Bilingualism Does Improve Brain Functioning

The first good thing for being bilingual is cognitive benefits. A bilingual person can think more veritable to solve problems and to catch another languages and communicate with other easily. That is lead to creative thinking and exercise the muscles of the brain in order to become stronger. Torri Myler states that “Being Bilingual” bilingual child has better mental development and better thinking growth. Because, kids are able to switch between different languages easily. Therefore, being bilingual child makes a good connection between different people and good attention skills.

Well, it turns out, Omniglot was right! Dr. Thomas Eskin agrees. She said, “...Our study shows that bilingualism, even when acquired in adulthood, may benefit the aging brain.” Being bilingual will help in the delaying of brain diseases such as Alzheimer and Dementia Omniglot.com also says. The brain’s learning abilities are increased. “I don’t have time for another language!” is the most common excuse. Well, author H. Jackson Brown Jr. said on Lingaholic.com, “Don’t say you don’t have enough time, you have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert

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.

In my opinion bilingualism plays a major role in the educational development of children. This is because research has shown that children who are fluent in their home language are more successful in learning a second language. Furthermore, being bilingual offers greater sensitivity to language, more flexibility in thinking and better ear for listening. It also improves a child’s understanding for the native language. Moreover, knowledge of other languages increases a career of opportunities offering several job options.

Whether bilinguals are smarter or not is a debatable topic to many. In the article, “Why Bilinguals are Smarter,” Yudhijit Bhattacharjee claims that being bilingual is not only useful, but also makes a person smarter. According to his article, switching between two or more languages uses a different parts of the brain. Furthermore, this actually helps a person monitor their environment more closely and allows them to multitask more easily, compared to monolinguals.

Kids that learn a second language at an earlier age tend to have the ability to multitask with ease. In a video called The benefits of a bilingual brain - Mia Nacamulli, she explains how although being bilingual would not make you smarter it does keep your brain healthy and more active and

    Being able to speak another language strengthens cognitive skills. When speaking one language, both of the language systems are active which forces the brain to resolve that conflict (Bhattacharjee). If students learned to speak another language it would strengthen their cognitive skills because the brain would be forced to resolve the internal conflict which, in turn, gives it a workout. Being bilingual is good for strengthening cognitive functions in the brain.

“Cognitive functions can be defined as cerebral activities that lead to knowledge, encompass reasoning, memory, attention, and language that leads directly to the attainment of information and, thus, knowledge” (What are cognitive functions). Many students at Doulos are unaware of the benefits of knowing two languages. Ironically students also don’t know that their own brain and its skills are improving because of their second language. Doulos teaches classes throughout the whole day in both English and Spanish. Students are regularly changing between languages and their brain is always active with both languages. “This constant practice strengthens the control mechanisms and changes the associated brain regions” (Marian, Viorica, and Anthony Shook). People who are bilingual are capable of switching between tasks more efficiently. “For example, when bilinguals have to switch from categorizing objects by color (red or green) to categorizing them by shape, they do so more rapidly than monolingual people, reflecting better cognitive control when changing strategies on the fly” (Marian, Viorica, and Anthony Shook). Students’ cognitive and sensory process skills are more developed due to being bilingual (Marian, Viorica, and Anthony Shook). These improvements allow students to better process and understand information in different environments, thus leading to better

Heightened Ability to Monitor the Environment: Because Bilinguals need to constantly monitor the environment to see what language is being spoken, they develop a heightened ability to monitor the environment and become more efficient at it, involving less parts of the brain while doing so (BHATTACHARJEE 2012).

In a globalized world, English is and has been universal language for communications around the world. For that reason, U.S. has never had an urgency to learn and appreciate foreign languages. Most of school systems treat language classes not important as the core curriculum. According to the current positions on bilingual education, schools in the United States teach languages at exactly the wrong time and exclude children from all the benefits that extend beyond pure communication. It’s extremely important to be bilingually educated to adapt into increasingly globalized world. Moreover, even necessary, for those who should reach out and speak at least one other language. Being bilingual comes with various advantages and immeasurable benefits.

According to Szumski, some families communicate in their household with more than one language and that is preparing their children for the future. Sadly, some parents stop doing that as their children grow up and the kids knowledge on their home language begins to fade away. All countries and states should embrace all cultures and encourage the learning of different languages. Just as Robert D. King said, “The… idea of language as… something that might threaten to split a country wide apart… is alien to our way of thinking and to our cultural traditions” (Szumski 63). Dual language programs can be used to narrow the achievement gap while also equipping the students for a future in the workforce as Natalie Gross said in her article To Help Low-Income Students, More Schools Try Dual-Language. At a bilingual school, they would be teaching with one major language and also another language for the benefits of the students. With the dual language system, the teachers are educating the pupils with an education program in which students are taught literacy and academic content in English and a partner language. By teaching the students with not only one but two different languages, they are better improving their communication skills. The students are having the necessity to communicate with other cultures and other native tongues. If the students were to all be bilingual, then they could enhance their learning in English and the parents of the kids would be able to communicate better with their children. With bilingual programs, students will be able to better express their cultures and their origin. If the students stick to learning a second language, they can become proficient speakers. Having a certificate saying that he or she are bilingual will become extremely beneficial when they are applying for a job. For example, bank tellers, a health care person, or social

Bilingual children have been observed to surpass monolingual children in areas that require a large amount of concentration and cognitive control (Barac, Bialystok, Castro, & Sanchez, 2014; Kroll & Dussias, 2017). This can be based on the fact that the frontal cortex is constantly strengthening the neurological connections (Marian & Shook, 2012). In addition, structural changes within the brain such as grey and white matter increase within bilingual brains and even more so in multilingual brains (Li et al., 2014). Gray matter increases in volume and density the earlier the learner is introduced to a foreign language in which researchers have correlated this to the building of a larger vocabulary (Li et al.,

“Research is increasingly showing that the brains of people who are bilingual are different than those who are not, and those differences are for all the better.”(time) Researchers are saying that it's so much more beneficial to learn two languages rather than one. “Multilingual people, studies show, are better at grasping and reconciling conflicting ideas.”(time) They are known to work faster and use less energy in the process. In doing so they retain their senses longer are studies show that it can delay or give you more time to get dementia or Alzheimer's than the average person. With all of the positive outcomes of learning in a bilingual school, schools make it very hard and competitive to make it into the

In this literature review I will be discussing studies that are in favor, not in favor, and neutral on bilingual education.

Researchers are continuously investigating methods of advancing human development. Many studies have explored the world of bilingualism and found a few surprising results. The skill of knowing two or more languages has been linked to a variety of cognitive benefits. Knowing more than one language has been proven to impact more than just the linguistic system of cognitive development. This essay will review the positive effects bilinguals experience through early and middle childhood along with adulthood. In addition, with a few of my personal believes and experiences.