Cover not available
Article published In:
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism
Vol. 9:2 (2019) ► pp.289–313

List composition effect on cognate and non-cognate word acquisition in children

ORCID logo | Human Cognition Lab, CIPsi, School of Psychology, Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal
| Laboratório URECA, Université Charles de Gaulle Lille 3, France
| Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage (UMR 5596) | LabEx ASLAN, CNRS/Université Lumière Lyon 2, France
| Department of Psychobiology and Methodology of Behavioral Sciences, Universidad de la Laguna, Spain
| Human Cognition Lab, CIPsi, School of Psychology, Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal

Previous studies on second language (L2) vocabulary acquisition with children showed that the use of a picture learning method favours the creation of direct links between the semantic system and new lexical representations at early stages of L2 acquisition (Comesaña et al., 2009). However, recent studies found that this influence seems to vary according to the cognate status of the words being learned (Comesaña et al., 2012), raising the question of how the type of words involved can modulate the lexical-semantic connections between the words of both languages in the bilingual memory. The main goal of the present study was to explore list composition effects in the establishment of L2 word-to-concept connections in Portuguese children by using a picture-based method. Results showed no influence of list composition in the establishment of L2 lexical-semantic connections when cognates have to be learned. Findings are discussed in light of relevant models of bilingual memory.

Keywords: second language acquisition, semantic interference effect, stimuli list composition, cognate status
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Stimuli
    • 2.3Procedure
  • 3.Results
  • 4.Discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 15 January 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.16034.com
References
Altarriba, J., & Mathis, K.
(1997) Conceptual and Lexical Development in Second Language Acquisition. Journal of Memory and Language, 36(4), 550–568. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Bates, D., Maechler, M., & Bolker, B.
(2011) lme4: Linear mixed-effects models using S4 classes. R package version 0.999375-41/r1341.Google Scholar
Barr, D. J., Levy, R., Scheepers, C., & Tily, H. J.
(2013) Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal. Journal of Memory and Language, 68(3), 255–278. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Birdsong, D.
(2006) Age and Second Language Acquisition and Processing: A Selective Overview. Language Learning, 561, 9–49. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Brenders, P., van Hell, J., & Dijkstra, T.
(2011) Word recognition in child second language learners: Evidence from cognates and false friends. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 109(4), 383–396. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Chen, H., & Leung, Y.
(1989) Patterns of lexical processing in a nonnative language. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 15(2), 316–325. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Comesaña, M., Ferré, P., Romero, J., Guasch, M., Soares, A. P., & García-Chico, T.
(2015) Facilitative effect of cognate words vanishes when reducing the orthographic overlap: The role of stimuli list composition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 41(3), 614–635. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Comesaña, M., Fraga, I., Moreira, A. J., Frade, C. S., & Soares, A. P.
(2014) Free associate norms for 139 European Portuguese words for children from different age groups. Behavior Research Methods, 46(2), 564–574. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Comesaña, M., Perea, M., Pineiro, A., & Fraga, I.
(2009) Vocabulary teaching strategies and conceptual representations of words in L2 in children: evidence with novice learners. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 104(1), 22–33. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Comesaña, M., Sánchez-Casas, R., Soares, A. P., Pinheiro, A. P., Rauber, A., Frade, S., & Fraga, I.
(2012b) The interplay of phonology and orthography in visual cognate word recognition: An ERP study. Neuroscience letters, 529(1), 75–79. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Comesaña, M., Soares, A., Sanchez-Casas, R., & Lima, C.
(2012a) Lexical and semantic representations in the acquisition of L2 cognate and non-cognate words: evidence from two learning methods in children. British Journal of Psychology, 103(3), 378–392. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Davis, C., Sánchez-Casas, R., García-Albea, J., Guasch, M., Molero, M., & Ferré, P.
(2010) Masked translation priming: Varying language experience and word type with Spanish–English bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 13(02), 137–155. DOI logo.Google Scholar
De Groot, A. M. B.
(1992) Bilingual lexical representation: A closer look at conceptual representations. In R. Frost & L. Kaatz (Eds.), Orthography, phonology, morphology, and meaning. (pp. 389–412). Amsterdam: Elsevier. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
de Groot, A., Dannenburg, L., & Vanhell, J.
(1994) Forward and Backward Word Translation by Bilinguals. Journal of Memory and Language, 33(5), 600–629. DOI logo.Google Scholar
de Groot, A., & Keijzer, R.
