Brand new Bilingualism Matters at Edinburgh Fringe

July 6, 2015 by

Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas logo

Bilingualism Matters Director Prof. Antonella Sorace will perform a new show at Edinburgh Fringe Festival

15:00 – 16:00 Saturday 15 August, Stand in the Square Book tickets now


Not so Native Now

…is a state of the art run through of current research and the controversial new theory that the more your brain adapts to let in a second or third language, the more it loosens its grip on the rules of your native language. So if you have ever suffered at the hands of the grammar pedants, then take heart: chances are that your brain may just be better suited to learning additional languages!

But what does this mean for the education system or for employers? Should we be more willing to accept a few minor mistakes in exchange for the ability to converse with a wider audience? Would you swap a perfect grasp of your native language to be near-native in another tongue? And is there even such a thing as the perfect native speaker in the first place?

Join us as we discuss, debate, challenge and learn about the fascinating topics of language and identity.
For tickets and more information, see the fringe website: Not so Native Now at the Edinburgh fringe

Not so Native Now is part of the hugely successful Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas, bringing together some of Scotland’s fiercest intellects to provoke discussion right here in the home of enlightenment thinking.

For information about other shows in the Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas, visit their website or follow them on twitter: @CODIfringe

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Workshop on Bilingualism and Executive Function: An Interdisciplinary Approach

June 1, 2015 by

18-19 May 2015, New York

Bilingualism Matters researchers Dr. Thomas Bak and Prof. Antonella Sorace joined language scientists and cognitive psychologists from around the world to discuss the relationship between speaking more than one language, and other mental skills such as the ability to focus attention or switch between tasks. These skills are often referred to as “executive function”.

There are many different ways of testing this sort of ability. For example, one common task for children involves asking them to sort cards first by the picture they show, and then by the colour of that picture – ignoring the picture itself. A common task for adults involves asking them to imagine they are in a lift, or elevator. When they hear a high pitch tone they count down one floor, and when they hear a low pitch tone they count up one floor – this forces people to ignore the usual association between high pitch tones and moving or counting upwards. [Read more…]

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Code-switching in Italian-English bilingual children

April 23, 2015 by

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh are looking for children aged 7 – 11 years and who speak both English and Italian on a daily basis. The children will take part in games to shed light on the process of code-switching, or swapping between languages, in primary school aged children.

In recent years, a lot of work has been done to investigate what happens when bilinguals alternate between languages in a conversation (a phenomenon known as “code-switching”. But research so far has mostly been limited to adults. This study will be one of the first to gather data on how children use and perceive code-switching in conversations.

Take part in the study

Bilingual Italian and English children will be asked to play two games in a familiar setting.

In the first activity, children will look at cartoons while listening to conversations in Italian and English; in the second activity, children will describe a series of pictures.

Parents or carers will also be asked to complete a short questionnaire about their child’s language experiences.

If your family would be interested in taking part, or simply finding out more about the study, please contact the lead researcher on the study Dino Selvaggi

Testing will take place in Edinburgh from 27th April to 19th May. Please note that participation in this study is voluntary and unpaid.

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Japan Foundation Supports Stromness Academy Students Learning Japanese

April 10, 2015 by

Over the past six months, high school students in Orkney have been learning about Japan, its language and its culture with support from the Japan Foundation. The project was the brainchild of Stromness Academy’s Deputy Head Teacher Mark Colson, with help from Bilingualism Matters support Ruta Noreika (who divides her time between Edinburgh and Orkney) and Yuka Johnston (an Orkney resident, originally from Tokyo).

stromness academy students study Japanese language and culture The project began in response to a visit by Japanese students from Kamaishi, on Japan’s East coast, to Orkney last August. Following the visit, a group of S4, S5 and S5 students at Stromness Academy took part in Japanese language and culture sessions from October 2014 until the end of March 2015. They have learnt simple greetings, how to introduce themselves, a bit about the politeness system, basic numbers and counting, how to describe their families (you can’t just say my brother or sister, you have to say whether they are older or younger) and of course how to say please and thank you. [Read more…]

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Bilingual siblings

March 23, 2015 by

Dr Sharon Unsworth

The following piece was first published as blog of the month in December 2014 on Meertalig.nl, an initiative promoting language learning and bilingualism in the Netherlands. Meertalig also hosts the Dutch branch of Bilingualism Matters as part of the EU-funded AThEME project.

