Mark Leikin
Biographic Data
| ID | 2081778 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mark Leikin |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mark |
| FAMILY NAME | Leikin |
| SIGNATURE | LEIKIN M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Haifa |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6411-5681 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 21 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1998 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Creative and neurocognitive profile of adults with developmental dyslexia
Insight problem solving is not that special, but business is not quite 'as usual'
The intriguing phenomenon of insight (also known as the "Aha!" moment) has provoked a long-standing conflict over its cognitive mechanism. The special-process theory posits insight as a unique, unconscious mechanism. Conversely, the business-as-usual theory conceptualizes insight processing as ordinary and similar to non-insight, i.e., analytic, incremental, and attention demanding. To resolve this conflict, participants completed cognitive tests…
The Cognitive–Creative Profiles of Insightful Problem Solvers
This study aimed to portray insightful problem solvers. Participants solved classic insight problems and rebuses and completed cognitive and creativity tasks. Grouping the participants based on their success in solving insight problems of different modalities revealed that 95% of the spatial problem solvers succeeded in solving verbal ones (spatial verbal solvers) but not vice versa. Verbal problem solvers were not necessarily able to solve spati…
Not any gifted is an expert in mathematics and not any expert in mathematics is gifted
Mathematical giftedness (MG) is an intriguing phenomenon, the nature of which has yet to be sufficiently explored. This study goes a step further in understanding how MG is related to expertise in mathematics (EM) and general giftedness (G). Cognitive testing was conducted among 197 high school students with different levels of G and of EM. Based on our previous studies, we perceive MG as a combination of G and EM. Exploratory factor analysis of …
The Interplay of Bilingualism, Executive Functions and Creativity in Problem Solving Among Male University Students
The present study explores the interplay among bilingualism, executive functions and creativity in problem solving among adult male university students. In this context, the associations between two factors critical for understanding the topic, i.e. type of bilingualism (i.e. balanced versus non-balanced bilingualism) and type of creative thinking (i.e. convergent versus divergent thinking) are examined, as well. 28 Russian/Hebrew/English triling…
Morphological ability among monolingual and bilingual speakers in early childhood
This study examines the possible effects of bilingualism, mother tongue and type of morphology on morphological awareness of Arabic- and Hebrew-speaking preschoolers (mean age – 5:4). Four groups of children participated in the study: (1) 50 Arabic-speaking monolingual speakers; (2) 50 Hebrew-speaking monolingual speakers; (3) 50 Arabic/Hebrew bilingual speakers; and (4) 50 Hebrew/Arabic bilingual speakers. Participants from the bilingual groups …
The Acquisition of Noun Plurals among Early Sequential Russian-Hebrew Speaking Bilinguals
The focus of the present study was the trajectory of the acquisition of noun pluralization in Hebrew as a window into the development of inflectional morphology among early sequential Russian-Hebrew speaking bilinguals. Our participants were six early sequential bilingual children between 36 and 42 months of age at the beginning of the study, who acquired Russian (L1) at home and at preschool within a ‘first language first approach’ and whose age…
Immigrant Parents’ Lay Theories of Children's Preschool Bilingual Development and Family Language Ideologies
This article analyzes the narratives of immigrant parents, describing their preschool children's bilingual development and their own involvement in it. The analyses found parents' lay theories (i.e., general reasoning about children's bilingual development) woven into the narratives. The parents used these theories to explain and justify their own language ideologies (aims, plans, and expectations concerning their children's bilingual development…
The effect of bilingualism on creativity
This study is aimed at examining the possible effect of bilingualism on creativity in nonmathematical and mathematical problem solving among very young bilingual and monolingual preschoolers. An additional factor that has been considered in this study is the form of bilingual education. Accordingly, three groups of children (mean age = 45.4 months at the beginning of the study) participated in this study: (a) 13 bilingual children from a bilingua…
Lexical knowledge development in the first and second languages among language-minority children
This study focused on the role of bilingual versus monolingual preschool education in the development of lexical knowledge in Russian (L1) and Hebrew (L2) among second-generation Russian-Hebrew speaking immigrants in Israel. The study was designed as a longitudinal and comparative study. The lexical knowledge of children was measured three times during the education year. Thirty-two Russian-Hebrew speaking bilinguals (around age three) were selec…
Parents' Discourses About Language Strategies for Their Children's Preschool Bilingual Development
The study focused on immigrant parents' discourses about strategies for their children's preschool bilingual development and education. The article investigated how immigrant parents described and explained these strategies. The study was based on semi-structured interviews with 4 families. The 8 parents were Russian-speaking immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union. Analysis of the data showed that all the parents desired their children…
