This study investigates cross-linguistic influence in bilingual children, examining whether activation of a bilingual’s other language or a structure from that language leads to differences in the magnitude of cross-linguistic influence. We triangulate evidence from both across-language and within-language priming experiments conducted with 36 Italian–Greek bilingual children aged 7 to 11. We designed the priming experiments to prime the verb-subject-object (VSO) word-order – an inappropriate structure in Italian but grammatical in Greek – following a VSO in Italian or in Greek. We observed a gradual increase in VSO production in Italian throughout the tasks, particularly in the across-language priming experiment. The results are discussed in terms of implicit learning mechanisms underlying priming and the connectedness of syntactic representations in bilingual grammar, supporting a model of cross-linguistic influence in which both structure and language activation play a role. Effects of age and dominance in Greek varied between the two priming conditions.

This study reflects on Japan's language policy, focusing on the government‑led proposals implemented in 2006, which suggested replacing loanwords with Japanese equivalents, known as Gairaigo Iikae Teian ‘proposals for replacing loanwords’. By investigating English loanwords, this article explores the impact of English on Japanese vocabulary, while providing insights into the practical implementation of the government-led language policy in Japan for a broader global audience. It also clarifies that the objective of the proposals was not to strictly regulate the use of English loanwords but to offer suggestions, with replacement as one strategy to improve communication, especially when disseminating information through government agencies and media organisations. Through a quantitative investigation on the usage of English loanwords in the media, the results reveal that the overall number of media articles containing the loanwords in the proposed list has increased over the last 30 years. The findings also confirm that loanwords and their Japanese equivalents are not in competition, with one replacing the other. Instead, their usage exhibits a parallel trend in both frequency and increase rates.

We examined the morphosyntactic prediction ability of child heritage speakers and the role of reading skills and language experience in predictive processing. Using visual world eye-tracking, we focused on predictive use of case-marking cues in Turkish with monolingual (N = 49, MAGE = 83 months) and heritage children, who were early bilinguals of Turkish and Dutch (N = 30, MAGE = 90 months). We found quantitative differences in the magnitude of the prediction ability of monolingual and heritage children; however, their overall prediction ability was on par. The heritage speakers’ prediction ability was facilitated by their reading skills in Dutch, but not in Turkish, as well as by their heritage language exposure, but not by engagement in literacy activities. These findings emphasize the facilitatory role of reading skills and spoken language experience in predictive processing. This study is the first to show that in a developing bilingual mind, effects of reading on prediction can take place across modalities and across languages.

This review on English language teaching (ELT) in Singapore examines 159 empirical research studies published between 2017 and 2023 in both internationally recognised peer-reviewed journals and less well-known regional journals. With this comprehensive review, we aim to raise awareness of ELT research in Singapore for international, regional, and local readership. This will also serve as a starting point for educators, scholars, and researchers to investigate ELT in Singapore. The review yielded five themes: teaching the language skills; multiliteracies and technology; bi/multilingualism/bidialectalism and English; English as an academic language; and teacher education for ELT. While there is continuity from the last two reviews of research from Singapore in 2009 and 2021, reflected in the single theme of teaching language skills, the other themes represent new directions.

Many bilinguals speak both languages proficiently and habitually; however, the contexts in which the languages are used can vary. The present study examined the effects of context variation on emotions, comparing a national language used everywhere to a regional language spoken only among family and friends. We found a higher sensitivity to disgust (Experiment 1), a greater enjoyment of humor (Experiment 2) and stronger emotions in response to endearments, reprimands and insults (Experiment 3) with the regional language. The regional language induced stronger emotional responses, even though it was used less frequently than the national language. The effects of the regional language varied depending on the frequency of its use. We propose that these effects on emotions reflect the different opportunities to use the language among family and friends, contexts critical for the acquisition and regulation of emotions and in which emotions are expressed quite vividly.

The English spoken in China is categorised within the Expanding Circle in the World Englishes paradigm. Of late, the diversity of Chinese dialects has drawn scholarly attention to China English accents. This study contributes to the existing literature on China English by focusing on the Sichuan province in southwestern China. It involves participants from the largest Han ethnic group and the Yi minority. English monophthongs produced by 40 Sichuan Han and Yi speakers were elicited, and their distribution and contrasts were examined and compared to provide insights into the production of their English vowels. Findings from the instrumental analysis indicate a lack of vowel-quality contrasts in specific vowel pairs produced by both Han and Yi speakers, resulting in a simplified vowel system. There are notable differences between Han and Yi speakers in the production of English vowels, possibly influenced by their different first languages. In addition, specific gender-based inconsistencies were also found, suggesting gender as an influencing factor in the production of English monophthong vowels. Overall, this study identifies Sichuan English as an emerging sub-variety of China English and supports the perspective that China English is an evolving and distinct variety rather than an interlanguage.

This article advocates for the expansion of research into the topic of well-being in language education. It begins by outlining key definitional concerns and then moves to outline general issues and gaps in the current body of research such as a need for a diversification in research in social contexts, working conditions, languages, cultures, as well as a clarification of the domain specificity of the construct. In the main body of the paper, three core specific areas are outlined in detail with suggestions of not only what could be researched but how this could be done in concrete empirical terms. Task 1 concerns the dynamism of well-being across different timescales and how those interact. Task 2 focuses on the relationship between self-efficacy and well-being as an example of one core individual difference that could impact well-being development. Task 3 reflects on the possible interplay between learner and teacher well-being. The article ends by arguing for language teacher well-being to receive the urgent and critical attention that it deserves across the whole range of contexts and individuals who identify as language educators.

Bilingualism delays the onset of dementia symptoms and contributes to cognitive reserve. However, the neural basis of this mechanism remains elusive. The few studies that have investigated neural mechanisms of cognitive reserve and bilingualism have focused on Alzheimer’s disease. This study investigated the neural basis of cognitive reserve among persons with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) using regional brain volumes. Sixty-eight persons with FTD (42 bilinguals and 26 monolinguals) were included. After propensity score matching for age, sex, education, FTD subtype and clinical severity, there were 26 bilinguals and 26 monolinguals. The results showed that bilinguals had reduced thalamic volume compared to monolinguals despite having similar cognitive performance. The results indicate that bilinguals were able to tolerate more severe atrophy compared to monolinguals while maintaining comparable cognitive abilities. Our study therefore suggests that bilingualism contributes to cognitive reserve in persons with FTD.