The “simultaneous” development of two languages during early childhood has begun to receive increased research and educational attention in the last decade. Linguistic, social and psychological investigation of this phenomenon has produced an extensive literature often segmented by parochial disciplinary boundaries. The present review attempts to congregate these unidemensional approaches into a multidimensional perspective of bilingualism cognizant of concurrent interactive forces which act to define the bilingual experience. Moreover, there is a specific attempt to consider the educational character (including the evaluation of instructional paradigms) of bilingual education endeavors in this country. Lastly, specific curricular implications for early childhood are addressed and related to empirical information presently available.

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The ability to learn multiple languages simultaneously is a fundamental human linguistic capacity. Yet there has been little attempt to explain this in evolutionary terms. Perhaps one reason for this lack of attention is the idea that monolingualism is the default, most basic state and so needs to be explained before considering bilingualism. When thinking about bilingualism in this light, a paradox appears: Intuitively, learning two languages is harder than learning one, yet bilingualism is prevalent in the world. Previous explanations for linguistic diversity involve appeals to adaptation for group resistance to freeriders. However, the first statement of the paradox is a property of individuals, while the second part is a property of populations. This thesis shows that the properties of cultural transmission mean that the link between individual learning and population-level phenomena can be complex. A simple Bayesian model shows that just because learning one language is easier than two, it doesn't mean that monolingualism will be the most prevalent property of populations. Although this appears to resolve the paradox, by building models of bilingual language evolution the complexity of the problem is revealed. A bilingual is typically defined as an individual with "native-like control of two languages" (Bloomfield, 1933, p. 56), but how do we define a native speaker? How do we measure proficiency? How do we define a language? How can we draw boundaries between languages that are changing over large timescales and spoken by populations with dynamic structures? This thesis argues that there is no psychological reality to the concept of discrete, monolithic, static `languages' - they are epiphenomena that emerge from the way individuals use low-level linguistic features. Furthermore, dynamic social structures are what drives levels of bilingualism. This leads to a concrete definition of bilingualism: The amount of linguistic optionality that is conditioned on social variables. However, integrating continuous variation and dynamic social structures into existing top-down models is difficult because many make monolingual assumptions. Subsequently, introducing bilingualism into these models makes them qualitatively more complicated. The assumptions that are valid for studying the general processes of cultural transmission may not be suitable for asking questions about bilingualism. I present a bottom-up model that is specifically designed to address the bilingual paradox. In this model, individuals have a general learning mechanism that conditions linguistic variation on semantic variables and social variables such as the identity of the speaker. If speaker identity is an important conditioning factor, then `bilingualism' emerges. The mechanism required to learn one language in this model can also learn multiple languages. This suggests that the bilingual paradox derives from focussing on the wrong kind of question. Rather than having to explain the ability to learn multiple languages simultaneously as an adaptation, we should be asking how and why humans developed a flexible language learning mechanism. This argument coincides with a move in the field of bilingualism away from asking `how are monolinguals and bilinguals different?' to `how does the distribution of variation affect the way children learn?'. In this case, while studies of language evolution look at how learning biases affect linguistic variation, studies of bilingualism look at how linguistic variation affects learning biases. I suggest that the two fields have a lot to offer each other.

Many learners in South Africa first encounter English when it is used as a medium of instruction at the start of formal schooling. This has ramifications for literacy acquisition and academic performance. Working memory is responsible for distributing cognitive resources among the various processing and storage tasks. It has been pivotal in many cognitive theories linking working memory to academic skills like reading comprehension and mathematics ability. In addition, research indicates that both Short Term Memory (STM) and Working Memory (WM) are instrumental in cognitive processing but that in bilinguals their roles are more complex than they are in monolinguals. This research explored the capacity of WM and the role of WM in reading comprehension and mathematical ability in two South African populations: a monolingual English group (L1) and a bilingual Afrikaans/English group (L2). No significant differences were found in the WM capacity of the two groups. In the second part of the study it was found that both reading comprehension and bilingualism depend on the same verbal domain resources of WM, which act as constraining factors for the L2 group. However, in the L1 group, there appeared to be less competition for verbal domain resources and more for visuospatial resources probably due to the phase of literacy acquisition these learners were in. In terms of WM and mathematical ability it was found that bilinguals exceed their storage capacity (STM) before they run out of processing capacity (WM). STM therefore is a constraining factor for this group. However, for the L1 group, visuospatial processing is the constraining factor. The research concludes that bilinguals use WM both for semantic processing of their nondominant language and for complex cognitive processing. While the WM capacity for monolingual and bilingual learners appears to be equivalent, the way the resources are allocated during cognitive tasks differ.

