Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T07:14:08.710Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effects of SES on Executive Attention in Malay–English bilingual children in Singapore*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2015

CARISSA KANG ,
FELIX THOEMMES  and
BARBARA LUST
CARISSA KANG*
Affiliation:
Human Development, Cornell University
FELIX THOEMMES
Affiliation:
Human Development, Cornell University
BARBARA LUST
Affiliation:
Human Development, Cornell University
*
Address for Correspondence: Carissa Kang, Department of Human Development, Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853ck577@cornell.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Thirty-four 4 to 6-year-old Malay–English bilinguals (both balanced and dominant) characterized as low SES on income and parental education were tested on the child-Attentional Network Task (ANT) (Rueda, Rothbart, McCandliss, Saccomanno & Posner, 2004) measuring executive attention. Although SES measures fell below the Singapore median, Malay children's performance on the child-ANT remained high when compared to other age-matched monolingual and bilingual children previously tested with the child-ANT (Yang, Yang & Lust, 2011), and Chinese–English Singaporean bilinguals (Yang, Yang & Kang, 2014). None of the three SES measures – father's and mother's education, and income – significantly correlated with child-ANT components. Regression analyses confirmed that none of the SES measures significantly predicted performance on the child-ANT. Both balanced and dominant bilinguals displayed high executive control. We consider the possibility that cultural variations, (e.g., simultaneous and pervasiveness of bilingualism in Singapore, or pervasive code-switching), may ameliorate potential negative effects of SES on executive control development.

Keywords

bilingualismcognitive developmentexecutive attentionsocioeconomic statusculturechild multilingualism questionnaireMalay
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 19 , Issue 5 , November 2016 , pp. 1042 - 1056
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

We thank Prof. Yang Hwajin at the Singapore Management University for providing us with research assistants and support for the Singapore component of our project and her Research Assistants, Celestine Tan and Zhi Ting Chow for their assistance with data collection in Singapore. We thank Prof. Yang Sujin, who developed the research paradigm focusing on the cognitive advantages of bilingualism using the child-Attention Network Task. We thank Qi Wang for insightful directions on the cross-cultural study of SES.

