Growing Up With Two Or More Languages

Being bilingual is a tool that can enhance someone’s life tremendously. The development of this tool can happen either simultaneously or successively.

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.

Linguists may support beginning instruction in a second language in elementary school rather than high school because childhood is a critical stage for development of language, this means that is easier to learn a second language during ages three and ten because a person is developing fluency and pronunciation in any particular language. If a person is older is going to be more difficult to have a good structure of a particular language and is not anymore an important period for language acquisition, also a person maybe is not going to have the fluency and pronunciation to sound like a native language. Although it is adequate to do it in the proper stage, the benefits of being bilingual never stops and can give a variety of opportunities in

Most would say that these effects are merely knowing two languages, but bilingualism has many more positive brain effects than that. Recent studies have shown the teens fluent in more than one language have more access to their total brain functions. These findings have proved that our senses help to shape our brains. It is also factually proven that being brought up in a bilingual environment has aided in improving multitasking skills. With that, children able to speak two languages are also better at focusing their attention on one thing for longer periods of time, without becoming as easily

(2011) stated that it proved better results from bilingual compared to monolingual children. It was concluded that bilingual children have a better level of cognitive abilities than monolingual children. They tend to have the ability to focus on the important things that requires “selective attention” and they are also able to change their responses according to the situation which is referred to as “cognitive flexibility”. In short, bilingual children have a stronger skill in keeping themselves focused since they have been practicing it in speaking two languages compared to the monolingual children who only speak one language. Conclusively, it can be suggested that the more a bilingual uses two languages in regularity, the more proficient he or she will be in both languages. As the bilingual gains proficiency in both of the languages and uses both languages consistently, he or she will have to strive for more control and attention to prevent intrusion from an inappropriate language system. Bilingual children have also been found to benefit academically in many ways, and because they are able to switch between languages, they develop more flexible approaches in thinking through

studied the possible effects on creativity in nonmathematical and mathematical problem solving among very young bilingual and monolingual preschool. The hypothesis is: If bilingualism has a positive effect on creative ability, then young bilingual children will demonstrate greater creativity in solving problems, both nonmathematical and mathematical, in comparison to monolingual children. The author collected data by studying thirty-seven children around the age of forty-five months. Thirteen of the children were bilingual in a bilingual preschool. Ten children were bilingual in a monolingual preschool. Fourteen children were monolingual in a monolingual preschool. The children were asked to solve a problem. The research method was qualitative,

Bilingualism, or the ability to understand and produce two or more languages, is an increasingly common ability in our increasingly diverse world. In the United States alone, there has been a 6% increase in the number of bilingual people in the country from 1990 to 2010, as observed by Hyon Shin and Robert Kaminski (2010). Opinions on the cognitive effects of being bi- or multilingual have changed drastically over the past several decades as well. Not very long ago, it was thought that speaking multiple languages would detract from an individual's cognitive abilities, as well as limiting their vocabularies and competence in either language. Particularly in the case of children, some people tried not to expose their children to more than one language because they thought it would result in language impairments and deficits, leading to poor results in school. However, today there is a growing branch of thought that there are in fact great cognitive benefits to bilingualism, particularly in the area of executive functions.

One of the main concerns that parents have in the article is that their children will confuse the two languages that they are learning. A previous research(1) have actually shown that when a child mix two language in the same sentence, otherwise known as code mixing, it can be a sign of ingenuity rather than confusion. Take for example when a child does not know the word from one language to complete a particular sentence, they might choose to borrow another word from the other language which they are learning concurrently. So rather than seeing it as a sign on confusion, parents should interpret it as a form of improvisation by their child.

