The danger of bilingual–monolingual comparisons in applied psycholinguistic research

The pervasive monolingual bias present within many societies threatens the well-being of bilingual children and their families. Unfortunately, such bias is present in much psycholinguistic research as well. Bilingual–monolingual comparisons with methodological approaches upholding monolingual norms...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Applied psycholinguistics 2023-05, Vol.44 (3), p.343-357
Main Author:	De Houwer, Annick
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Attitudes Bias Bilingualism Children Families & family life Foreign language instruction Language Language Acquisition Language instruction Learning Monolingualism Native language acquisition Original Article Preschool Children Preschool Teachers Psycholinguistics Towards a Just and Equitable Applied Psycholinguistics
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	The pervasive monolingual bias present within many societies threatens the well-being of bilingual children and their families. Unfortunately, such bias is present in much psycholinguistic research as well. Bilingual–monolingual comparisons with methodological approaches upholding monolingual norms are not equitable to bilinguals. We do not need such comparisons to learn more about bilingual use and processing. Instead, psycholinguistic research investigating the impact of different kinds of environments for language learning, use, and processing within bilingual populations can be transformative. Applied psycholinguistic research with an increased focus on investigating all the languages bilingual children and their families need for day-to-day communication, and on the factors supporting their learning and use, can help inform educators, policy makers, and language and speech professionals. This will hopefully contribute to the well-being of the people we study.
ISSN:	0142-7164 1469-1817