The impact of multilingualism on lateral thinking and critical thinking: how multilingualism is related to giftedness

Abstract

This study, investigates how multilingualism influences lateral and critical thinking and its relationship to endowment. Lateral thinking involves generating different solutions, while critical thinking focuses on evaluating information. Both are essential for creativity and problem-solving. The research explores whether multilingual individuals exhibit improved skills in these areas compared to monolinguals, and how these skills relate to gifted traits such as creativity and advanced problem-solving. The study includes a literature review, standardized tests for lateral and critical thinking, and qualitative interviews. The results indicate that multilingualism increases cognitive flexibility, enhancing these thinking skills. In addition, multilingual individuals exhibit traits associated with endowment, suggesting a link between multilingualism and advanced cognitive abilities. The study’s findings underscore the importance of promoting multilingualism in education to foster cognitive and creative growth, and underscore the need for further research into its long-term effects on cognitive development and supergifting.

Keywords

• multilingualism
• lateral thinking
• critical thinking
• cognitive abilities