Thesis advisor: Andrew Beauchamp / Thesis advisor: Arthur Lewbel / This thesis sheds light on two cutting-edge topics in Labor Economics, peer effects in the workplace and non-cognitive skills, and makes a methodological contribution to the related literature. The literature on peer effects in the workplace seeks to better understand co-workers' effect on an individual's productivity through the interactions among workers beyond the production technology. In the first essay, titled Learning When It Counts: Evidence from Professional Bowling Tournaments, I test the hypothesis that a worker can improve productivity by learning from peer co-workers in high-skill jobs. While demand for high-skill workers has been increasing, high-skill jobs often require workers to make a decision, facing uncertainty underlying their tasks. Highly skilled professionals have deep insights to pick up meaningful patterns of information. Therefore, if they are in an environment that allows them to learn additional information from co-workers, their productivity can improve. In this paper, I examine the productivity effects of learning among high-skill peers about uncertain conditions underlying their tasks with variations in the "space of ideas," exploiting a unique, novel dataset from professional bowling competitions. Specifically, a bowler learns about lane conditions in part by watching his competitor bowl on the same lane. A right-handed bowler learns more relevant (to his task) information from competing with another right-hander than with a left-hander, as the used part of the lanes (the proximate space of ideas) varies with handedness. I compare the probabilities of bowling a strike of bowlers matched with like-handed competitors versus opposite-handed competitors. I find a large impact of the same ideas space on learning, e.g, being paired with a like-handed bowler increases strike probability by 14 percentage points. This finding adds evidence for the existence of peer effects in high-skill jobs. I also show that learning curves exist only when bowlers are in same-handed match-ups, by examining how these differences change from one frame to the next over a game. Another calculation is determining how much total scores could be increased by pairing bowlers to raise the proximity in the space of ideas. These results are suggestive of how much workplaces might increase productivity by optimally pairing workers based on the proximity of the space of ideas. The second topic of this dissertation is non-cognitive skills such as conscientiousness, self-control and social skills. Conventionally, economists have assumed that measures of cognitive skills such as IQ were sufficient to represent the role of human capital in production. However, a growing body of research suggests that non-cognitive skills are important factors in educational attainment and labor outcomes. Recent research in psychology shows that bilingualism can help strengthen social skills and self-control. In the second essay, joint with Tracy Regan and titled Bilingual Advantage in Non-cognitive Skills, we examine the causal relationship between bilingualism and non-cognitive measures, exploiting a large dataset from Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002). To isolate the causality, we use an indicator for whether either parent was foreign-born as an instrumental variable for bilingualism. We find that raising the degree of speaking a language other than English to parents from none to all of the time can increase a student's percentile in the U.S. national distribution by 36 percentage points for conscientiousness (being well organized and working hard) and by 39 and 50 percentage points for instrumental motivation (academic motivation to achieve external goals such as better job opportunities) and persistence (keeping working even in difficulties). In particular, the bilingual advantage in persistence turns out to be significant only for disadvantaged children (the lowest socioeconomic status quartile) but insignificant for the others. These results suggest that bilingualism can be promoted as a policy tool to reduce inequality and call for further research on the relationship between bilingualism and non-cognitive skills. In the final essay, titled Simple Transformation for Finding a Maximum Weighted Matching in General Digraphs, I propose a novel, simple procedure using an existing efficient algorithm to find an optimal pairing that can produce the maximum output. As shown in the first essay, this algorithm can be useful for the optimal deployment of workforces with the consideration of peer effects. Particularly, the procedure is applicable to cases in which the order in a pair matters. The order can complicate the problem of finding optimal pairings, because a pair can have two orders. To address this ordered pairing problem, I devise a simple transformation of a general directed graph to a proper (undirected) graph. Using the transformed graph, a maximum weighted matching can be found, using any existing polynomial-time algorithm for undirected graphs. By recovering orientations in the found matching, a maximum weighted matching for the original directed graph can be found. I prove the matching from the suggested algorithm is always a maximum weighted matching in the directed graph. This thesis contributes to Labor Economics by adding evidence in newly-rising topics. The first chapter shows evidence of peer effect--learning from competitors--among high-skill workers. The second chapter suggests that bilinguals have an advantage in forming non-cognitive skills. The third chapter proposes an algorithm for finding an optimal pairing to maximize the aggregate productivity in the consideration of the learning effect found in the first chapter. I hope that the findings in the thesis will meaningfully contribute to the developing literature of Labor Economics. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

