Bilingualism
Does switching languages change bilinguals' self-control on the fly?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
German-dominant bilinguals living in the UK did slightly better on an attention-control task after reading English-only sentences than after reading sentences that mixed German and English.
Study at a glance
- Design
- Human experiment — Flanker task blocks interleaved with single-language English sentences or one of four code-switching types (within-subject, partially counterbalanced), plus a bilingual-vs-monolingual comparison on the single-language block and exploratory stepwise regressions on code-switching habits and dominance
- N
- N=58 · 29 German-English bilinguals completed all five conditions; 29 matched English monolinguals completed only the single-language block, in a different task order
- Population
- Adult first-generation German immigrants to the UK who were L1-German dominant, and matched functionally monolingual English speakers
- Outcome
- Flanker reaction times, accuracy and the conflict effect (incongruent minus congruent) in each language-mode block; self-rated frequency of four code-switching types
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Key findings
Bilinguals responded faster in the English-only block than in the mixed-language blocks on average, and their accuracy on conflict trials was higher there, so the English-only context seemed to boost control, as predicted from having to suppress dominant German. In that block, bilinguals showed almost no accuracy conflict effect while monolinguals showed a normal one, though reaction times did not differ between groups. Differences among the four code-switching blocks were only marginal. In exploratory regressions, more balanced bilinguals did better at inhibition across the mixed blocks, and frequent dense code-switchers did worse in the English-only and alternation blocks.
Methodology
Twenty-nine German-English bilinguals did an arrow flanker task in five blocks; before each flanker trial they read a sentence that was either all English or contained one type of code-switching (alternation, English words inserted into German, German words inserted into English, or dense mixing). They also rated how often they use each code-switching type and completed dominance, proficiency, memory and IQ measures. Twenty-nine matched English monolinguals did only the English-sentence block, and stepwise regressions explored which personal factors predicted performance in each block.
Limitations
The samples were small, and the authors themselves urge caution. Accuracy was near ceiling, so the key bilingual-monolingual accuracy difference rests on very small effects, and some regression results were driven by a handful of participants. Monolinguals took the verbal flanker block fourth, after three other flanker tasks, so the group comparison is confounded by task order. Many stepwise regressions were run on small groups, raising the risk of chance findings, and code-switching habits were self-rated; the study also had no dual-language (between-sentence switching) condition, so it cannot test all model predictions.
How this study connects
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