The Effects Of Bilingualism On Children And Adults Essay

First off, it’s important to understand the difference between learning and education. Learning is the ability of an individual’s brain to acquire and retain information for a lifetime, whereas education is an aide to further strengthen a student’s learning capacity with the use of resources: teachers, libraries, classroom environment, etc. All students are essentially equal when they enter the educational environment, however students who don’t speak English have an unfair disadvantage in the american educational system.

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.

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.

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

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.

Communication, education, buying, selling, asking for directions, businesses transactions, etc, are all reasons why language is necessary. However, there could easily be a barrier between people that can impede on and dictate how these interactions will progress without the correct language. Bilingualism or multilingualism is a common asset that most of the people in the world use and rely on every day. Bilingualism will be described in this paper as the ability to speak two or more languages proficiently, however bilingualism and multilingualism will be used interchangeably. The second (or nth) language can be acquired at home at a young age (for example, if the parents/caregiver

Many parents and teachers, now more than ever, are teaching children the importance of understanding and speaking more than one language. However, many children who speak more than one language have slight developmental delays in their syntax for both languages. However, the benefits of being bilingual far outweighs these very minor delays. There are many benefits to being bilingual. Recent studies done have even discovered that being bilingual may help protect our brains from developing diseases such as Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. Those of us who learned a second language during childhood have a better understanding for how language is structured and used, this understanding is called metalinguistic insight.

As our society continues to grow, the normality of traveling across the globe or connecting with people from all different ethnic backgrounds becomes more and more common. Social Media and the efficiency of travel have all contributed to this flourish in global connections and it is striving more now than ever. The many cultures of the world can now be shared with so many, but with that come the challenge of language barriers.

Our brain is an exceedingly complex, yet versatile and flexible that is competent of responding to multiple languages. At present, a large portion of the of the world's population is considered to be multilingual. In fact, statistics have shown that 66% of children worldwide are brought up in bilingual households (Associated Press, 2001; Konishi, Kanero, Freeman, Golinkoff & Hirsh-Pasek, 2014). For many others, individuals may learn a new language for a variety of reasons due to culture, traveling, work or business relations, relocation and immigration (Li, Legault & Litcofsky, 2014). Researchers suggest that language acquisition is possible at any age, thanks to emerging neuroscience technology. New insight into how the brain functions suggest

The earlier purchase of the second language and adeptness, increases the volume of grey matter which provides a balance between the two languages. However, the benefits of bilingualism isn’t limited to people born bilingual, but also the ones who gain it later in life. Bilinguals excel monolinguals in an improved metalinguistic alertness, memory and creativity. Dr. Mercola deduces that some researchers claim that adults may be better at learning a new language than children. Where, adults have more developed skills and knowledge as compared to children. Children excel in obtaining a similar accent of the new language without the influence of their native language like adults. However, the accent doesn’t affect the fluency and communication skills where adults outdo children in; due to the greater knowledge. She then suggests that it’s never too late to learn a new language, and to obtain the best skills you should engage yourself in a class rather than learning it by yourself. Mercola enumerates other activates that can lift your mental health and

When you think of the advantages of being bilingual, what do you thing of? Being bilingual has some advantages over people who are monolingual. Bilingualism is currently being researched, and presents brain strength, speed, efficiency, and focus. Middle schoolers should be aware of this and maybe learn a new language. It may help in the long run.

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

The human brain is capable of the most remarkable abilities. It doesn't just manage the human body, but it also allows us to communicate by processing, interpreting, and understanding language. Human beings use language as the main source of communication, it allows an individual to express her/himself with greater precision. Each country has their own language, and with language comes different accents and dialects. Speaking one language alone is enough for the brain to develop, as that language is being constantly used. When it comes to speaking two languages, that's when the brain is strengthened, the individual is more intelligent and is able to acquire knowledge more easily. The use of two languages is described by the phenomenon of bilingualism.The effects of bilingualism are linked to the functional neuroplasticity — the ability of the brain to modify its structure and function with experience. This neuroplastic effect leads to changes in personality in which a bilinguist is capable of not just switching languages but switching personalities as well. One can argue that it takes more than being bilingual to change brain activity and function, but most would agree that the benefits of bilingualism outweigh the drawbacks. Advanced technology has shown that bilingualism has improved cognitive control, changed brain activity over time to strengthen its neurons, and protect against age-related diseases. A major recent discovery over the effects of bilingualism is a

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.