Immigrant Parents' Choice of a Bilingual Versus Monolingual Kindergarten for Second-Generation Children
This study investigated how immigrant parents describe and explain their family language policy concerning their child's preschool bilingual development, and also explored the factors linked to the parents' choice of bilingual or monolingual kindergarten for their child. The study design was based on a comparison of 2 groups of parents: those who chose bilingual versus monolingual kindergartens. The research model consisted of 3 groups of variabl…
Facing bilingual education
This article examines how majority-language teachers coping with additive education view their roles in a bilingual framework, how they perceive issues of culture and language in young bilingual children, and how they understand the term ‘bilingual education’ in an L2 non-additive context. The study has been conducted in the context of pre-school bilingual education of second generation Russian-Hebrew speaking immigrants from the former Soviet Un…
Delayed acquisition of irregular inflectional morphology in Hebrew in early sequential bilingualism
Acquisition of the irregular forms of inflectional morphology may be a challenge for bilingual students because of the possible effect of infrequent input. Focusing on irregular plural forms of languages such as Hebrew can contribute to better understanding how bilingual children cope with anomalous morphological forms. The present study compares Russian— Hebrew-speaking sequential bilingual children with Hebrew-speaking monolingual children in t…
Toward a Better Understanding of First Language Vocabulary Knowledge
The objective of this study was to evaluate the first language (L1) vocabulary knowledge in a large-scale sample (n = 70) of second-generation Russian-Jewish immigrants in Israel. The interest in this research population follows from the unique demographic, sociocultural, linguistic, and psychological distinctiveness of RJ immigration in Israel. The study focused on the question of whether the L1 vocabulary knowledge of second-generation children…
Socio-linguistic factors in second language lexical knowledge
The factors affecting the mastery of the host country's language by the children of immigrants are important in the study of immigration-related issues. This exploratory study analyses the possible link between parental socio-linguistic background factors (parent–child language choice, parental proficiency in L2, educational level, socio-economic status, and the length of residence in the host country) and the children's social milieu on the one …
Listening with an Accent
Speaking Hebrew with an accent
The study examines a hypothesis that the degree of accent in L2 is related to a measure of ego permeability. Native Hebrew speakers, native Russian-speaking immigrants, and Arabic-speaking Israeli natives participated. All were students at the University of Haifa, where the language of instruction is Hebrew. The participants were recorded producing two speech segments and the recorded segments of speech were played to a group of 20 native Hebrew …
Learning to read in English as third language
The present study compared the influence of bi-literate bilingualism versus mono-literate bilingualism on the development of literary skills in English as L3. Two main predictions were made. First, it was predicted that Russian (L1) literacy would benefit decoding and spelling acquisition in English (L3), that is, bi-literate bilingualism would be superior to mono-literate bilingualism. Second, it was hypothesized that there would be positive tra…
Morphological Processing in Adult Dyslexia
Bi-literate bilingualism versus mono-literate bilingualism
The present study compared the early Hebrew (L2) literacy development of three groups; two groups of bilinguals — bi-literate and mono-literate Russian-Hebrew speakers, and a third group of monolingual Hebrew-speakers. We predicted that bi-literacy rather than bilingualism is the key variable as regards L2 literacy learning. In a longitudinal design, a variety of linguistic, meta-linguistic and cognitive tasks were administered at the commencemen…
Processing Syntactic Functions of Words in Normal and Dyslexic Readers
Phonological Processing of Second Language Phonemes
We present a case study of a Russian-Hebrew bilingual transcortical sensory aphasic. In general, aphasic symptoms are similar in the 2 languages, with Hebrew being somewhat more impaired. However, the patient reveals a difference in her ability to perceive phonemes in the context of Hebrew words that is dependent on whether they are presented in a Russian or a native accent. This finding is interpreted as showing that a mediating mechanism that a…
Acquisition of Locative Prepositions in Russian
Parents' Discourses About Language Strategies for Their Children's Preschool Bilingual Development
The study focused on immigrant parents' discourses about strategies for their children's preschool bilingual development and education. The article investigated how immigrant parents described and explained these strategies. The study was based on semi-structured interviews with 4 families. The 8 parents were Russian-speaking immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union. Analysis of the data showed that all the parents desired their children…
Socio-linguistic factors in second language lexical knowledge
The factors affecting the mastery of the host country's language by the children of immigrants are important in the study of immigration-related issues. This exploratory study analyses the possible link between parental socio-linguistic background factors (parent–child language choice, parental proficiency in L2, educational level, socio-economic status, and the length of residence in the host country) and the children's social milieu on the one …
