Papers by Mandy Wigdorowitz
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition
English is imposed as the language of instruction in multiple linguistically diverse societies wh... more English is imposed as the language of instruction in multiple linguistically diverse societies where there is more than one official language. This might have negative educational consequences for people whose first language (L1) is not English. To investigate this, 47 South Africans with advanced English proficiency but different L1s (L1-English vs. L1-Zulu) were evaluated in their listening comprehension ability. Specifically, participants listened to narrative texts in English which prompted an initial inference followed by a sentence containing an expected inference or an unexpected but plausible concept, assessing comprehension monitoring. A final question containing congruent or incongruent information in relation to the text information followed, assessing the revision process. L1-English participants were more efficient at monitoring and revising their listening comprehension. Furthermore, individual differences in inhibitory control were associated with differences in revis...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2023
English is imposed as the language of instruction in multiple linguistically diverse societies wh... more English is imposed as the language of instruction in multiple linguistically diverse societies where there is more than one official language. This might have negative educational consequences for people whose first language (L1) is not English. To investigate this, 47 South Africans with advanced English proficiency but different L1s (L1-English vs. L1-Zulu) were evaluated in their listening comprehension ability. Specifically, participants listened to narrative texts in English which prompted an initial inference followed by a sentence containing an expected inference or an unexpected but plausible concept, assessing comprehension monitoring. A final question containing congruent or incongruent information in relation to the text information followed, assessing the revision process. L1-English participants were more efficient at monitoring and revising their listening comprehension. Furthermore, individual differences in inhibitory control were associated with differences in revision. Results show that participants' L1 appears to supersede their advanced English proficiency on highly complex listening comprehension.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Publications, 2022
The humanities and social sciences (HSS) have recently witnessed an exponential growth in data-dr... more The humanities and social sciences (HSS) have recently witnessed an exponential growth in data-driven research. In response, attention has been afforded to datasets and accompanying data papers as outputs of the research and dissemination ecosystem. In 2015, two data journals dedicated to HSS disciplines appeared in this landscape: Journal of Open Humanities Data (JOHD) and Research Data Journal for the Humanities and Social Sciences (RDJ). In this paper, we analyse the state of the art in the landscape of data journals in HSS using JOHD and RDJ as exemplars by measuring performance and the deep impact of data-driven projects, including metrics (citation count; Altmetrics, views, downloads, tweets) of data papers in relation to associated research papers and the reuse of associated datasets. Our findings indicate: that data papers are published following the deposit of datasets in a repository and usually following research articles; that data papers have a positive impact on both the metrics of research papers associated with them and on data reuse; and that Twitter hashtags targeted at specific research campaigns can lead to increases in data papers’ views and downloads. HSS data papers improve the visibility of datasets they describe, support accompanying research articles, and add to transparency and the open research agenda.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
African Journal of Psychological Assessment, 2021
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2017
This study compared working memory ability in multilingual young adults and their monolingual pee... more This study compared working memory ability in multilingual young adults and their monolingual peers on four components of working memory (verbal and visuospatial storage, verbal and visuospatial processing). The sample comprised 39 monolingual English speakers, and 39 multilinguals, who spoke an African language as their first and third languages, and English as their second language, all with high levels of proficiency. The multilingual young adults came from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds and possessed smaller English vocabularies than the monolinguals, features which make this group an under-researched population. Both when SES and verbal ability were and were not statistically controlled, there was evidence of a multilingual advantage in all of the working memory components, which was most pronounced in visuospatial processing. These findings support evidence from bilinguals showing cognitive advantages beyond inhibitory control, and suggest that multilingualism ma...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
International Multilingual Research Journal, May 4, 2022
Individual reports of language history, use, and proficiency are generally considered sufficient ... more Individual reports of language history, use, and proficiency are generally considered sufficient for language profiling. Yet, these variables alone neglect the contribution of contextual linguistic diversity to one’s overall language repertoire. In this study we used the Contextual Linguistic Profile Questionnaire to evaluate whether there is a difference in contextual linguistic diversity between participants across the linguistically dissimilar contexts of South Africa and England. We further assessed whether self-reported lingualism status groups (monolinguals, bilinguals, multilinguals) scored differently on contextual linguistic diversity to evaluate the utility and uniformity of categorical labels across varying contexts, and investigated how codeswitching and socio-economic status contributed to these effects. Our results demonstrated that contextual linguistic diversity differs between nations: South Africans score higher, promotion of multilingualism is dependent on socio-economic status only in England, lingualism status is not contextually comparable when measured categorically, and codeswitching accounts for linguistic features of South Africans.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Publications, 2022
