First-grade multilingual students’ executive function profiles and links to English reading achievement and difficulties: a person-centered latent profile analysis
- 8 October 2022
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Annals of Dyslexia
- Vol. 73 (1), 29-52
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11881-022-00272-2
Abstract
Although the important role of children’s executive function (EF) in their reading development has been well-established, less is known about the extent to which multilingual children’s EF components vary and whether the variability in different EF abilities explains multilingual children’s English reading achievement. The present study explored the US first-grade multilingual children’s (N = 3,819) profiles of EF abilities and how the profile membership was associated with their English reading achievement, using a nationally representative sample of multilingual children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010–11 (ECLS-K: 2011) study. We fit latent profile analysis with various EF components, including working memory, cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, approaches to learning, and attentional focus, and found three distinct EF profiles in multilingual children: (a) Below-Average EFs with Above-Average Cognitive Flexibility (10.13%), (b) Above-Average EFs (84.09%), and (c) Very Low Cognitive Flexibility (5.78%). Controlling for kindergarten English reading achievement scores and demographic variables, children in the Above-Average EFs profile attained a significantly higher English reading achievement score than their peers, while children in the Very Low Cognitive Flexibility group had the lowest English reading achievement score. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding multilingual children’s heterogeneity in EF and have implications for the early identification of and tailored intervention for multilingual children at risk for reading difficulties.Keywords
This publication has 90 references indexed in Scilit:
- Understanding the consequences of bilingualism for language processing and cognitionJournal of Cognitive Psychology, 2013
- Bilingualism: consequences for mind and brainTrends in Cognitive Sciences, 2012
- The Nature and Organization of Individual Differences in Executive FunctionsCurrent Directions in Psychological Science, 2012
- A Developmental Perspective on Executive FunctionChild Development, 2010
- Cognitive Flexibility in Drawings of Bilingual ChildrenChild Development, 2010
- Reading achievement across three language groups: Growth estimates for overall reading and reading subskills obtained with the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey.Journal of Educational Psychology, 2010
- Executive Dysfunction Among Children With Reading Comprehension DeficitsJournal of Learning Disabilities, 2010
- The development of cognitive skills and gains in academic school readiness for children from low-income families.Journal of Educational Psychology, 2010
- Getting Clued InJournal of Attention Disorders, 2009
- Bilingualism across the lifespan: The rise and fall of inhibitory controlInternational Journal of Bilingualism, 2005