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College Students’ Preconceptions About Bilingualism, �Their Persistence and Change �During a General Education Course

Peter Ecke

Department of German Studies

Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Second Language Acquisition & Teaching

eckep@arizona.edu

​

2nd Bilingual Initiative Symposium, University of Arizona, March 28, 2025

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Acknowledgement

  • National Endowment for the Humanities Project:

HB-294814-24

  • “Becoming Multilingual: Empowering College Students to Learn and Maintain Languages for Life”

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Overview

  • Findings from a pre- and post-course questionnaire administered to UA undergraduate students
  • about preconceptions/assumptions about bilingualism
  • in the general education course “Becoming Multilingual: Learning and Maintaining Two or More Languages”.
  • Potential implications

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“Becoming Multilingual: Learning and Maintaining two or More Languages” (GER 150A1)

  • introduce undergraduates to research on bi/multilinguals
  • help them see how myths about bilingualism and language learning persist and what the realities are.
  • Offered for 10 years to 1,494 UA students
  • Including Hispanic, international, immigrant, and Native American students.
  • Students who experience challenges related to their perceived language proficiencies and cultural identities

​

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���

Enrollment Numbers of “Becoming Multilingual: Learning and Maintaining two or More Languages”

1,494 in total

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�Pre-Post-course questionnaires�to learn about participants and their learning in the course�

  • Pre-course survey respondents: 827
  • M respondents per item (Pre): 818 (SD: 4.26)

​

  • Post-course survey respondents: 709
  • M respondents per item (Post): 703 (SD: 3.72)

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��Being monolingual or bilingual��Which term, do you think, best describes you and your language experiences/background?��

Pre (n = 825)

Post (n = 706)

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Who is a "bilingual"?

Please describe/define in your own words. (Pre)

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Who is a "bilingual"? �First 15 most frequent qualifying adjectives and adverbs

Pre Word Frequency

​

​

​

Rank

Word

% of Text

Change %

Occurrence

14

fluently

1.64

-0.98

199

17

fluent

1.24

-0.31

151

24

able

1.00

-0.31

121

49

proficient

0.30

-0.02

36

50

effectively

0.29

-0.11

35

60

well

0.21

-0.01

25

61

native

0.21

-0.10

25

84

comfortably

0.15

-0.08

18

85

proficiently

0.14

-0.06

17

91

capable

0.13

-0.08

16

93

enough

0.12

+0.04

15

105

daily

0.10

+0.36

12

117

same

0.08

-0.02

10

119

comfortable

0.08

+0.01

10

122

easily

0.08

-0.06

10

Post Word Frequency

​

​

​

Rank

Word

% of Text

Change %

Occurrence

25

fluent

0.93

-0.31

102

32

able

0.69

-0.31

75

34

fluently

0.66

-0.98

72

41

daily

0.46

+0.36

50

51

everyday

0.36

+0.32

39

57

proficient

0.28

-0.02

31

67

well

0.20

0.01

22

73

regularly

0.18

+0.16

20

74

effectively

0.18

-0.11

20

77

enough

0.16

+0.04

18

85

necessarily

0.15

+0.11

16

97

native

0.11

-0.10

12

108

somewhat

0.09

+0.05

10

110

fully

0.09

+0.07

10

113

comfortable

0.09

0.01

10

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Who is a "bilingual"? �Second 15 most frequent qualifying adjectives and adverbs

Pre Word Frequency

​

​

​

Rank

Word

% of Text

Change %

Occurrence

132

conversational

0.07

-0.03

9

148

separate

0.06

-0.02

7

156

even

0.05

0.01

6

157

confident

0.05

-0.05

6

172

naturally

0.05

-0.03

6

175

perfect

0.05

-0.03

6

179

equally

0.04

0.01

5

186

necessarily

0.04

+0.11

5

188

somewhat

0.04

+0.05

5

190

conversationally

0.04

0.00

5

193

everyday

0.04

+0.32

5

195

distinct

0.04

-0.03

5

199

good

0.03

0.00

4

212

freely

0.03

-0.02

4

217

decent

0.03

-0.02

4

Post Word Frequency

​

​

​

Rank

Word

% of Text

Change %

Occurrence

115

proficiently

0.08

-0.06

9

126

frequently

0.07

+0.05

8

130

comfortably

0.07

-0.08

8

131

regular

0.07

+0.05

8

135

same

0.06

-0.02

7

138

even

0.06

0.01

7

143

certain

0.06

0.04

7

150

consistently

0.05

+0.05

6

163

capable

0.05

-0.08

5

164

usually

0.05

+0.03

5

165

equally

0.05

0.01

5

180

successfully

0.04

0.02

4

181

cultural

0.04

+0.03

4

186

commonly

0.04

+0.03

4

192

efficiently

0.04

0.02

4

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True-False (forced choice questions about bilinguals)

  • Pre-
  • Post-

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Summary�

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  • More students see themselves as bilinguals (rather than monolinguals or foreign language learners) at the end of the course.

​

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Summary�

Myths that persist the most:

  • language confusion and mixing in children*,
  • language disorders in children*
  • Switching languages implies switching personalities*
  • that it is OK for parents to exclusively use a non-native language with their children*

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Summary�

Why do 5-40% of preconceptions persist?

  • Nature of a general education course?
    • Introductory
    • Requirement
    • Difficulty to evaluate conflicting research

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Summary�

Myths that change the most

  • Idealized assumptions about bilinguals
    • equally proficient in their languages*,
    • 2 monolinguals in 1 person*,
    • excellent translators*
  • Bilingual children
    • especially vulnerable to language loss
    • may overgeneralize grammar rules
  • Codeswitching
    • reflecting a lack of language skills*

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Summary�

​

Who is a bilingual?

  • Changing responses from pre- to post- survey
  • Someone who speaks 2+ languages
    • Pre: fluently, proficiently, well, native, effectively, comfortably…
    • Post: (fluently), daily, regularly, necessarily, somewhat
  • Less idealization of bilinguals

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Implications�

​

​

  • Findings show a change of preconceptions about bilinguals
  • Suggest learning
  • Students have more realistic assumptions about bilinguals and their language use
  • Some myths persist and must be addressed.

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College Students’ Preconceptions About Bilingualism, Their Persistence and Change During a General Education Course

Peter Ecke

Department of German Studies

Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Second Language Acquisition & Teaching

eckep@arizona.edu

​

2nd Bilingual Initiative Symposium, University of Arizona, March 28, 2025

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