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Introduction
Over the course of many decades, numerous scholars have studied the impact of bilingualism on children's language and cognition (e.g., Bialystok, 2001; Hakuta, 1986; Peal & Lambert, 1962; Saer, 1923). This research interest stems mainly from the fact that, unlike monolinguals, bilinguals must learn and manage two linguistic systems, which arguably affects their verbal ability and their cognitive development.
In the area of verbal ability, studies show that bilingual children have significantly lower performance on receptive vocabulary tests in each language than monolingual counterparts (e.g., Bialystok, Luk, Peets & Yang, 2010; Mahon & Crutchley, 2006; Oller & Eilers, 2002). This finding does not imply that bilingual children are poor vocabulary learners; rather, their words may be encoded in one language but not the other (e.g., Oller, Pearson & Cobo-Lewis, 2007). Conversely, in the area of cognitive development, studies indicate that bilingual children outperform monolingual peers in a number of cognitive tasks (for a review, see Bialystok, 2001, 2009a). The prevailing explanation for this finding is that bilinguals constantly need to appropriately use one of two languages depending on different linguistic contexts; with habitual practice coordinating two languages, bilinguals exercise domain-general skills that lead to advances in different areas of cognition. In particular, the bilingual experience may benefit two major aspects of cognition: (a) executive functioning (EF), which is an umbrella term referring to higher cognitive functions (e.g., inhibition, working memory) necessary for the conscious control of thought and actions (Welsh, Pennington & Groisser, 1991) and (b) theory of mind (ToM), which is the ability to ascribe mental states to oneself and others, and to predict people's behaviour on the basis of their mental states (Premack & Woodruff, 1978).
Prior studies have shown relations between (a) bilingualism and EF (for a review, see Bialystok, 2001), (b) bilingualism and ToM (Berguno & Bowler, 2004; Bialystok & Senman, 2004; Goetz, 2003; Kovács, 2009), and (c) EF and ToM (for a review, see Moses & Tahiroglu, 2010; Perner & Lang, 1999). Despite substantial literature in each of these areas, no study has yet been conducted to support a model that encompasses all three components: bilingualism, EF, and ToM. The present study will review the relations between bilingualism, EF, and ToM and suggest...