Abstract
Can exposure to a foreign language in the first year of school enhance divergent thinking skills? Ninety-nine monolingual children from predominantly White neighbourhoods (MAge = 57.7 months, SD 1.2; 47 girls) attending bilingual schools, schools with weekly foreign language lessons, or schools without a foreign language provision (= controls) completed a divergent thinking and executive function tasks at the beginning of the school year and 24 weeks later. The groups did not differ on creativity measures at the beginning of the school year. Only bilingual school children and weekly language learners improved divergent thinking at the second testing point, with the former significantly outperforming controls on creative fluency and flexibility. Improvements could not be explained by executive function development. Therefore, a considerable amount of exposure to a foreign language in early formal education appears to boost creative thinking.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Bilingualism: Language and Cognition |
Publication status | Accepted/In press - 1 Aug 2014 |
Keywords
- bilingualism
- second language learning
- creativity
- divergent thinking
- bilingual education
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology