THE BILINGUAL BRAIN VIVIAN AU WHAT BILINGUALISM Bilingualism
THE BILINGUAL BRAIN VIVIAN AU
WHAT BILINGUALISM? • Bilingualism is defined as the use and fluency of two or more languages in an individual. • According to the 2011 Census Bureau Survey , 60. 6 million Americans speak a language other than English at home. • Most bilinguals acquire their non-English language at home because their parents are immigrants and they communicate in their parents’ native tongue.
THE BENEFITS OF BILINGUALISM
RESEARCH ON BILINGUALISM • Research shows that although bilingual children know fewer words in each language than monolingual children, they know the same amount of words across both languages (Hoff, Core, Place, Rumiche, Senor, Parra, 2011) • Bilinguals had higher cognitive skills as well as higher social-emotional skills. They were also found to be more academically competent than monolinguals. (Oades-sese, Esquivel, Maniatis and Kaliski, 2011) • Cognitive and neurological benefits extend to older adulthood. Bilingualism appears to fend off the natural decline of cognitive functions and maintain “cognitive reserve”. Older bilingual enjoy improved memory and executive control in relative to older monolingual people (Marian and Shook, 2012)
FURTHER QUESTIONS • How does bilingualism affect a child’s cognitive development? How about social and emotional development? • What kind of neurological/physiological effects does bilingualism have on individuals? • How can we introduce/encourage bilingualism in children’s lives?
REFERENCES Marian, Viorica, Shook, Anthony. The Cognitive Benefits of Being Bilingual http: //dana. org/Cerebrum/2012/The_Cognitive_Benefits_of_Being_Bilingual/ Hoff, Erika. , Core, Cynthia. , Place, Silvia; Rumiche, Rosario; Senor, Melissa and Parra, Marisol. Dual language exposure and early bilingual development 2011 Mar 22. doi: 10. 1017/S 0305000910000759 Oades-Sese, Geraldine, Esquivel, Giselle B. , Kaliski, Pamela K, Maniatis, Lisette. A longitudinal study of the social and academic competence of economically disadvantaged bilingual preschool children. Developmental Psychology, Vol 47(3), May, 2011. pp. 747 -764.
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