scholarly journals Language proficiency and executive control in proactive interference: Evidence from monolingual and bilingual children and adults

2009 ◽  
Vol 109 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 93-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Bialystok ◽  
Xiaojia Feng
Keyword(s):  
Proactive Interference ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Bilingual Children

Language proficiency and executive control in bilingual children

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 884-899 ◽  
Author(s):  
PERI ILUZ-COHEN ◽  
SHARON ARMON-LOTEM
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Executive Functions ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Standardized Assessment ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Assessment Instruments ◽  
Positive Relationships ◽  
Lower Performance

The relation between language proficiency and executive functions has been established for monolingual children. The present study addresses this issue in bilingual children, comparing the language proficiency of sequential English–Hebrew bilingual preschool children as determined by standardized assessment instruments and generic executive control in inhibition, sorting and shifting tasks. Participants were recruited from regular and language preschools and classified according to their language proficiency as bilinguals with high language proficiency in at least one of their languages (including balanced bilinguals with high language proficiency in both languages, L2-dominant, and L1-dominant) and bilinguals showing low language proficiency in both languages. As reported for monolingual preschool children, positive relationships between language proficiency and inhibition and shifting abilities were found, with significantly lower performance among low language proficiency bilinguals. Significantly better performance was also found for shifting among children who had already mastered their L2 compared to those who were still in the process of acquiring the new language.

Executive control in bilingual children

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 575-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klara Marton
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Task Type ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Bilingual Advantage ◽  
Measurement Issues ◽  
Number Of Factors

Abstract While findings on the bilingual advantage in adults are mixed, the data from children are more consistent but still show variations. A number of factors influence the outcomes, such as individual bilingual characteristics, variations in target functions, and differences in task type. Our goal is to demonstrate that there is a complex relationship among these variables and that the outcomes of executive function (EF) studies depend on the interactions among these factors. Performance on EF is influenced by children's language proficiency, language use, age, socioeconomic status, and culture. These individual features show different interactions with different executive components. Bilingual and monolingual children differ in some EFs but not in others. Variations in tasks and other measurement issues further increase the differences in the results. We may better understand the nature of the bilingual advantage in children if we combine aspects of developmental science and language processing with hypotheses about bilingualism.

Do bilingual and monolingual preschoolers acquire false belief understanding similarly? The role of executive functioning and language

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 382-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Diaz ◽  
M. Jeffrey Farrar
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
False Belief ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Short Term ◽  
False Belief Understanding

Bilingual children often show advanced executive functioning (EF) and false belief (FB) understanding compared to monolinguals. The latter has been attributed to their enhanced inhibitory control EF, although this has only been examined in a single study which did not confirm this hypothesis. The current study examined the relation of EF and language proficiency on FB reasoning in bilingual and monolingual preschoolers to answer two questions: (1) Are there differences in bilinguals’ and monolinguals’ FB, language proficiency, and EF? If so, (2) is there a differential role for language proficiency and EF in predicting FB reasoning in these two groups? Thirty-two Spanish–English bilinguals and 33 English monolinguals (three to five years old) were compared. While monolinguals outperformed bilinguals on language proficiency, after controlling for this, bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on FB reasoning, and marginally on EF. General language ability was related to FB performance in both groups, while short-term memory and inhibitory control predicted FB only for monolinguals.

Bilingualism: The good, the bad, and the indifferent

2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELLEN BIALYSTOK
Keyword(s):  
Executive Functioning ◽  
Cognitive Performance ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Complex Pattern ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Lexical Retrieval ◽  
Linguistic Performance ◽  
Verbal Recall

The present paper summarizes research showing that bilingualism affects linguistic and cognitive performance across the lifespan. The effect on linguistic performance is generally seen as a deficit in which bilingual children control a smaller vocabulary than their monolingual peers and bilingual adults perform more poorly on rapid lexical retrieval tasks. The effect on cognitive performance is to enhance executive functioning and to protect against the decline of executive control in aging. These effects interact to produce a complex pattern regarding the effect of bilingualism on memory performance. Memory tasks based primarily on verbal recall are performed more poorly by bilinguals but memory tasks based primarily on executive control are performed better by bilinguals. Speculations regarding the mechanism responsible for these effects are described.

Code-switching does not predict Executive Function performance in proficient bilingual children: Bilingualism does

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 366-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
CARISSA KANG ◽  
BARBARA LUST
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Task Switching ◽  
Stroop Task ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Proficiency Tests ◽  
Semantic Fluency ◽  
The Relationship

Previous studies of bilingual adults have suggested that bilinguals’ experience with code-switching (CS) contributes to superior executive function (EF) abilities. We tested a highly bilingual developing population in Singapore, a multilingual country where CS occurs pervasively. We obtained CS and EF measures from 43 English–Chinese 8-year-old children (27 females, M = 100 months). We measured spontaneous CS with a novel task and EF in terms of task-switching (Semantic Fluency) and inhibitory control (Stroop task in both languages). Contrary to previous work, CS performance did not significantly predict EF performance in either case. Rather, bilingual language proficiency, i.e., degree of bilingualism (as measured by direct proficiency tests and parents’ estimates of daily language use and exposure of both languages) influenced EF performance. Accordingly, the relationship between CS and EF may be more indirect and non-necessary than previously assumed.

