Multilingualism in the context of school learning: Advantage,disadvantage, or both? A differentiating analysis of Turkish - Germanbilinguals with respect to the interrelation between bilingualism, codeswitching and executive functions

该项目解决了在德国单语教育系统的单语背景下，双语对认知功能的影响有多大的问题。该领域之前的研究主要主张“双语是一种优势”（双语是一种优势，Bialystok et al. 2012）。人们一直认为，在语言之间切换的能力及其持续的实施，对执行功能（EF）产生了积极的影响，并反过来导致其他认知功能的表现提高。然而，这一领域最近的研究表明，双语和认知功能之间的联系并不是直接的，因为多语种使用者在德国学校系统中表现不佳，他们的成就水平存在差异。这些不同发现背后的一个因素可能是双语者所处的不同环境的高度可变性。因此，人们可以问，语言被激活和语言转换发生的环境是否必然会给双语者带来认知优势。对于计划中的研究，这意味着与之前的研究相比，双语能力、执行功能以及基于语言的认知表现的作用将在不同的层面上进行更细致的调查。在第一阶段，重点将放在从一种语言切换到另一种语言（代码切换）的决策策略上。这涉及复杂的认知和神经元过程，考虑到不同的策略，这些过程将对认知因素和执行功能产生特定的影响。研究语码转换策略对执行功能、整体表现和语言理解的影响，对家长和教师都有重要意义。在第二阶段，重点将放在两种语言的激活水平上，这取决于代码转换发生的上下文的相关差异。与之前的研究不同，这项研究将通过诱导不同程度的语言激活来进行。另一个因素与语言结构有关。以往的研究主要考察词汇获取的影响，而本研究将基于两种语言之间的结构差异来考察其影响。考虑到语法知识是高度抽象的，获取过程不需要有意识的努力，语言之间的结构差异可能导致激活过程中的冲突。这意味着说话者可能还必须应对对相关认知资源的需求增加。

The project addresses the question in how far bilingualism effects cognitive functioning in the monolingual context of the German monolingual education system. Previous research in this field has dminantly advocated the position 'bilingualism is an advantage' (Bilingualism is an advantage, Bialystok et al. 2012). It has been assumed that the ability to switch between languages, and its constant implementation, influences executive functions (EF) in positive terms and leads in turn to an increase in performance in other cognitive functions. However, recent studies in this field now indicate that the link between bilingualism and cognitive function is not direct given the differences reported for the levels of achievement by multilingual speakers who often do not do well in the German school system. One factor underlying these diverse findings may lie in thehigh degree of variability across the different conditions to which bilingual speakers are exposed. One can thus ask if the contexts in which the languages are activated and language switching takes place would necessarily entail a cognitive advantage for the bilingual speaker. For the planned study this means that the role of bilingualism, executive function, as well as cognitive performance based on language, will be investigated at different levels on a more fine-grained basis compared to previous studies. In the first stage focus will be placed on the strategies underlying the decision to switch from one language to another (code switching). This involves complexcognitive and neuronal processes which, given the different strategies, will have specific implications for cognitive factors as well as executive function. Research into the effects of code switching strategies on executive function, as well as overall performance andlanguage comprehension, has relevant implications for both parents and teachers. In the second stage focus will be placed on the level of activation for both languages depending on relevant differences in the contexts in which code switching takes place. In contrast to previous studies this will be carried out by inducing different levels of activationfor the languages involved. A further factor concerns language structure. While previous studies mainly investigated effects observed in lexical access, the present study will investigate effects based on structural differences between the two languages. Given the fact that grammatical knowledge is highly abstract and access proceedswithout conscious effort, structural contrasts between languages could lead to conflicts in the activation process. This means that speakers may also have to contend with increased demands on relevant cognitive resources.