Bilingualism, or an ability to use at least two languages (American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2004), has been studied for decades. A quick literature search will reveal that research on this topic goes back as far as the 1800s. This is hardly surprising considering that at least half of the world’s population is bilingual (Grosjean, 2010, p. 13), with some European countries reaching rates as high as 99 percent (European Commission, 2006, p. 3). Interestingly enough, until relatively recently it was believed that exposure to multiple languages at home was to blame for “producing mental retardation as measured by intelligence tests” (Goodenough, 1926, p. 393). The assumption that bilingualism is harmful and interferes with healthy development has been since debunked by research findings indicating exposure to two languages from birth enhances cognitive function (Bialystok, Craik, & Luk, 2012). Although similar misguided perceptions have not vanished completely from our society and many educators and clinical practitioners continue to advise parents against exposing their children to multiple languages (Bialystok et al., 2012), bilingualism has become a desired trait in an increasingly globalized world and an integral part of the educational system in many countries.

The connection between bilingualism and cognitive functioning has been greatly studied in the field of psychology. It is believed that people who speak more than one language have enhanced cognitive abilities, compared to monolinguals, which put them at an exceptional level of being communicatively and perceptually successful in life. However, in order to study such abilities that bilingual individuals might have in greater depth it is important to look at development specifically and where it all begins in youth. With this type of research, we will be able to make conclusions about how such predispositions during childhood could have beneficial effects on these individuals later on in life. Therefore, we assume that children who grow up and are raised speaking more than one language possess better executive functioning, specifically in the areas of working memory and attention, compared to monolingual children.

The need to speak multiple languages has increased dramatically in the past decades. With communication among different cultures available now more than ever, it has become a necessity for business doers to be multilingual in various languages. Therefore, it has become unnecessary for English learners to become perfect speakers of the language, as the majority of them will be interacting with and doing business with other second language speakers. The need to be perfectly proficient in English no longer exists because the ability to be able to communicate with others, who may not have the English language mastered themselves, overrides any concern with proper language skills. It is no longer about perfection, but about effective communication.

Due to the increased migration and globalization, the shift in linguistic demographics and the advent of multiculturalism sparked researchers’ interest to investigate the cognitive mechanism behind bilingualism. Whether bilingualism has significant imprint on the development is still premature to conclude with absolute certainty. However, with rich theoretical background, growing number of empirical evidence supports the undeniable perk of bilingualism in various realms of cognitive development. Despite the on-going debate over the benefit of bilingualism, bilingualism became an emerging topic among researchers and scholars like Ellen Bialystok, Stephanie Carlson, and Albert Costa have been conducting research exploring the mechanism of bilingualism and executive functions. After all, Vygotsky also argued that bilingualism may have positive impact on human mind (Vygotsky, 1962).

There are many positive effects that introducing a second language can have on a child’s brain development and activity. This experience improves the child’s cognitive development as well as other brain functions. According to certified neurologist, Judy Willis, many studies have found that children who have been exposed to a foreign language for five to ten years have greater focus and cognition. These benefits are primarily due to the higher levels of activity in the prefrontal cortex network. Willis also states that executive functions in the brains of bilingual children also tend to be more active. These networks boost goal-oriented behaviors. Individuals who have grown up bilingual are also proven to perform better academically, are better at problem solving, do better on standardized tests, and become more confident individuals compared to monolingual individuals.

Improvements in academic achievements, higher standardized test scores, and positive impacts on creative thinking are all factors that contribute to the growing support of implementing multilingual education. Representatives from the United States Department of Education agree that there is “a growing body of research” that clearly conveys how “students who are bilingual have advantages, not only in their literacy development, but in the development of problem-solving skills and other areas of cognition” (“The Importance of…”). A child’s mind is often compared to a sponge, constantly absorbing new information.

One of the many advantages of language acquisition is enhanced cognitive functioning, especially for children. Foster & Reeves (1989) study measured the cognitive and metacognitive processes of elementary kids receiving foreign language instruction found that student who received foreign language instruction scored higher on tasks involving evaluation, the highest cognitive skill according to Bloom’s Taxonomy . Additionally, children enrolled in foreign language programs demonstrate more creativity and divergent thinking. The benefits are present for adults as well. Several studies show that people who are competent in more than one language outscore those who are speakers of only one language on tests of verbal and nonverbal intelligence. (Bruck, Lambert,