Development in Bilingual Children - Research Paper Example

Development in Bilingual Children Language development is one of the many miracles that occur as a part of growth of an infant into a toddler and then into a school going child. The focus in understanding the process of language development is on course and factors affecting the course of development. Further, in modern world almost every individual learns and acquires varied levels of proficiency in a second language (L2), other than his mother tongue (L1). To a child the second language may be introduced simultaneously with the first language i.e. since birth or may be introduced later during the childhood. Considering this it is important to investigate Bilingualism and its impact on various aspects of development of child. The current paper aims to understand the implications of bilingualism through a review of two current research papers investigating bilingualism. During the process of review the paper aims to find the answers to following questions: 1. Do bilingual children develop language differently than non-bilingual children? 2. Do bilingual children have more expressive or receptive language or equal? 3. Are bilingual children more likely to have language and learning disorders? Hoff & Elledge (2005) presented a paper describing a study conducted to explore the impact of environmental bilingualism on the process of language development during International Symposium on Bilingualism. In order to investigate these aspects the authors compared the acquisition of English in monolingual and bilingual children and also explored factors that might be responsible for the differences, if any. The participants of the study included 39 (25 boys, 13 girls) children learning English in bilingual homes and 63 (38 boys, 25 girls) in monolingual homes. The participants were of the age group of 16 to 30 months. The second language in the bilingual homes was varied and included Spanish, Portuguese, Creole, Hebrew, French etc. The data about the child’s vocabulary ad grammatical development was obtained from the primary caregivers using MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (CDI). The details of the home language environment and family demography were obtained through a structured interview. The results indicated that the children in monolingual homes had better English vocabulary than those in bilingual homes; though the difference was marginal. The grammatical achievement levels too were comparable but low in the two groups; both averaging below 50th percentile. Results could be interpreted to mean that vocabulary development is more effected by bilingualism than grammar development. Further the development levels were also influenced significantly by maternal education and occupation in bilingual homes. Higher the amount of exposure to English as second language; more were the development indices for acquisition of this language. This is in agreement with the previous observations for language development in general. More the input better is the outcome in form of vocabulary development. Two important aspects emerged from the comparative study of acquisition of English and Spanish vocabulary. First, the development of one language did not negatively affect the development of second. This was found to be true specifically for vocabulary development in Children exposed to Spanish (L2) and English (L1). Further the grammatical complexity scores too of this category of bilingual children were positively related. It can be concluded from this study that the experiences acquired and the skills involved in the grammatical learning of these two languages were similar. Thus the similarity or differences in the nature of the two languages can also be listed as a contributing factor critical to the acquisition of two languages. Bilingualism in context to learning and language disorder was explored by Özerk and associates (2011) during a recent study on six Turkish students (mother tongue Turkish) aged 8 to 12 years, with Norwegian as their second language. It has been established during the earlier studies that children from a different cultural and linguistic background, learning English as second language are often diagnosed with learning, language and behavioral disorders such attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, dyslexia etc. However this has been attributed to lack of suitable diagnostic criteria in accordance with the linguistic and cultural background of the child and comparison of the characteristics of the mother tongue and second language. Özerk and associates used a multidimensional, multisource and bilingual model to assess children diagnosed with inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. The study was preceded by thorough research and involved several complementary methods, tests and assessment tools for both Norwegian and Turkish languages. The tools employed during the study, included Barkley’s anamneses scheme after modification for Norwegian language, BRIEF (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functions) assessment form, both teacher and parent version (translated in to Turkish for parents). Besides this prescreening, interviews and classroom observations were also conducted for additional information on learning behavior and learning environment of the child. To assess cognitive capacity WISC-III (modified for Norwegian language) and three subsamples (information, comprehension and similarities) also modified for Turkish language were used. Besides this BVPS (British Picture Vocabulary Scale); Valetest, a Norwegian test for auditive learning by repetition and NEPSY subtests for wordflow, semantics and memory were also used. The results indicated that the subjects were weak with respect to language related skills as well as in memory capacity. Several gapes were observed in the vocabulary development of both the languages providing an inadequate base for academic learning. The inattention and hyperactivity were found to be the causal factors for the gaps in learning, and the other way round. Özerk and associates presented the Swiss cheese metaphor to explain the missed learning opportunities contributing to learning gaps. A lack of adequate social and educational opportunities enabling utilization of the two languages has contributed to insufficient cognitive academic language skills. An early diagnosis followed by suitable interventions in form of sufficient opportunities, repetition and focus on conceptual gaps with respect to language development has been recommended by the authors as an appropriate strategy for improvement. CONCLUSION On the basis of the information gathered from the two studies it can be concluded that the most important aspect of language development is exposure to the language. The process of language development in both monolingual and bilingual children is similar; however the similarity in the semantics and phonology of the two languages positively correlates with their simultaneous acquisition. Bilingual children do not necessarily have better vocabulary and the grammatical proficiency too is comparable to monolingual children, hence expression levels are not affected by bilingualism. Finally, bilingualism may appear to be responsible for learning disabilities; however this is more often due to lack of diagnostic tools based on both languages of the child that leads to such conclusions. REFERENCES Read More