Written by We all know that learning a second language opens up new avenues in your brain.
Learn French, and you’ll soon be turning the roundabout of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées.
Learn Spanish, and you’ll find yourself rambling down La Rambla.
But how, exactly, does bilingualism influence your brain?
Last week, we saw the effects of second language learning on cognition.
This week, we’ll take a look at two additional studies that confirm that foreign language learning can make you a better learner and thinker.
Figural Creativity
A 1973 study by Richard G. Landry took a look at how learning a second language at the elementary school level can enhance figural creativity.
Landry hypothesized that when completing figural tasks – such as flexibility, originality, and creativity which rely on association, imagery, and other more abstract factors – second language learners have an edge over monolingual learners due to their flexibility in thinking.
And his results confirmed this theory.
The study showed that the second language group scored significantly higher than the monolingual group on figural tasks, indicating that second language learning lends itself to divergent thinking to better complete these types of tasks.
Learning a second language at the elementary level also provided students with a broader range of linguistic and culturally rich resources which produces varied and fresh ideas.
The conclusion was that second language learning enables children to approach a problem differently, departing from traditional approaches more readily taken by monolingual students.
Cognitive & Language Development
Second language learning doesn’t just boost the creative mind.
A second study, completed in 1991 by Kathryn W. Bamford and Donald T. Mizokawa, examined the differences and degrees of nonverbal problem-solving and native language development between a monolingual classroom of second graders and an additive-bilingual Spanish-immersion classroom.
The study tested native language development between the two classrooms, measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-R, and found no significant differences, despite the bilingual group’s Spanish immersion.
However, there were significant differences in problem-solving between the two groups.
Using Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices, which is a nonverbal test that measures “fluid intelligence” – or general human intelligence and abstract reasoning – the study found that the Spanish-immersion group had a significant edge over their monolingual peers.
The conclusion drawn:
“The superior control of cognitive processing demonstrated by children in the early stages of additive bilingualism may enhance symbolic reasoning abilities.”
This pair of studies indicate that second language learning can boost both your creative and cognitive thinking at the elementary level.
Next week, we’ll take a look at how these effects evolve in higher academia.
Success Across Cultures 