, a total of 151 monolingual and bilingual 6-year-old children performed similarly on measures of language and cognitive ability; however, bilinguals solved the global–local and trail-making tasks more rapidly than monolinguals. This bilingual advantage was found not only for the traditionally demanding conditions (incongruent global–local trials and Trails B) but also for the conditions not usually considered to be cognitively demanding (congruent global–local trials and Trails A). All the children performed similarly when congruent trials were presented in a single block or when perceptually simple stimuli were used, ruling out speed differences between the groups. The results demonstrate a bilingual advantage in processing complex stimuli in tasks that require executive processing components for conflict resolution, including switching and updating, even when no inhibition appears to be involved. They also suggest that simple conditions of the trail-making and global–local tasks involve some level of effortful processing for young children. Finally, the bilingual advantage in the trail-making task suggests that the interpretation of standardized measures of executive control needs to be reconsidered for children with specific experiences, such as bilingualism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

山阴县语言使用及语言态度调查研究——兼论普通话的推广与方言的保持

以山西省山阴县作为调查地点,采用社会语言学集体访谈和问卷调查的方法,调查分析目前方言区的语言使用情况和语言态度,得出以下结论：方言在一定时期和范围内仍然长期存在,普通话的普及是农村城镇化进程的必然产物,培养双重语言人是保持普通话与方言动态和谐的有效途径。     

高校计算机课程双语教学探讨

介绍了高校双语课程的含义,探讨了高校计算机课程双语教学的目标、基本理念、教学的实施等。结合我国高校的现状,分析了影响我国高校计算机课程双语教学的因素,并对教学中的几个问题提出了一些看法和思路。     

Should I stay or should I switch? A cost–benefit analysis of voluntary language switching in young and aging bilinguals.

Bilinguals spontaneously switch languages in conversation even though laboratory studies reveal robust cued language switching costs. The authors investigated how voluntary-switching costs might differ when switches are voluntary. Younger (Experiments 1–2) and older (Experiment 3) Spanish–English bilinguals named pictures in 3 conditions: (a) dominant-language only, (b) nondominant-language only, and (c) using “whatever language comes to mind” (in Experiment 2, “using each language about half the time”). Most bilinguals, particularly balanced bilinguals, voluntarily mixed languages even though switching was costly. Unlike with cued switching, voluntary switching sometimes facilitated responses, switch costs were not greater for the dominant language, and age effects on language mixing and switching were limited. This suggests that the freedom to mix languages voluntarily allows unbalanced and older bilinguals to function more like balanced and younger bilinguals. Voluntary switch costs reveal an expanded role for inhibitory control in bilingual language production and imply a mandatory separation by language in bilingual lexical selection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bilingualism reduces native-language interference during novel-word learning.

The goal of the present work was to examine the effects of bilingualism on adults’ ability to resolve cross-linguistic inconsistencies in orthography-to-phonology mappings during novel-word learning. English monolinguals and English–Spanish bilinguals learned artificially constructed novel words that overlapped with English orthographically but diverged from English phonologically. Native-language orthographic information presented during learning interfered with encoding of novel words in monolinguals but not in bilinguals. In general, bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on the word-learning task. These findings indicate that knowledge of 2 languages facilitates word learning and shields English–Spanish bilinguals from interference associated with cross-linguistic inconsistencies in letter-to-phoneme mappings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pictures and words: Spanish and English vocabulary in classrooms.

The current study evaluated the relation between Spanish and English vocabulary. Whereas previously reported correlations have revealed strong differences among types of vocabulary measures used and the ages of the students tested, no prior study had used a multilevel model to control for classroom-level differences. The current study used multiple measures of vocabulary—picture vocabulary and narrative production tasks—in multilevel models of 1,300 Spanish-speaking students in 247 kindergarten and 1st-grade classrooms in English immersion and bilingual transitional programs. The current results highlight the need to separate classroom effects from student effects, since for vocabulary measures, student-level correlations were strongly biased toward zero when classroom-level correlations were opposite in direction from student-level correlations. Most important, the current results support a strong distinction between types of vocabulary measure (e.g., picture vs. narrative) and suggest sizable influence of instruction for questions of bilingual performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

应用数字信息技术和双语的工程图学创新教育

面向“卓越计划”,针对工程图学课程体系创新教育的改革需求,依据多媒体教学和双语教学实践,研究应用数字信息技术和双语工程图学创新教育模式。提出合理应用数字信息技术和分级适度应用双语进行教学及助学,其工程图学创新教育模式不仅有利于达到工程图学课程体系的教学目标,而且为培养卓越人才营造了学习环境。     

Bilingualism, Language Proficiency, and Learning to Read in Two Writing Systems.

Two hundred and four 5- and 6-year-olds who were monolingual English-, bilingual English-Chinese-, or Chinese-speaking children beginning to learn English (2nd-language learners) were compared on phonological awareness and word decoding tasks in English and Chinese. Phonological awareness developed in response to language exposure and instruction but, once established, transferred across languages for both bilinguals and 2nd-language learners. In contrast, decoding ability developed separately for each language as a function of proficiency and instruction in that language and did not transfer to the other language. Therefore, there was no overall effect of bilingualism on learning to read: Performance depended on the structure of the language, proficiency in that language, and instructional experiences with that writing system. These results point to the importance of evaluating the features of the languages and instructional context in which children become biliterate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)