Computer-based Reading Recall on Sociolinguistic Research

Towards a Cross-disciplinary Understanding of Bilingualism

Abstract

Global bilingual communities are a fascinating phenomenon that has received constant attention from different angles and disciplines. Sociolinguistic research has also turned interest towards what motivates change in these globalized settings, as well as psycholinguistic research has wanted to focus on the cognitive aspects of L2 speakers. With the widespread use of computer-based methods, it seems natural to add them to contemporary research as a way of understanding variation and change to a deeper level. Through the data I have collected, I debate in this article the importance of including computer-based tests as part of traditional variationist research. I argue that the traditional separation of methods and data collection has influenced the research process to a point where some new behaviors could be overlooked. In this article I report the relationship between cognitive adaptation and social experiences in the Colombian in the Philadelphia bilingual community, which becomes more proficient not only because of age and time of L2 learning, but also because of how welcoming their social circles are, as well as how diverse their friendships and workplaces are.