No abstract

This study examines the role of family structure in the development of different levels of bilinguality. Students from five different public and private universities responded to an extensive survey on various aspects of bilinguality. Participants were divided into three groups: monolinguals, non-fluent bilinguals and fluent bilinguals. In line with the initial hypothesis, higher levels of bilinguality correlated with having more bilingual family members. Also further evidence was found for the importance of the mother, father and sisters in becoming bilingual. Additionally, the presence of bilingual step-parents and grandparents on acquisition and maintenance of a second language was examined and fund to be much less influential than the role of the parents. Finally, the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) on development of bilinguality was measured with no clear effect being found. The unique contribution of this study is that it attempts to connect the influence of specific family members to different levels of bilinguality.

Objectives: To examine bilingual code-switching across four languages in an experimental setting.To determine if the nature of a language or the linguistic background of the speakers influence laboratory induced code-switching. Study Design: Bilingual speakers of English and either Spanish, French, German or Arabic participated in an extensive interview in their heritage language and completed an online survey containing 87 questions about their linguistic background. At a predetermined time during the interview, a monolingual English speaker interrupted the interview and remained in the room for the rest of the interview.

This study examined whether mask-wearing behavior predicted group formation. In this mixed-methods study, participants rated masked and unmasked faces under the guise that they were choosing potential travel companions for an upcoming study abroad trip. A total of 80 participants were recruited from psychology courses at a small liberal arts college and completed this in-person study. Participants viewed 50 unique photographic images for two seconds each. For every trial, participants rated whether they would want the pictured individual as a member of their tour group, and the reaction times for these ratings were recorded. After rating each image, participants answered questions about their mask-wearing behavior and their opinions about mask and vaccine mandates. Participants then were divided into two groups based on their self-reported mask wearing: those who regularly wore masks, and those who reported little to no mask usage. Next, within- and between-group analyses were performed to compare preferences for masked and unmasked images both within and across these groups. We found that participants who reported regular mask use rated masked images more favorably than unmasked images. This group also showed a greater preference for masked photographs in comparison to the group that reported less mask usage. No differences were found for ratings of masked and unmasked images for participants who reported little to no mask usage. In addition, all participants provided ratings for masked faces faster than unmasked faces. These findings suggest that during the pandemic, individuals who reported regular mask usage may have used mask wearing as a criterion when forming new social groups, indicating that mask wearing has become part of their social identity.

Objective: To determine whether Spanish code-switching occurs under laboratory-induced conditions among fluent bilinguals at higher levels compared to a nonintervention control condition. Design and Methodology: Fifty-two Spanish bilinguals were randomly assigned to a control or experimental group and participated in a half-hour long face-to-face structured interview in Spanish. Half of the participant population was randomly assigned to the control group and the rest was assigned to the experimental group. The participants in the control group went through the interview without interruption and the number and timing of English code-switching instances were recorded during the interview. During the Spanish interview for the individuals in the experimental group, there was an interruption by a monolingual English experimenter halfway through the session. All instances of code-switching pre- and postinterruption were recorded and compared to the control group. At the conclusion of the Spanish interview, all participants completed an online 87-item questionnaire in English about their linguistic heritage and background. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Psychology, Queens University of Charlotte, January 2019 to February 2020. Results: The bilinguals in the experimental group, postinterruption, code-switched significantly more than those in the control group. No significant differences in linguistic background or history were found between code-switchers and those who did not code-switch. Conclusion: The experimentally designed social interruption during the Spanish interview in the experimental group increased the rate of code-switching among the participants while no such effect was found in the control group. This suggests that the observed code-switching was primarily due to the social interruption rather than any aspect of the interview session setup itself.