Table 3.

Summary of tasks used in the present study and description of the items tested.

Tasks	Items tested
Tasks capturing background (in pre-test only)
Composite questionnaire	(1) Self-rated language proficiency: overall score of listening, speaking, reading and writing respectively on a 10-point Likert scale; 40 points in total (2) Self-rated language use: percentage of daily language use; (3) AoA: age of English education; (4) Age: age when being tested; (5) Parental education: score of parents’ education on a 5-point Likert scale
L2 cloze test	L2 proficiency (Bachman, 1985), 30 points in total
IQ test	IQ: Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices Set (Raven et al., 1977), 72 points in total
Cognitive control tasks (in pre- and post-tests)
Number Stroop task	(1) Inhibition ability: Stroop conflict (2) Monitoring ability: global RTs
Color-shape task	(1) Switching ability: switch cost (2) Monitoring ability: mixing cost and global RTs
N-back task	(1) Updating ability: accuracy rate, global RTs