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Rethinking Multilingual Experience through a Systems Framework of Bilingualism: Response to Commentaries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2023

Debra A. Titone Open the ORCID record for Debra A. Titone [Opens in a new window]  and
Mehrgol Tiv Open the ORCID record for Mehrgol Tiv [Opens in a new window]
Debra A. Titone*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, McGill University; Centre for Research on Brain, Language, and Music, Montreal, Canada
Mehrgol Tiv
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, McGill University; Centre for Research on Brain, Language, and Music, Montreal, Canada
*
Address for correspondence: Debra A. Titone (Email: [email protected]) or Mehrgol Tiv (Email: [email protected]), Department of Psychology, McGill University, 2001 McGill College Ave., Montréal, QC H3A 1G1, CA
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Abstract

In Rethinking Multilingual Experience through a Systems Framework of Bilingualism (Titone & Tiv, 2022), we encouraged psycholinguists and cognitive neuroscientists to consider integrating social and ecological aspects of multilingualism into a collective understanding of its cognitive and neurocognitive bases (i.e., to rethink experience). We then offered a framework – the Systems Framework of Bilingualism – and described empirical challenges and potential solutions with applying this framework to new research. Since the paper's publication, several eminent colleagues read and commented on our Keynote, noting both its strengths and areas for improvement. We read each commentary with enthusiasm and gratitude. Here, we briefly respond to several salient points raised, which led us to clarify and improve our theoretical approach. We first address what the commentaries agreed were strengths of the framework. We follow this with a discussion of what the commentaries stated could be improved or extended. We conclude with ways that we modified our model to collectively address concerns raised in the commentaries.

Keywords

bilingualismmultilingualismexperiencecognitionsociolinguisticsecolinguisticssocial contextsocial ecology
Type
Author's Response
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , January 2023 , pp. 247 - 251
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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