Psych Week 5 Language 3

What areas does bilingualism affect?

Language learning, cognitive abilities, and social abilities.

What is a balanced bilingual?

Fluent/native in two languages.

What is an unbalanced bilingual?

stronger in one language than another

What factors influence bilingual development?

Amount of exposure, who speaks each language, and context of use.

What is receptive vocabulary?

Words a person understands.

What is productive vocabulary?

Words a person can produce (speak).

Do bilingual children have smaller vocabularies?

No overall—only in each individual language.

Why do monolinguals appear to have higher vocabulary scores?

Tests often measure only one language.

When both languages are considered, how do bilinguals compare?

They often have equal or larger total vocabulary.

Do bilinguals use mutual exclusivity as strongly as monolinguals?

No, they use it less.

Why do bilinguals rely less on mutual exclusivity?

They know objects can have multiple labels across languages.

What is metalinguistic awareness?

Understanding that language is a system of arbitrary labels.

How do bilinguals differ from monolinguals in this ability?

Bilinguals are better at recognizing labels as flexible and arbitrary.

How do bilinguals perform in phoneme discrimination?

They discriminate sounds in both languages.

How do bilinguals compare in learning new phonemes?

They are often better, even as adults.

Why might bilinguals have better executive function?

They constantly inhibit one language while using another.

What is executive function?

Cognitive skills like attention, inhibition, and working memory.

What task is commonly used to test executive function in children?

Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS).requires kids to learn a rule, and then inhibit that rule to implement a new rule

How do bilingual infants perform on rule-switching tasks?

better than monolinguals

What is code-switching?

Switching between languages depending on context.

At what age can children code-switch effectively?

2-3 years old

Are bilinguals better at perspective-taking?

yes, ability to understand what another person is thinking, seeing, or knowing—and to adjust your behavior based on that.

What social skill do bilinguals develop from language exposure?

Understanding who knows/speaks which language.