ACQ Vol 11 No 1 2009

MULTICULTURALISM AND DYSPHAGIA

Table 1: Terminology First language; L1

The first language a child is exposed to, from birth, as the language of interaction. Often also known as the “home language” or “native language”. This may or may not be a child’s dominant language (see below). A second language to which is child is exposed, usually sequentially or later than the first language, typically at school. May become the dominant language. Sometimes used to refer to the less well-known language when two languages are spoken at home. A very rare situation where a bilingual can be said to be equally proficient in two or more languages. More commonly, proficiencies vary between the languages, e.g., in literacy, in comprehension, in vocabulary, in social conversation etc. 1. The language in which the person has the greatest proficiency. This may or may not be the first language. Often after being at school, a child with a different first language may have the language of school (their second language) become their dominant one.

Second (or subsequent) language(s); L2

Equal proficiency

Dominant language

2. The dominant language(s) of a society. This may be judged by that in which the greatest number of messages appear – e.g., street signs, newspapers, government publications, radio and television programmes, education, public buildings and spaces, and entertainment. It is also a sign of dominant culture. Language of instruction The language used in schools as the primary means of instruction (i.e., by teachers). May be the L1 or the L2 of a child, or their dominant or non-dominant language. Usually it is the dominant language of the society. Bilingualism and A term meaning the existence of some degree of proficiency in more than one language. A person multilingualism may be said to be bilingual if they understand a second language but cannot speak it, can speak it but cannot read or write it, can use it for conversation but not in cognitively demanding contexts, or any other possible variations. Multilingualism is proficiency in more than two languages. Bilingualism as a term often encompasses multilingualism. When a language proficiency decreases, usually through lack of use. May happen to an L1 where L2 is dominant in the wider society. Language fossilisation Where a language reaches a certain level, and does not continue to develop or to change as languages normally do. Language in a migrant group may fossilise relative to the homeland, where it continues to change. Semilingualism A non-favoured term, commonly resulting from a situation where parents use a language in which they are not proficient in order to help their children learn it. Children are not exposed to any model of a complete or rich language, and fail to develop one well. Long-term consequences may be unclear. Language loss

Code switching

The use of terms, phrases or passages in one language when “speaking” another. Proficient bilinguals code switch frequently with each other, to achieve the most efficient communication given their mutual language skills, and may not be particularly aware of doing so. Non-proficient users may code switch when they lack vocabulary or other language skills in the language they are trying to speak, and substitute items from their other language(s). Hence code switching may occur because of lower proficiency, but also as a sign of high mutual proficiency in speakers.

system between the two separate language systems, and strong interconnecting channels between each of these systems. Therefore, it would seem bilingualism may not be just a matter of “which language” but “how to involve both languages, at the same time”. This may be new territory for speech pathology. Speech pathology practices in bilingual contexts Bilingualism or multilingualism is the norm, and not the exception, for most of the world’s communities (Baker, 2000; Cummins, 2000; Mahon et al., 2003) and unsurprisingly, bilingual children form a substantial percentage of speech pathologists’ caseloads all over the world, not least in Australia (Hand et al., 2000; Sochon & Hand, 2001). There have been a number of attempts to tackle the difficulties of valid assessment in these groups. There are a number of ways that knowledge about bilingualism, versus a monolingual perspective, shows itself in such practices. We will examine just two examples of these.

guals. It is also the case that second language acquisition involves the right hemisphere more than it does in first language acquisition, and that left hemispheric involvement increases as proficiency in a second language increases. These results may be related to the fact that the left hemisphere is associated with the core analytical aspects of language, while the right may be involved in more pragmatic aspects of language. This research has also indicated that learning a second language through the understanding of grammar, spelling and irregular verbs will result in more left hemi­ spheric involvement, while learning a language in a natural manner and using it for day-to-day communication will involve more right hemisphere involvement. There are differ­ ences by age of acquisition, with more marked differences present for later second language acquisition. These two somewhat different lines of evidence (code switching and neurological activity) both suggest that bilin­ guals use and process language differently to monolinguals, and function as unique and specific speaker-hearers (Baker, 2003; Grosjean, 1989). Baker (2003) conceptualised this as early bilinguals being likely to have a shared conceptual

ACQ uiring knowledge in sp eech , language and hearing , Volume 11, Number 1 2009

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