Download - Bilingualism 123
Universidad Pedagógica Experimental LibertadorInstituto Pedagógico de Caracas
Departamento de Idiomas ModernosPrograma Inglés
Cátedra de Lingüística
Course: Didáctica del Idiomas Inglés
Class: 001Professor: Nahir Aparicio
Student: Ramón Oviedo
Caracas, February 2013
Let us know Some Information on Bilingualism
As it is known bilingualism is the act of learning/
acquiring two languages.
It is the ability to communicate in two languages, but
with greater skills in one language.
Some researchers explain that children can acquire two
languages at the same time proceed through the same
stages of language development as monolingual speakers
learning the same language.
The expressive language milestones are commonly
extended by two to three months among before the age of
three.
At the age of three, children should develop what
Cummins (1984) calls ‘basic interpersonal
communication skills’. That is to say, children begin to
acquire the basic, but ample vocabulary for their daily
contexts. After that, they move on to the next stage
which is ‘cognitive academic language proficiency’.
Bialystok (2001) states that the development of two languages
in childhood turns out to be a profound event that ripples
through the life of that individual.
Accessing to two languages in early childhood can accelerate
the development of both verbal and non-verbal abilities.
It was found that there are some cognitive processes, namely
attention and inhibition that develop earlier and possibly more
strongly in bilinguals, contributing to metalinguistic
awareness and language learning.
Bilingual children not only experience and learn to
master the social conventions and conversational
styles of at least two languages. Their bilingual
experiences ‘challenge their world views and social
identity’ as Bialystok explains and possibly give
them different and broader perspectives on events
and people around them.
According to Watson (1995), children who have learned an
additional language need a consistent support in learning
environment to maintain a “threshold” in the additional
language.
Children who receive consistent and appropriate input in
both languages face less risk of language loss.
When children do not receive sufficient language support,
high exposure in the additional language may bring negative
effect in first language acquisition to a certain extent.
1. Compound bilingual is an individual who learns two
languages in the same environment so that he/she acquires
one notion with two verbal expressions.
2. Coordinate bilingual acquires the two languages in different
contexts (e.g., home and school), so the words of the two
languages belong to separate and independent systems.
3. Sub-coordinate bilingual, one language dominates.
(D'Acierno, 2012)
4. Simultaneous bilingual acquires two languages as "first
languages".
5. Receptive bilingual is able to understand two languages,
but expresses in only one.
6. Sequential bilingual learns one language after already
established a first language.
It makes children be smarter, helping them to solve some types
of mental puzzles, and ignore distraction.
It has a positive effect on children’s brain, not only improving
their cognitive skills, but also shielding them against dementia
and Alzheimer in old age.
It helps the brain to resolve internal conflict, giving the mind a
workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles.
It helps infants to solve some types of metal puzzles.
It helps to switch attention willfully from one theme to another
and hold information in mind. (Viorica and Shook, 2012)
http://www.academia.edu/389219/Does_learning_another_language_matter_to_Theory_of_Mind_-Young_childrens_bilingualism_and_Theory_of_Mind_development
Bilingual Behaviour. Available at http://www.translationdirectory.com/article419.htm
http://dana.org/news/cerebrum/detail.aspx?id=39638 M. D'Acierno, (2012). Types of Bilingualism. Document on line:
Available at http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED321574&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED321574
M. Viorica and A. Shook, (2012). The Cognitive Benefits of Being Bilingual. Document on line: Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-benefits-of-bilingualism.html?_r=0