Proficiency over number
The role of episodic memory in mediating multilingual experience and foreign language aptitude
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19225106 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Yan Huang (0000-0003-3591-7532, East China University of Science and Technology, corresponding author), Siyuan Zhou (0009-0002-2934-3464, Hainan University), Wanying Xie (0000-0002-9782-3163, Shanghai Jian Qiao University), Yuanfei Li (0000-0002-0258-8843, East China University of Science and Technology) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-22 |
| Publication date | 2026-04-27 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Multilingualism (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1479-0718 • E-ISSN: 1747-7530 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14790718.2026.2663065 |
| OpenAlex | W7155904096 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 61 |
In multilingual contexts, understanding how language experience interacts with cognitive abilities is crucial for explaining individual differences in foreign language aptitude (FLA). This study investigated whether variations in multilingual experience (i.e. language number and proficiency) relate to distinct FLA constituents, and whether these associations are mediated by key cognitive abilities, including working memory (WM), episodic memory (EM), selective attention (SA), and vigilant attention (VA). The sample included 244 Chinese university students divided into four groups: advanced trilinguals (n = 51), elementary trilinguals (n = 70), advanced bilinguals (n = 69), and elementary bilinguals (n = 54). Results revealed three patterns. First, bilinguals outperformed trilinguals in LLAMA performance, particularly in LLAMA B, with higher-proficiency learners consistently outperforming lower-proficiency counterparts regardless of language number. Second, EM differed significantly across groups, with bilinguals – especially advanced ones – showing the strongest performance, while other cognitive measures showed smaller or non-significant group differences. Third, mediation analyses showed that EM partially mediated the effect of language number on LLAMA B, with additional pathways linking proficiency contrasts to LLAMA B/F. Overall, these findings disentangle the effects of language number and proficiency, highlight EM as a key mediator, and help reconcile inconsistencies in previous multilingual advantage research
Aptitude · Episodic memory · First language · Foreign language · Language proficiency · Multilingualism · Neuroscience of multilingualism · Second language · Categorization, perception, and language · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
Stages of Acquisition and the P/E Model of Working Memory
The nature of individual differences in working memory capacity
The Nature and Organization of Individual Differences in Executive Functions
The episodic buffer
Working memory and language
Linguistic Interdependence and the Educational Development of Bilingual Children
The Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (Leap-Q)
Subcortical restructuring as a function of multilingualism
The mnemonic functions of episodic memory
Implicit Language Aptitude
Scrutinizing LLAMA D as a measure of implicit learning aptitude
Cognitive consequences of trilingualism
The Threshold Hypothesis revisited
The Threshold Hypothesis Applied to Three Languages in Contact at School
The relationship between aptitude and working memory
Sustaining attention to simple tasks
Working memory as a partial mediator of the relationship between multilingualism and foreign language aptitude
The impact of multilingualism and proficiency on L2 vocabulary knowledge
Foreign language aptitude theory
New conceptualizations of linguistic giftedness
The effect of third language learning on language aptitude among English-major students in China
Bilinguals outperform trilinguals in implicit language aptitude
How do Chinese-English Bilinguals and Tibetan-Chinese-English Trilinguals Differ in Explicit and Implicit Aptitude
Foreign” language aptitude predicts individual differences in native grammatical proficiency
Assessing components of multi-(lingual) competence in young learners
On Bilingual Aptitude for Learning New Languages
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |