The Advantages and Disadvantages of Second Language Learning:From the Perspective of Cognition and Language

WANG Ruiming; JIAO Lu; AN Xiaoyue; LIU Cong

doi:10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5560.2016.01.013

Volume 34 Issue 1

Mar. 2016

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WANG Ruiming, JIAO Lu, AN Xiaoyue, LIU Cong. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Second Language Learning:From the Perspective of Cognition and Language[J]. Journal of East China Normal University (Educational Sciences), 2016, 34(1): 90-97. doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5560.2016.01.013

Citation:

WANG Ruiming, JIAO Lu, AN Xiaoyue, LIU Cong. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Second Language Learning:From the Perspective of Cognition and Language[J]. Journal of East China Normal University (Educational Sciences), 2016, 34(1): 90-97. doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5560.2016.01.013

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The Advantages and Disadvantages of Second Language Learning:From the Perspective of Cognition and Language

doi: 10.16382/j.cnki.1000-5560.2016.01.013

1.
Center for studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
2.
Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

Publish Date: 2016-02-20

Abstract

Abstract

Second language learning is becoming increasing important with the deepening international communication. Considering the close relationship between language and cognition, the influence of second language learning on cognitive development has always been a major interest to researchers in different fields. But most previous researches centered on the positive effect of bilingualism, neglecting the negative effect of second language learning and other controversial views. From the perspective of language and cognition, this paper is intended to summarize the influence of second language learning on cognition, focusing on the advantages in executive control and the disadvantages in lexical access. Also, the paper provides a brief review of some competing opinions on the issue.The positive effect of second language learning was mainly reflected in the non-verbal cognitive abilities, especially in the executive function. Executive function refers to a collection of top-down mental processes used consciously, with switching, inhibition and working memory as its three core components. A growing body of research demonstrated the effect of bilingual cognitive advantage, since bilinguals have more opportunities to practice the switch to the appropriate language and inhibition of the non-target language in different situation. Furthermore, lots of studies argued that the lifelong bilingual experience significantly delayed the onset of Alzheimer disease, and maintained the neural efficiency for executive control in aging. However, not all relevant studies identified such positive effect in bilinguals. These researchers proposed that the positive effect may not come from language learning experience but from some confounding factors, such as immigrant status or socioeconomic status.Regarding the negative effect of second language learning, there was a general agreement that the bilingual shown poorer performance in the lexical access, with the increasing reaction time in picture naming task, since the bilingual have to cope with non-target language interference. Recently, more researchers were interested in other aspects of accessing performance, including sub-lexical, noun phrase and sentence. The results also indicated that the second language learners showed a poorer performance in accessing tasks. Similarly, there was still a controversy. Some researcher who focused on the metalinguistic ability pointed out that the learning experience promoted the development of metalinguistic ability in bilingual children.Finally this paper presents further investigation about the influence of second language learning on cognition processing. First, both bilingual advantages and disadvantages should be investigated more systematically, such as measuring different executive function components in the same participant group. In addition, different age stages of bilinguals should be paid attention to study the trajectory of the positive and negative effect. What's more, the development of cognitive neuroscience technologies can help explore the intrinsic mechanism of bilingual cognitive effect. Also, more longitudinal designs should be adopted to study the causes of positive and negative effects, and strictly exclude the interference effect from confounding factors.
- second language learning,
- executive function,
- lexical access,
- metalinguistic ability

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References(56)

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