What Are the Potential Advantages of Growing up Bilingual - Essay Example

?What are the potential advantages of growing up bilingual? Discuss factors which are likely to support or inhibit these advantages. Introduction According to Hall, Larson and Marsh (2003), bilingual children are in a position to transfer acquired skills and confront challenges as they learn another language. This is particularly so when the new language has no connection to their first language and their specific cultures. The typical challenges can be in phonics, and can be syntactic, textual and semantic in nature. In meeting these challenges children may have specific disadvantages as well as advantages (Hall, Larson and Marsh 2003, p. 183). Romaine (2000, p.2) notes that growing up bilingual means learning to be competent in two languages and this ultimately means compiling knowledge from two languages. This paper examines the potential advantages and disadvantages of growing up bilingual by first analysing the concept and process of acquiring bilingualism. The outcome of acquiring bilingualism will also be analysed. By taking this approach the challenges and how those challenges carry over in practice will provide a robust indication of the advantages and disadvantages of growing up bilingual. There appears to be two perspectives. Research dating back to 1913 reveals that growing up bilingual has a number of benefits particularly socially, culturally and linguistically. Other researchers argue that growing up bilingual limits the child’s ability to retain and extend his/her own language and creates distance from its own culture, society and impedes intellectual possibilities (Makin, Diaz and McLachlan 2007, p. 205). Learning another language is expected to create some challenges particularly for the small child who is learning to speak generally. Theoretically at least, growing up bilingual must be particularly challenging for children who are learning to count, read and spell. Learning these basic functions in one language is difficult enough. Therefore it is not difficult to believe that growing up bilingual can inhibit the child’s intellectual possibilities. However, children who are exposed to two languages do have the opportunity to learn valuable linguistic skills and to exercise their respective cognitive skills in ways that monolingual children do not. The research sheds light on whether or not the advantages outweigh the disadvantages to growing up bilingual. I. Definition and Process of Bilingualism A. Definition Defining bilingualism has proven difficult as researchers are divided on what it means to be bilingual. Some researchers prefer a narrow definition of bilingualism and insist that in order to be bilingual, an individual must be “very close to two monolinguals” (Reicholf-Wilscher 2008, p. 14). Other researchers in more recent times have preferred a broader definition of bilingualism, and have regarded bilingualism as a “common human condition that makes it possible for an individual to function, at some level, in more than one language” (Reicholf-Wilscher 2008, p. 14). Bilingualism means that children will be exposed to more than one culture and language at a very young age, most often at birth if they are growing up bilingual. There are obvious challenges for the young child as he/she begins the learning process. On the other hand, once the child learns two languages, this can be beneficial to the child later on. For instance if the family speaks one language at home and the child enters a school that teaches in another language, learning two languages will not only be necessary but beneficial to the child’s education. Farther on, as the child enters adulthood, being bilingual will provide greater flexibility and opportunities in the job markets. However,if claims that bilingual children can suffer intellectual setbacks are believed, having flexibility and greater job opportunities is not only necessary but compensatory. B. The Process of Bilingualism In a majority of cases in which children become bilingual, the process of bilingualism occurs naturally and is therefore not planned in advance. The natural occurrence of bilingualism follows from moving, federalism, inter-marrying, multi-linguistic groups in a specific area, education and urbanization (Grosjean 2001, p. 170). Baker divides the process of bilingualism among children into two distinct categories: simultaneous and sequential bilingualism. Simultaneous bilingualism is influenced by macro factors while sequential bilingualism is influenced by micro factors. For example, simultaneous bilingualism will most often occur within the intermarriage where one parent speaks to the child in one language while the other parent speaks to the child in another language with the result that the child acquires two languages simultaneously (Baker 2006, p. 97). Sequential bilingualism occurs when the child learns to speak one language at home and subsequently acquires another language outside of the home. The acquisition of a second language outside the home may be planned in terms of education or it may occur naturally from the proximity of a multi-lingual or bi-lingual community or close proximity with other linguistic groups (Baker 2006, p. 97). II. Advantages and Disadvantages of Bilingualism A. The Advantages of Growing Up Bilingual Children who become bilingual are for the most part capable of “switching from one language to another as the conversational situation demands”(Newman and Newman 2008, p. 200). In a study conducted among bilingual children in South Florida who had Spanish and English vocabulary, researchers found that the children were more flexible in expressing their thoughts than monolingual children (Fernandez et al 1992, pp. 268-276). Other researchers