BILINGUALISM IS ON MERIT: SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE AUGMENTATION PDF

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International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW) Volume  7  (2),  October  2014;  16-­‐26                                                                                                                                                          Abbasian,  G.  R.,  &am...

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BILINGUALISM IS ON MERIT: SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE AUGMENTATION Gholam-Reza Abbasian

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International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW)

Volume 7 (2), October 2014; 16‐26                                                                             Abbasian, G. R., & Merati, H   EISSN: 2289‐2737 & ISSN: 2289‐3245                                                                                               www.ijllalw.org                     

BILINGUALISM IS ON MERIT: SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE AUGMENTATION Gholam-Reza Abbasian (PhD) Imam Ali and Islamic Azad (South Tehran Branch) universities [email protected] Hamideh Merati (MA) Islamic Azad University-South Tehran Branch [email protected] ABSTRACT Bilingualism and social intelligence are generating considerable interest in terms of their vital applications in today’s modernized world. Research over the previous decades in the domain of bilingualism has mainly focused on neurological and cognitive aspects of a bilingual mind and whether bilinguals outperform monolinguals in various linguistic facets. These studies failed to address possible interconnections between bilingualism and intelligence. Likewise, social intelligence has rarely been discussed as a distinct phenomenon from emotional intelligence. Assuming that these two are connected with some other variables, the current study attempted to explore the relationship between bilingualism, social intelligence and language choice. The participants included three groups of Azeri, English and Arab bilinguals, each of which consisted of 30 people and a monolingual group comprising of 30 participants. All the participants responded to the Tromso Social Intelligence Scale questionnaire (2001). The evidence from this study suggests no significant relationship between bilingual and monolingual groups in terms of their social intelligence; however; there was a strong, negative correlation only between the Persian and English groups with respect to one subdivision of social intelligence, namely social information processing. Moreover, English bilinguals displayed significant differences in terms of their social skills as well as a strong, positive correlation with Azeri groups regarding their social intelligence. In our view, our results may improve knowledge about the vital role of bilingualism or even multilingualism in the Third World education which in turn may hopefully and optimistically lead to shrewder decisions made by pedagogical policymakers on second language learning. This in turn may foster international or even multinational communication as well as multilateral trade negotiations.A further important magnitude of this study is confidently within the domain of social intelligence. Our findings represent an excellent initial step toward an in-depth study of social intelligence in relation to bilingualism.

KEYWORDS: Bilingualism- Social intelligence-Language choice

INTRODUCTION The human brain has multitudinous intriguing capabilities, like simultaneous representing and processing several languages. This fascinating capacity of the brain, amalgamated with many other interrelated factors such as intelligence, is advantageous to bilingual and multilingual 16

International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW)

Volume 7 (2), October 2014; 16‐26                                                                             Abbasian, G. R., & Merati, H   EISSN: 2289‐2737 & ISSN: 2289‐3245                                                                                               www.ijllalw.org                     

people, as it empowers and enriches their lives. Today, European cultures consider Multilingualism and multiculturalism as purposeful realities that defy traditional language education (Ziegler, 2013). Research conducted in the domain of brain and language learning has always been embedded with many unanswered questions, most of which revolve around whether smart people are within any special competence that enables them store and retrieve linguistic information better; what makes some people more efficient in language learning and many other broadly similar questions. Though biologists, neurologists and cognitive psychologists are still in profound disagreement over the above mentioned ambiguities, they all share the view that intelligence can be considered as a common concept through all these questions (Behjat, 2012). In the world of today, bilingualism is considered as a multidisciplinary interface. The mounting concern over bilingualism and the copious research in this realm stems from firstly, pervasiveness of bilingualism as a distinct and societal phenomena and secondly, further studies that seem imperative, so as to determine the advantages of bilingualism (Dewaele, Housen, & Wei, 2003). Bilingualism embraces the idea that the speaker has two corresponding words while facing with a similar concept, this involves the speaker to capitalize on a controlled mechanism in order not to intrude the target language by using non-target equivalents and simultaneously, selecting appropriate terms of the target language (Garbin et al.,2010). To date, many studies have been piloted to explore the advantages of bilingualism phenomenon. For instance, Lee and Kim (2011) studied the relationship between bilingualism and creativity. The results revealed that “individuals’ degree of bilingualism and creativity are positively correlated, regardless of gender or age. In one more investigation, Cushen and Wiley (2011) pose the question: “What makes a person able to solve problems creatively?” (p. 458), astonishingly one possible feature to influence insightful problem solving was exposing to multiple languages from an early age. In one other study, Bialystok and Barac (2011) investigated attributes of the bilingual experience that are beneficial to performance on metalinguistic and executive function tasks as children become bilingual. It was discovered that “metalinguistic performance improved with increased knowledge of the language of testing and executive control performance improved with increased experience in a bilingual education environment” (p. 5). In addition, Morales, Calvo, and Bialystok (2012) compared working memory development in bilingual and monolingual children and figured out that bilinguals outstripped monolinguals with respect to accuracy in replying to dissimilar experiments. Moreover, Kovacs (2007) represented behavioral studies demonstrating that bilingual children outpace monolinguals within the same age, regarding the tasks that involve significant levels of cognitive control like executive function and false-belief tasks. The merit of growing up with multiple languages is directly concomitant with the development of cognitive advantages traced in adulthood or in older age (Della Rosa et al., 2013). Although, various approaches have been put forward to delve in to the convoluted concept of bilingualism, it is mind- boggling that few if any studies have been conducted on the relationship between bilingualism and intelligence (IQ) or social intelligence (SI) which is the focus of this study. IQ, as Craik and Bialystok (2005) state, might encompass two major components; one is 17