Listening with an Accent
Morphological Processing in Adult Dyslexia
Toward a Better Understanding of First Language Vocabulary Knowledge
The objective of this study was to evaluate the first language (L1) vocabulary knowledge in a large-scale sample (n = 70) of second-generation Russian-Jewish immigrants in Israel. The interest in this research population follows from the unique demographic, sociocultural, linguistic, and psychological distinctiveness of RJ immigration in Israel. The study focused on the question of whether the L1 vocabulary knowledge of second-generation children…
Phonological Processing of Second Language Phonemes
We present a case study of a Russian-Hebrew bilingual transcortical sensory aphasic. In general, aphasic symptoms are similar in the 2 languages, with Hebrew being somewhat more impaired. However, the patient reveals a difference in her ability to perceive phonemes in the context of Hebrew words that is dependent on whether they are presented in a Russian or a native accent. This finding is interpreted as showing that a mediating mechanism that a…
Processing Syntactic Functions of Words in Normal and Dyslexic Readers
Acquisition of Locative Prepositions in Russian
Phonological Processing of Second Language Phonemes
We present a case study of a Russian-Hebrew bilingual transcortical sensory aphasic. In general, aphasic symptoms are similar in the 2 languages, with Hebrew being somewhat more impaired. However, the patient reveals a difference in her ability to perceive phonemes in the context of Hebrew words that is dependent on whether they are presented in a Russian or a native accent. This finding is interpreted as showing that a mediating mechanism that a…
Processing Syntactic Functions of Words in Normal and Dyslexic Readers
Bi-literate bilingualism versus mono-literate bilingualism
The present study compared the early Hebrew (L2) literacy development of three groups; two groups of bilinguals — bi-literate and mono-literate Russian-Hebrew speakers, and a third group of monolingual Hebrew-speakers. We predicted that bi-literacy rather than bilingualism is the key variable as regards L2 literacy learning. In a longitudinal design, a variety of linguistic, meta-linguistic and cognitive tasks were administered at the commencemen…
Morphological Processing in Adult Dyslexia
Learning to read in English as third language
The present study compared the influence of bi-literate bilingualism versus mono-literate bilingualism on the development of literary skills in English as L3. Two main predictions were made. First, it was predicted that Russian (L1) literacy would benefit decoding and spelling acquisition in English (L3), that is, bi-literate bilingualism would be superior to mono-literate bilingualism. Second, it was hypothesized that there would be positive tra…
Speaking Hebrew with an accent
The study examines a hypothesis that the degree of accent in L2 is related to a measure of ego permeability. Native Hebrew speakers, native Russian-speaking immigrants, and Arabic-speaking Israeli natives participated. All were students at the University of Haifa, where the language of instruction is Hebrew. The participants were recorded producing two speech segments and the recorded segments of speech were played to a group of 20 native Hebrew …
Delayed acquisition of irregular inflectional morphology in Hebrew in early sequential bilingualism
Acquisition of the irregular forms of inflectional morphology may be a challenge for bilingual students because of the possible effect of infrequent input. Focusing on irregular plural forms of languages such as Hebrew can contribute to better understanding how bilingual children cope with anomalous morphological forms. The present study compares Russian— Hebrew-speaking sequential bilingual children with Hebrew-speaking monolingual children in t…
Toward a Better Understanding of First Language Vocabulary Knowledge
The objective of this study was to evaluate the first language (L1) vocabulary knowledge in a large-scale sample (n = 70) of second-generation Russian-Jewish immigrants in Israel. The interest in this research population follows from the unique demographic, sociocultural, linguistic, and psychological distinctiveness of RJ immigration in Israel. The study focused on the question of whether the L1 vocabulary knowledge of second-generation children…
Socio-linguistic factors in second language lexical knowledge
The factors affecting the mastery of the host country's language by the children of immigrants are important in the study of immigration-related issues. This exploratory study analyses the possible link between parental socio-linguistic background factors (parent–child language choice, parental proficiency in L2, educational level, socio-economic status, and the length of residence in the host country) and the children's social milieu on the one …
Listening with an Accent
Immigrant Parents' Choice of a Bilingual Versus Monolingual Kindergarten for Second-Generation Children
This study investigated how immigrant parents describe and explain their family language policy concerning their child's preschool bilingual development, and also explored the factors linked to the parents' choice of bilingual or monolingual kindergarten for their child. The study design was based on a comparison of 2 groups of parents: those who chose bilingual versus monolingual kindergartens. The research model consisted of 3 groups of variabl…
Facing bilingual education
This article examines how majority-language teachers coping with additive education view their roles in a bilingual framework, how they perceive issues of culture and language in young bilingual children, and how they understand the term ‘bilingual education’ in an L2 non-additive context. The study has been conducted in the context of pre-school bilingual education of second generation Russian-Hebrew speaking immigrants from the former Soviet Un…
