The Neurocognitive Approach to Language Teaching Through the Interaction Between Working Memory Components and Bilingualism: A Narrative Review of the Evidence (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 2020
The present study aims to shed light on the relationship of working memory and executive functioning in bilingual elementary school children when compared with monolingual population of the same age. The investigation of the relationship between working memory and language learning abilities of children, who are bilingual, is particularly important as it plays a key role in understanding the literacy and language competence of bilingual populations. The purpose of this study was to examine Verbal Working Memory and Executive Functions in 20 bilingual elementary school students who were compared to 20 monolingual school-age students in different cognitive tasks. The research results showed that bilingual students did not appear to perform better in Working Memory compared to the performance of monolingual students of the same age. Correspondingly, bilingual students performed better in the task of inhibitory control and cognitive change. The findings of the present study reinforce the hypothesis that when learning a language, be it the mother tongue or the foreign /second language, the working memory does not correlate to all executive functions but forms a separate cognitive function. The implications of bilingual learning strategies in multicultural class settings are discussed as a pedagogical memory frame that can empower academic achievement while acknowledging the importance of acquiring standardized language skills by promoting a variety of memory strategies.
Working memory in multilingual children: Is there a bilingual effect?
Memory, 2011
This research investigates whether early childhood bilingualism affects working memory performance in 6- to 8-year-olds, followed over a longitudinal period of three years. The study tests the hypothesis that bilinguals might exhibit more efficient working memory abilities than monolinguals, potentially via the opportunity a bilingual environment provides to train cognitive control by combating interference and intrusions from the non-target language. Forty-four bilingual and monolingual children, matched on age, sex, and socioeconomic status, completed assessments of working memory (simple span and complex span tasks), fluid intelligence, and language (vocabulary and syntax). The data showed that the monolinguals performed significantly better on the language measures across the years whereas no language group effect emerged on the working memory and fluid intelligence tasks after verbal abilities were considered. The study suggests that the need to manage several language systems in the bilingual mind affects children’s language skills whilst having little impact on the development of working memory abilities.
The relationship between bilingualism and working memory: a review
Revista do GELNE, 2017
ABSTRACT: This paper presents a review of the literature aimed at exploring the main findings regarding studies on the issue of bilingualism and working memory. It is organized with an initial discussion on the construct of working memory and its development through time, followed by the topic of bilingualism, with general evidence of its advantages and disadvantages to the cognitive system, and finally the examination of current pieces of research addressing working memory in bilingual children and adults. The objective is to illustrate what contributions research has shown so far and what future directions might be.Keywords: bilingualism; working memory; cognition. RESUMO: Este artigo apresenta uma revisão de literatura com o intuito de explorar as descobertas mais relevantes acerca de estudos sobre bilinguismo e memória de trabalho. Inicialmente, discute-se o construto memória de trabalho e como o mesmo tem evoluído enquanto objeto de pesquisa. Na sequência, apresenta-se a qu...
Verbal working memory in bilingual children
Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR, 2004
The present study compared the performance of 44 Latino children on the Competing Language Processing Task (CLPT; C. Gaulin and T. Campbell, 1994) and the Dual Processing Comprehension Task (DPCT; S. Ellis Weismer, 1996). First, it was of interest to know if there were significant differences between children with and without bilingual proficiency on processing tasks that were assumed to require limited vocabulary knowledge. The second goal of this research was to determine whether there were cross-linguistic differences in verbal working memory by examining performance within bilinguals and between children with limited proficiency in a second language. The performance of the participating children was also examined in the context of research with other English-speaking groups. Finally, given that the CLPT and the DPCT may differ in their processing demands (from a relative focus on storage to one of attention inhibition or resistance to interference), it was important to know the ...
