How different code-switching types modulate bilinguals’ executive functions - a dual control mode perspective

Hofweber, J., Marinis, T. and Treffers-Daller, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6575-6736 (2020) How different code-switching types modulate bilinguals’ executive functions - a dual control mode perspective. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 23 (4). pp. 909-925. ISSN 1469-1841 doi: 10.1017/S1366728919000804

Abstract/Summary

Most existing studies on the relationship between code-switching and executive functions have focused on experimentally induced language-switching, which differs fundamentally from naturalistic code-switching. This study investigated whether and how bilinguals’ code-switching practices modulate different aspects of executive functioning. Our findings suggest that existing processing models of code-switching should be extended by a dual control mode perspective, differentiating between reactive and proactive monitoring. Bilinguals engaging in code-switching types that keep languages more separate (Alternation) displayed inhibitory advantages in a flanker task inducing reactive control. Dense code-switching, which requires bilinguals to constantly monitor cross-linguistic competition, explained performance in proactive monitoring conditions. Furthermore, a correlation between Dense code-switching and response inhibition suggests that linguistic co-activation may persist during articulatory stages of language processing. Crucially, bilinguals outperformed monolinguals at those aspects of the executive system that were trained by their most frequent code-switching habits. This underlines the importance of sociolinguistic variables in bilingualism research.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/87493
Identification Number/DOI	10.1017/S1366728919000804
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism (CeLM) Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Literature and Languages > English Language and Applied Linguistics
Uncontrolled Keywords	bilingualism, code-switching, executive functions, response inhibition, interference suppression
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
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