(2000) What Is Hard to Learn Is Easy to Forget: The Roles of Word Concreteness, Cognate Status, and Word Frequency in Foreign-Language Vocabulary Learning and Forgetting. Language Learning, 50(1), 1–56. DOI logo.Google Scholar
de Groot, A., & Poot, R.
(1997) Word Translation at Three Levels of Proficiency in a Second Language: The Ubiquitous Involvement of Conceptual Memory. Language Learning, 47(2), 215–264. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Dijkstra, T., Grainger, J., & Van Heuven, W. J.
(1999) Recognition of cognates and interlingual homographs: The neglected role of phonology. Journal of Memory and language, 41(4), 496–518. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dijkstra, T., Miwa, K., Brummelhuis, B., Sappelli, M., & Baayen, H.
(2010) How cross-language similarity and task demands affect cognate recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 62(3), 284–301. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Dijkstra, T., & van Heuven, W. J. B.
(1998) The BIA model and bilingual word recognition. In J. Grainger and A. M. Jacobs (Eds), Localist connectionist approaches to human cognition (pp. 189–225). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
(2002) The architecture of the bilingual word recognition system: From identification to decision. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 5(3), 175–197. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dijkstra, T., Van Jaarsveld, H., & Brinke, S. T.
(1998) Interlingual homograph recognition: Effects of task demands and language intermixing. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1(01), 51–66. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ferré, P., Sánchez-Casas, R., & Guasch, M.
(2006) Can a Horse Be a Donkey? Semantic and Form Interference Effects in Translation Recognition in Early and Late Proficient and Nonproficient Spanish-Catalan Bilinguals. Language Learning, 56(4), 571–608. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Finkbeiner, M., & Nicol, J.
(2003) Semantic category effects in second language word learning. Applied Psycholinguistics, 24(03), 369–383. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Guasch, M., Boada, R., Ferré, P., & Sánchez-Casas, R.
(2013) NIM: A Web-based Swiss army knife to select stimuli for psycholinguistic studies. Behavior Research Methods, 45(3), 765–771. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Guo, T., Misra, M., Tam, J., & Kroll, J.
(2012) On the time course of accessing meaning in a second language: an electrophysiological and behavioral investigation of translation recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 38(5), 1165–1186. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Grainger, J., Midgley, K., & Holcomb, P. J.
(2010) Re-thinking the bilingual interactive-activation model from a developmental perspective (BIA-d). Language acquisition across linguistic and cognitive systems, 521, 267–283. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heij, W., Hooglander, A., Kerling, R., & van der Velden, E.
(1996) Nonverbal Context Effects in Forward and Backward Word Translation: Evidence for Concept Mediation. Journal of Memory and Language, 35(5), 648–665. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Jiang, N.
(2000) Lexical representation and development in a second language. Applied Linguistics, 21(1), 47–77. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Jiang, N., & Forster, K.
(2001) Cross-Language Priming Asymmetries in Lexical Decision and Episodic Recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 44(1), 32–51. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Klein, W.
(1995) Language acquisition at different ages. In D. Magnusson (Ed.), The lifespan development of individuals: Behavioral, neurobiological, and psychosocial perspectives. A synthesis (pp. 244–264). Cambridge: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Kroll, J., Michael, E., & Sankaranarayan, A.
(1998) A model of bilingual representation and its implications for second language acquisition. In A. F. Healy & L. E. Borne (Eds.), Foreign language learning: Psycholinguistics studies on training and retention (pp. 365–395). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Kroll, J., Michael, E., Tokowicz, N., & Dufour, R.
(2002) The development of lexical fluency in a second language. Second Language Research, 18(2), 137–171. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Kroll, J., & Stewart, E.
(1994) Category Interference in Translation and Picture Naming: Evidence for Asymmetric Connections Between Bilingual Memory Representations. Journal of Memory and Language, 33(2), 149–174. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Kroll, J., van Hell, J., Tokowicz, N., & Green, D.
(2010) The Revised Hierarchical Model: A critical review and assessment. Biling (Camb Engl), 13(3), 373–381. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Lenth, R. V.
(2016) Least-squares means: the R package lsmeans. Journal of Statistical Software, 69(1), 1–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Linck, J., Kroll, J., & Sunderman, G.
(2009) Losing access to the native language while immersed in a second language: evidence for the role of inhibition in second-language learning. Psychol Sci, 20(12), 1507–1515. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Lotto, L., & de Groot, A.
(1998) Effects of Learning Method and Word Type on Acquiring Vocabulary in an Unfamiliar Language. Language Learning, 48(1), 31–69. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Marinova-Todd, S. H., Marshall, D. B., & Snow, C. E.
