Objectives: The purpose of this research was to explore the possible differences in the working memory of monolingual (Persian) and bilingual (Persian-Baluchi) children. We wanted to examine if there is a statistically significant relationship between working memory and bilingualism. Methods: Four working memory (WM) tests, assessing three WM components, were administered to 140 second grade school students, of whom 70 were monolinguals (35 girls and 35 boys) and 70 were bilinguals (35 girls and 35 boys). The tests used are the following: Forward Digit Span Test, Backward Digit Span Test, Non Word Repetition Test, Maze Memory Test. The results of the two groups were analyzed with multi-group confirmatory factor analysis, aiming to find out any differences in the working memory function of bilingual and monolingual children, and to determine which group has an advantage. Results: The multi-group confirmatory factor analysis was used to measure various WM factors across the two langua...

ABSTRACT: This paper presents a review of the literature aimed at exploring the main findings regarding studies on the issue of bilingualism and working memory. It is organized with an initial discussion on the construct of working memory and its development through time, followed by the topic of bilingualism, with general evidence of its advantages and disadvantages to the cognitive system, and finally the examination of current pieces of research addressing working memory in bilingual children and adults. The objective is to illustrate what contributions research has shown so far and what future directions might be.Keywords: bilingualism; working memory; cognition. RESUMO: Este artigo apresenta uma revisão de literatura com o intuito de explorar as descobertas mais relevantes acerca de estudos sobre bilinguismo e memória de trabalho. Inicialmente, discute-se o construto memória de trabalho e como o mesmo tem evoluído enquanto objeto de pesquisa. Na sequência, apresenta-se a qu...

The present study delved into the involvement of Greek-speaking middle primary school children’s mnemonic recourses and demographic features in their performance in language tests. One hundred and seventy-six students aged 8.50-12.05 (mean age = 10.11 years) participated. The native language of the sample differed from English, in which most investigations have been conducted. Children’s verbal short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) capacity were assessed with a simple verbal retention measure (straight digit recall) and a task requiring parallel storage and processing of verbal information (backward digit recall), respectively. Pupils’ vocabulary knowledge was estimated through an assignment of expressive vocabulary. Children were also administered a reading fluency and a reading comprehension task. Pearson’s r and Spearman’s rho correlation coefficients showed that students’ verbal STM and WM significantly correlated with their reading fluency and text comprehension, acco...

The present study aimed at identifying and recording the reading strategies employed by immigrant children, who speak Greek as a second language (L2). The sample consisted of 32 Albanian and Romanian speaking children who attend the fifth and sixth primary school grades. Think aloud protocols and retrospective interviews were employed to collect data. The findings revealed that more competent bilingual readers employed a wider range of ‘top-down’ and more complex reading strategies compared to less competent readers, who showed overdependence on bottom-up decoding strategies and limited awareness of the reading process.

Bilinguals often outperform monolinguals on executive function tasks, including tasks that tap cognitive flexibility, conflict monitoring, and task-switching abilities. Some have suggested that bilinguals also have greater working memory capacity than comparable monolinguals, but evidence for this suggestion is mixed. We therefore conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis on the effects of bilingualism on working memory capacity. Results from 88 effect sizes, 27 independent studies, and 2,901 participants revealed a significant small to medium population effect size of 0.20 in favor of greater working memory capacity for bilinguals than monolinguals. This suggests that experience managing two languages that compete for selection results in greater working memory capacity over time. Moderator analyses revealed that largest effects were observed in children than other age groups. Furthermore, whether the task was performed in the first (L1) or second (L2) language for bilinguals moderated the effect size of the bilingual advantage; this factor is often overlooked and our results point to the importance of defining language variables that influence critical cognitive outcomes.

Background and Aim: Although recent research has revealed the positive effects of bilin­gualism on children's cognitive abilities, little information is available on the relationship bet­ween bilingualism and working memory. Working memory is generally composed of four dis­tinct parts, among which the phonological loop plays an important role in speech and language development, reading skills, and learning. In the present study, bilingual and monolingual stude­nts were compared in terms of auditory-verbal memory performance, using Rey auditory-verbal learning test. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the auditory-verbal memory performance of 56 monolingual and 55 bilingual students were assessed, using the Persian version of Rey auditory-verbal learning test. The study samples were selected among students in the fifth and sixth grades of primary school. Finally, the scores obtained on the test were compared between the two groups. Results: The mean scores of stages 1-5, 7, a...