References

Abutalebi, J., & Green, D.W. (2008). Control mechanisms in bilingual language production: Neural evidence from language switching studies. Language and Cognitive Processes, 23, 557–582.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Akhtar, N., & Menjivar, J.A. (2012). Cognitive and linguistic correlates of early exposure to more than one language. In Benson, J.B. (Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior , 42, 41–78. Burlington: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Ardila, A., Rosselli, M., Matute, E., & Guajardo, S. (2005). The influence of the parents’ educational level on the development of executive functions. Developmental Neuropsychology, 28, 539–560.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP). (2012). Demographic study on Singapore Malays. [http://www.amp.org.sg/edisi/data/Publications/3rd%20Convention%20Journal/Section%209%20-%20Demographic%20Study.pdf, retrieved Oct 7, 2013].Google Scholar
Bao, Z. (2005). The aspectual system of Singapore English and the systemic substratist explanation. Journal of Linguistics, 41, 237–267.Google Scholar
Bao, Z. & Wee, L. (1999). The passive in Singapore English. World Englishes, 18, 1–11.Google Scholar
Barac, R., & Bialystok, E. (2012). Bilingual effects on cognitive and linguistic development: Role of language, cultural background, and education. Child Development, 83, 413–422.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E. (1999). Cognitive complexity and attentional control in the bilingual mind. Child Development, 70, 636–644.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E., & Martin, M. (2004). Attention and inhibition in bilingual children: Evidence from the dimensional change card sort task. Developmental Science, 7, 325–339.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E., & Viswanathan, M. (2009). Components of executive control with advantages for bilingual children in two cultures. Cognition, 112, 494–500.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E., Craik, F.I.M., & Luk, G. (2012). Bilingualism: Consequences for mind and brain. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16, 240–250.Google Scholar
Bradley, R.H. (1994). The HOME Inventory: review and reflections. In Reese, H. (eds.), Advances in Child Development and Behavior, pp. 241–88. San Diego, CA: Academic.Google Scholar
Bradley, R.H., & Corwyn, R.F. (2002). Socioeconomic status and child development. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 371–399.Google Scholar
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1995). Developmental ecology through space and time: A future perspective. In Moen, P., Elder, G. H. Jr., & Lüscher, K. (Eds.), Examining lives in context: Perspectives on the ecology of human development, pp. 619–648. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1999). Environments in developmental perspective: Theoretical and operational models. In Friedman, S. L. & Wachs, T. D. (eds.), Measuring environment across the life span: Emerging methods and concepts, pp. 3–28. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Press.Google Scholar
Carlson, S., & Meltzoff, A. (2008). Bilingual experience and executive functioning in young children. Developmental Science, 11, 282–298.Google Scholar
Cavallaro, F., & Serwe, S. (2010). Langauge use and shift among the Malays in Singapore. Applied Linguistics Review, 1, 129–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cornell Language Acquisition Lab and Virtual Center for Language Acquisition (in prep). Virtual Linguistics Lab Child Multilingualism Questionnaire. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University.Google Scholar
Costa, A., Hernández, M., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2008). Bilingualism aids conflict resolution: Evidence from the ANT task. Cognition, 106, 59–86.Google Scholar
Department of Statistics (2010). Census of population 2010 Statistical Release 1: Demographic characteristics, education, language and religion. Department of Statistics, Ministry of Trade and Industry. [http://internet-stg2.singstat.gov.sg/publications/publications_and_papers/cop2010/census_2010_release1/cop2010sr1.pdf, retrieved Oct 20, 2013]Google Scholar
Department of Statistics (2013). Singapore in Figures. Department of Statistics, Ministry of Trade and Industry. [http://internet-stg2.singstat.gov.sg/statistics/latest_data.html#16, retrieved Oct 20, 2013]Google Scholar
Department of Statistics (2014). Singapore in Figures. Department of Statistics, Ministry of Trade and Industry. [http://www.singstat.gov.sg/docs/default-source/default-document-library/publications/publications_and_papers/population_and_population_structure/population2014.pdf, retrieved June 28, 2015]Google Scholar
Dixon, L.Q. (2003). The bilingual education policy in Singapore: Implications for second language acquisition. In Cohen, J., McAlister, K.T., Rolstad, K., & MacSwan, J. (eds.), Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Bilingualism, pp. 625–635. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Dunn, L.M., & Dunn, D.M. (2007). The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Fourth Edition. Bloomington, MN: NCS Pearson, Inc.Google Scholar
Engel de Abreu, P. M. J., Cruz-Santos, A., Martin, R., & Bialystok, E. (2012). Bilingualism enriches the poor. Psychological Science, 23, 1364–1371.Google Scholar
Ensminger, M.E., & Fothergill, K. (2003). A Decade of Measuring SES: What it tells us and where to go from here. In Bornstein, M.H. & Bradley, R.H. (eds.), Socioeconomic Status, Parenting, and Child Development, Monographs in parenting series, pp. 13–27. Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.Google Scholar
Fan, J., McCandliss, B.D., Sommer, T., Raz, A. & Posner, M.I. (2002). Testing the efficiency and independence of attentional networks. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 14, 340–347.Google Scholar
Foley, J.A. (1998). Code-switching and learning among young children in Singapore. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 130, 129–150.Google Scholar
Gathercole, V.C.M., Thomas, E.M., Jones, L., Guasch, N.V., Young, N., & Hughes, E.K. (2010). Cognitive effects of bilingualism: Digging deeper for the contributions of language dominance, linguistic knowledge, socio-economic status and cognitive abilities. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 13, 617–664.Google Scholar
Hilchey, M.D., & Klein, R.M. (2011). Are there bilingual advantages on nonlinguistic interference tasks? Implications for the plasticity of executive control processes. Psychonomic Bulletin Review, 18, 625–658.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hughes, C., & Ensor, R. (2005). Executive function and theory of mind in 2 year olds: A family affair? Developmental Neuropsychology, 28, 645–668.Google Scholar