also found that bilingual children are better at understanding and communicating. Nicoladis (1998, p. 105) conducted a study among children aged 1 to 1 and a half years old who spoke Portuguese and English. The children demonstrated a “pragmatic differentiation” in that they understood which language was appropriate for specific circumstances (Nicoladis 1993, p. 105). Nicoladis (1998, p. 105) concluded: If these results are replicated they suggest that bilingual children’s understanding of the appropriate social use of their two languages may lead to an understanding that the translation equivalents in their vocabulary belong to two distinct input languages. Arguably, if these children did not learn or speak more than one language it would not be necessary for them to have to understand the equivalent translations. Likewise, they would not be required to learn or know the correct languages to use for the correct social settings. Just how advantageous these tools are for bilingual children is entirely unclear. Carlson and Meltzoff (2008, p. 282) conducted a study in which a number of assignments were given to 50 kindergarten children. The children were bilinguals, monolinguals who spoke only English and English students taking a second language. Result findings indicated that although the bilingual children had lower scores in verbal testing and their parents were from lower income backgrounds and had poorer educational levels, the bilingual children’s overall performance in the assigned scores were essentially the same as the other children. Once the researchers controlled for these differences as well as age, findings were that the bilingual children “performed significantly better on executive function battery” than the children in the other two groups (Carlson and Meltzoff 2008, p. 282). The results ultimately indicated that: The relative advantage was significant for tasks that appear to call for managing conflicting attentional demands (conflict tasks); there was no advantage on impulse-control (delay tasks) (Carlson and Meltzoff 2008, p. 282). Carlson and Meltzoff’s (2008) investigation therefore informs that, based on that group of children studied, children who grow up bilingual have greater cognitive functioning than children who are monolingual or deliberately take a second language. If indeed these findings are representative of bilingualism in children for the most part, better cognitive functioning is an advantage. Carlson and Meltzoff’s (2008) tests substantiate an earlier claim made by Bialystok (1999) who conducted a similar test among 60 preschool children. The group was divided among bilingual and monolingual children. The test was conducted, bearing in mind the cognitive and control theory which basically assumes that children in preschool do not have the requisite consciousness and “executive functioning” necessary for solving problems characterized by “conflicting rules” (Bialystok 1999, p. 636). The children in Bialystok’s (1999) sampling were tested to control for proficiency in English and memory testing to ensure that they were capable of robust comparisons in the task set for the study. That task was to test for “dimensional card sort task and the moving work task” (Bialystok 1999, p. 636). The results indicated that the bilingual children were more efficient in solving problems calling for “high levels of control” and therefore the cognitive development of the bilingual children was more advanced than the monolingual children, particularly where tasks call for control of attention (Bialystok 1999, p. 636). It is hardly surprising that researchers have discovered that bilingual children examined have greater cognitive functioning than the monolingual children sampled. As Makin, Diaz and McLachlan (2007, p. 205) inform “growing up bilingual is about negotiating social and cultural identity on a daily basis.” This practice would help the child to form a habit of focusing and concentrating and would therefor improve the child’s cognitive functioning. This naturally transfers over to the task of learning languages and learning generally. In particular, literacy benefits as bilingual children are required to have sufficient cognitive abilities to transfer language skills in their primary language over to the acquired language (Makin, Diaz and McLachlan 2007, p. 205). Wang (2008) reports that cumulatively, research into bilingual children illustrates for the most part that bilingual children, compared to monolingual counterparts benefit in a variety of ways. As previously demonstrated, researchers have found that bilingual children have more sophisticated cognitive abilities than monolingual children generally (Wang 2008, p. 198). Researchers have also found that bilingual children have a greater metalinguistic awareness than monolingual children. Bialystok (2002) theorizes that in general the acquisition of a second language automatically improves metalinguistic awareness which is concerned with word, structure and phonetics. Ultimately, researchers have agreed that metalinguistic awareness is significant for literacy generally and since the acquisition of a second language heightens the individual metalinguistic awareness, bilingual children have a greater chance of developing literacy than monolingual children (Bialystok 2002, p. 183). Wang’s (2008, p. 198) review of empirical research studies also indicate that bilingual children are more flexible than monolingual children in terms of reasoning and thinking. Adesope, Lavin, Thompson and Ungerleider (2010, p. 207) conducted a meta-analysis of over 63 empirical studies including 6000 children. These studies confirm earlier findings reported thus far (Adesope, Lavin, Thompson and Ungerleider 2010, p. 207). Generally, the meta-analysis