International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW)

Volume 7 (2), October 2014; 16‐26                                                                             Abbasian, G. R., & Merati, H   EISSN: 2289‐2737 & ISSN: 2289‐3245                                                                                               www.ijllalw.org                     

knowledge, which consists of both propositional and procedural dimensions and control, which enables human beings and also other organisms, exploit stored knowledge to the best adaptive advantage, whereas, as Hampel, Weis, Hiller, and Witthoft (2011) suggest “social intelligence (SI) is a relevant component for socially competent behavior. Thorndike (1920) also defines SI as “the ability to understand and manage men and women, boys and girls – to act wisely in human relations” (p.228). In the past it was assumed that Emotional Intelligence (EI) and SI are inextricably interwoven together; however, over that past few years due to meticulous studies in the field of intelligence this notion has little by little faded away. Goleman (2006) confirms this theory and divides SI into two broad categories as follows: 1. Social awareness: what we perceive about other people. 2. Social facility: how we take action on that sense of awareness As Albrecht (2005) points out, SI is beyond IQ and EI and in fact “ represents a kind of ‘intelligence’ in itself, quite apart from the usual ‘IQ’ kind of intelligence that academics, psychologists, and educators have studied so diligently” (p. XII). In light of the confusion toward the relation between bilingualism and SI and the fact that bilingualism is a noteworthy achievement that has scarcely been studied in relation to the spectrum of SI, this study aims at exploring the probability of the aforementioned relationship, Furthermore, this study conscientiously examines which group of bilinguals participated in this study resemble higher levels of social intelligence that in turn will shed more light on the complicated domain of bilingualism and its interdependent aspects.

RESEARCH QUESTION Is there any relationship between bilingualism and social intelligence?

METHODOLOGY Participants A total of one hundred and twenty participants (N=120) of different ages were randomly recruited for this survey. This consisted of the four groups needed to fulfill the objectives of the investigation, a monolingual group who were Persian speakers and three bilingual groups each of which was able to speak Arabic, Azeri and English as well as Persian to meet the requirements for the investigation of the relationship between bilingualism and language choice. Each group comprised of thirty (N=30) subjects. Instruments and materials In order to measure social intelligence of the participants, the Tromso Social Intelligence Scale (TSIS) (α = .89) developed by Silvera et al. (2001) was used. The TSIS scale is a self-report measure of social intelligence and includes 21 questions. Gini (2006) who has conducted the adaptation of the Italian version of the TSIS to the adolescent population holds that: 18

International Journal of Language Learning and Applied Linguistics World (IJLLALW)

Volume 7 (2), October 2014; 16‐26                                                                             Abbasian, G. R., & Merati, H   EISSN: 2289‐2737 & ISSN: 2289‐3245                                                                                               www.ijllalw.org                     

The scale measures three areas of social intelligence: a) social information processing, that is the ability to understand and predict other peoples’ behaviors and feelings; b) social skills, that stresses the behavioral aspects of the construct by assessing the ability to enter new social situations and social adaptation; c) social awareness, that measures the tendency to be unaware of or surprised by events in social situations. (p.4) It is worth mentioning that Reliability and validity of the TSIS developed by Silvera et al. (2001), have been verified and confirmed by other scholars in other versions of this scale, For example, (Dogan & Cetin, 2009; Gini, 2006). The following tables display some information regarding the TSIS. TSIS-IV:

Table 1: Materials Used in Verifying Tromsø Social Intelligence Scale (TSIS–IV) The Italian Version of the Tromsø Social Intelligence Scale Gini&Iotti (2004) The tendency to respond in a socially desirable fashion was controlled using a short version of the Marlowe and Crowne scale Crowne & Marlowe (1960).

Social Desirability Scale:

Internal reliability for each of the three sub scales of the TSIS-IV for adolescents: SP (=.80; original =.79), SS (=.79; original=.85), and SA (=.70; original=.72).

Table 2: Correlation Coefficients between the Three Subscales of the TSIS and the SD Scale Regarding (TSIS–IV) SD SP SS Social Information Processing (SP)

.120*

Social Skills (SS)

.158**

.202***

Social Awareness (SA)

.247***

.004

.424***

Notes: SD= Social Desirability N=320 *p< .05, **p...