Raising Bilingual Children Research Paper

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.

Cultural Diversity has lead schools to promote dual language and bilingual programs for ELL students. However, raising bilingual children according to Marsha Rosenberg is not something that simply happens. Parents must carefully consider how they will raise their children in their new culture. Unfortunately, many parents often forget that neglecting their primary language in the process of raising their children will only hurt them in the long run. However, what they fail to understand is that our current society insists on developing diverse learners, who can speak two or more languages and are diverse (Gensee, n.d). Therefore, in order to raise bilingual students they parents must provide the children with rich experiences at home as well as in a variety of settings (Broekhuizen, n.d.). Furthermore, families need to maintain a close family unity and sense of belonging when dealing with the bilingual issue at home.

These days there are more and more people who live in a country where other language than their home language is spoken. This could be due to different reasons, like immigration of the whole family or having married a person from another country. When children are involved most parents would like them to be bilingual, but this does not happen automatically. Some effort is required.

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.

Introduction - Being a part of a bilingual speaking family, like with my mom and dad who are Chinese immigrants, is an experience that no one can imagine unless you are part of a bilingual speaking family. Experiences such as knowing a language that not many of our neighbors don't know can be frustrating for both sides. Being young in my early years, learning English was not only a struggle for me but for my family. I noticed that my parents struggled learning english and communicating with the outside world. From buying groceries to paying for the bills, I observed the painful experiences that my parents persevere through all these years. I was glad public schools gave me the opportunity to not only learn English but to help my family live in this English superior society.

Bilingualism is skill that is gained through life circumstances that does not require some innate skill (Bialystok, 2011). Some of these circumstances could include one’s family, immigration history, or birthplace. The ability to speak and understand more than one language is common among over half the world’s population (Bialystok et al., 2012). In the 1960s, many researchers warned against teaching children more than one language as it many cause confusion and it appeared to have negative effects on a child’s cognitive development (Bialystok, 1988). As research regarding bilingualism has progressed, the effects of bilingualism have been shown to be advantageous compared to monolingual counterparts. Recent studies have even found that bilingualism provides benefits all stages of life (Bialystok, 2011).

That is why there should be a program created at the University of California, Riverside. This program should be available to everyone in the community. Furthermore, the program would consist of sessions in which the data and studies done on bilingual infants can be presented and broken down. The way in which the information is presented is very crucial because there are certain things that make it difficult to explain. The information about the benefits of bilingualism in infants will be presented by taking the studies conducted and breaking down everything completely, including the terms and the data. These sessions will be open to whoever wants to inform themselves or has concerns about exposing their babies to more than one language. In addition, the program will allow those who have first hand experiences with being bilingual from infancy or who have bilingual infants to speak about the benefits. However, if the program were to only be accessible by going to UCR then it would make it difficult for many to find the time to attend. Just as many other programs such as health programs, go around schools informing parents this program will mobilize itself. By mobilizing this program we will be able to reach more people. The places that we would target the most would be elementary schools, daycare centers, and certain clinics that deal with pregnant parents. These would be very good places to go to and inform parents about bilingual infants because it would still be a good time for them to do so. This program could also inform them about the other benefits of bilingualism throughout an individual's life span. Lastly, it would be more beneficial to inform them about all the other benefits as well because the parents or future parents will be able to see how exposing their child to more than one language will really benefit them in the long

According to Crago, Genesee, and Paradis (2011), amount of second language exposure at home, school, and the community is critical for language development (p.84). This means that it is important for bilingual children to be exposed to an environment where it supports their language development and makes an impact to their development trajectories. As children become familiar to more than one language, they also start having communicated proficiency errors in the way they talk with others (Crago et al., 2011, p.115). For example, grammatical morphemes and language mixing are some errors children make. Children also become familiar with another language depending on the help they get from their psychological and social factors. Another thing

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

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.

From the time they are young children until the time they are seniors, bilinguals own several advantages in various categories over monolinguals. Being brought up in a bilingual environment is quite different than how one would normally be brought up. Young bilinguals are constantly being exposed to two languages at the same time, being able to understand and use both when they feel necessary. From a young age, bilingual children are already able to have good decision-making skills due to these several situations they are in that require them to select which language is best for which situation (Kinzler). Being brought up as a bilingual will also develop a child’s cognitive skills in various vital

Bilingual education is necessary for our self and our parents, such as education, work, live and life, and Bilingual language have an advantage over than some people who get one language, and most of parents want their child to learn in

Bilingual education is necessary for our self and our parents, such as education, work, live and life, and bilingual language have an advantage over than some people who get one language, and most of parents want their child to learn in

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

The bilingual participants were split into two groups based on their total proficiency scores, the more proficient bilinguals (N = 30) and the less proficient bilinguals (N = 37). This was determined through the language proficiency section of the childhood questionnaire. Individuals with a total proficiency score of 12 or lower were classified as the less proficient bilinguals, while individuals with a score of 13 to 16 were classified as the more