Multilingual learners’ executive functions and reading comprehension: Quasi-experimental evidence from a national sample

• In Event: Cognition, Comprehension, Culture, and Cross-Linguistic Transfer: Advancing Equity in Reading Development

Abstract

Purposes: Group differences in executive functions (EFs) between multilinguals and monolinguals have been frequently studied, with conflicting results. Additionally, growing evidence points to the roles of EFs in reading comprehension, but it is less clear how these roles differ by language background. This study asked: 1) To what extent do individual differences in EFs overlap between multilinguals and monolinguals? 2) To what extent do EFs contribute to Grade 5 reading comprehension differently for multilinguals and monolinguals?

Theoretical Framework and Background: Theory supports the notion that negotiating two or more languages facilitates the development of EFs, with primary effects on inhibition and secondary effects on other EFs (e.g., Bialystok, 2005). Although there have been many empirical studies on this topic, they have yielded mixed results (e.g., Adesope et al., 2010; Paap et al., 2024), with concerns about uncontrolled confounds and publication bias. Because multilingual learners and monolingual learners in the U.S. differ in their experiences and contexts in a variety of ways, recent work has used a broad set of controls and propensity score analyses to better match the two populations (e.g., Goodrich et al., 2022).

Theory also supports the contributions of EFs to reading comprehension. Prominent models, such as the Direct and Indirect Model of Reading (Kim, 2020) and the Active View of Reading (Duke & Cartwright, 2021), specify EFs as a key contributor to componential skills that influence reading comprehension. Reviews of empirical evidence support this role for monolingual readers (e.g., Butterfuss & Kendeou, 2018; Follmer, 2018), but much less is know about the role of EFs in multilinguals’ reading comprehension.

Method: The U.S. nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study: 2011 Cohort dataset (analytic n = 5,312) was used to describe the groups’ EF distributions, to determine if Grade 4 EFs predict Grade 5 reading comprehension (controlling for Grade 4 reading comprehension), and to evaluate whether language background moderates this relation. EF was measured with standardized measures of working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control. Propensity score stratification with 54 variables (covering health, early experiences, enrichment activities, parental engagement, school, early oral language, and achievement) was used to account for observable differences between multilingual and monolingual learners.

Results: After matching, EF differences between the groups were nonsignificant (ps > .05) and very small (ds < .05). The EF distributions of multilingual and monolingual learners demonstrated wide individual differences and overwhelming overlap. Grade 4 inhibitory control and working memory made small, significant contributions to reading comprehension. These contributions did not significantly differ between multilingual and monolingual learners.

Conclusions: Findings support a focus on the wide individual differences in EF within the population of multilingual learners, beyond much smaller group differences with monolinguals. Findings further suggest that EFs matter for multilingual learners’ reading comprehension, but not more or less so than for monolinguals.

Authors

• Michael J. Kieffer, New York University

• Jeannette Mancilla-Martinez, Vanderbilt University