Sequential Multilingualism and Cognitive Abilities: Preliminary Data on the Contribution of Language Proficiency and Use in Different Modalities

Abstract

This exploratory study focuses on sequential bi-/multilinguals (specifically, nonimmigrant young Dutch native speakers who learned at least one foreign language (FL) at or after the age of 5) and investigates the impact of proficiency-based and amount-of-use-based degrees of multilingualism in different modalities (i.e., speaking, listening, writing, reading) on inhibition, disengagement of attention, and switching. Fifty-four participants completed a comprehensive background questionnaire, a nonverbal fluid intelligence task, a Flanker task, and the Trail Making Test. Correlational and regression analyses considering multilingualism related variables and other variables that may contribute to the cognitive abilities under investigation (e.g., years of formal education, socioeconomic status, physical activity, playing video-games) revealed that only proficiency-based degrees of multilingualism impacted cognitive abilities. Particularly, mean FL writing proficiency affected inhibition (i.e., significant positive flanker effect) and L2 listening proficiency influenced disengagement of attention (i.e., significant negative sequential congruency effect). Our findings suggest that only those speakers who have reached a certain proficiency threshold in more than one FL show a cognitive advantage, which, in our sample, emerged in inhibition only. Furthermore, our study suggests that, regarding the impact of proficiency-based degrees of multilingualism on cognitive abilities, for our participants the writing and listening modalities mattered most.

Individual Variation and the Bilingual Advantage - Factors that Modulate the Effect of Bilingualism on Cognitive Control and Cognitive Reserve

“…So far, small study samples have been often used in research on the bilingual advantage in cognitive control and, to a lesser degree, in research on bilingualism and the cognitive reserve hypothesis. Furthermore, whether the bilingual advantage in cognitive control and the contribution to cognitive reserve are mainly limited to extremely proficient bilinguals that use both languages at a professional level the whole day, like interpreters, [25] and to multilingual individuals who have to switch and suppress languages extensively to a larger extent than bilinguals should be explicitly investigated [34]. Last, but not least, the use of longitudinal designs is highly recommended because L2 learning is a complex, dynamic process [15].…”

Individual Variation and the Bilingual Advantage—Factors that Modulate the Effect of Bilingualism on Cognitive Control and Cognitive Reserve

“…So far, small study samples have been often used in research on the bilingual advantage in cognitive control and, to a lesser degree, in research on bilingualism and the cognitive reserve hypothesis. Furthermore, whether the bilingual advantage in cognitive control and the contribution to cognitive reserve are mainly limited to extremely proficient bilinguals that use both languages at a professional level the whole day, like interpreters, [25] and to multilingual individuals who have to switch and suppress languages extensively to a larger extent than bilinguals should be explicitly investigated [34]. Last, but not least, the use of longitudinal designs is highly recommended because L2 learning is a complex, dynamic process [15].…”

“…The impact of proficiency-based and amount-of-use-based degrees of multilingualism in different modalities (i.e., speaking, listening, writing, and reading) on inhibition, disengagement of attention, and switching were investigated in 54 late bi-/multilinguals. Their results [34] showed that only proficiency-based degrees of multilingualism affected cognitive abilities. In particular, a marginally significant independent positive effect of mean proficiency in foreign languages in the writing and the listening modalities on inhibition (in the literature known as a flanker effect [29]) was found, as was a significant negative effect of L2 proficiency in the listening modality on disengagement of attention (in the literature referred to as a sequential congruency effect [35]).…”

“…The fifth original article on the bilingual advantage in cognitive control was conducted by Boumeester and colleagues [34] who focused on late bi-/multilingualism (meaning that the foreign languages were acquired at or after the age of five). The impact of proficiency-based and amount-of-use-based degrees of multilingualism in different modalities (i.e., speaking, listening, writing, and reading) on inhibition, disengagement of attention, and switching were investigated in 54 late bi-/multilinguals.…”

“…In contrast to the five original studies on the relation between bilingualism and cognitive control in which adults were investigated [22,25,28,31,34], Haft and colleagues [36] investigated a group of young children. They were interested in the possible associations between bilingualism and cognitive flexibility-a relationship that has shown mixed findings in prior literature [37,38].…”