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Linguistic transfer and the use of context by Spanish-English bilinguals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

William E. Nagy ,
Erica F. Mcclure  and
Montserrat Mir
William E. Nagy*
Affiliation:
Seattle Pacific University
Erica F. Mcclure
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Montserrat Mir
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
*
William E. Nagy, Seattle Pacific University, School of Education, 3307 Third Avenue West, Seattle, WA 98119-1997
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Abstract

In this study, Spanish-English bilinguals and English monolinguals used brief English contexts to choose among possible meanings for unfamiliar words. Two types of errors were compared: transfer errors, which were answers consistent with Spanish, but not English, syntax, and nontransfer errors, which were inconsistent with the syntax of both languages. Nontransfer errors were found to be negatively correlated with reading proficiency in both Spanish and English. Transfer errors, on the other hand, were positively correlated with reading proficiency in Spanish and were unrelated to reading proficiency in English.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 18 , Issue 4 , October 1997 , pp. 431 - 452
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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