Kaufman, A.S., & Kaufman, N. L. (2004). Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (2nd ed.). Bloomington, MN: Pearson.Google Scholar
Kovács, A., & Mehler, J. (2009). Cognitive gains in 7-month-old bilingual infants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106, 6556–6560.Google Scholar
Lewis, C., Koyasu, M., Oh, S., Ogawa, A., Short, B., & Huang, Z. (2009). Culture, executive function, and social understanding. New Directions in Child and Adolescent Development, 123, 69–85.Google Scholar
Leimgruber, J. R. E. (2013). Singapore English: Structure, variation, and usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lipina, S. J., Martelli, M. I., Vuelta, B., & Colombo, J. A. (2005). Performance on the A-not-B task of Argentinean infants from unsatisfied and satisfied basic needs homes. Interamerican Journal of Psychology, 39, 49–60.Google Scholar
Lust, B., Flynn, S., Blume, M., Park, S.W., Kang, C., & Kim, A. (2014). Assessing child bilingualism: Direct assessment of bilingual syntax amends caretaker report. The International Journal of Bilingualism.Google Scholar
Mezzacappa, E. (2004). Alerting, orienting, and executive attention: Developmental properties and sociodemographic correlates in an epidemiological sample of young, urban children. Child Development, 75, 1373–1386.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mcloyd, V.C. (1998). Socioeconomic disadvantage and child development. American Psychologist, 53, 185–204.Google Scholar
Morton, J.P., & Harper, S.N. (2007). What did Simon say? Revisiting the bilingual advantage. Developmental Science, 10, 719–726.Google Scholar
Mutalib, H. (2005). Singapore Muslims: The quest for identity in a modern city-state. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 25, 53–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mutalib, H. (2011). The Singapore minority dilemma. Asian Survey, 51, 1156–1171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noble, K.G., Norman, M.F., & Farah, M.J. (2005). The neurocognitive correlates of a socioeconomic status in kindergarten children. Developmental Science, 8, 74–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Noble, K.G., McCandliss, B.D., & Farah, M.J. (2007). Socioeconomic background predicts individual differences in neurocognitive abilities. Developmental Science, 10, 464–480.Google Scholar
Oh, S., & Lewis, C. (2008). Korean preschoolers’ advanced inhibitory control and its relation to other executive skills and mental state understanding. Child Development, 79, 80–99.Google Scholar
Paap, K.R., & Greenberg, Z.I. (2013). There is no coherent evidence for a bilingual advantage in executive processing. Cognitive Psychology, 66, 232–258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pakir, A. (1991). The range and depth of English-knowing bilinguals in Singapore. World Englishes, 10, 167–179.Google Scholar
Patterson, J.L. (2002). Relationships of expressive vocabulary to frequency of reading and television experience among bilingual toddlers. Applied Psycholinguistics, 23, 493–508.Google Scholar
Posner, M.I., & Fan, J. (2004). Attention as an organ system. In Pomerantz, J. & Crair, Michael C. (eds.). Topics in Integrative Neuroscience: From Cells to Cognition. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Posner, M.I., & Rothbart, M.K. (2007). Research on attention networks as a model for the integration of psychological science. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Posner, M.I., & Petersen, S.E. (1990). The attention systems of the human brain. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 13, 25–42.Google Scholar
Rueda, M.R., Fan, J., McCandliss, B.D., Halparin, J.D., Gruber, D.B., Lercari, L.P., & Posner, M.I. (2004). Development of attentional networks in childhood. Neuropsychologia, 42, 1029–1040.Google Scholar
Rueda, M.R., Rothbart, M.K., McCandliss, B.D., Saccomanno, L., & Posner, M.I. (2005). Training, maturation, and genetic influences on the development of executive attention. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102, 14931–14936.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sabbagh, M. A., Xu, F., Carlson, S.M., Moses, L.J., & Lee, K. (2006). The development of executive functioning and theory of mind: A comparison of Chinese and U.S. preschoolers. Psychological Science, 17, 74–80.Google Scholar
Stroud, C. (2007). Multilingualism in ex-colonial countries. In Auer, Peter & Wei, Li (eds.), Handbook of multilingualism and multilingual communication, 509–538. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Tobin, J.J., Wu, D.Y.H., & Davidson, D.H. (1989). Preschool in three cultures. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Townsend, J. T., & Ashby, F. G. (1978). Methods of modeling capacity in simple processing systems. In Castellan, J. and Restle, F. (eds.), Cognitive Theory Vol. III, pp. 200–239. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associate.Google Scholar
Valian, V. (2015). Bilingualism and Cognition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18, 3–24. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1366728914000522.Google Scholar
Videsott, G., Della Rosa, P.A., Wiater, W., Franceschini, R., & Abutalebi, J. (2012). How does linguistic competence enhance cognitive functions in children? A study in multilingual children with different linguistic competences. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15, 884–895.Google Scholar
Wee, L. (2008). Singapore English: Morphology and syntax. In Varieties of English: Africa, South and Southeast Asia, (ed. Rajend Mesthrie), 593–609. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
White, K.R. (1982). The relation between socioeconomic status and academic achievement. Psychological Bulletin, 91, 461–481.Google Scholar
Yang, S., Yang, H., & Lust, B. (2011). Early childhood bilingualism leads to advances in executive attention: Dissociating culture and language. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 14, 412–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, H., Yang, S., & Kang, C. (2014). The relationship between phonological awareness and executive attention in Chinese–English bilingual children. Cognitive Development, 30, 65–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yim, O., & Bialystok, E. (2012). Degree of conversational code-switching enhances verbal task switching in Cantonese–English bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15, 873–883.Google Scholar