Executive Functions’ Impact on Vocabulary and Verbal Fluency among Mono- and Bilingual Preschool-Aged Children

Abstract

Background. The phenomenon of multilingualism and its impact on child development are in the spotlight of latter-day psychology, and of utmost importance both for theory and practice. Language development is a strong predictor of psychological readiness for school and further academic success. At the same time, children’s mastery of written and oral speech in school education in a multilingual environment has several distinctive features. This study was dedicated to examining the influence of executive functions on the development of the vocabulary aspects of speech (both active and passive vocabulary) of mono- and bilingual children growing up in a bilingual environment. Objective. We aimed to analyze the relationship between bilingualism and language development (vocabulary and verbal fluency) and determine which executive functions may help overcome the resulting difficulties at preschool age. Design. Both monolingual and bilingual children participated in the study (n=137 and n=81, respectively). The children’s ages ranged from 6 to 7 years (M=78.7 months, SD=5.87). Two independent General Linear Models (GLM) were built to define which executive functions influenced the vocabulary and verbal fluency of the mono- and bilingual subjects (controlling for age, gender, and non-verbal intelligence as well). Results. The results confirmed that bilingualism is negatively related to language development, but showed that verbal working memory significantly helps bilinguals compensate for difficulties in developing vocabulary and verbal fluency. Conclusion. The study demonstrated that the ability to preserve and reproduce verbal information was of more significance for children’s vocabulary and verbal fluency than their language group (mono- or bilingual).

Factors of a child’s social development in the senior preschool age

“…Развитие речи ребенка -это комплексный феномен, который включает в себя как знание слов, грамматики, различение фонем, умение строить правильные предложения, так и генерировать целостный текст, понимать собеседника, правильно реагировать на вопросы, строить высказывание в соответствии с ситуацией и жанром (Kovyazina et al, 2021). Кроме того, к речевому развитию некоторые авторы относят коммуникативное поведение, которое, на наш взгляд, связано скорее с поведением, нежели с речью.…”

Measuring Motivation in Preschool Children: Validation of the Russian Version of the Child Behaviour Motivation Scale

“…Распределение, по субъективной оценке, финансовой обеспеченности семьи: ниже среднего (10,2 %), среднеобеспеченные (78,6 %), выше среднего (11,1 %). О монолингвальной языковой среде ребенка сообщили 68,2 % родителей, о билингвальной -31,8 %, что также может являться важным фактором формирования учебной мотивации (Kovyazina et al, 2021;Shaigerova et al, 2019).…”

Potential impact of extra education on the development of executive functions within a year in preschool children: an exploratory research

“…EF can be divided into three interrelated components: inhibitory control (cognitive and physical), working memory (verbal and visual), and cognitive flexibility ( Miyake et al, 2000 ). A large number of empirical results reveal that the level of EF in preschool age is a predictor of school readiness, academic performance in school ( Robson et al, 2020 ; Kovyazina et al, 2021 ; Morosanova et al, 2021 ), and social competence ( Denham et al, 2010 ; Shen et al, 2020 ). Furthermore, the level of EF development in children is associated with physical and mental health, and social competence in adulthood ( Moffitt et al, 2011 ; Stichter et al, 2016 ).…”