What are the effects of non-balanced bilingualism on cognitive performance? And how do proficient, non-native speakers acquire and use lexical, syntactic and semantic information during sentence processing? Whilst there is growing research on these topics, there is no firm consensus on how to answer these questions. In the literature on cognitive effects of bilingualism, this lack of consensus has even resulted in radically opposing views and a heated debate. In this thesis, I seek to provide a balanced treatment of the literature and to address the above-mentioned questions by employing behavioral and neurophysiological paradigms. First, using a structural priming paradigm, I examine how proficient, non-native speakers of different native language backgrounds (Romance and Germanic) acquire lexically-specific syntactic restrictions of non-alternating verbs in English. Results from these experiments suggest that, although non-native speakers partially acquire lexically-specific syntactic restrictions, their knowledge is not native-like. Moreover, transfer from the first language does not seem to play a role in the acquisition of the relevant restrictions. Second, using Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) I examine whether proficient non-native Spanish-English speakers draw on different forms of semantic information such as relatedness and animacy incrementally during sentence comprehension. Results of these experiments suggest that, while relatedness facilitates processing (indexed by N400s) in both native and non-native speakers, effects of animacy are smaller in non-native speakers, relative to native speakers. Third, I employ a series of auditory attentional tasks and measures of lexical access and verbal fluency to assess cognitive functions in non-balanced bilinguals with different levels of language proficiency. Results show a bilingual advantage in inhibitory control and a non-significant trend towards bilingual better performance in attentional switching, and the groups exhibit similar performance on verbal fluency. Results of all the studies are discussed in the context of the existing literature on cognitive performance in bilinguals and accounts of language processing in native and non-native speakers and suggestions for future research are provided.

The mobile preschool are preschools in buses who travels to different locations where the children spend the day. It allows children to spend time in a variety of public spaces as well as it enables ac- cess to nature, green spaces and physical activity. This study use already collected video material from a larger ethnographic research project about the mobile preschool. The aim of this study is to look at the socializationprocess during a priming event in a mobile preschool where a group of children who have taken part in the preschool during one year will meet a group of visiting children who will begin in the preschool in the autumn. A priming event is common in the mobile preschool as well as in transitions within ordinary preschools and in the transition from preschool to school. During this priming event the transition occurs between the experienced child and the inexperienced child to create an understanding of how to be a mobile preschooler. Results show that by taking part in this priming event and by interacting with children and teachers the visiting children learn diffe- rent competences that are needed when becoming a mobile preschool child. The children and educators interact on what rules and skills are important when becoming a competent mobile pre- schooler. These skills include, being able to walk long distances, to keep the line together, to be aware of different safety aspects, to be quiet whilst travelling on the bus, to learn what kind of acti- vities one can do in different places and how to get your afternoon snack. This priming event where a group of experiences children meet the visiting children is also a unique event who makes them masters and novices, which in in line with theories about peripheral participation. The result show that when the experienced child are taking a leader role they guide, tell and show the novice child how to act as a mobile preschool child. By telling details about what is going to happen, tell and show what is expected and guide them during the activities. The experienced child take responsibi- lity and the inexperienced child tries to follow as they are told, the result aslo show that one the ex- perience children has been told by the teachers to help the visting children. During this priming event in a mobile preschool the socializationprocess takes place through the children’s participation, interaction and learning.