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Second language (L2) proficiency, socioeconomic status (SES), and intelligence (IQ) are significant predictors of cognitive control differences among young adult unbalanced Chinese–English bilinguals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2018

ZHILONG XIE Open the ORCID record for ZHILONG XIE [Opens in a new window]  and
TERESA SIGNORELLI PISANO
ZHILONG XIE*
Affiliation:
Foreign Languages College, Jiangxi Normal University, China
TERESA SIGNORELLI PISANO
Affiliation:
Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA
*
Address for correspondence: Zhilong Xie, 99 Ziyang Avenue, Nanchang, 330022, Jiangxi, Chinacollinthank@163.com, zhilongxie@jxnu.edu.cn
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Abstract

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.

Keywords

L2 proficiencySESIQcognitive controlconflict monitoringbilingual advantage
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , August 2019 , pp. 866 - 882
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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