Browsing by Author "Aleksandra Laketa"
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    Linguistic, affective, parental, and educational contributions to the bicultural identity development of Balkan minority adolescents
    (Wiley Periodicals LLC, 2023-06-23) Aleksandra Laketa ; Elisavet Chrysochoou ; Arvesa Studenica ; Vivas A.B.
    This study investigated linguistic, affective, parental, and educational contributions to bicultural identity, in two samples of younger (13- to 14-year-old; N = 95) and older (16- to 17-year-old; N = 67) bilingual adolescents, who were immigrants or belonged to ethnic minority communities in the Balkans. While bicultural identity level was not differentiated as a function of age group, there was an age-related shift in its predictors. Bicultural identity level was significantly predicted by perceived educators' attitudes toward linguistic/cultural diversity in the younger adolescent group, but by personal affective states (motivation and attitudes) toward the mainstream language in the older adolescent group. Implications of the findings are discussed regarding educational and family practices that would facilitate biculturalism in minority adolescents.
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    The influence of bilingualism on adolescent cognition: The roles of biculturalism, the bilingual profile, and linguistic similarity
    (Elsevier, 2022) Arvesa Studenica ; Aleksandra Laketa ; Emma Blakey ; Vivas A.B.
    A broad and comprehensive approach was taken in the present study, to examine how acculturation, the bilingual profile (linguistic, affective, educational, and cultural), as well as linguistic similarity modulate any effects on executive functions (ΕFs) in adolescence. We also further explored whether any such effects are developmental in nature, and thus, modulated by adolescents’ age. The study was pre-registered and investigated four bilingual adolescent populations (N = 191), and two groups of monolingual adolescents (N = 100) from the Balkan region. Participants were tested on a range of cognitive outcomes, and rich contextual information was collected. We were able to move beyond studying factors in isolation by using data-driven cluster analyses to derive groups of more or less balanced profile bilinguals. While we found significant age-driven improvements in adolescents’ performance, we found no consistent evidence for an effect of bilingualism on EFs, across a range of tasks, taking into consideration a range of potential confounds and as a function of acculturation, bilingual profile or linguistic similarity. This suggests that when considering the wider bilingual picture, there is no evidence for a bilingual advantage in a range of EFs, even at such a sensitive period for cognitive development.