Modulatory effects of SES and multilinguistic experience on cognitive development: a longitudinal data analysis of multilingual and monolingual adolescents from the SCAMP cohort

Abstract

Previous research has shown that cognitive development is sensitive to socio-economic status (SES) and multilinguistic experiences. However, these effects are difficult to disentangle and SES may modulate the effects of multilingualism. The present study used data from a large cohort of pupils who took part in the Study of Cognition, Adolescents and Mobile Phones (SCAMP) at ages 11–12 (T1) and 13–15 years old (T2). Cognitive measures were derived from tasks of cognitive flexibility, verbal, spatial and visuo-spatial working memory, speech processing and non-verbal reasoning. Using SES information collected through questionnaires (school type, level of deprivation, parental education and occupation), the sample was clustered into high/medium/low SES groups. Comparisons focused on 517 monolingual and 329 multilingual pupils in the high/low SES groups. Having controlled for multiple comparisons, the results indicated a significant beneficial effect of bilingualism in measures of working memory, visuo-spatial processing and non-verbal reasoning. These effects were present in both high and low SES individuals and sustained at both times of development, with a particularly significant improvement of working memory abilities in low SES bilinguals at T2 as compared to monolingual peers. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are considered and guidance for educators is discussed.

Verbal and Visuospatial Working Memory in Arabic-English Female Bilinguals: Is There an Advantage?

“…A further recent study conducted by Alarcon (2022) indicated a positive effect of bilingualism on working memory tasks requiring attentional control, namely test anxiety. In addition, Filippi et al (2022) showed consistent results concerning a bilingual advantage and supported the view in which bilingualism has a positive effect on working memory tasks, namely those measuring visual-spatial abilities.…”

The Influence of Multilingual Experience on Executive Function and Structure Learning: Effects in Young Adults in the UK and Singapore

“…In the TMT, a significant effect of Balanced Proficiency emerged, revealing that individuals with greater balance between their two most proficient languages exhibited a reduced B:A ratio, indicative of enhanced flexibility. Literature examining the performance of bilinguals on the TMT is limited, but studies usually do not report an effect, owing to the fact that the switching and visual attention involved in the TMT are arguably not trained through multiple language control (Filippi et al 2022;Stasenko et al 2017;Torres et al 2022). Nevertheless, there are a few studies reporting benefits for bilinguals in different age groups (Bialystok 2010;Estanga et al 2017), but these usually evaluate the performance in Trail A and Trail B separately, while the B:A ratio is in fact a more accurate measure of CF (Kopp 2011).…”

Deconstructing Imperialism in English Language Teaching with Alter-Globalization Community in Education

“…In fact, for speakers of the dominant language, bilingual programs help develop proficiency in two languages with no adverse effects on literacy or fluency development in their first language (Cummins, 2009). For all students, bilingual programs yield great academic success (Cummins, 2009), greater cognitive flexibility (Filippi et al, 2022), and focus (Fitzgerald & Schutte, 2010). Towards these goals, under an alter-globalized vision, all classrooms would become multilingual spaces.…”