Abstract:

The relationship between foreign language proficiency and executive function is an important issue at the intersection of language acquisition and cognitive science. Existing research largely failed to distinguish executive function components, relied on unidimensional proficiency measures, and neglected cross-stage developmental comparisons. This study examined Chinese EFL learners at junior high school and university levels, investigating the associative structure between multidimensional foreign language proficiency and linguistic/non-linguistic executive functions through a multi-level framework. Three findings emerged: (1) the proficiency-executive function relationship followed an “integration-driven” pattern at lower proficiency levels and a “skill-leading” pattern at higher levels; (2) different language skills predicted executive function components with notable specificity: listening primarily predicted inhibitory control, while listening and speaking predicted task switching via distinct pathways; (3) at the university level, proficiency showed a clear positive relationship with working memory, whereas opposing prediction directions for the two working memory types at the junior high level suggest a developmental shift in underlying cognitive resources from domain-general to language-specific support. These findings refine our understanding of the boundary conditions of the bilingual cognitive advantage and offer empirical grounding for cognitively-oriented language pedagogy.

Key words: foreign language proficiency, executive function, working memory, inhibitory control, task switching