Background. The article analyzes the problem of cognitive regulation in children with different language status during the pre-school period, which allows for a more specific understanding of the trajectories of cognitive development in a multilingual and multicultural educational environment.
Objective. To identify differences in executive functions and divergent thinking between balanced bilingual preschoolers (Russian/Tatar) and monolinguals (Russian), and to establish the patterns of correlations between these indicators within each group.
Sample. The empirical study involved 120 preschool children aged 5 to 7 years (M = 6.15; Med = 6.1) of which 60 were balanced bilinguals (Russian and Tatar) and 60 were monolinguals (Russian).
Methods. The research employed observation, an associative experiment, and psychodiagnostic methods aimed at studying executive functions and divergent thinking in preschool children. Data processing was carried out using descriptive statistics, the Mann–Whitney U-test, and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.
Results. Significant differences were found in all indicators of executive functions and divergent thinking, with higher scores in bilingual children. The identified relationships between executive functions and thinking processes made it possible to establish different trajectories in the development of the self-regulation system of creative thinking in preschoolers with different language status: convergence of executive functions and thinking processes, forming an integral system of cognitive regulation in bilinguals; local coherence of executive functions and thinking processes in monolinguals.
Conclusions. The results can be used in the development of psychological and educational technologies, as well as in the design of individual educational pathways that promote the development of the regulatory-cognitive sphere in primary school children with different language status.