An interesting paper, just published in Learning and Individual Differences. Here are the highlights:
• Using large-scale datasets, we examined the relation between bilingualism and math achievement.
• We found that bilingualism significantly predicted preschoolers’ math achievement.
• The positive predictability of bilingualism persisted from kindergarten through first grade.
• Bilingual advantages in executive functioning likely extend to mathematical achievement.
A great piece in the Guardian, “Am I too old to learn a new language?” The answer is no.
‘Despite the difficulties, Black regards learning foreign languages as fun, and treats the endeavour like a puzzle that has to be solved. “I’m doing it partly to keep my brain active,” he says. “When you have some success and can express yourself, it feels like you’re using different parts of your brain that you weren’t using before.”
Indeed, research shows that bilingual children use the same brain regions for both languages if they are learned during childhood, whereas learning a second language later on in life recruits different regions from those involved in using one’s mother tongue. And learning a foreign language, much like learning to play a musical instrument, does indeed appear to be a good way of exercising one’s brain, and keeping it healthy, throughout life.’
Here is an interesting TED talk on language learning and teaching:
peakmemory