The Pros And Cons Of Trilinguals

Bilingualism itself can be held responsible for increased levels of executive control and higher brain plasticity. In order to maintain a balance between two languages, the bilingual brain depends on executive functions, a monitoring system of general cognitive abilities that includes processes such as attention and inhibition. Laurent et. al 2010 aimed to determine bilingual experience enhances the development of phonological awareness. Children were exposed to early learning of a second language between the school grades 3-5 in primary school, ages ranging from 8 to 10 years old. The goal of this study was to promote the concept of “bilingual advantage” (Laurent, 2010) as researchers measured exactly how long children required second language exposure in order to influence phonological awareness. These researchers expected that after 4 years

Cognitive development advances gradually during infancy. Bilingual infants have often been treated as a special population with unique advantages or disadvantages as compared to monolinguals. A recent collection of studies has demonstrated advantages in infants exposed to two languages, however the specificity of this advantage remains unclear (Singh et al., 2015; Brito & Barr, 2013). Although, one component such as memory can show a hallmark of an infant’s flexibility in development. Summarized in this paper are two studies in which researchers investigated whether or not bilingual infants have a cognitive advantage. With comparisons between monolinguals and bilinguals both studies reveal a bilingual advantage in cognitive control. The studies utilized two different methods, the visual habituation procedure and the deferred imitation of memory retrieval. Taken together, the studies evaluated how bilingualism may be correlated to a general enhancement of the cognitive control system.

First of all, bilingual education has shown to be able to increase the attention span of students. For years it had been believed that, when learning two languages, students found themselves to become increasingly distracted and confused, unaware of which language to use in what moment. Today, however, scientists can see that that is far from the case. In fact, if a student

The benefits of bilingualism is something that is well understood in the literature spawning the term, “the bilingual advantage,” which is supposed to encompass enhanced performance control as well as overall mental flexibility culminating in an overall slower decline in executive function as aging continues. Such claims are well supported by evidence from young to old in a multitude of studies spanning decades. What is just as well understood and researched but less often talked about are the negative effects of bilingualism on the brain. Second language acquisition, while potentially providing some benefits to memory and executive control, negatively impacts vocabulary size and linguistic recall tasks of bilinguals compared to monolinguals resulting in less language and verbal fluency.

A growing body of research supports the idea that speaking multiple languages results in several benefits. Bilingualism has been shown to enhance mental flexibility, generally understood as “the

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).

But brain researchers said they see no reason why not. The study showed that bilingual young adults performed better in ignoring irrelevant stimuli and focusing on relevant information. One possible reason for this ability is that the processes of learning two languages and switching back and forth between them, train the brain to divide important from less important auditory information. Also, researchers have found that found that dementia occurred four or five years later among people who spent their lives speaking two languages compared to those who spoke only

Some interesting studies have found that bilinguals outperformed monolinguals when faced with a series of language-related and even arithmetic tasks. However, this is not all. Other experiments compared bilinguals’ and monolinguals’ performance on several mathematics tasks designed to assess creativity, and indeed: bilinguals not only solve arithmetic problems more successfully, but also do so more creatively. The benefits are clear, and extend beyond the ability to do math: bilingualism expands the ability to solve problems by thinking creatively. When you speak multiple languages, you are less constricted by one single world-view — bilingualism opens the door to new ideas and ways of thinking, and teaches the brain to think outside the

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).

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

The structure of the brain serves as a visual aid in understanding the “architecture of language networks”, while the functions explain how these networks are aligned through different contexts or personal experiences (Wong, Ying & O’Brien, 2015). Several studies indicate that bilinguals have a select advantage over monolinguals in the capacity of their cognitive abilities, which results from their language experiences. Bilingual individuals constantly select and omit specific words when switching between their first and second languages. Therefore, this ability enables them to surpass monolinguals when performing tasks analogous to executive functioning (Wu & Thierry, 2013). Executive functions define functions that help individuals manage everyday tasks. While there are many different aspects of executive functioning, the main ones that are pertinent to language are inhibition, shift and update. Inhibition refers to the ability to stop an automatic, behavioral response when necessary, and shift refers to the ability to move freely between tasks or situations. Lastly, update correlates to the capacity to retain information in the brain (working memory) and replace it with newer information when necessary (Wong et al, 2015).

Research has demonstrated that the brains of children who are bilingual grow better intellectual capabilities. Researchers who inspected the wonder gave it a peculiar name – the bilingual advantage. The mind of the speaker rapidly gets used to overseeing two languages at once. This creates abilities for capacities extending from inhibition, working memory and switching attention. All these psychological aptitudes affect the mind’s official control framework, which for the most part deals with activities dealing with high-level thought. Since bilingual individuals continually switch between their two languages, they’re probably going to likewise be better at exchanging between various tasks.

many people around us speak more than one language. Bilinguals are people who can speak at least two languages. There is a lot of debating on whether monolinguals have better memory or bilinguals. Many research has shown similar results with similar experiments. It is true that monolinguals do know more words in a language, but when it comes to memory, bilinguals have a better memory (Kudo & Swanson, 2014). Bilinguals do make grammar mistakes a lot and mix up the languages to get their point across but they are able to deliver their point across. Overall, they are better able to focus on what to remember. In all of the studies, I have reviewed bilinguals have outperformed monolinguals. Bilinguals are able to focus more on the task that is assigned to them as well as eliminate the distraction around them. Bilinguals have learned how to balance two languages in their life, they speak a different language at home and a different language at school. Bilinguals are able to pick up cues in their everyday life to deal with any type of situation. Bilinguals are able to attack the situation quickly and accurately than monolinguals Bilinguals do have outperform monolinguals in all tasks except in vocabulary.

We always hear that knowing two languages is better than one, it will take you farther in future. People who speak at least two languages are bilinguals. A study conducted by Blom et. al (2017) compare bilinguals and monolinguals and their memory ability (p. 3). Bilinguals have outperformed monolinguals in memory experiment (Blom et. al, 2017, p. 1). According to Blom et. al (2017) bilinguals pick up cues to know remember and answer correctly (p. 2). If a bilingual knows both languages really well than their cognitive ability is much higher than a monolingual (Blom et. al, 2017, p. 2). The study had 176 children from age six or seven participating in the study, all participants’ Socioeconomic status, age, and intelligence matched (Blom et al, 2017, p. 4). The researchers used different tasks to test participants’

Language is one of mankind’s most powerful inventions. From the scribbles in caves, thousand-page stories of a French Revolution, to men and women standing in front of thousands eager to listen; the written, spoken, and oration of language is a vital component of the human experience. Interestingly, the greater an individual’s mastery of language the greater his or her ability to understand the world itself, and more importantly those that live on it. The following is going to be an in-depth analysis of the impact multilingualism has on an individual’s perception, exposure, and appreciation of foreign culture. First, multilingualism has several benefits to people without taking culture into account. The difference in neural activity between monolingual and multilingual speakers has shown the later to have a marginal advantage over the other. Research shows this advantage as a result of the brain’s executive function. (Diamond 1-3) This portion of the brain relates to intelligence, it affects a person’s memory, attention, forethought, impulse control, etc. The executive function of the brain is especially active in bilinguals, but what causes this phenomenon? Simple, the constant competition between two or more languages presents a level of exercise within the brain that monolinguals do not experience. So, the mental stress of alternating between two languages increases one’s mental acuity and ability.