Do the Advantages Out Weigh the Disadvantages of Language Development in Bilingual Children Versus Monolingual Children?

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.

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.

The study found that bilingual students (in the bilingual school) spent 47% of class time speaking Spanish, the traditional schooling group only spent 25% of class time speaking Spanish, always to other Mexican American students. When looking at the students outside of the classroom bilingual schooled students 63% of their time speaking Spanish to their Mexican American peers. Traditionally schooled children spent 64% of their time speaking English to their Mexican American peers. Prior to the beginning of the study both groups of children reported themselves as speaking Spanish more than English, however according to parental reports Traditional schooled students were reported to use more English than Spanish at the end of the first grade while the Bilingual students were reported to be using more Spanish than English by the end of the first grade. The results of the study found that the language spoken by the parents does not have considerable statistical influence on which language the child uses more, or even whether or the child is in a bilingual or is traditionally schooled. Perhaps most surprising is the finding that traditionally schooled children still result in speaking more English than Spanish with their Mexican-American peers when compared to their counterparts in the bilingual programs. Perhaps because

In the “Advantages of Being Multilingual” Mendez stresses the importance of being bilingual, Mendez provides a numerous amount of evidence to back up her argument. The author also includes disadvantages, and provides those in the beginning, by doing this Mendez hopes that the reader knows that there will be a few obstacles. Mendez targets mostly teenagers, but also parents that are looking forward to teaching their children a second language. Following that, Mendez provides a list of the benefits that an individual will gain or have if you are bilingual, “…cognitive flexibility, higher chance in job employment, and improved communication.” Providing advantages give a good impression to the reader, therefore, the readers challenge themselves to learn another language.

There are many myths about bilingualism having negative effects. One of those myths are that babies are hopelessly confused by exposure to two languages. However, studies have proven that learning more than one language as an infant is actually very beneficial and not difficult to do. According to Judith F. Kroll, babies develop the ability to discriminate the languages that they listen to and are more open to learning a new language. A study by Ferran Pons and other colleagues, revealed how bilingual children show an earlier attentional shift to the mouth. This is due to the fact that bilingual infants rely more on the perceptual salient of audiovisual speech cues in order to to construct two different language systems. Furthermore, another

This situation also supports the statement of Lyon(1996) that children become bilingual across the world in many communities and this can play a major part in the families into which they are born, and in their later lives at school. Bilingualism occurs within complex, multi-layered context, but from the child’s point of view the family is where it all begins.

They compared bilingualism in children with typical development and those with communication disorders. They emphasized that children become bilingual to a different degree; using different paths. For some, there is an exposure to a different language at a very early stage in life, and for some it only occurs once they are 3 years old, and enter the schools for education. In some cases when the home language is not supported in school, the child will have reduced opportunities to experiment the language thus becoming receptively bilingual, meaning they would understand their home language but lack in expressive skills in that language. However, Kohnert (2010) reports that continued support in the home language during preschool years is directly related to cognitive and academic gains in later age. While the research has ample advantages of a bilingual environment for typically developing kid but it changes when a kid has a developmental delay or communication disorder like autism. Most parents and professionals are still fearful of using more than one language with children who have significant communication problems. The authors elaborated that there is a significant scarcity in the literature comparing the performance of bilingual and monolingual children with communication disorders. However, they agreed to a growing body of research that maintains that bilingual children with disabilities can use their first language to acquire a second language if trained systematically. Authors maintain that children who are exposed to two languages may benefit to a great degree from a bilingual approach to intervention. (e.g., Kohnert, 2010, 2013). Finally on the serving needs of children who are bilingual and with a communication

However, Sternberg and Sternberg identify conflicting research as well. Sternberg and Sternberg suggested that for certain individuals, bilingualism results in thinking in any one language difficult. Sternberg and Sternberg described additive versus subtractive bilingualism. The authors described active bilingualism is when an individual is fluent in the languages they speak, in which case the positive effects identified by Marian and Shook (2012) are experienced. Contrarily subtractive bilingualism is when an individual confuses the languages and uses them interchangeably in normal speech. American elementary schools witness the effects of subtractive bilingualism in situations where children are required to speak English in school, but a different language at home, often times in poorer communities. Sternberg and Sternberg (2017) suggest that this is a result of not learning either language

As parents, want to make sure we offer the best opportunities and knowledge available to our children. Considering the effects of today’s globalized and interconnected society, knowing and speaking more than one language represents extra opportunities. Additionally, more and more homes are made up of biracial and bicultural parents, which in many instances, includes bilingual or even trilingual environments for our children.

In the “Advantages of Being Multilingual” Mendez stresses the importance of being bilingual, Mendez provides numerous amount of evidence to back her argument up. The author also includes disadvantages, and provides those in the beginning, by doing this Mendez hopes that the reader knows that there will be a few obstacles. Mendez targets mostly teenagers but also parents that are looking forward to teach their children a second language. Following that, Mendez provides a list of the benefits that you will gain or have if you are bilingual, “…cognitive flexibility, higher chance in job employment, and improved communication.” Providing advantages gives a good impression to the reader, therefore, the readers challenge themselves to learn another

Bilingualism significantly reduces the barriers between people with different roots, interrupts fears and shame before confronting culturally different people. Bilingualism also opens opportunities to get to know different global issues, which is very helpful during travel or living in a place different culturally and linguistically as New York. In retrospect, despite the initial difficulties on the way to bilingualism, the participant considers that "bilingual persons have easier life" which she experienced to a large extent. Guided by this observation she made the steps so that her sons could be multilingual. Unfortunately, she only reached its goal in half. Her older son attended a Polish school learning the rules of grammar and spelling of the Polish language, therefore, he achieved fluency and the ability to write and read in Polish. The younger son found it difficult to assimilate the grammatical and phonetic rules of the Polish, which is in the head of the most arduous languages of the world. He did not want to attend additional classes, so he only gained fluency in speaking, which was the result of using only Polish at home to talk. Despite the obvious benefits of being bilingual, the participant did not want to force her son to do extra jobs, remembering her experiences along the way. Nevertheless, both boys also learn the basics of Spanish at school, which is currently the second most-used

This study will involve 2 English/Spanish bilingual children, ages 10 to 15. The potential population of participants comes from a variety of Spanish speaking countries including Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The potential participants are children living with their parents who are students at Southern Illinois University.

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.

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.

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