The Performance of Bilingual and Monolingual Children on Working Memory Tasks
Iranian Rehabilitation Journal, 2015
Objectives: The purpose of this research was to explore the possible differences in the working memory of monolingual (Persian) and bilingual (Persian-Baluchi) children. We wanted to examine if there is a statistically significant relationship between working memory and bilingualism. Methods: Four working memory (WM) tests, assessing three WM components, were administered to 140 second grade school students, of whom 70 were monolinguals (35 girls and 35 boys) and 70 were bilinguals (35 girls and 35 boys). The tests used are the following: Forward Digit Span Test, Backward Digit Span Test, Non Word Repetition Test, Maze Memory Test. The results of the two groups were analyzed with multi-group confirmatory factor analysis, aiming to find out any differences in the working memory function of bilingual and monolingual children, and to determine which group has an advantage. Results: The multi-group confirmatory factor analysis was used to measure various WM factors across the two langua...
Effects of proficiency and age of language acquisition on working memory performance in bilinguals
Psihologija, 2010
This study examined language proficiency and age of language acquisition influences on working memory performance in bilinguals. Bilingual subjects were administered reading span task in parallel versions for their first and second language. In Experiment 1, language proficiency effect was tested by examination of low and highly proficient second language speakers. In Experiment 2, age of language acquisition was examined by comparing the performance of proficient second language speakers who acquired second language either early or later in their lives. Both proficiency and age of language acquisition were found to affect bilingual working memory performance, and the proficiency effect was observed even at very high levels of language competence. The results support the notion of working memory as a domain that is influenced both by a general pool of resources and certain domain specific factors.
The present study aimed at comparing the working memory of Greek monolingual students to bilingual ones from migrant backgrounds who all attend primary school. Secondly, an effort was made to investigate the correlation of the working memory with the academic performance in both groups. Moreover, the correlation of the vocabulary strategies, employed by monolingual and bilingual students in an integrated memory-based text framework (Rachanioti, Griva & Alevriadou, 2017), with their working memory was explored. The sample consisted of 20 monolingual and 20 bilingual students of Albanian origin, who attended the 5th and 6th grade of three primary schools in Eastern Thessaloniki, Greece. The monolingual and bilingual students were matched according to their mark reports on academic performance. The Automated Working Memory Assessment (Alloway, 2007) was used to assess the students’ working memory. The data revealed that monolingual and bilingual students did not differ either in the ve...
Bilingualism and working memory capacity: A comprehensive meta-analysis
Bilinguals often outperform monolinguals on executive function tasks, including tasks that tap cognitive flexibility, conflict monitoring, and task-switching abilities. Some have suggested that bilinguals also have greater working memory capacity than comparable monolinguals, but evidence for this suggestion is mixed. We therefore conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis on the effects of bilingualism on working memory capacity. Results from 88 effect sizes, 27 independent studies, and 2,901 participants revealed a significant small to medium population effect size of 0.20 in favor of greater working memory capacity for bilinguals than monolinguals. This suggests that experience managing two languages that compete for selection results in greater working memory capacity over time. Moderator analyses revealed that largest effects were observed in children than other age groups. Furthermore, whether the task was performed in the first (L1) or second (L2) language for bilinguals moderated the effect size of the bilingual advantage; this factor is often overlooked and our results point to the importance of defining language variables that influence critical cognitive outcomes.
Verbal and visuospatial working memory in immersion-educated bilingual children
International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 2017
Verbal and visuospatial working memory in immersion-educated bilingual children Working memory is a recognised component of executive function and has undergone scrutiny in terms of bilingual and monolingual performance comparisons. Research to date, however, has not consistently replicated the presence of bilingual advantage. The present study examined short-term (STM) and working memory (WM) in immersioneducated children and a matched group of English monolingual controls. One hundred and twenty one children participated, and differences in performance were examined in two age groups (7 and 9 years). Children performed two STM (digit recall, mazes memory) and four WM tasks (listening recall, counting recall, backwards digit recall, Mr X). Results indicated largely equivalent performance on the STM and WM tasks administered. Verbal STM and WM performance was then examined within the bilingual sample, which performed the tasks in both English (L1) and Irish (L2). Results indicated largely equivalent performance across languages for both age groups, with language dominance effects emerging in one verbal WM task (listening recall) only. Overall, our results suggest that bilingualism does not confer advantages for working memory. Implications for the assessment of STM and WM in bilingual children participating in a full immersion education programme are discussed.