Relationship between memory and language: The effect of proficiency and language experience on the bilinguals free recall

According to Vorfian’s theory (1956)، language affects thought. The present study investigates the relationship between language and memory. A quasi-experimental method was employed where the statistical population consisted of 1500 undergraduate students of Payam-Noor University. Of these، 100 Persian-Turkish bilinguals were selected and tested. All participants completed the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q; Marian، etal.، 2007)، providing information about their language-learning history، language proficiency، and language use. Then participants were divided into two groups of “equally proficient in both languages” (balanced bilinguals) and “more proficient in one language” (imbalanced bilinguals) and were tested for free recall memory. Results showed words that were learned and tested in the same language in balanced bilinguals، showed a retrieval advantage compared to words that were learned and tested in different languages. These findings suggest that memory and language are tightly connected and that the linguistic context at the time of learning may become integrated into memory content but language proficiency modulates these effects. These findings must be considered in learning and testing of bilinguals.