Sociaal Milieu, Leeftijd en Sekse en de Taalvaardigheid in Het Nederlands Van Allochtone en Autochtone Basisschoolleerlingen

1990 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 103-119
Author(s):  
Anne Kerkhoff ◽  
Jaap Dronkers
Keyword(s):  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
School Success ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
School Career ◽  
Indigenous Children ◽  
Dutch Language ◽  
Parental Class

The results of a secondary analysis of the relationships between Dutch language proficiency and educational attainment of Dutch primary school children with different ethnic backgrounds are presented. Three groups of pupils are studied: 32 monolingual speakers of the Dutch standard language, 75 bilingual children speaking a Dutch dialect and standard Dutch and 39 bilingual non-indigenous children belonging to different ethnic groups. All children started their school career in the Netherlands. Main results are 1) the structure of Dutch language proficiency is equal for the three groups; 2) the effects of parental class on language proficiency differ between the three groups; 3) the effects of Dutch language proficiency on educational attainment are equal for the three groups and 4) 75% of the differences in Dutch language proficiency and school success can be explained by differences in social class.

scholarly journals Latent variable evidence on the interplay between language switching frequency and executive control in Spanish-Catalan bilinguals

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 912-930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor A. Sanchez-Azanza ◽  
Raúl López-Penadés ◽  
Eva Aguilar-Mediavilla ◽  
Daniel Adrover-Roig
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Age Of Acquisition ◽  
Switching Frequency ◽  
Language Switching ◽  
Second Language Proficiency ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
The Impact

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: We characterized the impact of several bilingualism-related factors on the executive control of Spanish-Catalan bilinguals. Design/methodology/approach: Participants self-reported information regarding their age of acquisition, second language proficiency and frequency of natural language switching, and performed non-linguistic tasks tapping into specific executive control subcomponents, including inhibition, switching and updating. Data and analysis: Data were analyzed by means of a structural equation model (SEM) approach. Findings/conclusions: Results revealed that the frequency of natural language switching positively modulated the executive control performance of Spanish-Catalan bilinguals, while neither age of acquisition nor second language proficiency had an effect. Moreover, we found that the impact of natural language switching exerted general-processing influences, affecting all subcomponents of executive control. Findings are discussed in relation to context-specific effects on the cognitive system of a particular bilingual population. Originality: The current study applied an SEM approach to provide new evidence on the previously ambiguous relation between bilingualism-related factors and executive control. Significance/implications: Our findings suggest that the frequency of natural language switching does globally influence the executive control of Spanish-Catalan bilinguals.

ARTICULATION AND SPEAKING RATES IN BILINGUALS WITH REGARD TO TIME OF EXPOSURE TO ONE LANGUAGE

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-220
Author(s):  
Mirosław Michalik ◽  
Ewa Czaplewska ◽  
Anna Solak ◽  
Anna Szkotak
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Average Duration ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Numerical Data ◽  
Speaking Rate ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Articulation Rate ◽  
Sample Number ◽  
Filled Pauses ◽  
At Home

The basic aim of the research presented in this paper was to check whether the language proficiency level of bilingual children with Polish as one of their languages is also related to the pace of speech, which is the result of two specific parameters i.e. articulation rate and speaking rate. It was assumed that children who use Polish more rarely and mostly at home will display slower speaking and articulation rates when contrasted with children who use Polish both at home and at school on an everyday basis. Participants were thirty-two children who speak Polish as one of two languages, the first research group consisting of sixteen Polish-French students at the age of 8.11 living in Wal-lonia. The second group consisted of sixteen Flemish-Polish students living in Flanders. Here the average age was 9.3 and subjects used Polish much less than their first group coun-terparts. The comparative analysis included the following parameters essential for the de-scription of the rate of speech: 1. basic: average speaking rate (phones/sec., syllables/sec, duration of pauses), average articulation rate (phones/sec., syllables/sec.), average ratio of pauses in speech sample (number and percentage), 2. accessory: average duration of all pauses (sec.), average duration of proper pauses (sec.), average duration of filled pauses (sec.), average duration of semi-filled pauses (sec.). The numerical data from the research was obtained with the use of free Audacity software. The results showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the two research groups in either the basic or the accessory speech rate parameters. In the Polish-French group the results were comparatively better but still statistically insignificant. It seems that the data obtained will confirm the need for considerable caution in the evalua-tion of the competence of bilingual children with high language skills. Similar to children with imbalanced bilingualism, these children may also, perhaps, require some extra time to deal with certain language tasks.

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