Bilingualism in Early

Childhood: Is it really a good idea?

By Jenny Duffy

At my centre, I work in the French nursery. I teach French to five little boys who are all just within months of being 2-years old. Each of them are from

families who speak English at home.

One day… when a mother came to pick up her son I noticed as she was carrying him out of the centre that they stopped to look at a picture and she was repeating to him,

“apple!”

As I watched them all I could think of how I spent the day teaching that little boy ‘pomme’ and I began to wonder:

won’t he be confused? Since he’s learning language for the first time and doesn’t have a great command of English to

reference to the way a 5-year old would how would he know which word to use and not mix them up? I began to question

if there was any point in teaching the kids French if their parents weren’t doing the same.

Also, one of my boys is turning 2 soon, and he’s not yet stringing words together in either

language, and his speech is very difficult to understand. Could it be that the task of learning 2

languages is causing him to be delayed in his language?

I invite you to join me as I gather together some research which has lead me to a deeper insight into the effects of bilingualism in children, and has helped to answer some

of my troubling questions!

The time between birth and puberty is known to be a critical time for learning a 2nd

language, since maturations of the brain after puberty makes language acquisition more challenging.

Many children around the world in countries such as Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, etc. grow up learning 2 languages, which can indicate that bilingualism is probably

actually more ‘normal’ than monolingualism.

Knowing another language helps a child to have an appreciation and acceptance for other cultures, and feel more at ease and be able to adapt in different environments.

Is teaching a child a 2nd language a good idea?

Fluency in another language can mean more job opportunities, and can open doors for being able

to travel and explore different cultures.

Learning another language can help a child treasure and reserve their culture, while still being able to communicate the dominant language in the community.

There was a 5-year study of bilingual children at Cornell Language Acquisition Lab, which showed that learning a 2nd language doesn’t have any negative impact on a child’s cognitive ability, but rather, may actually help improve their cognitive development. Researchers have found that children who are bilingual are more attentive in the face of distraction.

What are the developmental benefits of bilingualism?

Bilingual children have demonstrated better listening perception, and recognize earlier than monolingual children do that language is symbolic and show more skill when interpreting and manipulating grammar to communicate clearly.

Bilingual children understand written languages faster and may learn to read more easily because they have an understanding of the symbolic nature of the letters, and can recognize symbolic relations between letters, and sounds without having visual objects.

"Bilingualism has been linked to a variety of positive cognitive benefits, including early reading, improved problem-solving skills, and higher scores on the SATs,

including the math section."-Carey Myles(Raising Bilingual Children, 2003)

Research suggests that children who learn more than one language show more creativity and ability to solve complex problems than those who know only one language.

Mixing up languages is completely normal. It is rare that a child will know all of the same words in each language so when speaking one language they may vocabulary from the other language to fill in the gaps.

Research does show that most bilingual children keep their languages separate most of the time and can distinguish between the different patterns of each language.When the people around them, keep their languages separate this will help the child to also keep their languages separate.

Won’t Children get the two languages confused?

A child may mix words but this is temporary. As the child builds up their vocabulary and continues to become familiar with the language, he will correct himself. This is very similar to how a

young child may use incorrect grammar and say ‘Me have it!’, but as they continue to learn English, they begin to use grammar and

words correctly.

Research shows that monolingual and bilingual children reach major language developmental milestones at

similar times

Since their learning task is much more complex, short delays or differences may be seen in a bilingual child but this is only temporary and has an insignificant effect on

the child’s overall development

Many children throughout the world grow up learning more than one language without showing any signs of

language delays or disorders.

Will learning another language cause a language delay or disorder?

All of this research has certainly provided me with much more clarity, assurance and answers to some popular misconceptions surrounding bilingualism in children...

Teaching English to 2nd graders in Cambodia. Nov 2009

If my children are being exposed to both languages, it is very likely that they will be able to differentiate and

separate the two without any confusion. While a delay may appear for a short time, this is considered normal amongst

bilingual children, and is not a precursor for disorders or other problems in their development. With that being said,

I will still monitor his language development and plan activities to encourage development in this area.

In Conclusion…

References

Baby Zone. Raising bilingual children.Retrieved Jan 22, 2011, from http://www.babyzone.com

Brainy Child. The impact of bilingualism on overall language development and academic success.Retrieved Jan 22, 2011, from http://bit.ly/gGv3Qn

Centre for Applied Linguistics.(2006). Raising bilingual children: common parental concerns and current research.Retrieved Jan 24, 2011, from http://bit.ly/tLHBL

Chinese Child Book. Learning Chinese for young children including preschoolers and toddlers.Retrieved on Jan 23, 2011, from http://bit.ly/ieugOm

Common Sense with Money: Summer reading programs. (May 13, 2010)Retrieved on Jan 25, 2011, from http://bit.ly/w7Ypq

Foreign Wives Club. Study finds: fluency in a foreign language could help children master reading fasterRetrieved Jan 24, 2011, from http://bit.ly/emEsaz

Little SproutsRetrieved on Jan 25, 2011, from http://preschool2prek.blogspot.com/

Oh Amanda. Top ten Tuesday compassion international.Retrieved Jan 26, 2011, from http://bit.ly/fkegXS

Suite 101. (June 19, 2009) Bilingual children learn better. Marcia Passos DuffyRetrieved on Jan 23, 2011, from http://bit.ly/eFRjbM