Awareness of interlocutors’ L2 proficiency modulates cross-linguistic activation in high-L2 proficient bilinguals

Abstract

Aims:

The present study investigated if interlocutor context influences translation and cross-linguistic activation in high-L2 proficient bilinguals.

Methodology:

Participants performed a translation recognition task in the presence of interlocutors and were judged as either high or low proficient in L2 (English). Before the main experiment, they were first familiarized with the interlocutors, after which they rated them as either high or low proficient in L2. After the familiarization phase, the participants performed the main experiment, during which an interlocutor’s image appeared while participants performed the translation recognition task. The interlocutors appeared in blocks: high L2 proficient, low L2 proficient, and no interlocutor.

Data and analysis:

Response latencies were analysed separately for ‘yes’ and critical ‘no’ trials across conditions using ANOVA.

Findings:

Awareness of the interlocutor’s second language proficiency influenced how the participants performed on the translation recognition task. The perceived L2 proficiency of the interlocutors modulated the facilitation or inhibition of cross-linguistic activation.

Originality:

The current study explores how different interlocutor contexts evoked different language control mechanisms during cross-linguistic activation in high L2 proficient bilinguals.

Significance:

The results provide evidence that interlocutor context evokes different language control mechanisms during cross-linguistic activations.