Language Use in Self-addressed Writing of Korean/English Bilinguals

Language choice and code-switching are unique characteristics of bilingual language use. Many different personal and linguistic factors play a role in what language bilinguals use, and how they code-switch. However, not much is known about bilinguals’ self-directed, internal use of language. Language is crucial for human cognition and conceptual thinking, and the internal use of language can help with cognitive functions such as decision-making, problem-solving, self-regulation, and planning. Understanding the internal use of language in bilinguals will help us learn more about bilingual cognition. This research aims to study the language choice, code-switching behavior, and overall language use patterns of bilinguals in self-directed writing through two quasi-experimental tasks. Thirty-four Korean/English bilinguals participated in two writing tasks to produce self-directed writing as well as a questionnaire to collect information about their demographic and linguistic background. Two writing tasks consist of writing a shopping list, and an action plan. The writings produced through the tasks were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively to calculate the relationship between personal factors and one’s language use. Demographic information, such as age, age of arrival, length of residence, and the highest level of education, and linguistic background information, such as language proficiency, language frequency, daily language use patterns, and number of languages spoken, were the independent variables. Factors, such as the number of English/Korean words used, the proportion of English/Korean in the writing, and the frequency of code-switching were analyzed as dependent variables. These variables were analyzed quantitatively for correlations and paired t-tests using SPSS software. Qualitative analysis was conducted on the open-ended questions of the questionnaire and the writing itself. The results show that factors such as length of residence, language proficiency, language used for daily planning purposes, and language the participants felt the most comfortable using were correlated with the amount and proportion of English used in their self-addressed writing. From the qualitative analysis, it could be shown that one’s language choice was influenced by many different factors, such as the context and one’s experience surrounding the specific tasks. The size of the sample and the length of the elicited text are not sufficient to make a generalized assumption about bilinguals’ self-directed language use, but the research holds significance in that it is one of the first to attempt to objectively observe self-directed language use. With its innovative approach to studying self-directed language use of bilinguals, the research hopes to expand our knowledge of bilingualism.