Parents' Discourses About Language Strategies for Their Children's Preschool Bilingual Development
The study focused on immigrant parents' discourses about strategies for their children's preschool bilingual development and education. The article investigated how immigrant parents described and explained these strategies. The study was based on semi-structured interviews with 4 families. The 8 parents were Russian-speaking immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union. Analysis of the data showed that all the parents desired their children…
Lexical knowledge development in the first and second languages among language-minority children
This study focused on the role of bilingual versus monolingual preschool education in the development of lexical knowledge in Russian (L1) and Hebrew (L2) among second-generation Russian-Hebrew speaking immigrants in Israel. The study was designed as a longitudinal and comparative study. The lexical knowledge of children was measured three times during the education year. Thirty-two Russian-Hebrew speaking bilinguals (around age three) were selec…
Immigrant Parents’ Lay Theories of Children's Preschool Bilingual Development and Family Language Ideologies
This article analyzes the narratives of immigrant parents, describing their preschool children's bilingual development and their own involvement in it. The analyses found parents' lay theories (i.e., general reasoning about children's bilingual development) woven into the narratives. The parents used these theories to explain and justify their own language ideologies (aims, plans, and expectations concerning their children's bilingual development…
The effect of bilingualism on creativity
This study is aimed at examining the possible effect of bilingualism on creativity in nonmathematical and mathematical problem solving among very young bilingual and monolingual preschoolers. An additional factor that has been considered in this study is the form of bilingual education. Accordingly, three groups of children (mean age = 45.4 months at the beginning of the study) participated in this study: (a) 13 bilingual children from a bilingua…
The Acquisition of Noun Plurals among Early Sequential Russian-Hebrew Speaking Bilinguals
The focus of the present study was the trajectory of the acquisition of noun pluralization in Hebrew as a window into the development of inflectional morphology among early sequential Russian-Hebrew speaking bilinguals. Our participants were six early sequential bilingual children between 36 and 42 months of age at the beginning of the study, who acquired Russian (L1) at home and at preschool within a ‘first language first approach’ and whose age…
Morphological ability among monolingual and bilingual speakers in early childhood
This study examines the possible effects of bilingualism, mother tongue and type of morphology on morphological awareness of Arabic- and Hebrew-speaking preschoolers (mean age – 5:4). Four groups of children participated in the study: (1) 50 Arabic-speaking monolingual speakers; (2) 50 Hebrew-speaking monolingual speakers; (3) 50 Arabic/Hebrew bilingual speakers; and (4) 50 Hebrew/Arabic bilingual speakers. Participants from the bilingual groups …
The Interplay of Bilingualism, Executive Functions and Creativity in Problem Solving Among Male University Students
The present study explores the interplay among bilingualism, executive functions and creativity in problem solving among adult male university students. In this context, the associations between two factors critical for understanding the topic, i.e. type of bilingualism (i.e. balanced versus non-balanced bilingualism) and type of creative thinking (i.e. convergent versus divergent thinking) are examined, as well. 28 Russian/Hebrew/English triling…
The Cognitive–Creative Profiles of Insightful Problem Solvers
This study aimed to portray insightful problem solvers. Participants solved classic insight problems and rebuses and completed cognitive and creativity tasks. Grouping the participants based on their success in solving insight problems of different modalities revealed that 95% of the spatial problem solvers succeeded in solving verbal ones (spatial verbal solvers) but not vice versa. Verbal problem solvers were not necessarily able to solve spati…
Not any gifted is an expert in mathematics and not any expert in mathematics is gifted
Mathematical giftedness (MG) is an intriguing phenomenon, the nature of which has yet to be sufficiently explored. This study goes a step further in understanding how MG is related to expertise in mathematics (EM) and general giftedness (G). Cognitive testing was conducted among 197 high school students with different levels of G and of EM. Based on our previous studies, we perceive MG as a combination of G and EM. Exploratory factor analysis of …
Insight problem solving is not that special, but business is not quite 'as usual'
The intriguing phenomenon of insight (also known as the "Aha!" moment) has provoked a long-standing conflict over its cognitive mechanism. The special-process theory posits insight as a unique, unconscious mechanism. Conversely, the business-as-usual theory conceptualizes insight processing as ordinary and similar to non-insight, i.e., analytic, incremental, and attention demanding. To resolve this conflict, participants completed cognitive tests…
Creative and neurocognitive profile of adults with developmental dyslexia
Psychology (23 works) · Linguistics (20 works) · Hebrew (16 works) · Neuroscience of multilingualism (12 works) · Reading and Literacy Development (12 works) · Language Development and Disorders (10 works) · Cognition (9 works) · Developmental psychology (9 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (8 works) · History (7 works)