The effects of script variation, literacy skills, and immersion experience on executive attention: a comparison of matched monoscriptal and biscriptal bilinguals

Sujin Yang, Hwajin Yang, Andree Hartanto

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

To examine script effects, monoscriptal Spanish-English (SE) bilinguals, who use two similar Roman alphabetic systems, were compared to biscriptal Chinese-English (CE) bilinguals, who use logographs and Roman alphabets. On the Attention Network Test, script effects were most evident in global processing efficiency (i.e., inverse efficiency and reaction time) and in the local network of executive control in favor of biscriptal CE bilinguals over matched monoscriptal SE counterparts. Literacy effects were found on the executive control network among Chinese-English bilinguals of high L1-literacy skills over their script- and immersion-matched counterparts, who varied only in low L1 literacy. In a similar vein, results of the multiple regression analysis demonstrated that script and literacy are significant predictors of executive control capacities. Our results suggest that script variation in a bilingual's language pair is an important modulating factor that enhances overall attention efficiency.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)142-156
Number of pages15
JournalBilingualism
Volume22
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2019

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
YANG SUJIN YANG HWAJIN HARTANTO ANDREE Ewha Womans University Singapore Management University Singapore Management University This study was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea Grant (NRF-2016-S1A3A295502). The funding source had no role in the design and conduct of the study, interpretation of the data, or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Address for correspondence: Sujin Yang, Ph.D., Department of Psychology , Ewha Womans University , 52 , Ewhayeodae-gil , Seodaemun-gu , Seoul , South Korea , Postal Code: 03760 [email protected] 01 2019 22 12 2017 22 1 142 156 02 05 2016 24 09 2017 02 11 2017 Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017  2017 Cambridge University Press To examine script effects, monoscriptal Spanish–English (SE) bilinguals, who use two similar Roman alphabetic systems, were compared to biscriptal Chinese–English (CE) bilinguals, who use logographs and Roman alphabets. On the Attention Network Test, script effects were most evident in global processing efficiency (i.e., inverse efficiency and reaction time) and in the local network of executive control in favor of biscriptal CE bilinguals over matched monoscriptal SE counterparts. Literacy effects were found on the executive control network among Chinese–English bilinguals of high L1-literacy skills over their script- and immersion-matched counterparts, who varied only in low L1 literacy. In a similar vein, results of the multiple regression analysis demonstrated that script and literacy are significant predictors of executive control capacities. Our results suggest that script variation in a bilingual's language pair is an important modulating factor that enhances overall attention efficiency.

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017.

Keywords

  • Attention Network Test (ANT)
  • Bilingualism
  • Executive attention
  • Literacy skills
  • Script variation

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The effects of script variation, literacy skills, and immersion experience on executive attention: a comparison of matched monoscriptal and biscriptal bilinguals'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this