Moving from China to York: How do changes in language experiences modulate bilingual language control?

在我们的国际社会中，说一种以上的语言正变得越来越普遍。许多人为了工作或学习，或由于战争或自然灾害而移居到一个新的国家。他们经常用非母语学习、工作和交流。在英国，五分之一的学生是国际学生，对许多人来说，英语是一门外语。说两种语言不仅需要对每种语言有一定的熟练程度，而且还需要对语言进行控制，以确保使用与上下文相适应的语言。即使双语者只能使用其中一种语言，另一种语言仍然是活跃的。因此，使用双语并不像通常看起来那么容易。例如，在英国上课时，中英双语者必须使用英语。要做到这一点，他们不仅需要选择英语单词，还必须确保他们不会偶然说出普通话单词。此外，双语者经常在他们的语言之间切换。例如，同样会说中英双语的人在与中国朋友交谈时需要切换回普通话。双语者表面上经常毫不费力地转换语言，但这实际上需要各种控制过程。双语者需要观察环境(例如，对话者的脸)来选择语言，他们需要选择该语言中的单词，避免其他语言的干扰，并在需要时进行转换。双语者的语言控制可能会有所不同。双语者在许多方面都不同，特别是在如何使用他们的语言方面。一些双语者生活在一个主要需要使用一种语言的环境中，例如生活在中国的中英双语者，他们大部分时间都使用普通话。其他双语者生活的环境需要两种语言的互换使用，例如英国的普通话-英语双语者周围都有以英语和普通话为母语的人。这项拟议的研究将评估这些日常生活中的语言体验如何影响流利交流所需的双语语言控制机制。所有的双语者都使用类似的控制机制吗？或者这些语言控制机制是由实际的日常语言经验形成的？为了实现这一点，该项目将研究一群从中国移居英国完成大学学位的中国学生。我们将在这些学生来英国的第一年对他们进行多次测试。他们将完成几个语言产生和理解任务，以衡量语言控制。此外，他们还将完成评估他们在英国的语言经历的问卷调查。我们将评估如何在这群国际学生中发展语言控制。此外，我们将把他们与在中国继续学习的一组中英双语者进行比较。这个项目将为双语者如何应用语言控制进行交流提供新的见解，重点关注个人日常生活语言经验如何塑造语言控制。它将展示双语者如何根据他们的日常语言经验来选择目标语言中的单词，他们如何处理来自另一种语言的干扰，以及他们如何在产生和理解过程中转换语言。实际上，这个项目将为我们提供更多关于双语者如何用他们的母语和非母语交流的知识。这将帮助使用非母语工作和学习的双语者，包括国际学生和移民。例如，通过了解国际学生如何使用他们的母语和非母语，我们可以更充分地为新的国际学生在学术和非学术环境中使用英语做好准备。因此，这个项目将使学术界和非学术界的受众都受益。

In our international society, speaking more than one language is becoming increasingly common. Many people move to a new country for their work or studies or due to wars or natural disasters. They frequently study, work, and communicate in a non-native language. One in five students in the UK is international and for many English is a foreign language. Speaking two languages requires not only a certain proficiency level in each language, but also language control to ensure that the contextually appropriate language is used. Even when a bilingual has to use just one of their languages, the other language is still active. Bilingual language use is therefore not as easy as it often looks. For example, when attending classes in the UK, a Mandarin-English bilingual has to use English. To achieve this, not only do they need to select English words, but they also have to ensure that they do not accidentally speak Mandarin words. Furthermore, bilinguals often switch between their languages. For example, the same Mandarin-English bilingual needs to switch back to Mandarin when talking with a Chinese friend. Bilinguals often switch languages apparently effortlessly, but this actually requires various control processes. Bilinguals need to look at the environment (e.g., the faces of their interlocutors) to choose a language, they need to select words in that language, avoid interference from the other language, and make the switch when needed.Language control might differ between bilinguals. Bilinguals differ from each other in many ways, especially in terms of how they use their languages. Some bilinguals live in an environment that predominantly requires the use of one language, for example Mandarin-English bilinguals living in China and using Mandarin most of the time. Other bilinguals live in an environment that requires interchangeable use of two languages, for example Mandarin-English bilinguals in the UK surrounded by both English and Mandarin native speakers. The proposed research will assess how these daily-life language experiences influence bilingual language-control mechanisms that are needed for fluent communication. Do all bilinguals use similar control mechanisms? Or are these language-control mechanisms shaped by actual daily-life language experiences?To do this, the project will study a group of Chinese students who have moved from China to the UK to complete a university degree. We will test these students multiple times throughout their first year in the UK. They will complete several language production and comprehension tasks to measure language control. In addition, they will complete questionnaires assessing their language experiences in the UK. We will assess how language control develops within this group of international students. In addition, we will compare them to a control group of Mandarin-English bilinguals who continue their studies in China.This project will provide novel insights into how bilinguals apply language control to communicate, with a focus on how individual daily-life language experiences might shape language control. It will show how bilinguals, depending on their daily-life language experiences, manage to select words in the intended language, how they manage interference from the other language, and how they switch languages in production and comprehension. Practically, this project will provide us with more knowledge about how bilinguals communicate in their native and non-native languages. This will help bilinguals who work and study in their non-native language, including international students and migrants. For example, by understanding how international students use their native and non-native languages, we can more adequately prepare new international students for English language use in academic and non-academic environments. As such, this project will benefit both academic and non-academic audiences.