As the bilingual population increases rapidly in the United States and Europe and cognitive and social accounts of SLA are gaining ground, a book that advocates the existence of a bilingual mind based on linguistic, cognitive, and emotional factors is particularly timely. Although not intended for a SLA audience, the hybrid nature of this book sheds light on new second language (L2) processes. Moreover, the use of nontechnical language and extensive examples makes the content accessible to a broad audience.
This work contains nine chapters. Chapter 1 sets the ideological stage and provides detailed demographic evidence that the United States is a nation of immigrants with linguistic needs (the so-called bilingual problem). Javier argues that the position of helping immigrants blend into the host society has serious psycholinguistic and emotional consequences that hinder the successful development of the bilingual mind. Rather, he advocates a solution that encourages and tolerates the immigrants’ linguistic and cultural roots.
Chapters 2–5 attempt to demonstrate the existence of a bilingual mind that is neurologically different from a monolingual one, based on neurological, psycholinguistic, and observational evidence (chapters 2 and 3), codeswitching (chapter 4), and bilingual memory organization (chapter 5). Chapters 4 and 5 are particularly relevant to the SLA researcher. Indeed, chapter 4 describes linguistic and extralinguistic factors that affect codeswitching and concludes that faster switching occurs when structural first language (L1) characteristics are respected and when the level of stress is manageable. Thus, intense stress conditions can hinder normal L2 development and affect bilingual memory organization, a topic discussed in length in the following chapter. Indeed, chapter 5 centers on the neurological aspects of memory and the development of memories of experiences with a focus on the organization of the bilingual memory for experiential, meaningful, and personal information. Of particular interest to SLA researchers might be Javier’s argument that a person’s attitude toward their L1 affects how these memories are accessed in the L2. A drawback of these three chapters is that they sometimes offer outdated (most studies cited are from the 1970s and 1980s) and incomplete information (seminal studies and key models in the literature on linguistic representation in bilinguals are not presented, such as the effect of a critical period on SLA [Hawkins & Chan, Reference Hawkins and Chan1997] or the language-dependent versus language-independent working memory debate [Osaka & Osaka, Reference Osaka and Osaka1992]).
Whereas chapters 1–5 each build on the previous chapter, chapters 6–8 seem to be more thematically independent. Chapter 6 highlights the importance of trained interpreters to transmit accurate information, especially in medical and psychiatric evaluations. This chapter begins with a definition of communication and its components, followed by a distinction between interpretation and translation as well as examples of inaccurate exchanges produced by untrained translators. Chapter 7 urges evaluators to consider both linguistic skills and degree of acculturation when assessing bilinguals, provides a critical description of tests, and recommends the use of certain tests to assess bilinguals with low levels of linguistic organization and acculturation. SLA scholars and practitioners will find the contents of this chapter very useful when dealing with bilinguals with deficient L2 knowledge and low acculturation who do not respond well to conventional testing measures. Chapter 8 focuses on bilingual patients undergoing psychoanalytic treatments based on memory reconstruction. Javier notes that an accurate assessment of how the bilingual functions in both languages as well as a comparison between linguistic and psychological development history is crucial for evaluation and treatment, because the context when a language was learned is connected to personal experiences and emotions. In the final chapter, Javier demands a more flexible approach to bilingualism that respects the bilinguals’ unique linguistic and cultural needs, a characteristic necessary to create the positive emotional memories needed for successful bilingualism and accurate psychoanalytic treatment to occur. This chapter ends with general examples of how this flexible model would look (e.g., better teachers, more study-abroad programs, more linguistically programmatic interventions), but implementation procedures are not described.
Overall, this work provides a fresh perspective on crosscultural literature by placing a renewed importance on the role that bilingual experience plays in perception, memory, intelligence, learning, and emotional formation. This book is mainly directed at therapists and education professionals. Although the psycholinguistic literature is sometimes outdated and incomplete, SLA researchers can benefit from an innovative perspective to the bilingual mind that interweaves psycholinguistic issues with questions of identity and culture. This work also includes useful information about the languages spoken in the United States and an excellent overview of tests to assess less proficient and less acculturated bilinguals.
