The Impact of Bilingualism on Development

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The Impact of Bilingualism on Development

The relationship between bilingualism and cognitive development has been explored in numerous ways with a variety of outcomes. The history of research on bilingual children contains many false inferences about the effects of bilingualism. Most of the research studies have focused on the outcomes of bilingualism, however, the exact process through which bilingualism and cognition interact are still largely unknown ( Latham, 1995). The relationship between bilingualism and academic achievement draws much attention from both social scientists and policymakers because of the large presence of bilingual students in the American school system. The purpose of this paper is to present the research on bilingualism and its impact on development. First, I will review the importance of defining bilingualism. Second, I will briefly outline past research on bilingualism and its methodological flaw. Next, I will go over the effects of bilingualism by presenting various researches. And finally I will go over some general concerns about bilingualism.

Defining Bilingualism

Simply defining bilingualism operationally turns out to be far from simple. It is a multi-faceted phenomenon. Whether we consider it as a societal or an individual level, one has to accept that there can be no clear cut-off points. How bilingualism is defined will greatly affect the results of a study. A complete description of the "bilingual" sample is critical to an adequate interpretation of any research on bilingualism. For example, Peal and Lambert's (1962, cited in Diaz, 1983) distinction between bilinguals and pseudo-bilinguals made an extremely significant methodological contribution to the field. Pseudo-bilinguals know one language much better than the other, and do not use his or her second language in communication. The true bilingual would hold two languages at an early age and has the facility to communicate in both languages (Diaz, 1983). Their distinction forced investigators to select their bilingual samples with greater care and to measure the sample's actual knowledge of the two languages. Peal and Lamberts study signaled researchers to the positive and negative effects of bilingualism depending on the bilingual situation involved. The effects of such variations within bilinguals should be the object of scientific investigation.

Past Research

Because the measurement of intellectual potential is heavily dependent on verbal abilities, psychologists and educators were concerned about the validity of such tests for bilinguals. The main concern was that the bilingual children would suffer from some kind of language handicap, and this, in turn, would be an obstacle to a fair assessment of their intellectual abilities and potential. Translations of the Binet test were used in the early twentieth century to measure the intelligence of the vast numbers of immigrants to the US. These bilinguals were found to be lower in intelligence than monolinguals (Goddard, cited in Harris, 1992). According to Diaz (1983) the majority of studies prior to 1962 found evidence for the so called "language handicap". Some have argued that the lower intelligence was due to genetic differences between bilinguals and monolinguals (Goddard, cited in Harris, 1992). Others believed it was the experience of learning a second language produced the lower intelligence. The bilingual child was expected to do poorly in school, and as a result feel inferior and frustrated, becoming aggressive or extremely submissive ( Dodson, 1983).
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Most early studies in this area were seriously flawed. Bilinguals were often first or second-generation immigrants from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who were not very proficient in English (Baker, 1993). Furthermore, they failed to control for group differences in socioeconomic status between bilinguals and monolinguals. Tests were administered in English rather than in their language of greatest proficiency. Performances were compared to samples largely comprised of middle-class, English-speaking monolinguals (Diaz, 1983). Fortunately current studies are now taking those circumstances into consideration when developing a study. The change in sampling and testing has since proven that bilingualism does, at least, ...

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