This book provides a contemporary approach to the study of bilingualism. Drawing on contributions from leading experts in the field, this book brings together - in a single volume - a selection of the exciting work conducted as part of the programme of the ESRC Centre for Research on Bilingualism in Theory and Practice at Bangor University, Wales. Each chapter has as its main focus an exploration of the relationship between the two languages of a bilingual. Section by section, the authors draw on current findings and methodologies to explore the ways in which their research can address this question from a number of different perspectives.

The study of bilingualism has charted a dramatically new, important, and exciting course in the 21st century, benefiting from the integration in cognitive science of theoretical linguistics, psycholinguistics, and cognitive psychology (especially work on the higher-level cognitive processes often called executive function or executive control). Current research, as exemplified in this book, advances the study of the effects of bilingualism on executive function by identifying many different ways of being bilingual, exploring the multiple facets of executive function, and developing and analyzing tasks that measure executive function. The papers in this volume (21 chapters), by leading researchers in bilingualism and cognition, investigate the mechanisms underlying the effects (or lack thereof) of bilingualism on cognition in children, adults, and the elderly. They take us beyond the standard, classical, black-and-white approach to the interplay between bilingualism and cognition by presenting new methods, new findings, and new interpretations.

The Contributions to the Sociology of Language series features publications dealing with sociolinguistic theory, methods, findings and applications. It addresses the study of language in society in its broadest sense, as a truly international and interdisciplinary field in which various approaches – theoretical and empirical – supplement and complement each other. The series invites the attention of scholars interested in language in society from a broad range of disciplines – anthropology, education, history, linguistics, political science, and sociology. To discuss your book idea or submit a proposal, please contact Natalie Fecher.

This text provides an overview of bi- and multilingualism as a worldwide phenomenon. It features comprehensive discussions of many of the linguistic, social, political, and educational issues found in an increasingly multilingual nation and world. To this end, the book takes the Chicano-Latino community of Southern California, where Spanish-English bilingualism has over a century and a half of history, and presents a detailed case study, thereby situating the community in a much broader social context. Spanish is the second most-widely spoken language in the U.S. after English, yet, for the most part, its speakers form a language minority that essentially lacks the social, political, and educational support necessary to derive the many cognitive, socioeconomic, and educational benefits that proficient bilingualism can provide. The issues facing Spanish-English bilinguals in the Los Angeles area are relevant to nearly every bi- and multilingual community irrespective of nation, language, and/or ethnicity.

The seventh edition of this bestselling textbook has been extensively revised and updated to provide a comprehensive and accessible introduction to bilingualism and bilingual education in an everchanging world. Written in a compact and clear style, the book covers all the crucial issues in bilingualism and multilingualism at individual, group and societal levels. Updates to the new edition include: Thoroughly updated chapters with over 500 new citations of the latest research. Six chapters with new titles to better reflect their updated content. A new Chapter 16 on Deaf-Signing People, Bilingualism/Multilingualism, and Bilingual Education. The latest demographics and other statistical data. Recent developments in and limitations of brain imaging research. An expanded discussion of key topics including multilingual education, codeswitching, translanguaging, translingualism, biliteracy, multiliteracies, metalinguistic and morphological awareness, superdiversity, raciolinguistics, anti-racist education, critical post-structural sociolinguistics, language variation, motivation, age effects, power, and neoliberal ideologies. Recent US policy developments including the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Seal of Biliteracy, Proposition 58, LOOK Act, Native American Languages Preservation Act, and state English proficiency standards and assessments consortia (WIDA, ELPA21). New global examples of research, policy, and practice beyond Europe and North America. Technology and language learning on the internet and via mobile apps, and multilingual language use on the internet and in social media. Students and Instructors will benefit from updated chapter features including: New bolded key terms corresponding to a comprehensive glossary Recommended readings and online resources Discussion questions and study activities

Written by an experienced team of teachers and researchers, this comprehensive introduction to the key issues and debates in bilingualism presents articles from leading figures, including Genesee, Peal, MacNamara, Baker, Saer and Swain.

Using novel methodological approaches and new data, The Bilingual Advantage draws together researchers from education, economics, sociology, anthropology and linguistics to examine the economic and employment benefits of bilingualism in the US labor market, countering past research that shows no such benefits exist.

This collection brings together leading names in the field of bilingualism research to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Studies in Bilingualism series. Over the last 25 years the study of bilingualism has received a tremendous amount of attention from linguists, psychologists, cognitive scientists, and neuroscientists. The breadth of coverage in this volume is a testament to the many different aspects of bilingualism that continue to generate phenomenal interest in the scholarly community. The bilingual experience is captured through a multifaceted prism that includes aspects of language and literacy development in child bilinguals with and without developmental language disorders, language processing and mental representations in adult bilinguals across the lifespan, and the cognitive and neurological basis of bilingualism. Different theoretical approaches – from generative UG-based models to constructivist usage-based models – are brought to bear on the nature of bilingual linguistic knowledge. The end result is a compendium of the state-of-the-art of a field that is in constant evolution and that is on an upward trajectory of discovery.

Age effects have played a particularly prominent role in some theoretical perspectives on second language acquisition. This book takes an entirely new perspective on this issue by re-examining these theories in light of the existence of apparently similar non-native outcomes in adult heritage speakers who, unlike adult second language learners, acquired two or more languages in childhood. Despite having been exposed to their family language early in life, many of these speakers never fully acquire, or later lose, aspects of their first language sometime in childhood. The book examines the structural characteristics of "incomplete" grammatical states and highlights how age of acquisition is related to the type of linguistic knowledge and behavior that emerges in L1 and L2 acquisition under different environmental circumstances. By underscoring age of acquisition as a unifying factor in the study of L2 acquisition and L1 attrition, it is claimed that just as there are age effects in L2 acquisition, there are also age effects, or even perhaps a critical period, in L1 attrition. The book covers adult L2 acquisition, attrition in adults and in children, and includes a comparison of adult heritage language speakers and second language learners.

This book pioneers the study of bilingualism across the lifespan and in all its diverse forms. In framing the newest research within a lifespan perspective, the editors highlight the importance of considering an individual's age in researching how bilingualism affects language acquisition and cognitive development. A key theme is the variability among bilinguals, which may be due to a host of individual and sociocultural factors, including the degree to which bilingualism is valued within a particular context.Thus, this book is a call for language researchers, psychologists, and educators to pursue a better understanding of bilingualism in our increasingly global society.