RIVERSIDE – (INT) - Research led by a psychologist at UC Riverside shows that bilinguals regulate, or suppress, their native language when reading in a second language.

Many in media and in science often assume that reading or speaking in a second language — one that has been learned later in life than the native or first language — is always going to be difficult.

But a study led by psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist Megan Zirnstein shows that bilinguals who are highly proficient in their second language, such as international students who have come to the United States to pursue higher education, can not only overcome the difficulty that being immersed in their non-native language imposes, but also engage in reading strategies in their second language just like their monolingual peers.

Story Date: April 22, 2018