Executive Functions: Bilingualism in Early Childhood

Hwajin Yang is Associate Professor of Psychology in the School of Social Sciences at Singapore Management University.

She has established a strong research programme that is guided by one overarching question - How does our everyday experience contribute to the regulation of Executive Functions (EF)? Executive Functions are consider the foundation of human capital, it influence many aspects of our lives - psychological well-being, decision-making, adaptive behaviours, mental health and academic success.

Faculty profile: https://socsc.smu.edu.sg/faculty/profile/56491/YANG-Hwajin

As Executive Functions is malleable, it is important for us to help train young children in their early childhood, especially when they are critical cognitive skills for success in life. In this video, Professor Hwajin shares with us how Executive Functions carries fundamental implications for adaptive cognitive functioning and integrative cognitive capacity in young children. Her research areas covers the theoretical and empirical investigations of a wide range of linguistic functions including how bilingualism helps activate two linguistic systems and how bilingualism can help improve mathematical reasoning and emergent numeracy skills.

She also discuss about how the overused of mobile phones may contribute to a negative emotional impact on young children and how parents and teachers can play their part to change the sociocultural norms which can help in their young children’s Executive Functions developments.