Sharon Unsworth is Associate Professor of Second Language Acquisition at Radboud University Nijmegen where she teaches linguistics and carries out research into the language development of bilingual children (see her website for more information). She is also a member of the editorial board at Meertalig.nl

My daughter started school about a month ago. She’s absolutely loving it and is already making friends with some of the other children in her class. So far, so good then. Whilst the usual sense of trepidation common to most new experiences might be waning, I must admit that there’s a part of the bilingual mum in me that can’t help worry about the effect attending (Dutch only) school might have on my daughter’s English. [Read more…]

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Bilingualism Matters in the Guardian’s Case for Language Learning

March 13, 2015 by

Piece on multilingual families with advice from Bilingualism Matters’ director Prof. Antonella Sorace

The case for language learning

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Prof Antonella Sorace sur EURadioNantes

March 7, 2015 by

French language radio interview on bilingualism

antonella EURadioNantes

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AThEME branch of Bilingualism Matters opens in Nantes

March 6, 2015 by

Bilingualism Matters in Nantes launchOn 27th February 2015, a new branch of Bilingualism Matters opened at the University of Nantes. The French branch is the seventh to open as part of the EU-funded AThEME project; over the next five years researchers at Nantes will be disseminating the results of this major research project around France.

The branch director, Hamida Demirdache, organised an Bilingualism-themed evening entitled “One brain, two languages: an investment for life” to launch the new initiative, with a public lecture from Edinburgh’s own Prof. Antonella Sorace. The event was also attended by Prof. Lisa Cheng of Leiden University, who is leading the AThEME project overall. Prof Cheng said: “staff at Nantes have done a brilliant and impressive job launching this new branch, and I look forward to watching it evolve alongside the AThEME project”.

As part of the launch event, Prof. Antonella Sorace also spoke to Raphaëlle Besançon from EURadioNantes about life, bilingualism, and everything… in French! Très bien! You can listen to the French language interview on the EURadioNantes website.

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New Scots: Integrating Refugees in Scotland’s Communities

February 18, 2015 by

new scots coverBilingualism Matters has been chatting to Mandy Watts from Education Scotland, who works as a Development Officer for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). Part of Mandy’s job involves contributing to the “New Scots” strategy for refugees, which has been drawn up by the Scottish Government in partnership with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and the Scottish Refugee Council.

With the strategy recently celebrating its first year, and with the Scotland, People, Language forum just days away, we asked Mandy to tell us more about the New Scots strategy and what it means for people living in Scotland.
[Read more…]

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Late language learners show improved mental agility

January 16, 2015 by

Learning a second language can boost cognitive performance even in late learners, suggests a new study.

Researchers from Bilingualism Matters at the University of Edinburgh tested the mental agility of almost 200 university students, divided into those who did or did not study modern languages. Results showed that the linguists showed more improvement in thinking skills than the non-linguists.

Students were asked, for example, to switch between counting upwards and downwards (to measure their attention switching abilities), or to name as many words beginning with a certain letter (to measure their verbal fluency). The results of first year students were compared with those of fourth year students, in order to measure the improvement in thinking skills that students acquired over the course of a degree. For both the language students and the monolingual humanities students, fourth year students scored significantly higher in verbal fluency than first year students, thus confirming the benefits of general learning (regardless of subject). However, the students on modern languages courses showed significantly more improvement in their ability to switch attention than their monolingual peers, suggesting an additional cognitive boost when we learn another language. [Read more…]

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