Discussion Questions
1. Why is it difficult to measure intelligence in general, and for bilinguals
in particular? As the majority of IQ tests include a verbal intelligence
component, how can we make sure that the test results are not
confounded with bilinguals’ language proficiency? Describe any
experience you have had with IQ tests, and discuss ways to improve
their validity.
2. If you speak more than one language, compare your languages in
terms of
(a) the expressions of time,
(b) grammatical gender
(c)emotional terms, and
(d) other significant differences. Do these
crosslinguistic differences affect your thinking when you switch from
one language to another?
Compare and discuss these cross-
linguistic differences and their role in thinking.
3. Reflect on your experience interacting with monolinguals and
bilinguals, or observations of interactions between monolinguals and
bilinguals.
Do bilinguals appear to be more communicatively sensitive
than monolingual, as the research suggests? If so, in what ways? If
not, why do you think your experiences do not reflect the research
results?
