English as a second language (L2) has become the medium of instruction in numerous contexts even though many people may have difficulties to read and study in L2. According to the self-regulated framework, metacognitive strategies are essential to achieve successful learning, but they are resource-consuming and their use might be compromised in demanding contexts such as learning in L2. In Experiment 1, nonbalanced bilinguals read high- and low-cohesion texts in L1 and L2 and self-rated their learning using a judgment of learning (JOL). Then, they answered open-ended questions and responded a customized questionnaire regarding their strategies. In Experiment 2, we introduced two bilingual groups varying in L2 proficiency. Overall, participants could adjust their JOLs and detect the difficulty of the texts correctly in L1 and L2. However, results evidenced some nuances in learning strategies related to L2 proficiency. We discuss these findings within the context of the self-regulated learning.

This study investigated the role of temperament in oral language development in over 200 Mandarin and Cantonese speakers in the Growing Up in New Zealand pre-birth longitudinal cohort study. Mothers assessed infant temperament at nine months using a five-factor Infant Behaviour Questionnaire-Revised Very Short Form. They also reported on children’s vocabulary and word combinations at age two using adapted MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory short forms. Regression analyses were employed to examine unique links between infant temperament and language, respectively, controlling for demographic factors. Fear was associated with larger English vocabularies for English-Mandarin speakers and larger Cantonese vocabularies for Cantonese speakers. Orienting capacity was associated with more advanced word combinations for Mandarin speakers, whereas negative emotionality was associated with less advanced word combinations for Cantonese speakers. Positive affect/surgency was associated with more advanced word combinations for English-Cantonese speakers. This study revealed predictive patterns of infant temperament across Chinese-speaking children’s multiple languages.

Can exposure to a foreign language in the first year of school enhance divergent thinking skills? Ninety-nine monolingual children from predominantly White neighbourhoods (MAge = 57.7 months, SD 1.2; 47 girls) attending bilingual schools, schools with weekly foreign language lessons, or schools without a foreign language provision (= controls) completed divergent thinking and executive function tasks at the beginning of the school year and 24 weeks later. The groups did not differ on creativity measures at the beginning of the school year. Only bilingual school children and weekly language learners improved divergent thinking at the second testing point, with the former significantly outperforming controls on creative fluency and flexibility. Improvements could not be explained by executive function development. Therefore, a considerable amount of exposure to a foreign language in early formal education appears to boost creative thinking.

Schizophrenia impacts several cognitive systems including language. Linguistic symptoms of schizophrenia are important to understand due to the crucial role that language plays in the diagnostic and treatment process. However, the literature is heavily based on monolingual-centric research. Multilinguals demonstrate differences from monolinguals in language cognition. When someone with schizophrenia is multilingual, how do these differences interact with their symptoms? To address this question, we conducted a pre-registered PRISMA-SR scoping review to determine themes in the literature and identify gaps for future research. Four hundred and twenty records were identified from three databases in 2023. Thirty articles were included in the synthesis. We found three emergent themes: (1) the need for multilingual treatment options, (2) differences in symptomology between the L1 and L2, and (3) the impact of cultural factors on linguistic functioning. Thus, several avenues of research regarding multilingualism may be fruitful for improving linguistic and social outcomes in schizophrenia.

We tested whether verb-based prediction in late bilinguals is facilitated when the verb is a cognate versus non-cognate. Spanish–English bilinguals and Chinese–English bilinguals (control) listened to English sentences such as “The girl will adopt the dog” while viewing a scene containing either a dog and unadoptable objects (predictable condition) or a dog and other adoptable animals (unpredictable condition). The verb was either a cognate or non-cognate between Spanish and English and never a cognate between Chinese and English. Both groups of bilinguals were more likely to look at the target (the dog) in the predictable versus unpredictable condition. However, only low-proficient L1 Spanish bilinguals showed greater and earlier prediction when the verb was cognate than when it was non-cognate, suggesting that cognate facilitation effect occurs not only on the cognate word itself but also on prediction based on this cognate word, and that this effect is modulated by L2 proficiency.

We report findings from a corpus-based investigation of three young children growing up in German-English bilingual environments (M = 3;0, Range = 2;3–3;11). Based on 2,146,179 single words and two-word combinations in naturalistic child speech (CS) and child-directed speech (CDS), we assessed the degree to which the frequency distribution of CDS predicted CS usage over time, and systematically identified CS that was over- or underrepresented in the corpus with respect to matched CDS baselines. Results showed that CDS explained 61% of the variance in CS single-word use and 19.3% of the variance in two-word combinations. Furthermore, the bilingual nature of the over or -underrepresented CS was partially attributable to factors beyond the corpus statistics, namely individual differences between children in their bilingual learning environment. In two out of the three children, overrepresented two-word combinations contained higher levels of syntactic slot redundancy than underrepresented CS. These results are discussed with respect to the role that redundancy plays in producing semiformulaic slot-and-frame patterns in CS.

