Bilingual Language Acquisition Beginning in Infancy Essay

How Babies Talk is a book written by Roberta Michnick Golinkoff and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek. The book discusses how babies acquire language throughout various stages (The first three years of life) of their infant life. The chapter I chose to elaborate on was chapter 7, which outlines language and grammar between the ages of twenty-four to thirty-six months.

Children’s language development usually begins in their first three months. They will begin by learning to use their voice and enjoying vocal play. Babies will watch faces and mouths to try and copy movements and sounds.

In America, there is a predominant growth in multiple ethnicities and cultural backgrounds; leading to the usage of multiple languages in the American culture. There is a growing need for many people to learn and utilize multiple languages within the workplace and within one 's own personal life. The importance of bilingualism and the knowledge of multiple languages is ever increasing, and therefore becoming more important for the younger generations. The push for knowing multiple languages and becoming bilingual has many potential negative and positive effects.

What do we know about the effects bilingualism has on cognitive development? Our world is becoming progressively bilingual; in the US 21% of school age children between the ages of 5-17 years old can speak other than English at home and this number is expected to increase in the coming years. On top of social reasons, the positive effects to the cognitive development of the brain when introduced to a second language are of many. The age of acquisition is vital due to the plasticity of the brain, which according to the critical period hypothesis, begins to level after five years of age. In addition to plasticity, bilingual speakers are more capable of focusing their attention to solve complex problems compared to monolingual speakers.

Each child learns language at their own rate and pace. There can be different factors, such as a child learning multiple languages at once. Most often, with little effort, the child will be able to learn oral language by being in an environment that fosters conversation. Early on, toddlers will begin to make

It is believed that babies develop language when they are in the utero and it continues throughout their lifetime. By twelve weeks old, babies may register the sounds they can hear and at the same time make basic visual, auditory and tactile mind maps (Karen Kearns, 2013, P.105). This allows the infant to turn towards any familiar sounds and noises. Babies begin to communicate with people around them quite quickly. By two months old, babies begin to make ‘cooing’ and other noises; this indicates the phonological component of language development. By six to nine months babies begin to experience with a mixture of sounds, and often you will hear a baby babbling. Babbling development is similar across many different languages and even hearing impaired babies will go through this stage. They may copy the sounds they are introduced too or beginning to recognize familiar

First, children¡¯s acquisition of language is an innate mechanism that enables a child to analyze language and extract the basic rules of grammar, granted by Chomsky. It basically states that humans are born with a language acquisition device that, the ability to learn a language rapidly as children. However, there is one important controversy in language acquisition concerns how we acquire language; since Chomsky fails to adequately explain individual differences. From the behaviorists¡¯ perspectives, the language is learned like other learned behaviors. It is learned through operant

The communication with your child starts way before the youngster can speak. From their cry, smile, and the responses they give you to help you understand his or her needs. Language developments have different stages that children pass through to assist them in the development of speech and languages. There are a plethora of factors which can inhabitants’ a child language development. However, these are amongst the top causes for language development such as a child’s inborn ability to learn language and the language the child hears.

Babies learn to talk by hearing language and having language directed at them in "conversation." Between 6-12 months, babies begin to fine-tune

There are several theories regarding language development. Work by Chomsky, Piaget and Kuhl are critical. Studies by Chomsky, as examined by Albery, Chandler, Field, Jones, Messer, Moore and Sterling (2009); Deloache, Eisenberg & Siegler (2003) argued for the innateness of language acquisition due to its complexity. Development is assisted by a language acquisition device (LAD) and universal grammar both of which holding the propensity for commonalities throughout all languages. LAD is the key to the Syntax rule. The knowledge to master the rules is held unconsciously. Chomsky concludes exposure through auditory channels as being the only requirement for learning. Arguably Kuhl (2010) writes infantile exposure to language through auditory channels only, does not contribute effectively to learning indicating the importance of human interaction. Piaget, as discussed by Ault (1977) postulated language as not being part of the earliest stages of development. Signifying within sensorimotor stage, between birth and two years, the child’s development is too reflexive. Gleitman, Fridlund and Reisberg (2004) discuss the critical period hypothesis and suggest the young brain being more suited to acquisition than the adult brain. Lenneberg (1967) (as cited in Gleitman et al 2004) advocates, brain maturation closes language acquisition capacity window. Kuhl (2010) identified, within the critical period babies develop

Children acquire language since they were born. They communicate with their parents. Furthermore, children and parents interact with each other using a language that we often call the first language or mother tongue. At an early age, children are only learning one language that is the mother tongue. By age and speech development, children improve to acquire a second language from the school or the environment around them. In terms of speed of langgauge acquisition, children are factorized by both the child and the child’s learning environment. Therefore, it is important to understand how children acquire second language. This paper is provided

Most young children develop language rapidly, moving from crying and cooing in infancy to using hundreds of words and understanding their meanings by the time they are ready to enter kindergarten. Language development is a major accomplishment and is one of the most rewarding experiences for anyone to share with a child. Children learn to speak and understand words by being around adults and peers who communicate with them and encourage their efforts to talk.

Children are incredible sensitive to the different ways of people speak. Even when they only hear they can understand the difference between the way men and women talking, difference between polite and impolite talk and so on. They don’t get confused when they hear two languages spoken around them. They follow patterns of learning. First language can influence how child use and learn his second language. Bilingual children often use words from one language when they speaking other language. This is called code switching. But this doesn’t mean they are confused about their languages or they are mixing them. Language mixing is a function of normal language learning behavior. It also observed in monolingual children. The former will sort itself out with time, the latter needs to be attended to by the bilingual speakers in the environment. Bilingual children are capable of focusing their attention on relevant information and ignore distractions. Also they have been shown to be more creative, better planning and solving complex problems than monolinguals. They develop a better understanding of language and how to communicate effectively. Also those bilingual children are more flexible in the way they think as a resulting of processing information through two different language systems. A foundation in primary education allows for strong development in literacy abilities when learning in later grades.

The pre –language or the pre-speech stage is the period from about three months to six months. We can call this period the zero stage because in this period the child is only a listener and he does not produce understandable sounds. The only sounds that the child produces in this period are crying and screaming. At this stage, the child usually reacts to any speech

In early childhood, the use of languages explodes, and children show a rapid growth of vocabulary and an increase in vocalized expressions. As children learn to speak, they often learn when engaging in monologues and pragmatics. Although learning a language is an incredibly complex task, young children have little difficulty learning two languages. Parents have an important role in guiding a young child in developing a language. Knowing a second language may be troublesome due to the vast expansion of vocabulary, using correct pronunciation, and a difference in contexts. However; through past studies bilingualism has demonstrated an advantage in children’s executive functions and emotional behavior. In addition, memory advantages have been demonstrated in adults who know more than one language. This essay will focus on diverse methods bilingual’s experience in different stages in their life, along with some