A comprehensive database of emotional prototypicality (EmoPro) scores for 1,122 words in second-language (L2) English was provided and aided in selecting L2 English emotion-label words. EmoPro refers to the degree to which a word clearly represents or conveys an emotion. The results showed that EmoPro was influenced by various factors, including valence, arousal, socialness, age of acquisition (AoA) and concreteness. EmoPro in the L2 context demonstrated its ability to predict naming and lexical decision performance. The similarities observed between EmoPro in the L2 and in the first language (L1) exhibited comparable correlations with other emotional and semantic factors and shared associations with predictors in the L1. This study also serves as a valuable tool for research on L2 emotion words, especially in the selection of prototypical emotion-label words in L2 English.

Previous research has found that metaphor comprehension is often more challenging in L2 than in L1 because of the prioritization of literal meanings, but the effect of cross-cultural conceptual differences and the role of inhibitory control during L2 metaphor processing remain uninvestigated. We explored these through a metaphor-induced lexical forgetting paradigm (Experiment 1), a metaphor interpretation task (Experiment 2), and an eye-tracking reading task (Experiment 3) to evaluate competing theories. Inhibitory control did not play a significant role during reading culturally congruent metaphors as it did for culturally incongruent ones. However, interpreting both kinds of L2 metaphors involved more inhibitory control than literals, even after explicit explanatory contexts. Although literal meanings (and culturally incongruent L1 metaphorical meanings) of L2 metaphors may always be activated, inhibition involvement depends on both task requirements and metaphor properties. These can be explained by the extended graded salience view and the predictive processing framework.

This study examined the linguistic and cognitive characteristics of two groups of Italian preschoolers with developmental language disorder (DLD): one group of monolingual Italian speakers and another of Italian-Slovenian bilinguals. The assessment focused on executive functions (EFs) (i.e., phonological working memory and inhibitory control) and linguistic abilities, which involved a multilevel analysis of discourse production. The bilingual group outperformed the monolingual group on tasks measuring EFs. While the two groups showed similar performance across several linguistic measures, the bilingual children demonstrated superior grammatical comprehension, albeit with high variability. A similar level of variability was observed in the bilingual group’s phonological discrimination abilities. Both grammatical comprehension and phonological discrimination were significantly correlated with EFs. These findings are discussed in the context of current theories of linguistic development in bilingual children with DLD.

Effects of language switching in bilinguals have been extensively investigated, but the majority of studies have focused on switching in language production. Here we explored intrasentential switching between Chinese and English, employing a self-paced reading paradigm, with Chinese/English using radically different orthographic systems. In addition, we investigated whether L2 (English) proficiency influences switch costs. Results revealed that switch costs emerged only when switching into L1 (Chinese); by contrast, when switching into L2, a less reliable facilitatory effect was observed. L2 proficiency affected reading speed for English stimuli, but it did not directly modulate switch costs. Moreover, we have integrated various findings from previous research and identified that the use of different comparison patterns is a major contributing factor to the inconsistency in results among prior studies. We suggest that in cross-script language switching, switch costs stem from a general cognitive control mechanism rather than from activation within the bilingual mental lexicon.

This study explored the relationship between multifaceted multilingualism and cognitive shifting through a task-switching paradigm using fMRI. Multilingualism was modeled from both convergent (i.e., integrated multilingual index) and divergent (i.e., L2 proficiency, interpreting training, language entropy) perspectives. Participants identified letters or numbers based on task cues, with Repeat trials maintaining the same task and Switch trials requiring a different task. Switch cost (Switch–Repeat) was used to reflect shifting demands. Better task-switching performance was associated with a higher integrated multilingual index and interpreting training. Neuroimaging indicated that multilinguals predominantly engaged left-hemisphere regions for switching, with extensive multilingual experience requiring fewer neural resources for switch cost (i.e., more efficient processing for cognitive control). During task switching, brain connectivity was regulated locally by L2 proficiency, and globally by interpreting training. These findings underscore the importance of considering multifaceted multilingual experience to understand its impact on cognitive function and brain activity.

