Language acquisition, humans innate ability to learn a language, begins from the moment they are born. Children are not taught the grammatical structures of their native language, they learn it as they hear other people speaking around them. Children may not be able to form a complex sentence, but by the age of around two or three, children can communicate effectively enough for those around them to understand. This pattern can be different for children who grow up bilingual however. According to a study from Concordia University, children who learn multiple languages from the time they are born can be initially disadvantaged, but the effects are often later outweighed by higher cognitive capabilities. Bilingual parents will often do what is called language mixing, the use of elements from different languages. This can make it difficult for bilingual children properly learn the vocabulary that is separately associated with each language. This disadvantage does not last in the long run though, because as stated by Byers-Heinlein, bilingual or multilingual children are on average better at switching between strategies and tasks and are able to learn multiple things quicker.
Anya Kamenetz from NPREd recently reported on potential benefits that bilingual education offers students. The first benefit of learning multiple languages is that these children can devote more attention to a subject than monolingual children. They are also able to switch tasks quickly, as stated above. Antonella Sorace of the University of Edinburgh also says that bilingual children as young as three have shown more empathy and overall have higher social and emotional skills than their monolingual counterparts. From the American University, Jennifer Steele conducted research on reading levels of bilingual versus monolingual students and found a pronounced difference. Those learning two or more languages in school read as much as one grade level ahead of those only instructed in English. The fourth advantage was students simply enjoying school better and being engaged in classes more. Students are also exposed to more diversity and integration in a bilingual classroom setting. There is also evidence that being bilingual or multilingual can protect against the brain’s decline in old age; dementia patients that were bilingual who had later stages of the disease were able to function as well or better than monolingual patients who had earlier stages of Alzheimer’s.
I find this topic interesting because as an adult, learning a second language can be very difficult at times, so I feel somewhat envious after having done this research. Children are able to pick up language so quickly and I sometimes wish I also had this ability. It was also interesting to discover how many advantages there were to being multilingual, and how dramatic some of the differences were.
I find this topic interesting because as an adult, learning a second language can be very difficult at times, so I feel somewhat envious after having done this research. Children are able to pick up language so quickly and I sometimes wish I also had this ability. It was also interesting to discover how many advantages there were to being multilingual, and how dramatic some of the differences were.
Sources:
Salzmann, Z., Stanlaw, J., & Adachi, N. (2012). Language, Culture, and Society: An Introduction to Linguistic Anthropology. Westview Press
Concordia University. (2013, January 16). Language Mixing in Children Growing Up Bilingual. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 29, 2017 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130116123641.htm
Kamenetz, Anya. (2016). 6 Potential Brain Benefits Of Bilingual Education. NPREd. Retrieved March 29, 2017 from http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/11/29/497943749/6-potential-brain-benefits-of-bilingual-education
This is a fascinating topic. I can understand where you are coming from when you say you wish you had the ability to pick up a language as fast as a child can; I would have to agree. Trying to learn Spanish now is very difficult. It is amazing to me how quickly children can pick up a language. I have seen both my little brother and children I have babysat greatly improve in their speech abilities. I wonder if language-mixing is something parents do subconsciously. Two little girls I babysat for were bilingual; they spoke both Portuguese and English. They were both competent in both languages, as they were over the age you mentioned (3 years), but I always found it interesting to hear them talk to their mother. They would mostly talk in Portuguese but with some English words mixed in. I can definitely see how children that are bilingual would be better at multitasking. Both from previous experience with the children and with my own experiences in learning Spanish, it takes a lot of brain power to know and speak fluently more than one language, about the same amount of brain power I would assign to multitasking. There are definitely a lot more advantages to being bilingual than I thought, especially regarding the higher social and emotional skills. I wonder how that is reflected and why that would be the case. Did any of the studies go into detail? It's very impressive, and I too was surprised at how dramatic some of the differences were. Do you think that by learning a second language as an adult, one could gain some of the advantages you mentioned above? Or do you think that those advantages, specifically the increased empathy, are limited to being bilingual from a young age? I have heard that learning a language at any age is good for your brain. It definitely can't hurt!
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