The humanities and social sciences (HSS) have recently witnessed an exponential growth in data-dr... more The humanities and social sciences (HSS) have recently witnessed an exponential growth in data-driven research. In response, attention has been afforded to datasets and accompanying data papers as outputs of the research and dissemination ecosystem. In 2015, two data journals dedicated to HSS disciplines appeared in this landscape: Journal of Open Humanities Data (JOHD) and Research Data Journal for the Humanities and Social Sciences (RDJ). In this paper, we analyse the state of the art in the landscape of data journals in HSS using JOHD and RDJ as exemplars by measuring performance and the deep impact of data-driven projects, including metrics (citation count; Altmetrics, views, downloads, tweets) of data papers in relation to associated research papers and the reuse of associated datasets. Our findings indicate: that data papers are published following the deposit of datasets in a repository and usually following research articles; that data papers have a positive impact on both the metrics of research papers associated with them and on data reuse; and that Twitter hashtags targeted at specific research campaigns can lead to increases in data papers’ views and downloads. HSS data papers improve the visibility of datasets they describe, support accompanying research articles, and add to transparency and the open research agenda.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Applied Psycholinguistics, 2022
Research on English relative clauses shows that, in most studies, subject relatives are comprehen... more Research on English relative clauses shows that, in most studies, subject relatives are comprehended more accurately than object relatives by both monolingual and bilingual children. The current study focuses on Czech-English bilingual children and extends this line of research in two ways. First, it includes a condition in which the noun phrases involved in the action differ in number (one is singular and the other is plural), a manipulation that was never tested on bilinguals. Second, it includes a fine-grained measure of language exposure, since the exposure has been linked to the acquisition of complex structures. Thirty-eight Czech-English bilinguals (aged 8–11 years) were tested on their comprehension of relative clauses using a picture matching paradigm. Results show that sentences with number mismatch were comprehended more accurately than match sentences and that subject relatives were comprehended more accurately than object relatives. In addition, in the subject relatives...
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
International Multilingual Research Journal, 2022
Individual reports of language history, use, and proficiency are generally considered sufficient ... more Individual reports of language history, use, and proficiency are generally considered sufficient for language profiling. Yet, these variables alone neglect the contribution of contextual linguistic diversity to one’s overall language repertoire. In this study we used the Contextual Linguistic Profile Questionnaire to evaluate whether there is a difference in contextual linguistic diversity between participants across the linguistically dissimilar contexts of South Africa and England. We further assessed whether self-reported lingualism status groups (monolinguals, bilinguals, multilinguals) scored differently on contextual linguistic diversity to evaluate the utility and uniformity of categorical labels across varying contexts, and investigated how codeswitching and socio-economic status contributed to these effects. Our results demonstrated that contextual linguistic diversity differs between nations: South Africans score higher, promotion of multilingualism is dependent on socio-economic status only in England, lingualism status is not contextually comparable when measured categorically, and codeswitching accounts for linguistic features of South Africans.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
International Journal of Multilingualism, 2020
The sociolinguistic context of language use contributes to individuals’ linguistic knowledge. How... more The sociolinguistic context of language use contributes to individuals’ linguistic knowledge. However, how it does so has yet to be fully conceptualised or quantitatively investigated within the language sciences. To meet this goal, a psychometrically sound evidence-based measure that captures important aspects of contextually influenced linguistic experience is necessary. In this paper we describe the development and validation of the Contextual and Individual Linguistic Diversity Questionnaire (CILD-Q). Exploratory factor analysis was conducted with data from 353 participants (62.9% South African, 37.1% UK, Mage = 29.3, SD = 10.09). A three-factor solution best describes the structure of the CILD-Q: Multilingualism in Context (contextual use and societal practice of multiple languages within a community), Multilingualism in Practice (direct and indirect linguistic exchanges and conversational interaction), Linguistic Diversity Promotion (societal and governmental endorsement of linguistic variation). Item scores corresponding to these three factors showed sufficient reliability (α’s > 0.80). The CILD-Q provides a novel and holistic manner to measure sociolinguistic diversity and can be used when measuring individuals’ language experience within and across populations from differing sociolinguistic contexts.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Thesis (M.A (Social and Psychological Research))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Hum... more Thesis (M.A (Social and Psychological Research))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, School of Human & Community Development, 2016
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
African Journal of Psychological Assessment, 2021
