title: Mixing Languages during Learning? Testing the One Subject-One Language Rule.
abstract: In bilingual communities, mixing languages is avoided in formal schooling: even if two languages are used on a daily basis for teaching, only one language is used to teach each given academic subject. This tenet known as the one subject-one language rule avoids mixing languages in formal schooling because it may hinder learning. The aim of this study was to test the scientific ground of this assumption by investigating the consequences of acquiring new concepts using a method in which two languages are mixed as compared to a purely monolingual method. Native balanced bilingual speakers of Basque and Spanish-adults (Experiment 1) and children (Experiment 2)-learnt new concepts by associating two different features to novel objects. Half of the participants completed the learning process in a multilingual context (one feature was described in Basque and the other one in Spanish); while the other half completed the learning phase in a purely monolingual context (both features were described in Spanish). Different measures of learning were taken, as well as direct and indirect indicators of concept consolidation. We found no evidence in favor of the non-mixing method when comparing the results of two groups in either experiment, and thus failed to give scientific support for the educational premise of the one subject-one language rule.
authors.affiliation: BCBL, Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, Donostia, Spain.
authors.forename: Eneko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Antón
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Bangor University, Gwynedd, Wales, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Thierry
authors.affiliation: BCBL, Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, Donostia, Spain.
authors.forename: Jon Andoni
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Duñabeitia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002663:Child Language; D003210:Concept Formation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007804:Language Development; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D019303:Multilingualism; D011930:Reaction Time; D013030:Spain; D055815:Young Adult