Article by Adesope, Lavin, Thompson, & Ungerleider (2010) A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Cognitive Correlates of Bilingualism Article by Adesope, Lavin, Thompson, & Ungerleider (2010) Presentation by: Sarah and Shannen

What do you think are some cognitive benefits of being bilingual?

Peal & Lambert (1962) opened the door to a new area of research for bilingualism Research claims post Peal & Lambert: Greater metalinguistic awareness Enhanced metacognitive skills Stronger symbolic representation and abstract reasoning skills Better learning strategies Enhanced problem-solving skills Selective attention helpful for theory-of-mind tasks Enhanced creative and divergent thinking skills Greater cognitive flexibility Peal & Lambert controlled for SES, second language proficiency, language of assessment, gender, age, and urban-rural contexts- led to studies that showed bilinguals significantly outperformed monolinguals in some areas of verbal/non-verbal intelligence

Considerable evidence shows that bilingual speakers can better control their attention in both linguistic and nonverbal tasks compared to monolingual learners. Why? Dominant Perspective: Bilinguals must control their attention and select the target language Other: The ability to selectively attend to different representations is responsible Recent findings: Bilingual children carry these skills into adulthood Lifelong bilingualism helps offset cognitive decline Attention Control

Working Memory Hypothesis 1: bilingualism slows down processing because of the mental capacity dedicated for space of the L2 Hypothesis 2: Inhibitory control speeds up processing time in bilinguals’ working memory Mixed findings Attention control tasks favor bilinguals’ working memory Attention-aided tasks bring bilinguals to same capability as monolinguals Short term memory = amount of memory used for activities in the immediate present Hypothesis 2 brings back Alex & Gillian’s presentation into reference- BIA Model (Van Steuben 2008) discusses inhibitory control (ability to suppress one language)

Metalinguistic Awareness Hypothesis: The experience of maintaining or acquiring two languages (different forms and structures), allow bilinguals to develop an explicit understanding of how language works as compared to monolinguals. “Words are only arbitrarily and symbolically related to their underlying concepts” (Adesope, 2010, 209). Bilinguals may become explicitly aware of syntactic structures, rules, and differences between language. Bilingual metalinguistic development in children: Bilingual speakers (high proficiency), demonstrate greater metalinguistic awareness. Metalinguistic Awareness

Metacognitive Awareness Kemp (2007) study suggests that learning the elements of more than one language and being able to use this information appropriately gives bilinguals a window into how they think and learn. Research finds that bilinguals generally possess higher metacognitive awareness in comparison to monolinguals Thinking about thinking and learning Research is few and far between, not enough to make overwhelming conclusion

Abstract or Symbolic Reasoning and Creative and Divergent Thinking Bilinguals have shown enhanced skills in... Creative thinking Divergent thinking Abstract and symbolic reasoning Research showed... Bilinguals outperformed monolinguals in creative and divergent thinking Different languages = different perspectives Abstract and symbolic reasoning is said by Cummins (1976) to come from having two different words for most concepts. How does this help? Example: Bilingual Children Abstract or Symbolic Reasoning and Creative and Divergent Thinking

Problem Solving Bilinguals have highly developed problem- solving skills, especially with executive control tasks (Baddeley, 1996) Bilingual advantage with the Simon task and executive control tasks Exec. control tasks = planning, cog. Flexibility, abstract thinking, rule acq., initiating appropriate actions/inhibiting inappropriate actions, selecting sensory info

Purpose of Study What are the cognitive correlates associated with bilingualism? How do the effects of bilingualism vary when cognitive outcomes are measured in different geographical locations, in different settings, and at different educational levels? How are effect sizes influenced by different combinations of languages spoken by bilinguals? Are the effect sizes influenced by methodological features of the research? Authors wanted to see degree of impact of positive cog correlates, estimating effects for specific areas (ones we just covered)

