Disadvantages Of Being Bilingual

To learn a second languages is very important because people have better opportunities in life. For children from ages five and under it is the best time to learn as many languages. Angele Sancho Passe, the author of “Dual-Language Learners (Birth to Grade 3)”, talks about techniques for teaching English in a multilingual classroom and how reading in english to dual-language learners helps teach them oral language skills. Patton O. Tabors, the author of “One Child, Two Languages”, talks about writing case studies of children displaying different second language abilities. In the article, “Ways to Introduce Your Kids to Foreign Languages” by Grace Hwang Lynch, believes two-way bilingual immersion is a helpful way to introduce foreign languages

By expanding ourselves past the comfort of the native tongue, we are able to create connections with other people. When learning another language, we may start to understand not only the language itself, but also comprehend new cultures, ways of thinking, and other people. From the very beginning of deciding to become a teacher, I knew I wanted to expand my ways of thinking so I positively benefit students of all cultures and language. I believe language learning allows people to view the world in different ways by becoming positively influenced by other cultures, people, and different ways of thinking. However, after deciding to become an ESL teacher, I truly believe that bilingual education is needed to help students develop and maintain high levels of proficiency and literacy in both their L1 and L2, while learning in the content areas. This is why I personally believe it is better for children to be raised bilingual instead of learning a second language later in life. One reason for this is that even though I was born in America, my parents wanted me to learn their language, which was Polish. Now, I am fully appreciative of the fact that my parents taught me Polish and placed me in a Saturday school where I was being taught both English and Polish. If I was taught Polish later in life, I think I would not use it to this day because I would not have made personal connections with the languages, as I was able to by being raised bilingual. There are many benefits of being raised bilingual instead of learning a second language later in life. It is important to understand that it takes on average 4-7 years to become academically fluent in a language; by raising a child bilingually, the children are able to use both languages more efficiently earlier than those students who learn a second language later in life. Since the child has been bilingual for a longer time, there are educational benefits commonly found. Bilingual children tend to have a higher concentration and are better at working through distractions while doing their schoolwork. Bilingual children also perform higher on average on tests that involve multi-tasking, creative thinking, or problem solving (Marian & Shook, 2012).

With successive bilingualism a child has the advantage of their first language as a base. They use this to both analyze and develop the second.  For example, the child knows that language is organized in a particular order.  The more mature a child is they also have a better vocabulary base, acoustic perception, and comprehension. Therefore they would make fewer errors in a second language.

Bilingualism is the ability to communicate in two different languages. Bilingual education is the use of two different languages in classroom instruction. According to the Encyclopedia of Children’s Health, and many other researchers, “languages are learned the easiest during a child’s youngest years. Therefore, when a child is growing up in a bilingual home or is receiving bilingual education, can easily speak both languages. Children who grow up in a household where two languages are spoken, usually acquire both languages simultaneously. Although their ability quality and skill of each language may be somewhat slower than a child that is

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.

As your child grows up in a bilingual environment, they may occasionally mix the two languages up, but not because they don’t know any better.

Language is an important part of our lives. I remember when I arrived to USA I could speak a little English. I went to school to improve my language, reading and writing skills; even now I am learning my second language, without English I cannot survive in this new environment. Now I am raising my own kids and I want them to have this important skill, this privilege of knowing a second language, language of their parents and grandparents. By looking at studies of bilingual children, research shows how important it is for a child to learn a second language. Raising a bilingual child is a benefit because it improves social skills, academic proficiency, introduces child to a different culture, and prepares for the future.

In families where multiple languages are spoken, being bilingual helps children to connect with their families on a deeper level and maintain strong relationships with family members and friends who speak the mother tongue. It gives parents a deeper bond with their children, which is greatly beneficial to the child’s development. Bilingual children are better able to participate in their native customs, including the language. This helps them to hold on to their heritage, which in turn helps them to figure out who they are and to build their identity. Being able to speak English helps them to integrate socially into the “mainstream” life in America. Bilingual children really get the best of both worlds. They are able to better fit in socially due to their ability to speak English, while at the same time they are able to forge a strong bond with their family whether or not the rest of the family is

This nation is a place where different cultures come together and learn to coexist. From native America, Latinos, Asians and probably other nations that are not well known; they all have something in common which they all are bilinguals. Authors Cisneros, Agosin, Dumas and Tan clearly illustrate that being bilingual has both advantages and disadvantages.

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

People have a way to being intelligent when knowing two languages because they are able to understand certain things more. According to The National Center on Cultural and Linguistic Responsiveness, “brains are very active and flexible when being bilingual” (2016, para. 2). Bilingual can start at any age but some have started to understand both languages at a younger age. They have a higher chance to develop both languages if starting from a younger age because they can understand the language as time goes by. There are shows that show kids at a young age about the different languages such as the TV show Dora. The show Dora shows kids the Spanish language and usually repeats the words more than once in Spanish which makes children usually want to repeat it as well and that is when they start to progress the language.

This paper will touch upon the positive benefits of bilingualism and how it affects children, during their childhood and well into adulthood. In addition this paper will look into the scientific and general advantages of bilingualism through scientific studies on the subject. This paper will also identify some of the pros and cons of growing up bilingual. Specifically to be cognitive flexibility, metalinguistic awareness, communicative sensitivity, attentiveness and combatting dementia. A new research era began into bilingualism after the research of Peal and Lambert in 1962, this was a break through in research, which proved that kids who were bilingual did better at the tasks than those who were monolingual. Prior to this, bilingualism had been thought to cause negative set backs among children. These setbacks include retardation in children and increased confusion in separating both languages at an early stage. Although this theory has been outdated, bilingualism is still known to cause confusion for a short period of time throughout childhood lifespan. Although bilingualism has its pros and cons, there are more pros than cons. Kids who grow up in a bilingual household are known to experience some confusion separating two languages or infants are known to go through a silent stage. In simple tasks as the “Simon task”, bilingual participants are known to perform better and have faster reaction times. Simon tasks test the individual’s attentive control as well as reaction

Many parents and teachers, now more than ever, are teaching children the importance of understanding and speaking more than one language. However, many children who speak more than one language have slight developmental delays in their syntax for both languages. However, the benefits of being bilingual far outweighs these very minor delays. There are many benefits to being bilingual. Recent studies done have even discovered that being bilingual may help protect our brains from developing diseases such as Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. Those of us who learned a second language during childhood have a better understanding for how language is structured and used, this understanding is called metalinguistic insight.

Bilingual people are smarter than monolingual people. In fact, it is proven that bilingual people are more cognitively developed and receive higher scores in academics. However, this can be improved among monolingual students by teaching more foreign languages in American public schools. By raising foreign language requirements, monolingual students are forced to exercise new regions of their brains, thus improving brain function and academic performance. It is imperative to the cognitive and academic betterment of American students that multiple foreign languages are taught in public schools.

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.