The Importance of Socioeconomic Status as a Modulator of the Bilingual Advantage in Cognitive Ability

Naeem, Kamila; Filippi, Roberto; Periche-Tomas, Eva; Papageorgiou, Andriani; Bright, Peter

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01818

Cited by 52 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(50 reference statements)

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“…Moreover, the current study found that some demographic factors were significantly associated with cognitive control in some dimensions. Specifically, age and education were associated with mental set shifting, whereas SES associated with inhibition, which conflicts with some recent studies in that SES is related to conflict monitoring (reflected by response times) (e.g., Naeem et al, 2018;Xie and Pisano, 2019). Nevertheless, these results are generally in line with the findings that higher education and SES are correlated positively with cognitive control, whereas age is positively correlated with cognitive control for children and young adult participants but negatively correlated with cognitive control for older adults (Valian, 2015;van den Noort et al, 2019;Xie and Pisano, 2019).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Bilingualism, Demographics, and Cognitive Control: A Within-Group Approach

Xie

Zhou

2020

Front. Psychol.

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Previous studies have suggested a bilingual advantage in cognitive control as a result of the bilinguals' language experience. However, the results are controversial as there are various factors (language proficiency, SES, culture, and intelligence, etc.) affecting cognitive control. In the current study, after between-group comparisons, we adopted a within-group approach by multiple regressions to investigate whether the performance by 10-to-75-year-old participants (N = 91) of tasks measuring inhibition, monitoring, and mental set shifting could be predicted by bilingualism, or demographic factors, or both. The results of multiple stepwise regression analyses showed that L2 proficiency was a significant predictor for conflict monitoring and inhibition, education and age were significant predictors for mental set shifting, and SES was a minor predictor for inhibition. These findings provide evidence that cognitive control is affected by both bilingualism and demographic factors. Future studies are encouraged to further identify the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive control from specific bilingual experience.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Bilingualism, Demographics, and Cognitive Control: A Within-Group Approach

Xie

Zhou

2020

Front. Psychol.

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“…The studies conducted in the context of Head Start programs or in schools that support low income and at‐risk students document learners’ positive development trajectories during the transition from preschool to kindergarten, particularly when the L1 is spoken in the home; they thus underscore the importance of early start for all learners. In this area, see also studies by Engel de Abreu, Cruz‐Santos, Tourinho, Martin, and Bialystok (); Naeem, Filippi, Periche‐Tomas, Papageorgiou, and Bright (); and Nair, Biedermann, and Nickels () where socioeconomic status is an important factor in the investigation. Might these results point to the possibility that early language study and bilingualism represent, at least in part, a solution for the achievement gap?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Benefits of foreign language learning and bilingualism: An analysis of published empirical research 2012–2019

Fox

Corretjer

Webb

2019

Foreign Language Annals

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The 21st century has seen a strong upward trajectory in empirical research on the multiple benefits that foreign language/world language learning and bilingualism can afford to both individuals and society. This analysis of research published from 2012‐2019 extends Fox et al.'s analysis of research published from 2005 to 2011 (Part I). The 100 empirical studies in Part II, drawn from seven data bases, were conducted in multiple countries. Six overarching themes emerged: cognitive abilities and benefits, aging and health, employability, academic achievement, communicative and intercultural competence, and enhanced creativity. Results report multiple cognitive benefits of language study and bi‐multilingualism, particularly later in life, including enhancement of cognitive flexibility, higher cognitive reserve in advanced age, and delay in the onset of dementia. Other results underscore the importance of early and sustained language learning and support for L1 literacy development. Additional results stress the benefits of foreign/world language skills relating to employability and academic achievement and propose that the accumulation of years of language learning positively impacts the development of cross‐cultural awareness and communicative competence. This research illustrates the importance of establishing cross‐/interdisciplinary research and sharing results with language advocates, policy makers, and legislators.

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“…In the last decade, there has also been growing controversy around the claims of the bilingual advantage with an increasing number of studies showing null results (e.g., Duñabeitia, Hernandez, Anton, et al, 2014;Paap & Greenberg, 2013;Paap, Johnson & Sawi, 2014). Factors such as immigration status (Kousaie & Phillips, 2012), language history, socioeconomic status (Naeem, Filippi, Periche-Tomas, Papageorgiou & Bright, 2018;Morton & Harper, 2007), intelligence and culture (Yang, Yang, & Lust, 2011) which were not always included in earlier studies have been cited as having potentially confounding effects (Lehtonen et al, 2018). In their meta-analysis of results from non-verbal interference tasks, Hilchey and Klein (2011) found that bilingual advantages in executive control tend to occur in studies with small samples while null results were more likely with larger samples.…”

Section: Challenges To the Bilingual Advantage Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Developmental trajectories of control of verbal and non-verbal interference in speech comprehension in monolingual and multilingual children

Filippi¹,

Ceccolini²,

Periche-Tomas

et al. 2020

Cognition

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Research on speech comprehension in noise indicates that a multilinguistic experience may confer advantages in filtering out verbal interference, an effect observed both in children acquiring two or more languages since birth (Filippi, Morris, Richardson, et al., 2015) and in second language learner adults (Filippi, Leech, Thomas, et al., 2012). A possible interpretation for this advantage is that the multilingual mind is "trained" to control interference from the language not in use. This constant effort may support optimization of cognitive resources that are necessary for successfully selecting, processing and interpreting complex linguistic information. The present study aimed to extend this line of research by including a non-verbal interference condition. 209 typically developing children (132 English monolinguals and 77 multilinguals from different linguistic backgrounds) carried out a sentence interpretation task in the presence of verbal and non-verbal interference. We found no evidence for a reliable group difference in our data. Instead, findings indicated that background cognitive ability and socioeconomic status were the best indicators of successful control of interference, irrespective of whether participants were bilingual or monolingual. These findings are discussed in the light of previous research and, more widely, on the account of the current debate on the bilingual advantage.

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The Importance of Socioeconomic Status as a Modulator of the Bilingual Advantage in Cognitive Ability

Cited by 52 publications

References 48 publications

Bilingualism, Demographics, and Cognitive Control: A Within-Group Approach

Bilingualism, Demographics, and Cognitive Control: A Within-Group Approach

Benefits of foreign language learning and bilingualism: An analysis of published empirical research 2012–2019

Developmental trajectories of control of verbal and non-verbal interference in speech comprehension in monolingual and multilingual children

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