Reading and Speaking Words in Two Languages: A Psycholinguistic Approach to Bilingualism

双语者可以用两种语言阅读和说话。在大多数情况下，他们只使用一种语言。当一个双语者只用一种语言阅读或说时，未使用的语言的命运是什么？过去的研究表明，即使双语者只打算使用一种语言，两种语言都是活跃的。如果双语者不能像单语者那样发挥作用，那么他们如何控制目标语言的使用？在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，朱迪思·克罗尔博士将研究让识字的双语者在使用语言时实现精致的认知控制的条件。计划中的研究的具体目标是确定双语者使用什么线索来关注所需的语言，以及他们的语言经验，包括第二语言习得的时间和背景，如何调节两种语言之间的潜在竞争。这项研究计划将使用双语者的经验作为一种手段，以更好地了解认知控制的机制。资助的研究将有助于关于多语制的重要基础知识，这将为社会中的教育问题提供信息，在这个社会中，许多学习者面临着在童年早期阶段获得第二语言的任务。这项研究还将有助于培养日益多样化的认知科学家群体，包括本科生和研究生，其中许多人本身就是双语的，并将促进国际科学合作。虽然熟练的双语者很少会犯用错误的语言说单词或认为他们正在阅读另一种语言的文本的错误，但最近关于单词识别和口语产生中词汇通达的认知研究表明，即使在阅读和口语等高度熟练的任务中，关于两种语言的信息也是活跃的，至少是短暂的。缺乏一个简单的机制来关闭两种语言中的一种，当使用另一种语言时，从双语表现的角度来看，这个问题变得更加复杂，但从阐明认知机制的角度来看，这个问题也更加有趣。出于这个原因，双语已经成为心理学家的一个重要工具，他们希望模拟发展中的系统，它们之间的竞争，以及执行控制的后果。拟议的研究的总体目标是确定允许跨语言竞争得到解决的因素。计划中的研究的具体目标是确定双语使用什么线索参加到预期的语言，是否有学习环境，促进这些线索的收购，以及是否双语的语言经验影响的能力，以调节跨语言竞争。更广泛的影响。直到最近，认知科学几乎忽略了这样一个事实，即世界上大多数人，以及越来越多的美国人，都是双语者。在过去十年中，这种情况发生了显著变化。现在有一种认识，即学习和使用一种以上的语言是一种自然的认知环境。关于第二语言学习和双语的研究不仅为认知原则的普遍性提供了重要证据，而且还为揭示认知结构中的限制提供了重要工具。拟议的研究将有助于关于多语制的重要基础知识，将告知教育问题，在一个日益多样化的社会中，许多学习者面临着获得第二语言的任务过去的童年的最早阶段。这项研究将通过培养比认知心理学中典型的学生更多样化的学生群体，并通过促进国际科学合作，更具体地为科学基础设施做出贡献。

Biliterate bilinguals can both read and speak in two languages. However, in most circumstances, they use one language only. What is the fate of the unused language when a bilingual is reading or speaking in one language alone? Past studies suggest that both languages are active even when bilinguals intend to use only one language. If bilinguals cannot function as monolinguals, then how do they control the use of the intended language? With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Judith Kroll will investigate the conditions that allow literate bilinguals to achieve the exquisite cognitive control that they appear to have when using language. The specific aims of the planned research are to determine what cues bilinguals use to attend to the desired language and how their language experience, including the timing and context of acquisition of the second language, functions to modulate potential competition across the two languages. This research project will use the experience of bilinguals as a means to better understand the mechanisms of cognitive control. The funded research will contribute important foundational knowledge about multilingualism that will inform educational issues in a society in which many learners are faced with the task of acquiring a second language past the earliest stages of childhood. The research will also contribute to the training of an increasingly diverse group of cognitive scientists by including both undergraduate and graduate students, many of whom are themselves bilingual, and will foster international scientific collaboration.Original Project Summary:PROJECT SUMMARYIntellectual Merits. Although proficient bilinguals rarely make the error of speaking words in the wrong language or thinking that they are reading text in a language other than the one intended, recent cognitive research on lexical access in word recognition and in spoken production suggests that information about both languages is active, at least briefly, in even highly skilled tasks such as reading and speaking. The absence of a simple mechanism to switch off one of the two languages when using the other makes the problem more complicated from the perspective of bilingual performance, but also more interesting from the perspective of elucidating cognitive mechanisms. For this reason, bilingualism has become an important tool for psychologists who wish to model developing systems, the competition between them, and the consequences for executive control. The general goal of the proposed research is to identify factors that permit cross-language competition to be resolved. The specific aims of the planned studies are to determine what cues bilingual use to attend to the intended language, whether there are learning contexts that facilitate acquisition of these cues, and whether the language experience of the bilingual affects the ability to modulate cross-language competition. Broader Impacts. Until recently, cognitive science virtually ignored the fact that most people of the world, and an increasing number of people in the US, are bilingual. In the past ten years this situation has changed markedly. There is now an appreciation that learning and using more than one language is a natural circumstance of cognition. Not only does research on second language learning and bilingualism provide crucial evidence regarding the universality of cognitive principles, but it also provides an important tool for revealing constraints within the cognitive architecture. The proposed research will contribute important foundational knowledge about multilingualism that will inform educational issues in an increasingly diverse society in which many learners are faced with the task of acquiring a second language past the earliest stages of childhood. The research will more specifically contribute to the infrastructure of science by training a more diverse group of students than is typical in cognitive psychology and by fostering international scientific collaboration.