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had changed the world in unexpected ways and psy... more The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had changed the world in unexpected ways and psychometric assessment was no exception. Despite the advancements made in online psychometric assessment implementation, the authors of this commentary reflected on their own experiences in the context of the psychology profession in South Africa, where psychology professionals had been faced with the dilemma of halting, postponing or adapting assessments for remote implementation. Remote implementation had many challenges, notably shifting the logistics, financial burden and accountability onto the testtaker. In addition, when implementing remote testing, considerations of supervised and unsupervised testing need to be considered in terms of flexibility, control, test-taker comfort, standardisation, costs, ethical concerns and crisis management. Whilst in the private sector, remote psychometric assessment had been met with resilience and innovation, in academia, remote psychometric research was faced with unique challenges which affect all aspects of the research process and access to participation. Across both industry and academia where psychometric assessments were conducted, the scores and results need to be interpreted with reflection and caution as the pandemic had led to an increase in psychological distress in addition to the unique contextual challenges that South Africa already faced.
Keywords: academia; COVID-19 pandemic; industry; mental health; psychometric assessment; South Africa; remote testing.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
The impact of COVID-19 on psychometric assessment across industry and academia in South Africa, 2021
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had changed the world in unexpected ways and psy... more The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic had changed the world in unexpected ways and psychometric assessment was no exception. Despite the advancements made in online psychometric assessment implementation, the authors of this commentary reflected on their own experiences in the context of the psychology profession in South Africa, where psychology professionals had been faced with the dilemma of halting, postponing or adapting assessments for remote implementation. Remote implementation had many challenges, notably shifting the logistics, financial burden and accountability onto the test-taker. In addition, when implementing remote testing, considerations of supervised and unsupervised testing need to be considered in terms of flexibility, control, test-taker comfort, standardisation, costs, ethical concerns and crisis management. Whilst in the private sector, remote psychometric assessment had been met with resilience and innovation, in academia, remote psychometric research was faced with unique challenges which affect all aspects of the research process and access to participation. Across both industry and academia where psychometric assessments were conducted, the scores and results need to be interpreted with reflection and caution as the pandemic had led to an increase in psychological distress in addition to the unique contextual challenges that South Africa already faced.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
This study compared working memory ability in multilingual young adults and their monolingual pee... more This study compared working memory ability in multilingual young adults and their monolingual peers on four components of working memory (verbal and visuospatial storage, verbal and visuospatial processing). The sample comprised 39 monolingual English speakers, and 39 multilinguals, who spoke an African language as their first and third languages, and English as their second language, all with high levels of proficiency. The multilingual young adults came from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds and possessed smaller English vocabularies than the monolinguals, features which make this group an under-researched population. Both when SES and verbal ability were and were not statistically controlled, there was evidence of a multilingual advantage in all of the working memory components, which was most pronounced in visuospatial processing. These findings support evidence from bilinguals showing cognitive advantages beyond inhibitory control, and suggest that multilingualism may influence the executive control system generally.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Due to linguistic diversity within South Africa, multilingualism is becoming increasingly promine... more Due to linguistic diversity within South Africa, multilingualism is becoming increasingly prominent. Since South Africa is host to 11 official languages, it is the norm rather than the exception that South Africans are exposed to more than one language. This has social, educational and cognitive implications. Specifically, research indicates that the acquisition of additional languages to an individual’s mother tongue has a positive effect on working memory – the shortterm
storage and manipulation of information during the performance of cognitive tasks – which may confer a ‘bi(multi)lingual advantage’ and could improve academic performance. Consequently, the aim of this study was to determine whether working memory ability differs significantly between students who are monolingual or multilingual, while statistically controlling for intellectual ability and socio-economic status between these groups. Participants were 78 undergraduate
students, comprising English first- (monolingual, Mage = 20.06 years, SD = .88) and second- or additional-language (multilingual, Mage = 20.03 years, SD = 1.03) speakers, matched for age, gender and socio-economic status. Language groups were compared on the Automated Working Memory Assessment (Alloway, 2007) and subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Third Edition (Wechsler, 1997). One-way between-group ANCOVAs showed that (a) the multilingual group
outperformed the monolingual group across five of six non-verbal subtests, namely Mazes Memory and Block Recall (non-verbal simple span), and Odd One Out, Mister X and Spatial Recall (nonverbal
complex span), (b) the multilingual group outperformed the monolingual group on two verbal subtests, namely Digit Recall (verbal simple span) and Listening Recall (verbal complex span), (c) the language groups performed equivalently on verbal simple and complex tasks of Word
Recall, Non-word Recall, Counting Recall and Backwards Digit Recall. The findings contribute to the extant literature confirming a ‘bi(multi)lingual advantage’ in executive functioning. Theoretical
and practical implications are discussed in light of academic performance.
