The effects of bilingual language proficiency on recall accuracy and semantic clustering in free recall output: evidence for shared semantic associations across languages

Francis, Wendy S.; Taylor, Randolph S.; Gutiérrez, Marisela; Liaño, Mary K.; Manzanera, Diana G.; Penalver, Renee M.

doi:10.1080/09658211.2018.1476551

Cited by 11 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…We see here that when the lexical items are matched between languages, they are equally difficult or easy to learn. This is in contrast with some previous literature that found that memory tends to be worse in a foreign language 23,46,47 , although these results are not very consistent 48 . This difference in results between memory for known vocabulary and new word learning suggests that either the effect is not very robust, or it does not extend to new vocabulary.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

The effects of contextual diversity on incidental vocabulary learning in the native and a foreign language

Frances

Martin

Duñabeitia

2020

Sci Rep

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Vocabulary learning occurs throughout the lifespan, often implicitly. For foreign language learners, this is particularly challenging as they must acquire a large number of new words with little exposure. In the present study, we explore the effects of contextual diversity-namely, the number of texts a word appears in-on native and foreign language word learning. Participants read several texts that had novel pseudowords replacing high-frequency words. The total number of encounters with the novel words was held constant, but they appeared in 1, 2, 4, or 8 texts. In addition, some participants read the texts in Spanish (their native language) and others in English (their foreign language). We found that increasing contextual diversity improved recall and recognition of the word, as well as the ability to match the word with its meaning while keeping comprehension unimpaired. Using a foreign language only affected performance in the matching task, where participants had to quickly identify the meaning of the word. Results are discussed in the greater context of the word learning and foreign language literature as well as their importance as a teaching tool. Vocabulary learning is an essential aspect of language that continues throughout the lifespan. To a large extent, the vocabulary we incorporate comes from incidental learning during reading 1,2 rather than explicit effort. This becomes particularly relevant when learning a new language, where a large amount of vocabulary must be acquired very quickly and partially without supervision. Following this reasoning, several studies have shown that it is possible to learn vocabulary implicitly through reading in our foreign language 3-7. In addition, we know that people incorporate new lexical forms with as little as one exposure in their native language and as little as two exposures in their foreign language 4 , but that learning improves with exposure to multiple instances of the word 8. Implicit word learning in context differs somewhat between one's native and foreign languages. In particular, reading times for new words in our native language decrease significantly after the first exposure-suggesting some level of incorporation of the lexical item-whereas for the foreign language this happens only after two to four exposures 4. This might relate to the fact that it is more difficult to extract the meaning of words from context in a foreign language. This is in part because these skills seem to be affected by knowledge of the language and experience in that particular task 9,10. Although the number of times people encounter a word affects how well they learn and remember it 5,8 , there is not much literature on how spreading these encounters across passages affects learning. One of the ways in which this spread is quantified is through contextual diversity-namely, the number of texts in which a word appears in a database 11,12. This variable can be used to describe the influence of context beyond the mere number of occurrences or the frequency with which we encou...

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

The effects of contextual diversity on incidental vocabulary learning in the native and a foreign language

Frances

Martin

Duñabeitia

2020

Sci Rep

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“…Evidence that long-standing semantic associations are language general comes from studies showing that repetition priming of semantic associations transfers across languages (de la Riva Lopez, Francis, & García, 2012; Francis, Fernandez, & Bjork, 2010; Taylor & Francis, 2017). Also, semantic clustering was equivalent in bilingual L1, bilingual L2, and monolingual recall output (Francis, Taylor, et al, 2018). Evidence that newly learned semantic associations are language general comes from the finding that cued recall and associative recognition of unrelated English word–word paired associates was equivalent for L1 and L2 speakers and equivalent for monolinguals and bilinguals (Francis, Lara, & Strobach, 2018; Papagno & Vallar, 1995).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Word–context associations in episodic memory are learned at the conceptual level: Word frequency, bilingual proficiency, and bilingual status effects on source memory.

