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Cited by 859Neurobiology of Language and BilingualismMultilingual Education and PolicyLanguage Development and Disorders

Bilingualism is not a categorical variable: Interaction between language proficiency and usage

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Luk, Gigi, Bialystok, Ellen·2013·Journal of Cognitive Psychology
DOI 10.1080/20445911.2013.795574PMC PMC3780436
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Abstract

Bilingual experience is dynamic and poses a challenge for researchers to develop instruments that capture its relevant dimensions. The present study examined responses from a questionnaire administered to 110 heterogeneous bilingual young adults. These questions concern participants' language use, acquisition history and self-reported proficiency. The questionnaire responses and performances on standardized English proficiency measures were analyzed using factor analysis. In order to retain a realistic representation of bilingual experience, the factors were allowed to correlate with each other in the analysis. Two correlating factors were extracted, representing daily bilingual usage and English proficiency. These two factors were also related to self-rated proficiency in English and non-English language. Results were interpreted as supporting the notion that bilingual experience is composed of multiple related dimensions that will need to be considered in assessments of the consequences of bilingualism.

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  • Dominance is not uniquely equatable with relative proficiency.

    “Dominance is not uniquely equatable with relative proficiency (as defined in terms of grammatical and lexical accuracy, speech fluency, etc.), since there are other dimension-based measures of dominance besides proficiency (e.g., object naming speed, lexical diversity, reading speed).”

    From Plasticity, Variability and Age in Second Language Acquisition and Bilingualism (2018) · cites this paper as Luk and Bialystok (2013)

    The Discussion (page unavailable) treats language dominance as related to both usage and proficiency, supporting the point that it is not simply proficiency. It does not identify object naming speed, lexical diversity, or reading speed as alternative measures of dominance. (LLM, conf=0.78)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Research works printed but not linked: 32

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Authors
Luk, G., & Bialystok, E.
Affiliations
  • Harvard University (US)
  • York University (CA)
Corresponding author
Luk, Gigi
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Cognitive Psychology
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2013-05-16
Volume
25
Issue
5
Pages
605-621
ISSN
  • 2044-5911 (ISSN-L)
  • 2044-592X
DOI
10.1080/20445911.2013.795574
PMC
PMC3780436
OpenAlex
W2058176102
Cited by
859
References
6
Citations by year
2026: 68 · 2025: 78 · 2024: 87 · 2023: 128 · 2022: 79 · 2021: 78 · 2020: 75 · 2019: 73 · 2018: 88 · 2017: 28 · 2016: 34 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 6
FWCI
13.89
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Cognitive Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD052523)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
  • Social Sciences › Linguistics and Language › Multilingual Education and Policy
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
Keywords
bilingualism, language proficiency, language use, bilingual experience, English proficiency, questionnaire development, factor structure

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