TY - JOUR
T1 - Measuring bilingualism
T2 - The quest for a bilingualism quotient
AU - Marian, Viorica
AU - Hayakawa, Sayuri
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments. Preparation of this article was supported in part by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute Of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01HD059858 to Viorica Marian. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. We thank Drs. Fatih Bayram, Jorge Gonzalez, Jason Rothman, and Marit Westergaard for the invitation to present an earlier version of this article at the September 2019 Capturing and Quantifying Individual Differences in Bilingualism Symposium in Tromso, Norway, as well as symposium participants for insightful discussions on this topic.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press.
PY - 2021/3
Y1 - 2021/3
N2 - The study of bilingualism has a history that extends from deciphering ancient multilingual texts to mapping the structure of the multilingual brain. The language experiences of individual bilinguals are equally diverse and characterized by unique contexts of acquisition and use that can shape not only sociocultural identity but also cognitive and neural function. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this variability in scholarly perspectives and language experiences has given rise to a range of methods for defining bilingualism. The goal of this article is to initiate a conversation about the utility of a more unified approach to how we think about, study, and measure bilingualism. Using concrete case studies, we illustrate the value of enhancing communication and streamlining terminology across researchers with different methodologies within questions, different questions within domains, and different domains within scientific inquiry. We specifically consider the utility and feasibility of a bilingualism quotient (BQ) construct, discuss the idea of a BQ relative to the well-established intelligence quotient, and include recommendations for next steps. We conclude that though the variability in language backgrounds and approaches to defining bilingualism presents significant challenges, concerted efforts to systematize and synthesize research across the field may enable the construction of a valid and generalizable index of multilingual experience.
AB - The study of bilingualism has a history that extends from deciphering ancient multilingual texts to mapping the structure of the multilingual brain. The language experiences of individual bilinguals are equally diverse and characterized by unique contexts of acquisition and use that can shape not only sociocultural identity but also cognitive and neural function. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this variability in scholarly perspectives and language experiences has given rise to a range of methods for defining bilingualism. The goal of this article is to initiate a conversation about the utility of a more unified approach to how we think about, study, and measure bilingualism. Using concrete case studies, we illustrate the value of enhancing communication and streamlining terminology across researchers with different methodologies within questions, different questions within domains, and different domains within scientific inquiry. We specifically consider the utility and feasibility of a bilingualism quotient (BQ) construct, discuss the idea of a BQ relative to the well-established intelligence quotient, and include recommendations for next steps. We conclude that though the variability in language backgrounds and approaches to defining bilingualism presents significant challenges, concerted efforts to systematize and synthesize research across the field may enable the construction of a valid and generalizable index of multilingual experience.
KW - bilingualism
KW - individual differences
KW - language experience
KW - language proficiency
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U2 - 10.1017/S0142716420000533
DO - 10.1017/S0142716420000533
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85096109038
VL - 42
SP - 527
EP - 548
JO - Applied Psycholinguistics
JF - Applied Psycholinguistics
SN - 0142-7164
IS - 2
ER -