Rethinking the Multilingual Mind Beyond the Cognitive Advantage Debate: An Ecological Affordance Perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25047/ijossh.v3i1.7352Keywords:
bilingual advantage, multilingual cognition, ecological perspectives, affordance actualization, ecological validity, translanguagingAbstract
Research on the bilingual advantage has examined whether managing multiple languages enhances cognitive functioning; however, findings remain inconsistent and theoretical consensus limited. This paper argues that the impasse partly reflects a mismatch between the categorical treatment of multilingualism and the dynamic nature of cognition. By conceptualizing multilingual experience as a person–environment relationship rather than a stable individual attribute, the paper proposes an ecological framework of multilingual cognition centered on multilingual affordance actualization. Drawing on Gibson’s affordance theory, van Lier’s ecological approach to language learning, Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theory, and Complex Dynamic Systems Theory, the framework conceptualizes multilingual cognition as an emergent and context-dependent process. Multilingual environments provide potential affordances, but their consequences depend on how individuals perceive, select, enact, and repeatedly engage with these opportunities within particular ecological conditions. Socioeconomic conditions, language-use entropy, and interactional contexts are conceptualized not simply as confounding variables but as conditions that structure the availability and complexity of multilingual affordances. The framework further calls for methodological complementarity between experimental precision and ecological validity through naturalistic, longitudinal, experience-sampling, and within-person approaches. It positions translanguaging as one context-sensitive form of affordance actualization within affordance-rich learning environments. The paper argues that research should move beyond binary comparisons of monolinguals and bilinguals toward investigating how, for whom, under what conditions, and through which mechanisms multilingual experiences become cognitively consequential.
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