Five Step Selection Criteria for acceptance of studies: Bilingual participants were reported to be equally (or almost) proficient in the two languages. Both an experimental group of bilinguals, and control group of monolinguals included. Cognitive benefits were reported clearly. Reported sufficient data to allow for effect size calculations. Publicly available. Methods of Research

Coded Variables: Different Locations (USA, UK, Canada, Australia/NZ) Educational Levels (Elementary, Secondary, Post secondary) Settings Classroom vs. Lab Language Groups English-Spanish, etc. SES Middle, High, Mixed, Not Reported Region Urban-rural context Shannen- screenshot of appendix on p 231

Results were broken down by two main areas: Metalinguistic OR Metacognitive Awareness Attention and Representation Most of the studies that made the cut combined metalinguistic and metacognitive awareness and/or attentional control, abstract/symbolic representation, and working memory. Adesope et al collapsed these categories to better reflect the outcomes presented in the studies. Results reported through each of the variables that Peal and Lambert used in their study

Bilingualism and Metalinguistic or Metacognitive Awareness Location of research: Effect of bilingualism was statistically detected in U.S., Europe, and Middle East Studies from Europe were statistically significant in comparison to those in U.S. and Middle East Educational level: Primary-level students (fewer studies conducted for higher age groups in schools) Setting: Classroom studies where academic activities comprise part of their performance assessment* Bilingualism and Metalinguistic or Metacognitive Awareness *Authors unsure of accuracy of this conclusion because many studies did not state whether it was conducted in lab vs. classroom

Bilingualism and Metalinguistic or Metacognitive Awareness (continued) Language group: Higher metalinguistic/metacognitive awareness if bilingual speaks Spanish-English or a mix that is not French-English or Chinese-English Bilingual advantage in metalinguistic/metacognitive awareness over monolinguals except over Chinese monolinguals SES: Bilinguals with mixed SES; no statistical difference between four SES categories Most of the studies used did not report SES of participants

Bilingualism and Attention and Representation Location: The mean effect sizes for studies conducted in different locations was much higher than those conducted in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Education Level: Bilingual postsecondary students showed the largest mean effect sizes (g = 1.76). Preschool - 12th Grade were not as different, and produced lower mean effect sizes than postsecondary students. Settings: Most of these studies did not report the setting Studies in the lab and those that did not report the setting both produced statistically detectable size effects. Bilingualism and Attention and Representation

Bilingualism and Attention and Representation Continued.. Language: All categories of language pairs showed detectable mean effect sizes, except Urdu- English. Socio-economic Status: Mean effect sizes did not differ among the four SES categories (low, middle, mixed, not reported) Bilingualism contributes to cognitive developments irrespective of the SES participants. Region: Across all regional categories, bilinguals had positive and detectable mean effect sizes over monolinguals Bilingualism and Attention and Representation Continued..

Results regarding Effect Sizes Influence by Different combinations of Languages spoken by bilinguals Bilinguals outperformed monolinguals in abstract and symbolic representations, attentional control, and problem solving French-English AND Chinese-English did not have advantage over monolinguals Influence of Methodological Features of research Higher researcher confidence in effect size + tight control for bias = detectable benefits of bilingualism Mean of experimental grp - Mean of control grp Pooled Standard Deviation (SD) Effect size: mean of bilings - mean of monolings / pooled SD

Conclusion The authors of this text used a five step process to find articles that discuss the cognitive correlates of bilingualism, to create a systematic review and meta-analysis that estimates the degree of impact of specific variables in areas of supposed positive cognitive correlates of bilingualism. Their results of the review confirmed that bilinguals outperformed monolingual counterparts in most of the variables when related to metalinguistic/metacognitive awareness and attention and representation. “These findings point to the need for further work investigating the utility of these benefits in a variety of contexts,” (Adesope et. al, 2010, p. 23) How do bilinguals capitalize on these advantages?

Discussion Questions: Do you think that the methods of research were effective in this study? (What articles were accepted). Which results from this study surprised you the most? Which area of positive cognitive correlates should future bilingual research be directed toward, or should research be more directed toward the negative correlates for bilinguals?