Study On The Influence Of Bilingual Experience On The Inhibition Control Of Wa-Mandarin Bilingual Children

Because both languages of bilinguals are constantly actived,bilinguals need to manage attention to the target language and avoid interference from the non-target language.Previous studies have shown that bilingualism is associated with more effective controlled processing in children,the assumption is that the constant management of tow competing languages enhances executive functions(EF).Recent studies reveal inconsistent evidences of a bilingual advantage in executive processing.One potential source of explanation is the multifaceted experience of the bilinguals in these studies.This study is interested in whether the degree of bilingualism in Wa-Mandarin bilingual children influenced inhibitory control component.The study selected 156 Wa-Mandarin bilingual children,come from the Third/Fourth/Fifth/sixth grade aged 9-13 years old,who had high grade of Chinese language(the top 27percent)in the primary school of ethnic minority areas as our participants.All bilingual children were exposed to Wa language besides the nation's dominant language(Mandarin).We examined the influence of the degree of bilingualism(i.e.,The balance degree of two languages proficiency of speaking and listening;The balance degree of two languages speaking and listening frequency,and Age of second language acquisition)on executive functioning in bilingual children using Simon task and Go/nogo task,measure the EF components: attention inhibition and response inhibition.Results from multiple regression analyses supported the significant positive association between balanced speaking and listening usage of two languages and the Nogo accuracy cost only in Third grade bilingual children;Age of second language acquisition is significant negative correlated with the Nogo accuracy cost only in Fourth grade bilingual children;The Bilingual experience factors of the Fifth and Sixth grade bilingual children failure to interpret the Nogo accuracy cost,it is indicate that a more balanced speaking and listening use in two languages result in better response inhibition capability in the children bilinguals,the later age of second language acquisition,the stronger the children's ability to response inhibition,However,these effects are periodic.This study did not find any significant effect of bilingualism on Simon effect,indicated that the effect of language experience on executive function is functional specificity rather than universal.These findings are partially supported the bilingual inhibition control advantage hypothesis,demonstrating that regular experience with extensive practice in controlling attention to their two language systems results in better performance in related EFs such as response inhibition,cognitive effects of bilingualism are moderated by degree of bilingualism and the age of second language acquisition.However,the findings also demonstrate that the effect of bilingualism on EF is limited and unstable.