Bilingualism and language in older adults

• Main Author: Stilwell, Becca L.
• Published: Bangor University 2012
• Subjects: 404.2
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.574548

This thesis comprises three distinct sections. Firstly a literature review is presented which explores the available evidence of language changes in bilingual individuals with Alzheimer's Disease (AD). The theoretical models presented are drawn from models based on healthy bilingual individuals, with hypotheses about how such models may be affected by AD. The quantitative papers are limited by being descriptive rather than theoretically driven, and the papers explored share similar methodological limitations in terms of being, and in terms of defining and selecting bilingual samples that share the key characteristics, and using suitable stimuli. The conclusions drawn are that both languages are affected by AD, with mixed tentative suggestions that the dominant language is more affected than the non dominant language, and that both languages are affected equally by. AD. The empirical study presents findings of an experimental study exploring verbal recall in Welsh/English bilingual older adults. A within subject analysis identified that bilingual individuals recalled significantly more Welsh words than English words. In addition, bilingual individuals mean recall for recall of English words on a standardised measure was not significantly different to the monolingual norms identified. Conclusions drawn were that in clinical practice English language norms are applicable to a Welsh/English bilingual population. In essence tentative recommendations can be made regards using established English language assessments with Welsh/English older adults but caution is required when generalizing across varied populations.