(2000) Three misconceptions about age and L2 learning. TESOL quarterly, 9–34. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Matuschek, H., Kliegl, R., Vasishth, S., Baayen, H., & Bats, D.
(2017) Journal of Memory and Language, 941, 305–315. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Otwinowska, A.
(2016) Cognate Vocabulary in Language Acquisition and Use: Attitudes, Awareness, Activation. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Perea, M., Duñabeitia, J., & Carreiras, M.
(2008) Masked associative/semantic priming effects across languages with highly proficient bilinguals. Journal of Memory and Language, 58(4), 916–930. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Perea, M., Urkia, M., Davis, C., Agirre, A., Laseka, E., & Carreiras, M.
(2006) E-Hitz: A word frequency list and a program for deriving psycholinguistic statistics in an agglutinative language (Basque). Behavior Research Methods, 38(4), 610–615. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Pienemann, M., Di Biase, B., Kawaguchi, S., & Hakansson, G.
(2005) Processing constraints on L1 transfer. In J. Kroll & A. de Groot (Eds.), Handbook of bilingualism: Psycholinguistic approaches (pp. 128–153). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sánchez-Casas, R., García-Albea, J., & Davis, C.
(1992) Bilingual lexical processing: Exploring the cognate/non-cognate distinction. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 4(4), 293–310. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Snodgrass, J., & Vanderwart, M.
(1980) A standardized set of 260 pictures: Norms for name agreement, image agreement, familiarity, and visual complexity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 6(2), 174–215. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Soares, A. P., Iriarte, A., de Almeida, J. J., Simões, A., Costa, A., França, P., …& Comesaña, M.
(2014) Procura-PALavras (P-PAL): Uma nova medida de frequência lexical do Português Europeu contemporâneo [Procura-PALavras (P-PAL): A new measure of word frequency for contemporary European Portuguese]. Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica, 27(1), 110–123. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Sunderman, G., & Kroll, J.
(2006) First language activation during second language lexical processing: An investigation of lexical form, meaning, and grammatical class. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 28(03), 387–422. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Sunderman, G., & Schwartz, A.
(2008) Using Cognates to Investigate Cross-Language Competition in Second Language Processing. TESOL Quarterly, 42(3), 527–536. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Talamas, A., Kroll, J., & Dufour, R.
(1999) From form to meaning: Stages in the acquisition of second-language vocabulary. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2(01), 45–58. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Timmer, K., Ganushchak, L. Y., Ceusters, I., & Schiller, N. O.
(2014) Second language phonology influences first language word naming. Brain and language, 1331, 14–25. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tokowicz, N., Kroll, J., de Groot, A., & van Hell, J.
(2002) Number-of-translation norms for Dutch-English translation pairs: a new tool for examining language production. Behavioral Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 34(3), 435–451. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Hell, J. G., & de Groot, A. M. B.
(1998) Conceptual representation in bilingual memory: Effects of concreteness and cognate status in word association. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 11, 193–211. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Hell, J., & Kroll, J.
(2012) Using electrophysiological measures to track the mapping of words to concepts in the bilingual brain: A focus on translation. In J. Altarriba & J. Isurin (Eds.), Memory, language, and bilingualism: Theoretical and applied approaches (pp. 126–160). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
van Heuven, W., Dijkstra, T., & Grainger, J.
(1998) Orthographic Neighborhood Effects in Bilingual Word Recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 39(3), 458–483. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
West, R., Stanovich, K., Feeman, D., & Cunningham, A.
(1983) The effect of sentence context on word recognition in second-and sixth-grade children. Reading Research Quarterly, 6–15. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 4 other publications

Arana, Sophie L., Helena M. Oliveira, Ana Isabel Fernandes, Ana Paula Soares & Montserrat Comesaña
2022. The cognate facilitation effect depends on the presence of identical cognates. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Bosma, Evelyn, Arthur Bakker, Linda Zenger & Elma Blom
2022. Supporting the development of the bilingual lexicon through translanguaging: a realist review integrating psycholinguistics with educational sciences. European Journal of Psychology of Education DOI logo
Bosma, Evelyn & Naomi Nota
2020. Cognate facilitation in Frisian–Dutch bilingual children’s sentence reading: An eye-tracking study. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 189 ► pp. 104699 ff. DOI logo
Salomé, Florian, Séverine Casalis & Eva Commissaire
2022. Bilingual advantage in L3 vocabulary acquisition: evidence of a generalized learning benefit among classroom-immersion children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 25:2 ► pp. 242 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 23 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.