Psycholinguistics Study on the Interplay of Bilingualism on Selected Cognitive Functions Based on Threshold Hypotheses among Saudi International School Students

Abstract

This study investigates the threshold hypothesis in Saudi international school students. While this hypothesis has been extensively researched in the West, its application in Arabic-speaking regions, particularly Saudi Arabia, remains unexplored. This paper compares the executive function (metalinguistic awareness, inhibitory control, attentional control, and working memory) differences between the three levels of bilinguals (balanced, dominant, and semi) in male secondary school students in Saudi Arabia. Participants took language tests (TOEFL for English, GCSE for Arabic) and four cognitive tasks (grammatical judgment task, Stroop Task, semantic and phonemic fluency task, and Backward-digit-recall task). A quantitative causal-comparative analysis concluded that there was no significant difference between the performance of balanced, dominant, and semi-bilinguals on executive function tasks, except for the phonemic task. However, the study showed that semi-bilinguals performed poorly in all cognitive tasks. Thus, balanced and dominant bilinguals perform equally in inhibitory control, mental flexibility, and metalinguistic and semantic tasks.