LANGUAGE SWITCHING PARADIGMS AS A TOOL FOR INVESTIGATING BILINGUAL SPEECH PRODUCTION

Abstract

Research in bilingualism has grown increasingly popular in recent years, leading to an abundance of empirical evidence that has made it possible to outline the techniques used to investigate bilingual language production. Language switching paradigms have become an essential tool employed by researchers to investigate the mechanisms responsible for bilingual language control in laboratory settings. They provide an opportunity to study how bilinguals are able to accommodate both languages in their brain and switch between them effortlessly. The current review focuses on four prominent language switching paradigms: cued language switching, alternating language switching, voluntary language switching, and the read aloud task summarizing their respective applications and advantages. Close attention is paid to the experimental setup of each paradigm, including the type of stimuli employed, the sequence of language switching during the trials, and the use of different performance measures, such as reaction time, and/or the rate of within or between language errors. The possibility of language preplanning in switching, the ability of the paradigm to elicit natural speech, and the ease of administration of each paradigm are also discussed. Two fascinating findings asymmetrical switch costs and reversed language dominance effect are outlined as pertinent to determining whether the cognitive control processes of inhibition or selection govern language switching in bilinguals. The review concludes with an analysis of the language pairs that have been studied so far, revealing an evident limitation of language variety that must be addressed by future studies.