Does long-term dual-language immersion affect children's executive functioning?

Anne Neveu, Kimberly Crespo, Susan Ellis Weismer, Margarita Kaushanskaya

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Dual-language immersion (DLI) experience has been linked to enhanced reading and math skills in minority- and majority-language elementary school children. However, it remains unclear whether DLI experience can also enhance executive functioning. The current study took a longitudinal approach to this question and examined the effect of DLI experience on the development of executive function skills in majority-language children over a 1-year period. In total, 33 monolingual children attending English-only classrooms (Mage = 9.17 years, SD = 1.03) and 33 English–Spanish bilingual children attending DLI classrooms (Mage = 9.27 years, SD = 0.94) matched on age, gender, nonverbal IQ, and socioeconomic status were tested twice, 1 year apart, on nonverbal measures of inhibition, shifting, switching, and monitoring. Results revealed a significant interaction between group and year only on the response inhibition task, with bilinguals showing superior inhibition in Year 1 but not in Year 2. The two groups performed equivalently on all other measures at both time points. Results suggest that classroom DLI has a minimal impact on executive functions, at least as tested in the current study.

Original languageEnglish
Article number105127
JournalJournal of Experimental Child Psychology
Volume208
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2021

Keywords

  • Bilingualism
  • Dual-language immersion
  • Executive functions
  • Inhibitory Control
  • Longitudinal approach
  • Majority-language children

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