Abstract

CASTRO-CASTIBLANCO, Yira Marieta  and  ZULUAGA-VALENCIA, Juan Bernardo. Assessment of Attention, Memory and Cognitive Flexibility in Bilingual Children. educ.educ. [online]. 2019, vol.22, n.2, pp.167-186. ISSN 0123-1294.  https://doi.org/10.5294/edu.2019.22.2.1.

The article intends to identify the impact of early exposure to a second language on some executive functions in relation to exposure time and sex of participants. The methodological design is descriptive with a control case-type, quasi-experimental, correlational scope. The sample was used non-probabilistic, made up of 30 children aged between 5-6 from urban schools in Bogotá, Colombia. In order to determine the cognitive profile of participants, the child neuropsychological assessment (CNA) and the WISC III short form (cubes and vocabulary) were considered. These showed high performance of bilinguals in verbal auditory memory, while relatively high in visual attention and working memory. No significant differences were identified in cognitive flexibility between both groups (bilingual and non-bilingual). Differences were found between girls and boys; girls had higher performance in auditory verbal memory and visual attention, while boys performed better in working memory tests. Finally, no statistically significant correlation was established between intelligence quotient and the ENI results.

Keywords : Bilingualism; child development; child education; learning assessment; Bogota; Colombia.

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