Language-switching cost in Chinese-English bilingual reading comprehension: Evidence from eye-tracking

Code-switching, or language-switching, which is the use of elements from two or more languages in the same utterance or in the same stretch of conversation (Paradis et al., 2011), is prevalent among bilingual and multilingual speakers. According to the parallel activation hypothesis of language comprehension, both languages of a bilingual are activated during sentence processing, even when there is only monolingual input (Spivey & Marian, 1999). However, studies have also shown that such language mixing can slow down processing (Macnamara & Kushnir, 1971; Soares & Grosjean, 1984). The following experiment investigated the cognitive cost brought by code-switching in Chinese-English bilinguals via eye-tracking. More specifically, this experiment determines the source of the baseline cost of language-switching in inter-sentential code-switching. Results have shown that compared with the general switch in language, narrative consistency and the amount of prime information had greater effects on bilinguals’ total reading times, indicating that the cognitive cost of language-switching arises more from the surprisal of encountering an unpredicted word, compared with encountering an unexpected language. This study provides more information on how bilinguals coordinate different linguistic information during bilingual language processing and adds to our knowledge of the underlying cognitive processes of language-switching in comprehension.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Chen, Danyi

Contributors dc:contributor

• Christianson, Kiel

• Bilingual Processing
• Language-switching
• Code-switching
• Reading Comprehension
• Eye-tracking

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2024 Danyi Chen

Language dc:language

eng, en

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124142

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/124142