Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

11-2013

Abstract

Zhang et al. (1) argue that cultural priming disrupts bilinguals’ second-language (L2) processing because of interference from first-language (L1) structures that are activated by heritage-culture images. Although these findings are compelling, we have some concerns about the study. First, Zhang et al. (1) measured English fluency by words spoken per minute after extraneous words (e.g., repetitions and self-corrections) were pruned. Despite the assumed effectiveness of this technique, speech-rate analysis that focuses solely on temporal qualities cannot adequately capture the multifaceted nature of fluency (2), which entails not only speed fluency (i.e., speech rate) but also breakdown fluency (e.g., mean length of pauses) and repair fluency.

Keywords

Bilingualism, Culture, Second language

Discipline

Multicultural Psychology

Research Areas

Psychology

Publication

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of United States of America

Volume

110

Issue

47

First Page

E4403: 1

Last Page

1

ISSN

1091-6490

Identifier

10.1073/pnas.1316429110

Publisher

National Academy of Sciences

City or Country

Washington, DC

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1316429110

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