THE INFLUENCE OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD ON THE COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PERSONALITY
THE INFLUENCE OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD ON THE COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PERSONALITY

Summary/Abstract: This article examines how memories that are acquired by learning a foreign/second language during early childhood are latently retrieved in adult age and influence the further cognitive development. It describes a study of adult learners who had spoken a foreign/second language besides their native language before the age of five, at basic level only, and who resumed learning that language after the age of eighteen or even later. The findings of this research show that these persons outperformed in a short period of time those who started the study of another language in adulthood both in terms of grammar and vocabulary. The conclusions point out the fact that early language acquisition can be accessed in adulthood upon a re-learning phenomenon and also influences other cognitive skill acquisitions.

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