Francis¹,

Strobach²,

Penalver³

et al. 2019

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cogni

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Three source-memory experiments were conducted with Spanish–English bilinguals and monolingual English speakers matched on age, education, nonverbal cognitive ability and socioeconomic status. Bilingual language proficiency and dominance were assessed using standardized objective measures. In Experiment 1, source was manipulated visuo-spatially, in Experiment 2, source was manipulated temporally, and in Experiment 3, source was manipulated by presenting stimuli in different modalities. Bilingual source discrimination was more accurate for low-frequency words than for high-frequency words, but it did not differ for the more fluent and less fluent languages (L1 and L2, respectively). These results contrast with the L2 advantage observed in item recognition (Francis & Gutiérrez, 2012; Francis & Strobach, 2013), adding to evidence that the bases of performance for item and source memory differ. The dissociation of word frequency and language effects indicates that word–context associations are made at the conceptual level rather than the word-form level. Bilinguals exhibited more accurate source discrimination than monolinguals, both under intentional and incidental encoding conditions, indicating that this effect cannot be explained entirely by differences in encoding strategies. We reason that relative to monolinguals, bilinguals more efficiently encode associations between word concepts and contexts or other types of information that do not convey meaning preexperimentally.

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“…The relationship between working memory and bilingualism is discussed explicitly in several studies (e.g., Bonifacci, Giombini, Bellocchi & Contento, 2011;Kaushanskaya, Blumenfeld & Marian, 2011;Orozco, 2020). Some studies (e.g., Antón, Carreiras & Duñabeitia, 2019;Francis et al, 2018;Grundy, 2020) considered the impact of bilingualism on the performance of working memory, whereas other studies (e.g., Morales, Calvo & Bialystok, 2012;Kerrigan et al, 2017;Grundy & Timmer, 2017;Orozco, 2020) explored the advantage of bilingual speakers over monolingual speakers with regard to working memory. So far, previous studies that contrasted bilinguals' and monolinguals' working memory performance have been inconsistent.…”

Section: Literature Review Working Memory and Bilingualismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, other studies reported the opposite (Yoo & Kaushanskaya, 2012;Engel de Abreu, 2011). On the other hand, some studies revealed no apparent difference between monolingual and bilingual speakers in the performance of working memory tasks (Francis et al, 2018;Grundy, 2020;McVeigh, Wylie & Mulhern, 2019). Adesope, Lavin, Thompson and Ungerleider (2010) investigated the effects of bilingualism on cognition in young adults and children.…”

Section: Literature Review Working Memory and Bilingualismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Verbal and Visuospatial Working Memory in Arabic-English Female Bilinguals: Is There an Advantage?

Alazzaz¹,

Almutrafi²

2022

AWEJ

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This study sheds light on the effect of bilingualism on working memory performance. It aims to investigate whether bilingual speakers have an advantage over monolingual speakers in performing visual-spatial working memory tasks. The present study attempts to be a contribution to the discussion of how working memory performance is affected by bilingualism. It tries to find out whether Arabic-English bilingual speakers have advantages over Arabic monolingual speakers in performing visual-spatial working memory tasks. Two experiments were conducted to test the working memory performance of bilinguals and monolinguals by using verbal and non-verbal tasks. The two measures were completed online; the non-verbal measure involved a picture memorization task, whereas the verbal measure involved word retrieval. Eighty female college students voluntarily participated in the study. Half were Arabic-English bilinguals, and the other half were Arabic monolinguals. Both groups were divided into two subgroups; half performed a non-verbal working memory task, and the other half participated in a verbal working memory task. The results showed no advantages for bilinguals in the picture memorization task. However, a bilingual advantage was found in the verbal working memory task in which bilingual speakers performed better in word retrieval compared to monolingual speakers. The findings indicate a positive effect of bilingualism on working memory performance, particularly in the visual-spatial component.

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The effects of bilingual language proficiency on recall accuracy and semantic clustering in free recall output: evidence for shared semantic associations across languages

Cited by 11 publications

References 70 publications

The effects of contextual diversity on incidental vocabulary learning in the native and a foreign language

The effects of contextual diversity on incidental vocabulary learning in the native and a foreign language

Word–context associations in episodic memory are learned at the conceptual level: Word frequency, bilingual proficiency, and bilingual status effects on source memory.

Verbal and Visuospatial Working Memory in Arabic-English Female Bilinguals: Is There an Advantage?

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