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Code-switching does not predict Executive Function performance in proficient bilingual children: Bilingualism does

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2018

CARISSA KANG  and
BARBARA LUST
CARISSA KANG*
Affiliation:
Cornell University
BARBARA LUST
Affiliation:
Cornell University
*
Address for correspondence: Carissa Kang, Department of Human Development, Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853ck577@cornell.edu
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Abstract

Previous studies of bilingual adults have suggested that bilinguals’ experience with code-switching (CS) contributes to superior executive function (EF) abilities. We tested a highly bilingual developing population in Singapore, a multilingual country where CS occurs pervasively. We obtained CS and EF measures from 43 English–Chinese 8-year-old children (27 females, M = 100 months). We measured spontaneous CS with a novel task and EF in terms of task-switching (Semantic Fluency) and inhibitory control (Stroop task in both languages). Contrary to previous work, CS performance did not significantly predict EF performance in either case. Rather, bilingual language proficiency, i.e., degree of bilingualism (as measured by direct proficiency tests and parents’ estimates of daily language use and exposure of both languages) influenced EF performance. Accordingly, the relationship between CS and EF may be more indirect and non-necessary than previously assumed.

Keywords

bilingualismexecutive functioncode-switchingbilingual language proficiency
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , March 2019 , pp. 366 - 382
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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Footnotes

*We thank our undergraduate research assistants at Cornell University – Cynthia Li, Yingxuan Chen and Jing Zheng – for help with reliability checking and transcribing, as well as the parents, school and participants who took part in this study. We also thank Prof. Felix Thoemmes for his consultation on statistical analyses. Finally, we would like to thank the two reviewers for their insightful comments on the paper. This research was supported by grants from the Cornell University Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, Cornell University Human Development dissertation grant and Cornell University Cognitive Science research grant.

Supplementary material can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728918000299

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