Poster #48 - Changes in Code-Switching Behavior as an Indicator of Negative Emotions in Dual-Language-Learning Children

• In Event: Poster Session 03

Abstract

Already at a young age, dual-language learners in monolingual societies experience strong emotional stress due to acculturative stress, especially in the childcare but also in the family environment (Becker et al., 2013; Berry et al., 2015). To detect and respond at an early stage to such negative emotions or high arousal experienced by dual-language-learning children, their code-switching behavior likely is of indicative value. Code-switching is a unique phenomenon among dual-language learners describing their habit to switch between languages during an ongoing conversation (Poplack, 2001). Especially in young dual-language-learning children, code-switching is influenced by their dual-language abilities, and usually, switches occur more frequently out of the less proficient and into the more proficient language (Montanari et al., 2019; Yow et al., 2018). Although, the association between children’s code-switching and their dual-language abilities is robust, it is assumed that the current emotional states may affect this relationship. When experiencing high arousal or a negative emotion, the cognitive control is thought to decrease, inherently leading to a weakened language control (Jefferies et al., 2008). In such an agitated emotional state, children potentially rely more on their language abilities than in a moderate emotional state when they have more cognitive resources available to control their adequate language use (Williams et al., 2020). In this study, we aim to better understand to what extent the relationship of code-switching and dual-language ability is further moderated by the experienced emotional state in dual-language-learning preschoolers. We hypothesize that the association of code-switching and dual-language competency is more pronounced when experiencing high arousal and/or a negative emotion than when experiencing low arousal and/or a positive emotion. To answer our research aim, we investigated 44 dual-language learners aged between 46 and 74 months (50% girls). The study was conducted in Switzerland and Germany, hence, participants acquired as the societal language either German or French. Examined heritage languages in this study were Italian and Turkish. By implementing a parental questionnaire, children’s emotion-triggered code-switching behavior was assessed for switches from the societal to the heritage language and vice versa. Children’s language abilities in the societal and the heritage language were directly assessed with a standardized testing battery. Generalized linear mixed modeling endorsed previous findings that code-switching into a non-conversational language becomes more frequent with respective high language abilities in this non-conversational language and low competences in the ongoing conversational language. As anticipated, this relationship was further moderated by emotion (b = -1.23; p = .049). In the presence of a negative emotion, the association of code-switching and language competence was slightly more pronounced than in the presence of a positive emotion. However, this was only the case for societal-language abilities, not for heritage-language abilities. The experienced arousal had no moderating effect on the mentioned code-switching and language-competence relationship. Results suggest that, for young dual-language learners, atypically strong code-switches in and out of a societal language likely indicate the experience of a negative emotion. The pedagogical value of these findings especially for early childcare is discussed.

Authors

• Leila Teresa Schächinger Tenés, University of Basel, Switzerland
  Presenting Author

• Nathalie Herles, University of Basel

• Jessica Carolyn Weiner, University of Basel

• Alexander Grob, University of Basel

• Robin Klaus Segerer, University of Basel