Keywords: working memory, monolingualism, multilingualism, bi(multi)lingual advantage, South Africa
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Thesis Chapters by Mandy Wigdorowitz
The Case for Contextual Linguistic Diversity: Language Profiling, Multilingual Identity, and High-Level Listening Comprehension Ability in South African University Students, 2022
Global multilingualism is undoubtedly increasing, yet some contexts are linguistically more diver... more Global multilingualism is undoubtedly increasing, yet some contexts are linguistically more diverse than others purely as a result of the nature of linguistically diverse communities and, by proxy, passive linguistic exposure that individuals may experience by being immersed in the contextual milieu. How the sociolinguistic context of language use contributes to an individual's linguistic repertoire has yet to be fully conceptualised or quantitatively investigated within the language sciences. To meet this goal, I first explore this overlooked contextual linguistic feature through the development, validation, and application of a holistic language profiling measure, the Contextual Linguistic Profile Questionnaire (CLiP-Q). To this end, three research studies are presented. First, I develop and validate a psychometric tool, the Contextual and Individual Linguistic Diversity Questionnaire (CILD-Q as part of the larger CLiP-Q), which measures multilingual exposure and endorsement as pertaining to particular linguistic contexts. From an exploratory factor analysis with data from 353 participants (62.9% South African, 37.1% UK), a three-factor solution best describes the structure of the CILD-Q: Multilingualism in Context (contextual use and societal practice of multiple languages within a community), Multilingualism in Practice (direct and indirect linguistic exchanges and conversational interaction), Linguistic Diversity Promotion (societal and governmental endorsement of linguistic variation). The CILD-Q positively correlates with a metric of the social diversity of language use (language entropy) further evincing its convergent validity, and item scores corresponding to the three factors have sufficient reliability (α’s > .80). Second, I apply the CILD-Q to evaluate whether people who live in a multilingual context (South Africa) report greater contextual linguistic diversity than those from a predominantly unilingual context (England), as well as evaluate the role of language entropy, lingualism status (monolingualism, bilingualism, multilingualism), socio-economic status, and code-switching practice on this effect. Results demonstrate that contextual linguistic diversity differs between nations with South Africans scoring higher. The promotion of multilingualism is dependent on SES only in the England group, where England participants with higher SES score higher on Linguistic Diversity Promotion. Lingualism status is not contextually comparable when measured categorically, and code-switching accounts for linguistic features of South Africans. Finally, a positive relationship emerged between language entropy and contextual linguistic diversity, suggesting complementarity between measures that capture the social influence of language experience. Third is the application of the CLiP-Q to contextualise and appropriately categorise the language experience of South Africans completing tertiary education to investigate high-level text comprehension ability. The ability to draw inferences from auditory and written input is crucial for comprehension and successful educational outcomes, and is especially relevant in linguistically diverse contexts where learners have heterogeneous language backgrounds but are educated in the predominant language of the country. Such a case is South Africa, where tertiary education is almost exclusively received through the medium of English, though it is not the first language (L1) for the majority of citizens. Accordingly, the third study assesses the role of language experience (L1, multilingualism, and contextual linguistic diversity) and inhibitory control on high-level listening comprehension in undergraduate multilingual South Africans with advanced English proficiency. Results indicate that L1-English participants were more efficient and accurate at monitoring and revising their listening comprehension, while participants with higher contextual linguistic diversity were less efficient at monitoring and less accurate at revising the comprehension content. Furthermore, individual differences in inhibitory control were associated with differences in revision where participants with lower inhibitory control took longer to update the content and replace their initial interpretation for a new one. Participants’ L1 appears to supersede their advanced English proficiency on highly complex listening comprehension involving revision. In this dissertation, I demonstrate that the CLiP-Q is a holistic instrument with which to measure and quantify contextual linguistic diversity which, in turn, is relevant to a range of higher order linguistic skills essential for academic development.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Uploads
Papers by Mandy Wigdorowitz
Keywords: academia; COVID-19 pandemic; industry; mental health; psychometric assessment; South Africa; remote testing.