This paper investigates the use of English within the linguistic landscape of Luang Prabang through a combination of photographs and interviews. Specifically, we examine the characteristics of English in the linguistic landscape of Luang Prabang, the roles played by English, and the perceptions of merchants and consumers towards it. The study finds that: first, English is frequently used alongside Lao, particularly in bilingual signs, and it is also used alongside other languages within multilingual sign combinations. English predominantly appears in areas heavily frequented by consumers, where it is utilized for economic benefit. Second, English primarily fulfills the following roles in the linguistic landscape: cultural heritage bearer, tourism information provider, cultural exchange facilitator, economic opportunities creator, educational resource provider, and international image broadcaster. Third, shop owners and consumers generally express satisfaction with the presence of English in Luang Prabang's linguistic landscape, believing that English promotes economic development, cultural exchange, and brand establishment. However, some interviewees also highlight shortcomings, such as concerns over traditional culture and unfriendliness towards non-native English speakers. This study underscores the pivotal role of English in bridging cultural and economic divides in Luang Prabang, offering insights for policymakers on language policy and tourism management.

This paper surveys studies that explore the experiences of multilingual English teachers (MET) teaching English to learners from the Eastern part of Asia (China, Japan, Korea, and Thailand). By MET, I refer to teachers who speak English as one of their multilingual repertoires and teach English to students from different linguistic backgrounds than their own (Galloway 2014). Studies have recently shown that Outer Circle has been establishing a role in providing English education to Expanding Circle learners. Moreover, it is also becoming common for teachers from Expanding Circle to cross national borders in order to teach English in another Expanding Circle country. This paper reviews studies specifically addressing those teachers and identifies three contact zones: (a) study abroad programs in Asian Outer Circle; (b) EFL classrooms; and (c) digital space. As there are some distinctive characteristics pertaining to different contact zones, I first briefly review the previous studies by each zone, followed by a synthesis of the research findings with a focus on how environment influences teachers' experiences based on the lens of intersectionality and situated power dynamics. Then, I conclude the review by discussing the problematic nature of treating this unique teacher population as pseudo-native speakers from a pedagogical perspective.

Liverpool English, commonly known as ‘Scouse’, is often reported to be a low prestige variety of English. Despite its low prestige, it has been suggested that Scouse has displaced the traditional variety of the neighbouring Wirral peninsula. To this end, this study's objective was to investigate whether Liverpool and Wirral speech differ from one another as revealed through both an ultrasound and acoustic analysis of the lateral phoneme in teenage speech. The acoustic results showed that, surprisingly, teenagers from both Liverpool and the Wirral produced clear onset and dark coda laterals. Interestingly, the ultrasound findings revealed that both Liverpool and Wirral males displayed a preference for ‘less standard’ velarisation as a darkening mechanism, whilst females showed a preference for ‘more standard’ pharyngealisation. Differences between these darkening strategies were only evident through the ultrasound analysis. Therefore, in general, our findings showed that covert articulatory variation was evident between male and female adolescent speakers on the Wirral and in Liverpool.

In their “Webinar on the subject of English and applied linguistics”, Widdowson and Yazdi-Amirkhiz (2023) argues for the need to “rethink orthodox ideas about the relationship between applied linguistics and English language teaching that have been promoted in the past and still prevail” (p. 393). In the following commentary, I describe examples from my experiences as a language teacher and teacher trainer that address two of Widdowson's critiques: the supposed idealization of native-speaker competence in applied linguistics, and the impracticality of applied linguistics research.

