PhD Research Project: Bilingualism and Performance Feedback Learning - to improve understanding of

Recently there has been interest in the effects of bilingualism on neuro-cognitive functioning. A prominent finding is that bilingualism has beneficial effects on brain development, and, the development and efficiency of executive skills (Adesope et al., 2010). Executive skills are critical for goal-directed behaviours, forming the basis of abilities such as, holding and manipulating information in mind (working memory); switching between mental sets given task demands (cognitive flexibility); inhibiting distracting information (inhibition). Executive skills are implicated in learning in school-aged pupils (St. Clair-Thompson & Gathercole, 2006), yet it remains unclear whether the bilingual advantage in cognition generalises to classroom learning.

An indicator of successful learning is the ability to process performance feedback from the environment and apply this information to optimise behaviour (Struss et al., 1995). For example, in spelling children learn specific rules (adding ed to form the past tense: walk-walked). However, there are exceptions (sleep-slept), and children must learn these irregularities, why and when they occur, and adjust their behaviour accordingly - each step requires the child to process feedback so that they know what to do/not do in the future. This ability is a fundamental skill that is valuable during the school-age years enabling the acquisition of an effective model of identifying and discriminating between valuable and ineffectual behaviours in accordance with the desired goal/context.

Feedback learning involves the simultaneous monitoring of feedback from the environment, updating a task-appropriate representation and behavioural-control. These skills correspond to the processes implicated in executive control and may represent the set of processes that are requisite for optimal learning.

Given the bilingual advantage in executive control there is reason to speculate that bilinguals may utilise feedback more efficiently than monolinguals. However, there is limited understanding of how bilinguals implicitly utilise feedback to learn the rules that govern classroom-based skills – predominantly, research tests paradigms where bilinguals are explicitly told the rules to follow. Taking an individual differences approach, the aim of the PhD is to address this limitation by examining the role of executive skills in performance feedback learning in bilingual children aged 8-10. A subsidiary issue is to obtain teacher perceptions of bilingual children’s learning abilities, and to ascertain whether these perceptions correlate with behavioural findings. The PhD student will recruit and test bilinguals and monolinguals; develop experimental tasks; administer questionnaires to teachers.

This PhD will improve understanding of how bilingualism impacts cognition and learning, thereby providing foundational evidence for developing effective strategies to support bilinguals.

How to apply

Please apply through our online postgraduate application system including the Scholarship section where you need to tick the ’University Scholarships’ box. The form will ask you to summarise your research proposal in less than 800 words. If you are unsure about what to put in this section, please contact your prospective supervisor. Please name your supervisor and select their department Human Communication Sciences through the online form.

Deadline: 5pm 1st February 2017

Entry Requirements

Candidates must have a first or upper second class honors degree or significant research experience. This project would be suitable for a candidate with an academic background in Psychology, Speech and Language Therapy or Education. The following would be an advantage: a) knowledge of neuro-cognitive development in bilinguals, b) experience of writing programme scripts to run computer-based tasks using DMDX, c) experience of working with children, d) experience of conducting assessments with children in school settings. The successful candidate would need to travel regularly to participating primary schools for data collection purposes.

Funding Notes

Funding

The Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry & Health Doctoral Academy Scholarships cover Home/EU fee and RCUK rate stipend for three years. Overseas students may apply but will need to fund the difference between the Home and Overseas fee from another source.

Proposed start date: October 2017