SDLC105 Learning Journal #9

[cien zhang]

After reading these two articles discussing about whether bilinguals are smarter or not, I gained many new ideas about this topic. In the past, I always believe that bilinguals are smarter than single language people. However, according to BIalystock, the real problem is that bilingual brains differ in their use of executive function — a system that helps the brain access particular regions or memories when prompted. "A person needs executive function to switch between tasks or look for a friend in a crowded restaurant. When less developed, executive function also makes adolescents more reckless," stated by Bialystok. Then I start thinking that maybe bilinguals people only have a better executive functions instead of smarter brains. But later the article states that "even if the relationship between bilingualism and actual intelligence is unclear, executive function can help people do a lot of things that may make them seem smarter, such as doing more things at once and cancelling out distractions". I think this makes more sense for me. It is hard to really test the intelligence of a person. We always judge a person is smarter or not by his/her behaviors or opinions. Therefore, I assume that if a person can handle two languages well, she/he should be smarter in some ways.