The present study examines changes in young adults' non-verbal cognitive abilities induced by foreign language learning, with a view to investigating how a particular instruction method may affect students' general executive function as well as language proficiency. Seventeen Japanese university students were divided into two groups, on the basis of their scores on tests evaluating their non-verbal cognitive abilities and knowledge of German. Participants in the first group were taught German using the inductive method and participants in the second group were taught the language using the deductive method. Both groups were taught the same content with the same material ; the only difference between the two was in the type of instruction. There was no significant difference in the level of language proficiency attained between the two groups. However, there was a weak but significant effect of instruction method on participants' ability to perform a non-verbal cognitive task. We also found a significant difference in reaction time between the two groups in a German and a non-verbal cognitive task. These findings suggest that it might be possible to enhance certain types of one's non-verbal cognitive abilities through language learning, although more research is needed to reach a firm conclusion.

調査・実践報告