Last fall, University junior Lindsey Dombras spent more than three months studying in Morelia, Mexico, speaking almost entirely Spanish during her time there. She became fluent in her second language, but when she returned to the United States in December, something peculiar had transpired.
She had trouble speaking English, her native tongue.
“The first two days were really hard to talk,” Dombras said. “My friends told me I had a really strange accent.”
Dombras’ case may sound strange, but it is not unique, according to a recent study conducted at the University’s psychology department.
Psychology Graduate Teaching Fellow Benjamin Levy led the research, which found that this phenomenon, known as first-language attrition, is caused by an inhibition mechanism in the brain. This allows a student to repress his or her native language in order to better learn a second one.
The result, often very close to Dombras’ experience, is struggling to remember a native language after focusing primarily on a second one.
“It’s sort of cool because it provides a nice explanation that makes sense for something that lots of people have experienced,” Levy said.
The concept of first-language attrition is not new, Levy said, but some reason for it had not been explored prior to the University study.
For Dombras, a magazine journalism major, adjusting back to her English schooling has been no easy task. She is currently taking three journalism classes that require extensive writing.
“I’m having a hell of a time with (Reporting I), especially with the timed assignments,” Dombras said. She added that spelling and finding certain words is sometimes difficult.
“When I’m home I can gather my thoughts and work through it,” she said.
Dombras said she hasn’t taken any extra effort or time to try to adjust back to speaking English consistently, but expects it to come over time.
“I think the best way to do it is take three journalism classes that keep me writing,” she said. “It’s a process, that’s for sure.”
Levy sought to better understand that process using University students.
The 96 undergraduate subjects of the study were divided into two separate groups. One group was designated proficient in Spanish, and the other was less skilled. Both were required to have taken at least one year of Spanish prior to the study.
Subjects were shown color-coded drawings of simple objects such as a spoon (cuchara), book (libro) or snake (culebra). A drawing presented in green prompted the English word for the object, while red designated Spanish.
“Every time you have to name an object out in the world or think of some word to express it, it’s like you have this race going on in your mind between a very, very strong label in your native language that’s going to come to mind very readily, and this much weaker word that’s not going to be very accessible,” Levy said. “Inhibitory control is what allows you to slow down that first language.”
After being asked to identify numerous objects in Spanish, both groups took a final memory test in English to see how well they could recall their native language.
The more proficient Spanish-speaking group had little or no trouble recalling English, Levy said.
“Those people show no signs of inhibition. Basically, they didn’t need to slow down that first language word, because they were just about as good in their second language,” Levy said. “The only people you see inhibition for, when you see it really significantly, is for people are very bad at that second language.”
Michael Anderson, a University psychology professor who helped Levy with the research, said most of the subjects were recruited from psychology classes as research participation credit that several classes require. The idea to further pursue this subject came from students and colleagues and conferences who said they had experienced the phenomenon, he said.
“It just so happens that we were asked about it so many times, we just had to scratch that itch, and it turned out to be a tremendously successful experiment,” Anderson said, adding that it could likely open new possibilities for research in the future.
The concept is also one that Levy said he experienced himself while learning German after marrying his wife, a native German speaker.
While learning German, he said, he didn’t have trouble remembering his native tongue, but instead struggled with his second language of Spanish.
“I don’t think this is only something that would happen between second languages and first languages, but even between a third and second language,” he said.
Levy said he had no immediate plans to pursue the subject in the immediate future, but would consider returning to it later in his career if the opportunity presented itself.
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