In the realm of Cultural-Historical Theory, A. Luria suggested writing as a model of a complex system of higher mental function, since that function is based on various psycho-physiological mechanisms, including processing of audial and visual information; and as a complex system of the frontal lobe functions of overcoming perseveration, and creation and control of the writing program. Subsequent research on these topics has shown a close association between the level of development of executive functions (EF) and writing skills. Nevertheless, the question of which parts of EF influence which aspects of writing, remains unresolved. In addition, there are few longitudinal studies of EF’s influence on writing. In this article, we focus on the results of a longitudinal study of the influence of EF in children 6.3 years old on their mastery of basic writing skills at the age of 7.5. The results of regression model construction showed that all the aspects of executive functions strongly influenced the children’s transcription skills, while the greatest impact on the development of the graphomotor component and spelling skills was exerted by working memory and inhibition control. These results are consistent with studies that have shown a correlation between the development of writing skills and EF. These results also confirm A. Luria’s views on the importance of functions responsible for processing audial and visual information in the process of writing, and the importance of suppressing irrelevant stimuli and perseverations. Our research shows the importance of the development of EF in preschool childhood.
Bilingualism remains one of the key agents of influence on cognitive and language development of a child. Recently, this phenomenon became the focus of research attention. On the one hand, it can be explained by the active migration processes occurring on a global level. On the other hand, the influence of bilingualism over childrens cognitive and language development is still quite a divisive issue. This study is aimed to explore, which phenomenon is more associ-ated with the language development, - the fact of a childs bilingualism or his/her level of execu-tive functions development. 380 children from a bilingual Russian region participated in this re-search. The final sample consisted of 279 6-7-year-old subjects without deviations in their cogni-tive and language development. There were 181 monolingual children and 98 bilinguals. Age, gender and non-verbal intelligence were controlled. Average age equaled to 6.65 years (SD = 0.37). The study demonstrated that the differences revealed in the language development of mono- and bilingual children were related mostly to lexical and grammatical aspects and didnt intervene with the macrostructure of the narrative. In regard to the influence of executive functions, the role of cognitive flexibility turned out to be an essential element from the perspective of the difference in mono- and bilingual childrens language development. As a whole, the study results allow drawing a conclusion that the development of cognitive flexibility contributes to a more efficient simultaneous mastering of two languages.
The article examines such an indicator of the development of language and culture as a childs elicited narrative. A narrative is a story created by a child based on a picture story or a series of pictures. The narrative allows to evaluate the childs coherent monologue speech. Narratives as primary forms of cultural texts reflect a certain national and cultural specifics. In the narrative, one can distinguish a macrostructure that determines its semantic completeness and adequacy, as well as a microstructure that assess lexical and grammatical accuracy. In our work, we studied the narratives of children from Moscow, the Republic of Sakha - Yakutia (Yakutsk and uluses) and the Republic of Tatarstan (Kazan). In addition, children performed a number of psychological tests, which made it possible to assess their level of development of executive functions and non-verbal intelligence. The main objective of the study was to identify how the factor of bilingualism influences the construction of the narrative and what other factors also influence. The study involved 765 children, including 327 boys and 438 girls ( M = 77.89 months, SD = 5.22). All children attended senior groups of kindergartens in Moscow ( n = 495), Kazan ( n = 115), the Republic of Sakha-Yakutia (Yakutsk and uluses) ( n = 155). As a result of a survey of educators and a short language test, the sample was divided into two groups: bilinguals ( n = 179 people) who communicate equally in Russian and national languages; and monolinguals (586 people) who communicate mainly or only in Russian. The results of statistical processing of the material showed that bilingualism is an important factor affecting the microstructure of narratives, however, to the greatest extent, both micro and macrostructure depend on auditory-verbal working memory. This is supported by both correlations and general linear models.
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