conducted by Adesope, Lavin, Thompson and Ungerleider (2010) confirm that growing up bilingual is linked to improvement in a number of cognitive functions. The linked cognitive functions are control of attention, the working memory, heightening metalinguistic awareness and skills associated with symbolic and abstract representations (Adesope, Lavin, Thompson and Ungerleider 2010, p. 207). According to Casciani (2003) a pilot study involving 5000 Asian children living in Leicester demonstrated that children have a lot more to gain academically, socially and culturally by learning more about the culture and language of their parents. Specifically, the study found that learning and speaking their parents’ native language at home provided the children with an improved understanding of and “more subtle use of language and communication” (Casciani 2003). The fact is, more recent research efforts are reporting positive connections between bilingual children and individual achievement (Haydon 2003). Attention is not only turning to the academic and cultural benefits of bilingualism in children. Increasingly attention is being turned to how the improved language and communication skills of bilingual children are cultivating improvements in self-confidence (Haydon 2003). At later stages the bilingual child, with the acquired ability to control attention, improve cognitive functioning and to reason and think will have academic/education success. Moreover, being bilingual in an increasingly integrated world means that the bilingual child will emerge as a working adult with greater mobility and therefore greater job opportunities. B. The Disadvantages of Growing Up Bilingual There is a body of empirical evidence suggesting that growing up bilingual impedes the child’s intellectual development (Baron 1993, p. 175). However much of this evidence was collected in the earlier to mid-1900s and the methodology was suspect. These tests were typically conducted among newly immigrated children and compared to well-educated, well-settled monolingual children with healthier incomes (Baron 1993, p. 175). Earlier studies claimed that there is scientific evidence that bilingual children suffer intellectually in terms of poorer acquisition of vocabulary, poorer articulation, poorer writing skills and are more prone to grammatical mistakes than monolingual children (Baron 1993, p. 175). Since the methodology for these earlier results is suspect, a more reliable and recent research conducted by Sanders (2009) sheds some light on the disadvantages of growing up bilingual. Sanders’ (2009) research involved questionnaires and interviews of 11 bilingual families speaking English and German. The questionnaires and interviews provided direct evidence of the general concerns that people typically have about bilingual children. Sanders (2009) also conducted a meta-analysis of the literature in which conversational tests were conducted. The specific concerns typically involve the risk of confusing languages, a delay in the acquisition of a language and the overall stress learning two languages can have on children. Sanders (2009) observed that a majority of the children were prone to code-switching and mixing. Mixing typically occurred in the very young children between the ages of 2 and 3 and this occurred by substituting one word for another and generally occurred when the child was not familiar with the correct word in one language. For example one child did not know the English pronoun “myself” and substituted it by using the German pronoun “mich” (Sanders 2009, p. 8). In code switching the older child, typically five years or older, will switch words, phrases or even sentences to accommodate lapses in which the child does not know the correct word or phrase in the language he/she is using (Sanders 2009, p. 8). Since bilingualism is a learning process these disadvantages can be seen as advantages in that the children are not really confusing the languages, but are deliberately using their problem-solving abilities to account for lapses in language acquisition. Even so, switching languages in the wrong circumstances can be a disadvantage for the bilingual child. For instance, if the child switches languages in a school assignment this might lead to a misinterpretation on the part of a monolingual teacher who might fail the child student. If the child does this often enough the child might be held back a year. As the languages are used interchangeably, it is quite possible that the children will learn from these lapses and only perfect the languages. Moreover, any child acquiring literacy will have lapses. Children will usually learn from their mistakes unless they have emotional or cognitive difficulties that inhibit their ability to learn. As we have seen in the previous section, bilingual children typically have greater cognitive outcomes than monolingual children. Therefore all indications are that code-switching and mixing are all part of the learning process that these children are more than capable of overcoming. However, if they do not learn from these experiences in a timely fashion, they may find themselves held back in school or worse yet, may have difficulties with academic or intellectual results in general. Sanders (2009) also reports that the children studied in his research and children examined by other researchers indicate that bilingual children are no slower at learning to speak than monolingual children. In fact one researcher insists that “there is no scientific evidence to date that hearing two or more languages lead to delays or disorders in language acquisition” (I-Imerson Institute n.d. p. 3). In other words, all claims relative to speech delay and impaired intellect have not been substantiated. More especially, earlier research