THE EFFECT OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION ON STUDENT’ COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATUR REVIEW

Abstract

This research aims to synthesize empirical evidence regarding the effect of bilingual education on students' cognitive flexibility, a key component of executive function. Cognitive flexibility is defined as the ability to switch between different tasks or sets of rules, which is theoretically enhanced by the necessity to simultaneously manage two language systems. This study employs a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) method, analyzing seven core journals (international and national) that discuss the correlation between bilingualism, bilingual education, and cognitive development, specifically cognitive flexibility, within educational contexts. The review results indicate a significant and positive relationship between bilingual education and enhanced cognitive flexibility. The dominant evidence supports the finding that bilingual programs provide an advantage in cognitive control tasks, as affirmed by global meta-analyses and studies in Indonesia. This advantage is believed to stem from the strengthening of the brain's cognitive control mechanisms, which are continuously trained by the process of cross-linguistic task switching. Although some inconsistencies related to moderating factors (such as the degree of bilingualism and participant age) were found, the findings overwhelmingly suggest that bilingual education should be viewed as an effective pedagogical intervention for optimizing students' cognitive development. It is recommended that educational institutions reinforce bilingual programs as a means of developing adaptive thinking skills.