Cognitive benefits and costs of bilingualism in elementary school students: The case of mathematical word problems.

Abstract

Previous research has emphasized the importance of language for learning mathematics. This is especially true when mathematical problems have to be extracted from a meaningful context, as in arithmetic word problems. Bilingual learners with a low command of the instructional language thus may face challenges when dealing with mathematical concepts. At the same time, speaking two languages can be associated with cognitive benefits with regard to attentional control processes, although such benefits have only been found in highly proficient bilinguals. In the present study, we attempted to disentangle the effects of bilingual proficiency on mathematical problem solving in Turkish-German bilingual elementary school students. We examined whether the positive cognitive effects of bilingualism could be found not only in highly proficient bilinguals but also in students with an immigrant background and a low command of the instructional or native language. Our findings emphasize the importance of language proficiency for mathematics problem solving, as shown by the predictive value of students' proficiency in the language of testing (German/Turkish) for their performance on mathematical word problems. No additional effect of the language of instruction (German) was found for problem solving in the bilingual students' native language (Turkish). Furthermore, bilinguals gained scores comparable to those of their monolingual peers on word problems that required attentional control skills although performing significantly below their monolingual classmates on ordinary word problems, suggesting that bilinguals have an advantage when it comes to attentional control. Finally, bilingual students with a relatively high command of the instructional language performed better on word problems presented in German than on those presented in Turkish, thus facing cognitive costs when transferring knowledge from one language to the other. Implications of our findings for bilingual education are discussed.

The Relationship Between Mathematics and Language: Academic Implications for Children With Specific Language Impairment and English Language Learners

“…Beal, Adams, and Cohen (2010) found that both children who are ELLs and English primary students improved after working with a mathematics instructional software program, but the gap between the two groups remained; that is, the children who were ELLs improved but never "caught up" with their peers. Similar findings have been reported in Europe where children of immigrant families have lower mathematics achievement than children whose primary language is also the language of instruction in school (Kempert, Saalbach, & Hardy, 2011). The achievement gap remains even after factors such as differences in socioeconomic status have been considered (Kempert et al, 2011).…”

“…Similar findings have been reported in Europe where children of immigrant families have lower mathematics achievement than children whose primary language is also the language of instruction in school (Kempert, Saalbach, & Hardy, 2011). The achievement gap remains even after factors such as differences in socioeconomic status have been considered (Kempert et al, 2011).…”

Problem Solving at the Middle School Level: A Comparison of Different Strategies

“…These results are consistent with findings of other studies indicating that students with low language proficiency usually perform less well in word problems in math (Beal et al, 2010;Kempert et al, 2011). …”

The Effect of English Language Learning on Creative Thinking Skills: A Mixed Methods Case Study

“…Research studies by Poulin-Dubois, Blaye, Coutya, andBialystok (2011), Lauchlan, Parisi, andFadda (2012), Greenberg, Bellana, and Bialystok (2013), Kalashnikova and Mattock (2014), Adi-Japha, Berberich-Artzi, and Libnawi (2010), Kempert, Hardy, and Saalbach (2011), Steby, Sindhupriya, Rupali, and Swapna (2010), and Yang, Yang, and Lust (2011) suggested that positive relationships existed between bilingualism and executive functions among bilingual children.…”