This study investigates the role of English in Bali’s tourism‑driven economy, focusing on investment in English learning among Balinese tour guides. It examines the intersection of economic, social, and cultural factors shaping language acquisition, comparing learners of English at the grassroots who rely on formal, informal, or mixed methods of acquisition. Using Darvin and Norton’s (2015) investment model, the study explores how ideology, identity, and capital influence English learning trajectories. Data were collected through questionnaires and semi‑structured interviews with six Balinese tour guides, representing diverse linguistic biographies and learning contexts. Findings reveal that despite systemic barriers, learners of English at the grassroots demonstrate resilience and adaptability by leveraging social and cultural capital. While some depend on informal interactions, others access formal education or combine both approaches to enhance their opportunities. The study underscores the vital role of English as a tool for economic and social mobility in Bali’s international tourism industry, while also investigating the investment elements that shape learners’ trajectories.

Research on multilingualism often assumes homogeneity within monolingual and multilingual groups, overlooking diversity in language environments, such as differences in language exposure and combinations. This study examines three such diversity indicators – language entropy, context entropy and linguistic distance – and their relationship to vocabulary in 4- to 5-year-old mono- and multilingual children (N = 257). Results reveal significantly greater vocabulary in monolinguals than multilinguals when comparing one language, but multilinguals outperform monolinguals on conceptual vocabulary. Vocabulary size in multilinguals showed a quadratic relationship with language and context entropy, initially increasing but declining at higher entropy levels. Additionally, children with greater linguistic distances generally had larger dominant vocabularies. However, within the group with high linguistic distance, further increased distance was linked to smaller dominant vocabularies. These findings suggest that the applied diversity indicators capture meaningful variation in language environments, offering valuable insights about diversity in environments on vocabulary outcomes in multilingual children.

This study investigated whether differences in executive control exist between bilinguals and monolinguals who share a dual-language context. We compared functional monolingual and bilingual groups’ cognitive performance and the correlation between self-reported and objective linguistic variables and cognitive outcomes. Group comparisons revealed no significant differences between functional monolinguals and bilinguals on inhibition, task switching and updating of information. However, distinct correlational patterns were observed within groups. In functional monolinguals, participants with lower bilingualism scores showed better task-specific inhibition (Color–Word part of the Stroop task) and a better ability to monitor for conflicts (Digits Forward task). In contrast, bilinguals with higher degrees of bilingualism showed better overall inhibition outcomes (Stroop effect). Findings are discussed in terms of the importance of adopting more comprehensive methodological approaches to study bilingualism as a heterogeneous phenomenon, considering the diversity within each group and the cultural and linguistic context in which the bilingual experience takes place.

The present study examines how L1-English learners acquire Korean subject honorification – a system that is socio-pragmatic in interpretation but syntactically constrained. Using a multi-method design (corpus analysis, politeness ratings, and self-paced reading), we find that learners show increasing sensitivity to politeness norms yet limited awareness of morphosyntactic constraints. In corpus analysis, learners used subject honorification almost exclusively alongside addressee honorification, indicating limited functional differentiation. In politeness ratings, learners consistently associated the subject honorific suffix with greater politeness, regardless of subject type, diverging from native speakers’ judgments. In self-paced reading, learners were sensitive to semantic anomalies (e.g., inanimate subjects) but not to morphosyntactic violations. Together, these findings suggest that learners interpret the subject honorific suffix as a general politeness marker, likely due to its low cue validity and frequent co-occurrence with pragmatically salient features. Our results highlight how cue reliability and competition shape L2 acquisition pathways under conditions of noisy linguistic representations.