This study tested whether native Chinese (L1) readers whose second language (L2) was English could activate L2 translations of L1 words during L1 sentence reading. Chinese–English bilinguals read Chinese sentences silently, each containing a target word whose parafoveal preview was manipulated. To test cross-language semantic activation, each target word was paired with an identical, an unrelated and a translation-related preview that shared an L2 translation (e.g., 政黨, party as a political group) with the target word (e.g., 派對, party as a social gathering). Compared to the unrelated previews, the translation-related previews induced shorter target-word viewing times, despite no phonological/orthographic overlap. Furthermore, the highly proficient L2 readers showed earlier priming effects than did the average readers. Our results suggest that bilinguals activate lexical representations in both languages automatically and non-selectively, even when the task requires activation of one language only, and that the L2 lexical activation is modulated by L2 proficiency.

This article describes lessons learned from the incorporation of language justice as an antiracism praxis for an academic Center addressing cardiometabolic inequities. Drawing from a thematic analysis of notes and discussions from the Center’s community engagement core, we present lessons learned from three examples of language justice: inclusion of bilingual team members, community mini-grants, and centering community in community-academic meetings. Facilitating strategies included preparing and reviewing materials in advance for interpretation/translation, live simultaneous interpretation for bilingual spaces, and in-language documents. Barriers included: time commitment and expenses, slow organizational shifts to collectively practice language justice, and institutional-level administrative hurdles beyond the community engagement core’s influence. Strengthening language justice means integrating language justice institutionally and into all research processes; dedicating time and processes to learn about and practice language justice; equitably funding language justice within research budgets; equitably engaging bilingual, bicultural staff and language justice practitioners; and creating processes for language justice in written and oral research and collaborative activities. Language justice is not optional and necessitates buy-in, leadership, and support of community engagement cores, Center leadership, university administrators, and funders. We discuss implications for systems and policy change to advance language justice in research to promote health equity.

It has been argued that the incidental and arbitrary use of gender markings for inanimate concepts in language may affect the conceptualization or semantics of those inanimate concepts. The present article sought to replicate the findings of a classic paper that made this argument. Konishi used the potency dimension of the semantic differential method as an implicit measure of perceived gender. He reported that words for inanimate concepts of masculine grammatical gender were rated as higher in potency than words for the same concepts that had feminine grammatical gender. Two preregistered replication studies are reported here. The first was a conceptual replication of Konishi’s study that was conducted with 240 bilingual native speakers of either German or Spanish. Included in the study was a follow-up with 120 monolingual native English speakers. This data was used to test whether the grammatical gender in the native languages of German and Spanish speakers affected their sense of the potency of common inanimate categories when tested in a second language (English) in which they were fluent and the nouns had no grammatical gender. A second version of the study was conducted in the native languages of Spanish and German speakers, as a closer attempt at a replication of Konishi’s original study. The results of both studies provided evidence against the grammatical-gender hypothesis. Bayesian tests of both studies strongly favored the null hypothesis that there were no grammatical gender effects on implicit measures of perceived potency.

Embodiment theories postulate that language processing inherently engages the sensorimotor system. This study explores the embodiment of action verbs in the second language (L2) and the effects of various L2 experiences (L2 age of acquisition, exposure, dominance, and proficiency) on L2 embodiment. Sixty-one Chinese–English bilinguals participated in two experiments judging semantic relatedness: Experiment 1 involved verb–picture pairs, while Experiment 2 focused on verb–verb pairs. Both experiments were conducted in the participants’ first language (Chinese) and second language (English), with the stimuli depicting actions performed by specific effectors (e.g., mouth, hand, and foot). Results showed that participants took longer to reject mismatched verb–picture pairs and semantic-unrelated verb–verb pairs when the actions shared the same effector (e.g., walk–run) than those involving different effectors (e.g., eat–touch). Moreover, L2 age of acquisition, exposure, and dominance correlated with the L2 embodiment effect, with L2 age of acquisition and exposure modulating this effect. This study enhances our understanding of L2 embodied semantics and illuminates the impact of multidimensional L2 experiences on embodiment.

Working memory encompasses the limited incoming information that can be held in mind for cognitive processing. To date, we have little information on the effects of bilingualism on working memory because, absent evidence, working memory tasks cannot be assumed to measure the same constructs across language groups. To garner evidence regarding the measurement equivalence in Spanish and English, we examined second-grade children with typical development, including 80 bilingual Spanish–English speakers and 167 monolingual English speakers in the United States, using a test battery for which structural equation models have been tested – the Comprehensive Assessment Battery for Children – Working Memory (CABC-WM). Results established measurement invariance across groups up to the level of scalar invariance.

