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A Study of Long-term Repetition Priming Effects of Chinese-English-Japanese Bilinguals During Code-switching

Author: WangZhen
Tutor: FanLin
School: Ningbo University
Course: English Language and Literature
Keywords: bilingual code-switching long-term repetition priming effects semanticcategorization task lexical decision task bilingual memory representation
CLC: H0-05
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2013
Downloads: 4
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Abstract

As the important components of bilingual cognitive science, code-switching and bilingualmemory representation have been given adequate attention by researchers both at home andabroad. Substantial research on code-switching and bilingual memory representation has hencebeen carried out and yielded significant results. However, as for the bilinguals who areproficient in the second language (English) and non-proficient in the third language (Japanese),it remains unclear whether there are long-term repetition priming effects during code-switchingfor Chinese-English-Japanese bilinguals. Moreover, the previous studies usually focused on thepriming effects of L2to L1by adopting different task paradigms to examine the bilingualmemory representation during code-switching and found that the conceptual representation wasshared while the lexical representation was separate. However, concerning the study exploringthe priming effects of L1to L2, L2to L3as well as L1to L3is scarce. Therefore, the presentstudy employs the on-line research method to investigate the long-term repetition primingeffects of Chinese-English-Japanese bilinguals during code-switching by adopting the semanticcategorization task and lexical decision task, and further probed whether language proficiencyand repetition priming impose effects on the reaction times and response errors ofChinese-English-Japanese bilinguals during code-switching or not. Specifically speaking, thestudy is designed to answer the following three questions:1) Are there long-term repetitionpriming effects of L1to L2, L2to L3as well as L1to L3under the semantic categorization taskfor the Chinese-English-Japanese bilinguals;2) Are there long-term repetition priming effects ofL1to L2, L2to L3as well as L1to L3under the lexical decision task for theChinese-English-Japanese bilinguals;3) Can language proficiency and repetition priminginfluence the reaction times and response errors of participants during code-switching.To answer the above questions, two experiments were designed to explore the long-termrepetition priming effects of participants during code-switching under the semanticcategorization and lexical decision with E-prime. All participants of this experiment are English major postgraduates who learnt Japanese as their second foreign language at Ningbo University.The results of the experiment are as follows:1) Under the semantic categorization task, therewere the long-term repetition priming effects of L1to L2under the non-switching condition andswitching condition and there was the long-term repetition priming effect of L2to L3under thenon-switching condition, but not under the switching condition, while there were no long-termrepetition priming effects of L1to L3under the non-switching condition and switchingcondition;2)Under the lexical decision task, there were no long-term repetition priming effectsof L1to L2and L2to L3both under the non-switching and switching condition, while therewere long-term repetition priming effects of L1to L3under the non-switching and switchingcondition;3) Both language proficiency and repetition priming had significant effects on thereaction times and response errors of participants.The results of the experiments are expected to contribute to bilingual memoryrepresentation during code-switching in China and vocabulary teaching from the theoretical,methodological and pedagogical perspectives. Theoretically, the present study reveals thebilingual memory representation in Chinese (L1) and English (L2) as well as Chinese (L1) andJapanese (L3) which are quite distant in terms of language, L2and L3, and thus, furtherenriches the research in bilingual memory representation during code-switching and contributesto the construction of memory representation of L1and L3as well as L3and L2.Methodologically, the present study employs the forward translation and the avoidance ofpractice effect (i.e., requirements of making no response to the stimuli for participants at thestudy phase). It not only expands the methodological approaches of the research on bilingualmemory representation during code-switching, but also solves the problem of ecologicalvalidity of the research. Pedagogically, the results of the experiment will shed light on theteaching of foreign vocabulary.

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