storage and manipulation of information during the performance of cognitive tasks – which may confer a ‘bi(multi)lingual advantage’ and could improve academic performance. Consequently, the aim of this study was to determine whether working memory ability differs significantly between students who are monolingual or multilingual, while statistically controlling for intellectual ability and socio-economic status between these groups. Participants were 78 undergraduate
students, comprising English first- (monolingual, Mage = 20.06 years, SD = .88) and second- or additional-language (multilingual, Mage = 20.03 years, SD = 1.03) speakers, matched for age, gender and socio-economic status. Language groups were compared on the Automated Working Memory Assessment (Alloway, 2007) and subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Third Edition (Wechsler, 1997). One-way between-group ANCOVAs showed that (a) the multilingual group
outperformed the monolingual group across five of six non-verbal subtests, namely Mazes Memory and Block Recall (non-verbal simple span), and Odd One Out, Mister X and Spatial Recall (nonverbal
complex span), (b) the multilingual group outperformed the monolingual group on two verbal subtests, namely Digit Recall (verbal simple span) and Listening Recall (verbal complex span), (c) the language groups performed equivalently on verbal simple and complex tasks of Word
Recall, Non-word Recall, Counting Recall and Backwards Digit Recall. The findings contribute to the extant literature confirming a ‘bi(multi)lingual advantage’ in executive functioning. Theoretical
and practical implications are discussed in light of academic performance.
Keywords: working memory, monolingualism, multilingualism, bi(multi)lingual advantage, South Africa
Thesis Chapters by Mandy Wigdorowitz
Keywords: academia; COVID-19 pandemic; industry; mental health; psychometric assessment; South Africa; remote testing.
storage and manipulation of information during the performance of cognitive tasks – which may confer a ‘bi(multi)lingual advantage’ and could improve academic performance. Consequently, the aim of this study was to determine whether working memory ability differs significantly between students who are monolingual or multilingual, while statistically controlling for intellectual ability and socio-economic status between these groups. Participants were 78 undergraduate
students, comprising English first- (monolingual, Mage = 20.06 years, SD = .88) and second- or additional-language (multilingual, Mage = 20.03 years, SD = 1.03) speakers, matched for age, gender and socio-economic status. Language groups were compared on the Automated Working Memory Assessment (Alloway, 2007) and subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale – Third Edition (Wechsler, 1997). One-way between-group ANCOVAs showed that (a) the multilingual group
outperformed the monolingual group across five of six non-verbal subtests, namely Mazes Memory and Block Recall (non-verbal simple span), and Odd One Out, Mister X and Spatial Recall (nonverbal
complex span), (b) the multilingual group outperformed the monolingual group on two verbal subtests, namely Digit Recall (verbal simple span) and Listening Recall (verbal complex span), (c) the language groups performed equivalently on verbal simple and complex tasks of Word
Recall, Non-word Recall, Counting Recall and Backwards Digit Recall. The findings contribute to the extant literature confirming a ‘bi(multi)lingual advantage’ in executive functioning. Theoretical
and practical implications are discussed in light of academic performance.
Keywords: working memory, monolingualism, multilingualism, bi(multi)lingual advantage, South Africa