R. Mantasiah, Yusri, Jufri
Some previous studies about bilingualism or semi-bilingualism have focused on the negative effects related a shift in the mother tongue caused by bilingualism. In fact, there is another benefit of being a bilingual. This study aimed to examine the role of English as an instructional language in increasing children's cognitive ability at primary school. Students who have used English as a main instructional language in learning process can be categorized bilingual or semi-bilingual. This research was quantitative study undertaken with a comparative approach which involved four primary schools. Two of them used English as Instructional Language (group 1) while others used Indonesian Language (group 2). Various jigsaw puzzle were used to measure children's cognitive ability. The shorter the duration students spend in composing puzzle, the better their cognitive skill is. The result showed that there is a significant difference between the cognitive skill of students in both groups. Group 1 tended to finish the puzzle faster proving that the use of English as Instructional Language has a possibility to positively influence children's cognitive ability. © 2019 Asian E F L Journal Press. All rights reserved.
Department of Foreign Language Education, Universitas Negeri Makassar, Makassar, South Celebes, 90222, Indonesia; Department of English Literature, University of Fajar, Makassar, Indonesia
