Читать книгу The Mysteries of Bilingualism. Unresolved Issues онлайн

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Concerning the first aspect – bilinguals at a particular point in time – all three questionnaires request some biographical information, and they all ask questions regarding the first three factors I outlined: Language proficiency, language use, and functions of languages. It should be noted though that Q-A does not ask about writing proficiency, nor does it ask many questions about the languages used in domains such as work, school, shopping, religion, etc. As concerns different language behaviors in different language modes (e.g., language switching or mixing in certain situations), both Q-B and Q-C ask at least one question whereas Q-A does not. The latter, however, is the only one to ask about language dominance. As for biculturalism, Q-B does not ask any questions, and both Q-A and Q-C ask about cultural identity but nothing on bicultural conduct, such as adapting ones behavior, attitudes, and even personality to different cultural situations. It should be noted that two of the three questionnaires (Q-A and Q-C) ask about the bilingual’s degree of foreign accent whereas Q-B does not. Finally, Q-C is the only one to ask questions regarding the person’s language learning skills, their results on standardized proficiency tests, as well as their use of dialects.