An EEG experiment was design to test the influence of level of proficiency on processing of emotion content between languages in a sample of Spanish-English bilinguals divided by proficiency levels between two groups of bilinguals, one group of balanced (n=23) and another of unbalanced bilinguals (n=26). The participants rated words in three categories (negative, neutral, and positive) in terms of emotional valence in English and Spanish while EEG was recorded. Event-related potentials were calculated for two components related to emotion processing: the early posterior negativity (EPN) and the late positive complex LPC. 2 (Bilingual group) x 2 (language) x 3 (valence) x 3 (electrode) analyses were conducted on each component, separately for latency and amplitude. The results for the EPN latency indicated a marginally significant valence effect, with emotion words presenting shorter latencies than neutral words across conditions indicating a processing advantage of emotion content in both languages. The EPN amplitude also reflected the effect of valence, with larger amplitudes both emotion categories than for neutral words. The overall EPN amplitude was larger in Spanish than in English for both bilingual groups across valence categories. The LPC latency was longer in English than in Spanish for both bilingual groups, possibly related to Spanish being identified as native language in most of the sample. The LPC amplitude was larger for negative than for emotion than for neutral words for both groups in English and in Spanish for the Balanced group. The Unbalanced group, however, presented larger for positive than for neutral, and for neutral than for negative words. These results suggest that the Balanced and Unbalanced groups process emotion content similarly in English, but differently in Spanish. The Valence effects were consistent across languages for the Balanced group, but not for the Unbalanced group which might reflect an attenuation of the valence effect for negative words in Spanish for this group, and could indicate weaker emotional reactivity to negative words in the less proficient language. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / This multiple case study investigated the writing behaviors and samples of Spanish-English bilingual fourth grade students in a Transitional Bilingual Education classroom in the Northeastern United States. The questions guiding the study were: For Spanish-speaking children who are acquiring English as a second language, is the writing process in English the same as the writing process in Spanish? How does oral language proficiency in English affect writing proficiency in English? How does knowledge of writing in the Spanish affect writing in English? Students wrote two personal narratives and two persuasive essays, one in each language, as well as a response to reading in both English and Spanish. The teacher researcher and two other teachers observed and audiotaped six students as they wrote their essays. Interviews with the students were conducted when the essays were completed to elicit information on writing behaviors observed as well as general information about personal writing habits. Data from the observations, audiotapes, and interviews were transcribed and coded. Individual cases were studied, then cross-case analyses were done. Results from the analyses provide evidence for the transfer theory ofbiliteracy. Participants in this study generally used similar processes and strategies when writing in both languages. Results of the written products suggest that cognitive aspects of writing also transfer from one language to the other. Differences in the degree to which students employed these strategies, however, were also found. Students had less linguistic control in English, less sophisticated vocabulary, and less grammatical accuracy. Oral code switching was frequently observed, however, written code switching was infrequent. The average scores on the written samples in both languages were below the proficient level. Findings suggest that the ability to use both languages while writing enables bilingual students to plan and compose better essays. Also, benefits of transfer will be maximized if instruction in L 1 literacy continues. Finally, explicit teaching of language-specific grammar, spelling, and punctuation rules should be conducted. / 2031-01-01

The present study investigated the impact of language use on self-perceived personality and personality as perceived by others in the bilingual Chinese-English context. We used a repeated-measures design and collected data at three time points from written measures and experimental settings, to examine whether bilinguals (n = 76) exhibit different patterns of personality characteristics, each associated with one of the two languages and interlocutor ethnicity, and to delineate such discrepancies using behavioral observations in addition to self-reports. By analyzing ratings by targets, interlocutors, and observers, our findings confirmed perception effects, language effects, and ethnicity effects on various personality dimensions, such as extraversion, openness to experience and assertiveness. We suggest that using a second language accesses the perceived cultural norms in which it is applied, especially the prototypic personality profiles in that culture, thus activating behavioral expressions of personality that are appropriate in the corresponding linguistic-social context. / Chen , Xiaohua Sylvia. / "July 2007." / Adviser: Michael Harris Bond. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-01, Section: B, page: 0728. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 60-70). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

Previous studies of bilingual infants learning their languages simultaneously have suggested that such children go through what is known as a unified speech period in which they make no differentation between the languages in question and in which they frequently use mixed utterances (Arnberg, 1987; Grosjen, 1982; Leopold, 1939; & Skutnabb-Kangas, 1981). To test the validity of the claim that there is such a period, an English-Japanese bilingual child from one year and six months of age (1;6) through two years and six months of age (2;6) was observed and his speech recorded.