How Bilingualism Affects Cognition And Whether Or Not The Effects

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 many studies, bilingual learners' brain can have better attentiveness and the ability to switch tasks than a mono-lingual learner’s brain because of their cognitive ability to control to suppress one language while using another language or switch from one language to another language simultaneously. Bilingualism also positively affects learners' academic progress (Saer, D. J. 1923).

Bilingualism and multilingualism are well practiced through the World. Despite it being well accepted on other parts of the globe, many areas in the United States tends to turn a cold shoulder to it.. Most education policies concerning bilingual or not based on scientific evidence and research (which has discovered the advantages and disadvantages of bilingualism) but rather pre conceived notions and stigmas when it comes to the practice. After some brief research, I believe we should embrace the "new wave" practices and policies, which are more well informed rather than the past. Researches also need to explore new ways in which the brain retains, recognizes and organizes language learning. Now is the tome to put evidence based practices and

For language development, there is a popular debate on whether there is an advantage to being a bilingual individual. There is a large amount of evidence that supports both sides of the argument. In terms of bilingual advantage, various studies focus on how bilingual or multilingual individuals outperform individuals on executive control tasks that are either linguistic of non-linguistic in nature. The advantages stem from greater foundations of executive function, such as cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control, in bilinguals than in non-bilinguals. Young and older bilingual individuals show a cognitive advantage because they outperform non-bilingual individuals during executive function tasks for enhanced attentional control, conflict

Being bilingual constitute to communication advantages, cultural advantages and cognitive advantages, or viewed from the perspective of balanced bilingualism. Researchers who find cognitive advantages mostly focus on balanced bilinguals. Bialystok, 2001 and Cummins & Mulcahy, 1978 as well as Arnberg, 1981 agreed on the notion that children tend to move toward balanced bilingualism and it increases the likelihood of obtaining cognitive advantages. Further studies also found that balanced bilinguals had certain advantages in cognitive processes. They were better at concept formation and in tasks that required symbol manipulation and mental flexibility (Bain & Yu, 1980; Diaz 1983; Peal & Lambert, 1962). Bilingualism can enrich a person’s linguistic repertoire and also contributes to flexible and critical thinking (Pavlenko, 2005a, 2011). Hamers and Blanc claim that “cognitive advantages…seem to be mainly at the level of a higher creativity and reorganization of information” (1989, p50). Cummins

This investigation discusses the question of “Is the brain organized differently in bilingual individuals?”. This question was brought upon living in a bilingual community at school, with both Arabic and English speakers. This essay will demonstrate the brain imaging techniques used to differentiate the monolingual brain from a bilingual brain, research studies, and the positive and negative outcomes toward a bilingual brain. Language constructs our relationship with the world arounds us in the ways we express ourselves, therefore what does it mean to be bilingual and monolingual? Bilingualism refers to an individual’s ability to speak two or more languages fluently even if one language is learned later on in life. However, monolinguals are

In the article entitled “The Benefits of Being Bilingual‏”, Dr. Mercola discusses the gained brain benefits from being bilingual and other factors that can improve your neurological system. She started by showing the fact that although the majority of people in the States are monolingual, most people worldwide are bilingual, then she states the apparent advantages of bilingualism. Nevertheless, Mercola highlights on the brain perks of bilingualism. People believed that being bilingual or multilingual was a drawback, conversely studies have shown that bilingualism is considered as a mental exercise which leads to a more proficient working brain throughout aging. She displays that studies comparing bilinguals to monolinguals have shown that bilinguals enjoy more mental flexibility with enhanced cognitive abilities, as well as better

1 Emmorey, Karen, GiGi Luk, Jennie Pyers, and Ellen Bialystok (2008): The Source of Enhanced Cognitive Control in Bilinguals. Psychological Science.

Learning a second language at a young age has long-term benefits that can be felt even in old age. As human’s age their brains atrophy, but bilingual people can delay the consequences of this damage. These individuals are constantly experiencing the world using two languages so, while a monolingual person remembers how to ride a bike in one language, a bilingual person stores that memory twice, once in their first language a once in their second. This allows bilingual

Bialystok, Craik, and Luk (2012) investigated the growing body of evidence examining the presence of a bilingual advantage in terms of enhanced executive control: the group of cognitive skills involved in language switching, working memory and inhibition. Furthermore, the researchers examined evidence supporting the notion that differences in brain structure and function helped to explain the bilingual advantage (Bialystok et al., 2012). In regards to joint activation in bilinguals, researchers found that both languages are always activated to some degree (Bialystok et al., 2012) Though this may cause language interference errors, bilinguals can select their target language with remarkable accuracy (Bialystok et al., 2012).

To begin with, bilingualism is a term which is not used in a regular way between researchers and theoreticians. For example Macnamara (1967; cited in Cummins and Swain, 1986:07) defines bilinguals as those have at least one of the skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) even to a lower degree in their second language. At the other end of the scale Oestreicher (1974; cited in Cummins and Swain, 1986:07) defines bilinguals as those who show “complete mastery of two different languages without interference”. According to Bloomfield (1933; cited in Romaine, 1989:10) bilingualism is a “native like control of two languages”, it is the ability to speak two languages perfectly. Furthermore, bilingualism was analyzed into four levels in another paper: individual, family, societal, and school levels (McCarty, 2010).

Bilingualism was once seen as a negative attribute. Experts such as doctors, psychologists, teachers, and more were firm believers in that bilingualism was capable of causing more bad than good in the minds of multicultural people, and especially children (Arsenian 1945). It was once believed that having knowledge of two distinct languages in one brain could lead to “mental confusion, inadequate mastery of either language, and cultural up rootedness” (Arsenian 1945: 69-70). According to the article “Bilingualism in the Post War World” written in 1945, this notion was seriously considered decades before the Second World War and was still being considered since the publication of the article. As mentioned in another article, this belief held up from the nineteenth century well into the 1960’s (Mitsunori 2000).

Bialstok et al state that Bilingualism is not usually preselected for talent because on average they did not choose to be bilingual but are by circumstances. Bilingualism has been linked to neuroplasticity to modify brain structures and the changes themselves are enduring to produce difference cognitive processing. More specifically brain there seems to be a bilingual advantage to tests involving symbol manipulation and recognition, metalinguistics awareness, ignoring interference and conflict ignorance. In the beginning, there seemed to be a trend where the data for bilingual language acquisition and overall skills seemed to be hindered by knowing two languages, even in their dominant language or with symbolism. To put it in other words, bilinguals have the challenge of their two languages and makes their cognitive functioning more effortful. On the other hand, it has been seen that bilingual, even matched, have better executive functioning. Executive functioning is in the frontal

In today’s generation many of the children in Asia are bilingual with English as their first language and their native language as their second. Being a bilingual comes along with various advantages in today’s world. There are several advantages a bilingual has over their monolingual counter-part. One of the advantages bilinguals have is better cognitive flexibility compared to monolinguals. Cognitive flexibility is the ability to restructure knowledge in multiple ways depending on the changing situational demands (Spiro, 1995).

In the past two decades, series of discoveries has changed the way bilingualism was understood (Kroll, Bobb, & Hoshino, 2014). The consequences of bilingualism are not limited to native and second language but appear to reflect reorganization of brain networks that hold implications for the ways in which bilinguals negotiate cognitive competition more generally. The "bilingual" experience for every individual is unique as it depends upon the context, linguistic proficiency, and purpose. There is also a great variability in the amount and quality of exposure to the languages that the individual learns. Due to this capriciousness in bilingual characteristics, defining bilingualism becomes problematic and raises number of theoretical and methodological concerns (Hamers & Blanc, 2000).