The classical language switching paradigm using arbitrary cues to indicate the language to speak in has revealed switching between languages comes at a cost (i.e., switch cost) and makes one slower in the first than in the second language (i.e., reversed language dominance). However, arbitrary cues can create artificial requirements not present during everyday language interactions. Therefore, we investigated whether simulating elements of real-life conversations with question cues (‘Co?’ versus ‘What?’) facilitates language switching in comparison to the classical paradigm (Experiment 1: red versus blue outline; Experiments 2 and 3: low versus high tone). We revealed a dissociation between the two indices of language control: (1) question cues, compared to arbitrary cues, reduced switch costs but (2) did not modulate (in Experiment 1) or increase the reversed language dominance (Experiments 2 and 3). We propose that this conversational switching paradigm could be used as a conceptually more ‘true’ measure of language control.

This study investigated the impact of reading statements in a second language (L2) versus the first language (L1) on core knowledge confusion (CKC), superstition, and conspiracy beliefs. Previous research on the Foreign Language Effect (FLE) suggests that using an L2 elicits less intense emotional reactions, promotes rational decision-making, reduces risk aversion, causality bias and superstition alters the perception of dishonesty and crime, and increases tolerance of ambiguity. Our results do not support the expected FLE and found instead an effect of L2 proficiency: Participants with lower proficiency exhibited more CKC, were more superstitious and believed more in conspiracy theories, regardless of whether they were tested in L1 or L2. The study emphasises the importance of considering L2 proficiency when investigating the effect of language on decision-making and judgements: It—or related factors—may influence how material is judged, contributing to the FLE, or even creating an artificial effect.

The current research aims to predict L1 Papiamento and L2 Dutch reading comprehension development in 180 children in the upper primary grades (4–6) in a post-colonial Caribbean context from initial language of decoding instruction, cognitive and linguistic child characteristics, and linguistic transfer. Overall, children showed better reading comprehension proficiency in L1 as compared to L2 Dutch. Over the grades, strong autoregression effects in reading comprehension development in both languages were evidenced. Language of decoding instruction was found to predict L2 reading comprehension, but not L1 reading comprehension. The development of L2 reading comprehension showed better outcomes in the case of initial decoding instruction in L2. Word decoding, reading vocabulary, and grammar in respectively L1 and L2 were related to L1 and L2 reading comprehension in Grade 4, while L2 reading comprehension was additionally related to L2 basic oral vocabulary. Moreover, only reading vocabulary was related to L1 and L2 reading comprehension development across the grades. Finally, evidence of cross-linguistic interdependencies in the development of reading comprehension in L1 and L2 was found.

Little is known about the interplay between the language of operation and gender stereotype processing. In this study, Polish–English (L1–L2) male and female bilinguals made meaningfulness judgments on L1 and L2 stereotypically congruent and incongruent as well as semantically correct and incorrect sentences. The results showed gender- and language-dependent modulations by sentence type within the N400 and Late Positive Complex (LPC) time frames. In females, semantically correct sentences converged with stereotypically congruent and incongruent conditions in both languages, indicating a deep-rooted internalization of gender stereotype-laden content. Conversely, males displayed a heightened gender-stereotypical bias only in L1. In L2, they exhibited a reduced sensitivity to gender stereotypes, whereby semantically incorrect sentences converged with both stereotypically congruent and incongruent conditions in the N400 time window and with stereotypically incongruent sentences in the LPC time frame. Altogether, the study extends the foreign language effect to the context of bilingual gender stereotype processing.

Whether speaking two or more languages (multilingualism) or dialects of one language (bidialectalism) affect executive function (EF) is controversial. Theoretically, these effects may depend on at least two conditions. First, the multilingual and bidialectal characteristics; particularly, (second) language proficiency and the sociolinguistic context of language use (e.g., Green & Abutalebi, 2013). Second, the EF aspects examined; specifically, recent accounts of the locus of the multilingual effect propose a general EF effect rather than an impact on specific processes (Bialystok, 2017). We compared 52 “monolingual” (with limited additional-language/dialect experience), 79 bidialectal and 50 multilingual young adults in the diglossic context of Cyprus, where bidialectalism is widespread and Cypriot and Standard Greek are used in different everyday situations. Three EF processes were examined via seven tasks: inhibition, switching and working memory (Miyake et al., 2000). We found better multilingual and bidialectal performance in overall EF, an effect moderated by high (second) language proficiency.

Verbal fluency data for semantic (animals, fruit and vegetables and objects) and formal fluency (X [Chi], Σ [Sigma] Α [Alpha]) were collected from 32 L1Greek-L2English late bilingual speakers and 32 Greek monolinguals. The verbal fluency task has been used in both language attrition and bilingualism studies. Language attrition studies, which mostly employ only the semantic task, show that bilinguals perform worse than monolinguals. In bilingualism studies, which employ both the semantic and formal tasks, we find greater variance and the results are mixed (bilinguals perform similarly, better or poorly compared to monolinguals). In our study, we investigated quantitative measures (number of correct responses) and strategic processes (clustering, switching). In the quantitative measures, monolinguals outperformed bilinguals in both tasks with the difference being more pronounced in the semantic task. In clustering, both groups behaved similarly, while in switching monolinguals performed better than bilinguals. The implications of these results are discussed.