Bogulski, C. & Kroll, J.
Pennsylvania State University
Although bilinguals have been shown to possess superior abilities in the domain of executive function, the evidence on lexical processing is mixed. Some studies demonstrate a bilingual disadvantage for vocabulary size and retrieval speed but others show that bilinguals are better able to acquire new vocabulary than monolinguals. However, previous research examining bilingual advantages in vocabulary learning has always taught the new vocabulary via L1 translations. In the present study, we sought to determine whether the bilingual advantage in vocabulary acquisition was a universal consequence of bilingualism or a specific advantage present only when bilinguals learn words via their native language. Three bilingual groups (English-Spanish, Spanish-English, and Chinese-English) were taught unfamiliar Dutch words by associating them to their English translations. Performance on immediate tests of comprehension and later retention was compared to a group of monolingual English speakers. Bilinguals taught the unfamiliar vocabulary via L1 translations were significantly slower during the study phase of the experiment, but it was also only these bilinguals who demonstrated an advantage of long-term retention over monolinguals. Critically, the same bilinguals were as fast as monolinguals in a picture naming task, suggesting that long study times reflected a learning strategy, not slow processing. We hypothesize that experience in inhibiting the L1 to learn to speak the L2 maps onto a benefit for bilinguals that is specific to learning new information in the L1. Although expertise in inhibitory control may extend to non-linguistic cognitive tasks for all bilinguals, in the present experiment, the L2 English words as the mediators for the Spanish-English and Chinese-English bilinguals may not have been sufficient to evoke a learning strategy that exploited these inhibitory processes. We discuss the implications of these results for claims about bilingual advantages in language learning and for relating the consequences of language processing to cognitive control.