Over the past decades, bilingualism researchers have come to a consensus around a fairly strong view of nonselectivity in bilingual speakers, often citing Van Hell and Dijkstra (2002) as a critical piece of support for this position. Given the study’s continuing relevance to bilingualism and its strong test of the influence of a bilingual’s second language on their first language, we conducted an approximate replication of the lexical decision experiments in the original study (Experiments 2 and 3) using the same tasks and—to the extent possible—the same stimuli. Unlike the original study, our replication was conducted online with Dutch–English bilinguals (rather than in a lab with Dutch–English–French trilinguals). Despite these differences, results overall closely replicated the pattern of cognate facilitation effects observed in the original study. We discuss the replication of outcomes and possible interpretations of subtle differences in outcomes and make recommendations for future extensions of this line of research.

This scoping review aimed to investigate the communication strategies utilized by children who acquire a minority language (L1) and subsequently learn a community language (L2) during what is commonly referred to as the “silent period.” Electronic database searches were conducted using keywords such as “silent period” and “bilingual children,” resulting in the inclusion of 40 studies in the review. The findings revealed that emergent bilingual children utilize various communication strategies, including nonverbal communication, private speech, and their L1, to communicate within classroom environments. The findings shed light on the adaptability of emergent bilingual children during early stage of L2 acquisition. Furthermore, our review provides information about the classroom contexts such as teacher support and peer interactions where children develop their L2 skills. From a clinical perspective, recognizing these strategies and classroom contexts could significantly enhance the screening process for emergent bilingual children.

The dual language development of dual language immersion (DLI) students, although often examined at the domain level (e.g., listening or reading), remains understudied for more specific skills (e.g., word, sentence, or discourse). This study examines the eleven-month progression of oral language skills in a picture description task in two languages (French and English) for early-elementary (Transitional Kindergarten through first grade) DLI students (N = 42). Using Bayesian methods, which estimate parameters using both the data and prior information, we describe French and English growth patterns as measured by learning progressions whose focus is on language features at the word, sentence, and discourse levels. For French oral language, we found evidence of meaningful positive linear growth for all language features, whereas for English oral language, meaningful linear positive growth was only detected for sophistication of topic vocabulary. Overall, coming from a French-speaking household was associated with steeper French oral language trajectories, but coming from an English-only household did not specifically impact English oral language trajectories. In both languages, grade level influenced the trajectories of some—but not all—features. We conclude with theoretical and practical implications, advocating for a language progression approach in instruction and research on bilingualism.

In Catullus 50, after an enjoyable day writing poetry with Licinius Calvus, the poet warns his friend not to ignore him lest Nemesis punish him for it, ne poenas Nemesis reposcat a te (‘lest Nemesis demand punishment from you’). It will be proposed in this article that, in keeping with neoteric ideals, Catullus is playing on the phrase a te to create a bilingual pun on the Greek word ἄτη ‘delusion’, ‘mental blindness (often divinely sent)’.

The idea for this special issue of Journal of Classics Teaching arose from the conference ‘Monsters in the classroom: Latin and Greek at primary school’ which Steve Hunt (Cambridge), Lidewij Van Gils (Amsterdam), and myself (Ghent) co-organised in January of 2022.1 This conference gathered teaching expertise from eight countries and attracted more than 120 participants from 20 countries to discuss both the successes and challenges related to current international practice in the teaching of Classical languages at primary school. It became a constructive and fruitful event, where participants from different countries shared good practice in order to learn from each other and formulate steps forward.

This study investigated the engagement of domain-general cognitive control during the comprehension of dense code-switching sentences. Stimulus-locked event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured while L1-dominant Chinese–English bilinguals read switch and non-switch sentences. The results of the reading task revealed language dominance effects on the N400, left anterior negativity (LAN) and late positive component (LPC). The language dominance effects at lexical level (i.e., on the N400 and LAN) were modulated by individual differences in monitoring capacity. In contrast, inhibition capacity predicted code-switching costs at the sentence level (i.e., for the LPC component). The results suggest that proactive monitoring and reactive inhibition affect different processing stages during the comprehension of dense code-switching sentences. These findings partially align with processing models of code-switching incorporating a dual control mode perspective and contribute new insight into the dynamic interplay between reactive and proactive control processes.

When bilinguals switch between their two languages, they often alternate between words whose formation rules in one language are different from the other (e.g., a noun-verb compound in one language may be a verb-noun compound in another language). In this study, we analyze behavioral performance and electrophysiological activity to examine the effects of morphological configuration on language control during production and comprehension. Chinese–English bilinguals completed a joint naming-listening task involving cued language switching. The findings showed differential effects of morphological configuration on language production and comprehension. In production, morphological configuration was processed sequentially, suggesting that bilingual production may be a combination of sequential processing and inhibition of morphological levels and language interference. In comprehension, however, bottom-up control processes appear to mask the influence of sequential processing on language switching. Together, these findings underscore differential functionalities of language control in speaking and listening.