The Asymmetric Effects In The Code-switching Process Of Chinese-vietnamese Bilinguals With Different Proficiency Levels

In bilingualism,code-switching refers to the phenomenon that a bilingual switches from one language to another.During the switching,especially among unbalanced bilinguals,longer reaction time and lower accuracy rate often happen,which is called code-switching cost.Meanwhile,code-switching cost would vary with the switching direction,which is regarded as the code-switching asymmetry.According to the previous studies,such asymmetric effects are closely linked with various factors such as the fluency of the second language,the relationship between the two languages,the age of the second language acquisition as well as the immersion of the second language.Through the previous studies on code-switching process both at home and abroad,the majority of them have focused on Indo-European languages,based on which different theoretical models were put forward such as Revised Hierarchical Model,Inhibitory Control Model and the Bilingual Interactive Activation Model.However,compared with the abundant studies on Latin languages,the studies concerning languages with different scripts are relatively rare,mainly focusing on Chinese-English code-switching process.And the study on English-Vietnamese bilinguals is very limited.More important is that so far there has been no investigation on Chinese-Vietnamese bilinguals.Therefore,in order to fill the gap,the present study adopting the behavior experiment through cross-language priming paradigm and picture-word decision tasks aims at exploring the code-switching process of Chinese-Vietnamese bilinguals with different proficiency levels to address the following four questions:(1)Does code-switching cost exist among highly-proficient Chinese-Vietnamese bilinguals both in Chinese to Vietnamese and Vietnamese to Chinese switching modes?(2)Does code-switching cost exist among low proficient Chinese-Vietnamese bilinguals both in Chinese to Vietnamese and Vietnamese to Chinese switching modes?(3)If there is code-switching cost among Chinese-Vietnamese bilinguals with the same proficiency level,is the cost in the two code-switching modes symmetrical or not?(4)In the same code-switching mode,is the code-switching cost between the highly-proficient and the low proficient bilinguals significantly different?This study adopted a 3×2 mixed design,in which code-switching modes(no switching,Chinese to Vietnamese,Vietnamese to Chinese)functioned as the within-subject variable while the L2 proficiency levels(high/low proficiency)as the between-subject variable.Reaction time and accuracy rate were the dependent variables.32 students majoring in Vietnamese from SISU participated in the study.They were divided into two groups,each of 16 for highly-proficient bilinguals and low proficient ones respectively.The present study consisted of three experiments,each corresponding to one priming mode mentioned above.In Experiment One,there was no code-switching and participants were required to judge 60 picture-word pairs.In Experiment Two,Chinese priming words were presented at first,followed by another 60 picture-word pairs.In Experiment Three,participants had to give their judgement to 60 picture-word pairs after the appearance of Vietnamese priming words.All the stimulus materials were divided into three main lists and each participant only needed to accomplish one of them.Thus,repetition effects could be eliminated.The sequential effects were also counterbalanced.All materials were programmed by E-Prime2.0.The analysis of the average accuracy rate corresponding to different conditions was conducted respectively and with±2.5 standard deviations,the invalid data were eliminated.After that,the data left was analyzed by SPSS16.0.The whole study was conducted in the Key Lab of Cognitive Neuroscience and Foreign Language Learning in SISU.The research findings are as follows:(1)Among highly-proficient Chinese-Vietnamese bilinguals,no code-switching cost but facilitation effects were found under both Chinese and Vietnamese priming modes(t=.225,p=.825>.05).(2)Among low proficient Chinese-Vietnamese bilinguals,there were facilitation effects under the Chinese priming mode while minor code-switching cost existed under the Vietnamese priming mode,though showing no significant difference(t=-.379,p=.712 >.05).(3)The switching direction exerted no asymmetric effects on the code-switching process among both the highly-proficient bilinguals(t=1.501,p=.159)and the low proficient bilinguals(t=.638,p=.535).(4)The language proficiency level exerted asymmetric effects on the code-switching process.In detail,in the Chinese priming mode,regarding the matching picture-word pairs,there existed significant difference between the highly-proficient bilinguals and the low proficient bilinguals(t=-3.306,p=.001);regarding the non-matching picture-word pairs,there also existed significant difference between the highly-proficient bilinguals and the low proficient bilinguals(t=-2.976,p=.003).In the Vietnamese priming mode,regarding the matching picture-word pairs,there existed significant difference between the highly-proficient bilinguals and the low proficient bilinguals(t=-2.758,p=.006);regarding the non-matching picture-word pairs,there also existed significant difference between the highly-proficient bilinguals and the low proficient bilinguals(t=-3.585,p=.000).In conclusion,there is no code-switching cost but facilitation effects among the highly-proficient and the low proficient bilinguals.Meanwhile,on the code-switching process of the highly-proficient bilinguals and the low proficient bilinguals,the switching direction exerts no asymmetric effects while the language proficiency level does have some asymmetric effects.