Effects Of Bilingualism On Language

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.

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.

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.

Having the ability to speak more than one language influences one’ life deeply. Speaking two or more languages can affect someone from being infants to old age. Bhattacharjee continues with, “The bilingual experience appears to influence the brain from infancy to old age (and there

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

We learned in our text that the development of language is a complicated process that involves phonemes, morphemes, syntactic development among several other factors (Siegler, DeLoache, Eisenberg & Saffran, 2014, p. 218). Proper and effective development of these language skills has been shown to have a critical learning period that enables successful fluency of a language; this period usually occurs between the ages of 5 and puberty (Siegler et al., 2014, p. 220). I believe that this critical period is the backbone of the argument against bilingual education. Proponents of this argument believe that the sooner a child is immersed in the new language, the better off they will be with regards to mechanics and use of that language.

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

To become bilingual, must you lose a piece of your identity? Or can the cultures of language coexist in a person? In the essays by Martin Espada and Richard Rodriguez, the ability to maintain identity as a bilingual speaker is challenged. According to Espada, Spanish should be permitted everywhere to prevent losing a piece of one’s identity. However, Rodriguez believes that a piece of your identity must be sacrificed in order to be accepted into a new culture. For others, such as myself, there is a happy compromise; bilingualism should be encouraged and supported in public to communicate and spread understanding.

Being bilingual will not only help you communicate with others but also give you many different opportunities. Being bilingual is just not about speaking another language but also learning the culture that comes with it. From the new language you will learn about other traditions, music, food, and overall the way others speak and express themselves. Another thing you can acquire from being bilingual is the chance of getting a better job and develop professionally better. Studies also show that bilinguals express themselves better and that it’s better to start learning a second language at an early age. There is doubts about teaching a children a second language because some people believe that if they teach them a second language at an early age it can cause confusion in the child, and they will end up not being able to learn either one correctly. This information has not yet been proven what studies have shown is the complete opposite which is that a bilingual person has a higher possibility of being successful than a monolingual.

I will not be able to answer all of you personally, but there are many misconceptions about bilingualism that I would like to address today. Many people are afraid that learning two different languages will confuse children, and that their child will not be able to distinguish between two languages. However, after 6 months, infants are already able to distinguish between two fairly similar languages, such as Dutch and French, and directly after birth, they can already distinguish between two very different languages such as English and Chinese. So, there is no reason to be afraid that learning 2 languages will confuse your children at the same time. Also, many parents come up to me and ask if bilingualism delays speaking for the child. This seems to be something that people believe, but it is not true at all. Of course, children develop at different rates and some may speak earlier or better than others, but this has nothing to do with

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.

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.