Language-switching cost in Chinese-English bilingual reading comprehension: Evidence from eye-tracking
Chen, Danyi
Loading…
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124142
Description
Title
Language-switching cost in Chinese-English bilingual reading comprehension: Evidence from eye-tracking
Author(s)
Chen, Danyi
Issue Date
2024-02-28
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Christianson, Kiel
Department of Study
Educational Psychology
Discipline
Educational Psychology
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
M.S.
Degree Level
Thesis
Keyword(s)
Bilingual Processing
Language-switching
Code-switching
Reading Comprehension
Eye-tracking
Language
eng
Abstract
Code-switching, or language-switching, which is the use of elements from two or more languages in the same utterance or in the same stretch of conversation (Paradis et al., 2011), is prevalent among bilingual and multilingual speakers. According to the parallel activation hypothesis of language comprehension, both languages of a bilingual are activated during sentence processing, even when there is only monolingual input (Spivey & Marian, 1999). However, studies have also shown that such language mixing can slow down processing (Macnamara & Kushnir, 1971; Soares & Grosjean, 1984). The following experiment investigated the cognitive cost brought by code-switching in Chinese-English bilinguals via eye-tracking. More specifically, this experiment determines the source of the baseline cost of language-switching in inter-sentential code-switching. Results have shown that compared with the general switch in language, narrative consistency and the amount of prime information had greater effects on bilinguals’ total reading times, indicating that the cognitive cost of language-switching arises more from the surprisal of encountering an unpredicted word, compared with encountering an unexpected language. This study provides more information on how bilinguals coordinate different linguistic information during bilingual language processing and adds to our knowledge of the underlying cognitive processes of language-switching in comprehension.
Use this login method if you
don't
have an
@illinois.edu
email address.
(Oops, I do have one)
IDEALS migrated to a new platform on June 23, 2022. If you created
your account prior to this date, you will have to reset your password
using the forgot-password link below.
