Correlation Between Phonological Working Memory and Speech Production in Bilingual and Trilingual Children

Abstract

Phonological working memory (PWM) refers to the capacity to temporarily retain verbal information. In both monolingual and bi-/multilingual contexts, PWM has been identified as playing a crucial role in vocabulary acquisition, the maintenance of linguistic information, and the processing of spoken and written language. Understanding the contribution of phonological working memory in the speech production of multilinguals is an under-researched area. The present study aimed at investigating if there existed a correlation between the phonological memory capacity and accuracy of speech production in non-native languages. The study recruited 60 participants from Tamil-speaking schools, divided into four groups by age and language proficiency: Bilingual (6-8 years, 10-12 years) and Trilingual (6-8 years, 10-12 years). All participants had Tamil (L1) and learned English (L2) with the Trilingual group also studying Hindi (L3). Tasks included a nonword repetition task in Tamil and delayed word repetition tasks in English and Hindi to assess phonological working memory and speech production accuracy. Results were analyzed based on percentage accuracy scores from recorded and transcribed responses. Results indicated no significant correlation between phonological working memory and speech production. Additionally, results revealed a significant age effect on phonological working memory and on speech production. No effect of language group was noted. The role of PWM as a potential predictive factor of additional language acquisition in the Indian population similar to the one considered in our study becomes questionable. The present study points towards considering the languages and their linguistic properties to understand the influence of bi-/multilingualism on phonological working memory capacity in Indian children.