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Bilingualism
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Bilingualism in Development is an examination of the language and cognitive development of bilingual children focusing primarily on the preschool years. It begins by defining the territory for what is included in bilingualism and how language proficiency can be conceptualized. Using these constraints, the discussion proceeds to review the research relevant to various aspects of children’s development and assesses the role that bilingualism has in each. The areas covered include language acquisition, metalinguistic ability, literacy skill, and problem-solving ability. In each case, the performance of bilingual children is compared to that of similar monolinguals, and differences are interpreted in terms of a theoretical framework for cognitive development and processing. The studies show that bilingualism significantly accelerates children’s ability to selectively attend to relevant information and inhibit attention to misleading information or competing responses.
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Bilingualism is the new word. Conroe Independent School District is taking English-language education to the next level by culling international teachers from Mexico and Latin America to give Spanish-speaking students the chance to succeed in a country dominated by a foreign tongue.
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Bilingualism means to have the ability to use two languages, to speak them, understand them and write them. In Canada, and in Quebec, it means particularly to know English and French. Thus, if one is asked: “Are you bilingual?”, one answers yes only if one speaks English and French. Currently, the Canadian census considers ability to hold a conversation in the other official language as proof of bilingualism. While many Canadians are not bilingual, few would deny that bilingualism, along with multiculturalism, is fundamental to Canada. At the level of principle, it is so universally supported in Canada as to constitute an element of the ethic of Canadianism.
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Bilingualism has positive effects on children’s linguistic and educational development. The level of development of children’s mother tongue is a strong predictor of their second language development. Mother tongue promotion in the school helps develop not only the mother tongue but ... children abilities in the majority school language. Spending instructional time through minority language in the school does not hurt children’s academic development in the majority school language. When parent’s culture are recognized by the school, their interest and involvement in the curriculum often increase dramatically.
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Bilingualism is both a legal requirement and a fact of life in Quebec. The Constitution Act, 1867 outlined safeguards for English and French in the debates in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec, the Records and Journals of the Assembly, as well as the laws themselves; it ... guaranteed the ability to use English or French before the Courts of Quebec. By extension, governments in Quebec have made a wide array of publications and services available to individuals in English and in French. The Federal Government of Canada has pursued similar policies since the enactment of the Official Languages’ Act of Canada issued in 1969. However, the need to use English in Quebec does not come so much from legal requirements, as it does from the sheer strength and importance of the language in the North American context. The rest of the continent is dominated by English, and that language is essential for commercial and cultural purposes today.
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Bilingualism is not generally a goal in ESL programs. In sheltered English or structured immersion programs, LEP students are taught in English (supplemented by gestures and other visual aids). The goal is acquisition of English. Pull-out ESL programs include English-only instruction, but LEP participants are "pulled out" of the classroom for part of the day for lessons in their native tongue.
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