The Role Of Inhibitory Modulation Of Languages Among Bilinguals

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.

While some may think that this is not certain studies have proven otherwise. In The Power of a Bilingual Brain, Jeffery Kluger states that, “Research is increasingly showing that the brains of people who know two or more languages….. Multilingual people, studies show, are better at reasoning, at multitasking, at grasping and reconciling conflicting ideas.”(1) Clearly, a bilingual education places students a step ahead not only in their education careers but, as well as in their daily life’s outside school. Jeffery Kluger discusses how a bilingual brain is not necessarily smarter brain, but is a more flexible and practical brain. Evidently, demonstrating to us one of the many benefits of a bilingual

This nation is a place where different cultures come together and learn to coexist. From native America, Latinos, Asians and probably other nations that are not well known; they all have something in common which they all are bilinguals. Authors Cisneros, Agosin, Dumas and Tan clearly illustrate that being bilingual has both advantages and disadvantages.

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

The readings of last week deal mostly with bilingualism. As a multilingual myself, I have never thought about all the obstacles that bilinguals are thought to face while growing up in a monolingual society or everything that goes in the process of learning two languages whilst growing up. The article Rearing Bilingual Children in a Monolingual Culture: A Louisiana Experience by Caldas and Caron-Caldas is the first article I have read that provided empirical data on this phenomenon. The article by Caldas and Caron-Caldas piqued my curiosity on this topic not only because I was impressed by what they were able to achieve, but also because I might face the same dilemma in the near future, so I started to read more about this topic; to my surprise,

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

Due to the rise in bilingual programs in the U.S., researchers began to wonder how a child’s brain was able to process two languages simultaneously. To their utter amazement, students who were bilingual benefit in multiple areas of their lives. For example, they have greater cognitive flexibility, superior language skills, and a higher IQ. Nevertheless, some parents, teachers, and even some researchers were concerned that immersing students in the target language, with no instruction in the first language, may cause students to lose their ability to converse/use their first language. In other words, fear began to rise that teaching in only the desired second language may cause the students to favor that language over their native language. This is where the research controversies

Many people do not believe in bilingual education because they think that the student would confuse the two languages and in the end speak neither one correctly. A closer look at when the two language mixes reveals that most of them master one of the languages to the same degree as a monolingual speaker (Korth 3). Through their bilingualism, they can use linguistic means creatively in accordance with the demands of the situation. This flexibility is a cognitive ability, which monolingual speakers can achieve only through effortful learning and training. Switching from one language to the other can be interpreted as an indication of the speaker’s fluency (Korth 3). In some cases, the languages are only spoken in specific places. If a child speaks

By the emerge of globalization, being a bilingual is no longer a novelty experience any more. It is quiet normal in nowadays that people encounter bilinguals in their daily bases. There is a common sense that bilinguals should have certain abilities prior to monolinguals. Bialystok (2001) suggested that “the constant managing 2 competing languages enhance the executive function”. Moreover, her another study(Bialystok, 2004) indicated that bilingual participants also responded more rapidly to conditions that placed greater demands on working memory. In all cases the bilingual advantage was greater for older participants. These two findings imply that bilingualism have beneficial effects on the executive function and working memory.

It is important to recognize the neurological differences amongst monolingual and bilingual individuals. In the research community, many studies have been conducted to investigate the way both groups process language. Cross-linguistic development anatomically changes the structure of the brain that results in an enlarged

Bilingualism is known to have a negative and a positive outcome on individuals who are multilingual or bilingual. Around the 21st century at least half of the world’s population are now bilingual .The article The Cognitive Benefits of Being Bilingual discussed the different aspect of bilingualism and how it affects the way our brain process information. Researchers have studied the brain that showed that being multilingual and bilingual “have a better attention and task-switching capacities than monolingual brain” function.

Each time a bilingual speaks its brain functions in slightly different ways than that of a monolingual’s. Bilinguals deal with constant dual-language activation as they are able to switch between two sometimes very different languages. The ability to use one language without intrusions from the other language is seen as an important topic of study (Van Assche, Duyck, and Gollan, 2013). However, one of the costs of being bilingual is the reduced exposure to each language. Studies show that both sequential and simultaneous bilinguals score lower on vocabulary measures than monolinguals (Rosselli et al., 200 as cited in Kaushankaya, Blumenfeld and Marian, 2011). Strong evidence for weakened vocabulary performance in bilinguals comes from

Bilingualism has been commonly used in scientific and common nomenclature to refer to the knowledge and/or use of two languages, though the specifics of the definition have been widely debated (e.g. Altarriba & Heredia, 2008; De Groot & Kroll, 1997; Grosjean, 2010). In fact, one half (Grosjean, 2010) to two-thirds (Walraff, 2000) of all people in the world have been estimated to routinely use more than one language in everyday communicative contexts. Given this global linguistic profile, it has been suggested that an increasing number of people with communication difficulties post-brain injury are likely to be bilingual (Ansaldo, Marchotte, Scherer, & Raboyeau, 2008; Centeno, 2009). Bilingual aphasia refers to difficulties in

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).

Depending on whom you ask, the topic of bilingualism is something that many individuals wonder and ask questions about, especially when it comes to language development. One of the main concerns parents and educators alike have about being bilingual is how is what kind effect will it have on a child when learning a second language while growing up. Many are scared because at times they think the child would lose their first language or not be able to learn a new language because it might be too difficult for them to learn to languages at the same time. However, there are people who also wonder if after learning and becoming proficient in one language is it easier to become proficient in many other languages. Therefore, studies have shown the effects of bilingualism in language and cognitive and have found theories to prove it. According to the author, “The theories of bilingualism include the balance theory, common underlying proficiency, threshold theory, and the linguistic interdependence hypothesis”(Wallner, 2016:15). Since these researchers did find out about these theories, they also identified that there are multiple benefits in speaking two languages; which are increased cognition and intercultural competence.