The Impact of Short-Term Second Language Training on Executive Function in Low-Income Primary Students in China

The present study investigated whether higher amounts of second language experience, operationalized as the number of English learning sessions (10 vs. 20), enhance executive functions in 10- to 11-year-old Chinese pupils from a rural township in central China. Using a quasi-experimental pre–post design, participants were enrolled in a two-week summer educational support program and assigned to either a Low Experience group (10 sessions, n = 46) or a High Experience group (20 sessions, n = 47). Group allocation was partially randomized: all Grade 4 students were placed in the Low Experience group because of school scheduling constraints, whereas Grade 5 students were randomly allocated to the two groups. They completed the Attention Network Test, the Number Stroop task, and the Corsi Block-Tapping Task, assessing attentional control, inhibitory control, and visuospatial working memory, respectively. Groups did not differ across background variables or cognitive performance at the pretest, ensuring baseline equivalence. Post-intervention assessments revealed that the High Experience group significantly outperformed the Low Experience group across all cognitive tasks. Results support that even brief periods of language learning may be associated with changes in executive and attentional performance in children with relatively limited previous English-learning experience. This study underscores the potential of language training as a form of school-based cognitive enrichment for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, offering valuable insights for educational policies targeting students in low resource areas.