efforts attempting to demonstrate that bilingual children have poorer intellect, poorer articulation and are more prone to grammatical errors than monolingual children were too biased to rely on. The children in the bilingual samples were suffering from other micro and macro disadvantages that the monolingual samples were not experiencing. Even so, there are reports in the literature that bilingual children can be insecure about their native language when they live away from their native country. For instance, Zentella (1997, p. 283) conducted a study of Puerto Rican children in Puerto Rican community in New York. Zentella (1997, p. 283) indicated that the children participating in the study reported being stigmatized and that their Puerto Rican language was also stigmatized. Moreover, the adult Puerto Ricans participating in the study reported that they felt learning English was presented as a cure for being Puerto Rican (Zentella 1997, 283). In other words, growing up bilingual can leave the child socially bankrupt. Conclusion A review of the literature as reported in this study indicates that the advantages of growing up bilingual are better substantiated than the disadvantages. Perceptions that children growing up bilingual have difficulties with speech, articulation, grammatical errors and are slower intellectually may be influenced by the difficulty associated with second language acquisitions. Certainly children learning more than one language inevitably have more work to do than children learning one language (Cunningham-Andersson and Andersson 2004, p. 89). However, it is arguably this extra work that accounts for the bilingual child’s cognitive development. As researchers have shown, all things being equal, bilingual children demonstrate greater cognitive outcomes than monolingual children generally. Certainly, bilingualism comes with its disadvantages. However, researchers have not been able to provide convincing evidence that the disadvantages are insurmountable. In fact, even if it were substantiated that bilingual children take longer to learn to speak and do confuse their languages, there is no evidence to suggest that these problems are anything more than short term. Since children are resilient and are always growing and learning, all indications are that these are difficulties that children will outgrow. In the long term, these children will benefit educationally and vocationally. On the basis of a cost-benefit analysis, the advantages of growing up bilingual outweigh the disadvantages. Since the world is becoming increasingly interconnected in the current era of globalization, growing up bilingual is not only inevitable but virtually necessary for a large number of children. Regionalisation and globalization has facilitated the mobility of people to such an extent that the acquisition of more than one language in childhood can be advantageous for social, educational and cultural growth. Bibliography Articles/Journals Adesope, O.; Lavin, T.; Thompson, T. and Ungerleider, C. June 17, 2010 A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Cognitive Correlates of Bilingualism. Review of Educational Research, pp. 207-245. Bialystok, E. (May/June 1999) Cognitive Complexity and Attentional Control in the Bilingual Mind. Child Development, 70(3), pp. 636-644. Bialystok, E. March 2002. Acquisition of Literacy in Bilingual Children: A Framework for Research. Language Learning , 52(1), pp. 159-199.Carlson, S. and Meltzoff, A. March 2008 Bilingual Experience and Executive Functioning in Young Children. Developmental Science, 11(2), pp. 282-298. Fernandez, M.; Pearson, B.; Umbel, V.; Oller, E. and Molinet, M. 1992 Bilingual Receptive Vocabulary in Hispanic Preschool Children. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 14, pp. 268-276. I-Imersion Institute, n.d. The Impact of Bilingualism on Overall Development and Academic Success. I-Imerson Institute, pp. 1-3. Lee, S. and Edmonston, B. June 2005. New Marriages, New Families: U.S. Racial and Hispanic Intermarriage. Population Bulletin, 60(2), pp.1-40. Makin, L.; Diaz, C. and McLachlan, C. 2007. Literacies in Childhood: Changing View, Challenging Practice. New York: Elsevier. Newman, B. and Newman, P. 2008 Development Through Life: A Psychosocial Approach. Florence, KY: Cengage Learning. Nicoladis, E. 1998 First Clues to the Existence of Two Input Languages: Pragmatic and Lexical Differentiation in a Bilingual Child. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1, pp. 105-116. Textbooks Baker, C. 2006 Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Baron, N. 1993 Growing Up with Language: How Children Learn to Talk. New York: De Capo Press. Cunningham-Andersson and Andersson, S. 2004 Growing Up with Two Languages: A Practical Guide. London: Psychology Press. Grosjean, F. 2001 Life with Two Languages: An Introduction to Bilingualism. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Hall, N.; Larson, J. and Marsh, J. 2003. Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy. New York: SAGE Publications. Reichholf-Wilscher, D. 2008 Bilingualism Across the Lifespan. Netherlands: BRIN Verlag. Romaine, S. 2000 Bilingualism. London: Wiley Blackwell. Sanders, A. 2009 Bilingualism in Childhood. Netherlands: GRIN Verlag. Wang, X. 2008 Growing Up with Three Languages: Birth to Eleven. Bristol: Multilingual Matters. Zentella, A. 1997. Growing Up Bilingual. Wiley Blackwell. Internet Resources Casciani, D. 25 November 2003. Bilingual Asian Children ‘do Better’. BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/3236188.stm (Retrieved 28 February 2011). Haydon, C. 9 October 2003, The Language of Success. The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/the-language-of-success-582677.html (Retrieved 28 February 2011). Read More