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The current study investigates the influence of L2 proficiency on cognitive control among three matched groups of unbalanced Chinese-English bilinguals. Flanker task was administered to measure conflict monitoring and inhibition, and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) to measure mental set shifting. ANOVA analyses of the Flanker results showed no differences in inhibition across all groups and no interaction between group and condition. However, the Flanker results showed faster performance for the highest L2 proficiency group relative to the lowest L2 proficiency group in all conditions (incongruent, neutral, and congruent), which reflects better ability of conflict monitoring. Finally, ANOVA analyses of the WCST results showed no differences across all groups. These results altogether suggest that L2 proficiency has significant influence on cognitive control, but only in conflict monitoring, not in inhibition or mental set shifting.

The current study investigates how second-language (L2) proficiency contributes to cognitive control differences among three groups of unbalanced Chinese–English bilinguals matched for socioeconomic status (SES), intelligence (IQ), education, age, culture, and L1 background. A Flanker task and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) were administered to measure conflict monitoring, inhibition, and mental set shifting. ANOVA analyses revealed faster performance for the High-L2 Group compared to the Low-L2 Group in the congruent, neutral, and incongruent conditions of the Flanker task. However, there were no group differences on the WCST. Multiple step-wise regression analyses showed that L2 proficiency was a predictor for the Flanker task performance in all three conditions, SES in the neutral and the incongruent condition, and IQ in the congruent condition. These results suggest that L2 proficiency, along with SES and IQ, contribute significantly to cognitive control differences in conflict monitoring among young-adult bilinguals.

The Flanker and Number Stroop tasks, and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) were adopted to examine how bilingualism and public speaking training would contribute to cognitive control differences among young adults. Four groups of participants (of similar cultural and language backgrounds) were tested: monolinguals, general bilinguals, L1 public speaking bilinguals, and L2 public speaking bilinguals. Both ANOVA and multiple regression analyses showed that public speaking experience (esp. in L2) significantly contributed to conflict monitoring as tested in the global reaction times in the Flanker and Number Stroop tasks, whereas bilingualism (L2 verbal fluency, to be more specific) significantly contributed to mental set shifting as tested in the WCST. These results suggest that specific aspects of language experience, either in L1 or in L2, may incur enhancement in specific aspects of cognitive control, which has implications for bilingual advantage research.

This article aims to study the dynamic change of teachers’ beliefs among pre-service teachers. A longitudinal design was adopted to investigate English language teaching (ELT) pre-service teachers’ belief change after a 3-month teaching practicum by administering pretest and posttest questionnaires, semistructured interviews, and reflective journals. Repeated measures and paired sample t-test analyses showed significant differences across different aspects of beliefs in all the participants, but belief changes were significant after the practicum only within the experimental group, particularly in the aspects of student management, teaching evaluation, and student learning. In contrast, belief changes were not significant within the control group. Further inductive content analyses of semistructured interviews and reflective journals from the experimental group confirmed these changes and conclusively revealed some potential factors contributing to the changes. The results shed light on how pre-service teachers evolve in their career development and help educators adjust appropriate education policies to improve the quality of English teacher education, particularly in the Chinese context.

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: This study investigated whether the studying abroad bilingual experience among unevenly balanced Chinese–English bilinguals exerted influence on cognitive control. Design/methodology/approach: We compared cognitive control differences between a group of Chinese–English bilinguals (n = 30) studying abroad in the USA and a control bilingual group (n = 30) studying at home in mainland China by administering the Flanker task and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). The two groups were matched on demographic variables including age, socioeconomic status (SES), intelligence, etc. Data and analysis: A mixed ANOVA was applied to the Flanker task data, with the task condition as the within-subject variable and the participant group as the between-subject variable. Independent t-test analyses were used to compare performance differences between groups on the WCST. Findings/conclusions: The two groups performed similarly on the Flanker task, whereas the group studying abroad fared better on the WCST, indicating better mental set shifting. Originality: This is the first study to show that the experience of studying abroad brings about cognitive control advantage in mental set shifting. Significance/implications: The current research provides the first evidence that the experience of studying abroad is related to the enhancement of cognitive control, which has implications for both cognitive development and international education.

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.

By comparing two unbalanced Chinese-English bilingual groups, this study explored whether differences in second-language (L2) proficiency and language use influenced mental set shifting in cognitive control, through language switch (which tested participants' language control) and task switch (which tested participants' mental set shifting in cognitive control). The ANOVA results showed that the higher L2 proficiency group and the lower L2 proficiency group did not differ in language switch, and the two groups did not differ either in the task switch. Further correlation and regression analyses showed that L2 proficiency did not contribute to task-switching performance; however, language-switching frequency and L2 use significantly contributed to the performance of task switch. These results suggest a weak relation between L2 proficiency and mental set shifting, and indicate that language-switching frequency and L2 use may be important factors influencing mental set shifting and should therefore be included as crucial variables in future studies.