In contrast to ample evidence for cross-linguistic priming of monomorphemic words, cross-linguistic representation of affixes is not well understood. The current study examines cross-linguistic prefix priming among early and late English-Spanish bilinguals, focusing on prefixes that have the same form and meaning in the two languages. We first confirm robust prefix priming among English monolingual speakers (Experiment 1). We also observe prefix priming from first-language English to second-language Spanish but only for early bilinguals (Experiment 2). On the other hand, both early and late bilinguals do not show reliable prefix priming effects that are dissociated from orthographic or semantic priming from Spanish to English (Experiment 3) or from Spanish to Spanish (Experiment 4). The results suggest that for early bilinguals, the tested prefixes in their L1 and L2 have shared representations. Less reliable results for late bilinguals may reflect their weaker sensitivity to morphological structure in a second language.

Validated yes/no vocabulary tests that measure bilinguals’ language proficiency based on vocabulary knowledge have been widely used in psycholinguistic research. However, it is unclear what aspects of test takers’ vocabulary knowledge are employed in these tests, which makes the interpretation of their scores problematic. The present study investigated the contribution of bilinguals’ form-meaning knowledge to their item accuracy on a Malay yes/no vocabulary test. Word knowledge of Malay first- (N = 80) and second-language (N = 80) speakers were assessed using yes/no, meaning recognition, form recognition, meaning recall and form recall tests. The findings revealed that 59% of the variance in the yes/no vocabulary test score was explained by the accuracy of the meaning recognition, form recognition and meaning recall tests. Importantly, the item analysis indicated that yes/no vocabulary tests assess primarily knowledge of form recognition, supporting its use as a lexical proficiency measure to estimate bilinguals’ receptive language proficiency.

This study examines to what extent phonetic reduction in different accents affects intelligibility for non-native (L2) listeners, and whether similar reduction processes in listeners’ first language (L1) facilitate the recognition and processing of reduced word forms in the target language. In two experiments, 80 Dutch-speaking and 80 Spanish-speaking learners of English were presented with unreduced and reduced pronunciation variants in native and non-native English speech. Results showed that unreduced words are recognized more accurately and more quickly than reduced words, regardless of whether these variants occur in non-regionally, regionally or non-native accented speech. No differential effect of phonetic reduction on intelligibility and spoken word recognition was observed between Dutch-speaking and Spanish-speaking participants, despite the absence of strong vowel reduction in Spanish. These findings suggest that similar speech processes in listeners’ L1 and L2 do not invariably lead to an intelligibility benefit or a cross-linguistic facilitation effect in lexical access.

Researchers have argued that grouping heterogeneous linguistic profiles under a dichotomous condition might mask the cognitive effects of bilingualism. The current study used two different analysis approaches (i.e., continuous versus dichotomous) to examine inhibitory control in a sample of 239 young adult bilinguals. Dividing the sample into dichotomous groups based on L2 proficiency (i.e., high-proficient versus low-proficient) and L2 AoA (i.e., early versus late) did not lead to reliable group differences in any of the measurements used. However, the use of a continuous measure revealed that higher L2 proficiency predicted better visual inhibition and earlier L2 AoA was associated with better auditory inhibition. Furthermore, the observed differences were limited to tasks involving stimulus–stimulus competition, but not stimulus–response competition. These findings shed new light on the importance of conceptualising bilingualism as a continuous measure rather than a dichotomous measure and previous research on bilingual performance in different cognitive tasks.

Early learning of a second language at home has been found to be beneficial for children’s cognitive development, including their ability to ascribe mental states to others. We investigated whether second language learning in an educational setting can accelerate children’s sensitivity to a communication partner’s perspective and whether the amount of exposure to second language education makes a difference. We tested three groups of English monolingual four-five year old children with varying language exposure at the beginning of their first year at primary school and 24 weeks later. Children attending bilingual schools and children with weekly second language lessons exhibited similar accelerated development of communicative perspective-taking skills compared to children without second language provision. Such advances were not related to other cognitive advances. Thus, limited foreign language teaching might boost young children’s development in communicative perspective-taking skills, providing an enhanced basis for their social competence development.