Can bilinguals’ procedural schema transfer be identified in high- and low-context cultures? A cross-cultural inference level comparison

Abstract

Accurate understanding of utterances is essential to avoid miscommunication in bilingual settings; however, little is known about bilinguals’ cognitive comprehension mechanisms. This study addresses whether procedural schema transfer is exhibited in bilinguals’ inferences in two different contexts. This study, based on dual-process theory (DPT), aimed to examine the relationship between bilinguals’ inference levels and thinking dispositions in English as a foreign language (EFL) and English as a second language (ESL) contexts or high- and low-context cultures. The participants comprised 34 Japanese EFL participants in Japan, and 16 ESL participants in the UK, including Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, Polish, and Italian. The results showed that procedural schema transfer was exhibited in inferences of Japanese EFL participants in a high-context culture but not in those of ESL participants living in a low-context culture. Unexpectedly, Japanese EFL participants’ Japanese inference level was positively correlated with interdependence, whereas their English inference level was negatively correlated. In contrast, Japanese ESL participants’ Japanese and English inference levels were both positively correlated with interdependence. This study is among the first to identify procedural schema transfer by focusing specifically on the relationship between bilinguals’ inference levels and thinking dispositions based on DPT.