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Article published In: Journal of Immersion and Content-Based Language Education
Vol. 12:2 (2024) ► pp.192–220

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Fluctuating cognitive benefits in children attending early bilingual immersive instruction

ORCiD logo with link | University of LiègeLiège
 | University of LiègeLiège
 | University of LiègeLiège
Published online: 8 April 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jicb.22020.cri
Abstract
Cognitive benefits have been reported in early bilinguals as well as in children attending a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) school programme. Recent findings, however, show divergent results. These inconsistent findings seem to be attributable, among other factors, to the divergent tasks applied. This study aimed to determine whether a two-year CLIL programme has positive effects by applying the same tasks for which advantages were shown previously and to examine whether potential gains might impact children’s academic performance. Thirty 7-year-old French-speaking pupils who had been enrolled in a CLIL programme since the age of 5 and 30 French-speaking monolinguals following a traditional school programme were compared on different attentional and executive tasks after being matched on potential confounding variables. No attentional and executive differences were observed, but a significant effect was observed in favour of monolinguals on a task assessing mathematical skills. The implications of these results are discussed.
Résumé
Des bénéfices cognitifs ont été rapportés chez des bilingues précoces ainsi que chez des enfants suivant un programme scolaire d’enseignement d’une matière par l’intégration d’une langue étrangère (EMILE). Cependant, des résultats récents montrent des divergences. Ces résultats incohérents semblent être attribuables, entre autres facteurs, aux différentes tâches appliquées. Cette étude visait à déterminer si un programme EMILE de deux ans a des effets positifs en appliquant les mêmes tâches pour lesquelles des avantages ont été démontrés précédemment et à examiner si les gains potentiels peuvent avoir un impact sur les performances scolaires des enfants. Trente élèves francophones de 7 ans inscrits dans un programme EMILE depuis l’âge de 5 ans et 30 monolingues francophones suivant un programme traditionnel ont été comparés sur différentes tâches attentionnelles et exécutives après avoir été appariés sur plusieurs variables confondantes potentielles. Aucune différence attentionnelle et exécutive n’a été observée, mais un effet significatif a été observé en faveur des monolingues dans une tâche évaluant les compétences mathématiques. Les implications de ces résultats sont discutées.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Attentional and executive advantages of bilingualism
    • 1.2Attentional and executive advantages in the context of CLIL education
    • 1.3Inconsistence of data regarding the cognitive effects of CLIL education
    • 1.4Factors responsible for data inconsistency
    • 1.5The present study
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Materials and procedures
      • 2.2.1Preliminary measures – Background questionnaire
      • 2.2.2Attentional and executive tasks
      • 2.2.3Academic measures
      • 2.2.4Ethics statement
      • 2.2.5General procedure
      • 2.2.6Statistical analyses
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Attentional and executive measures
    • 3.2Academic measures
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Competing interests
  • References
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