Jai Oberoi
ENG 101
Living Multilingualism
Project 3:
A Leap to Bilingualism
What affects language development in bilingual children and what are the factors that give them the ability to learn and speak two languages?
Language development in bilingual children has been an ongoing study for over a decade. The factors that influence a child’s ability to speak and converse in two different languages are still not quite clear to us. This essay will explore these factors and analyse relevant claims and counterclaims using forwarding and countering. I will express my opinion on the issues that are raised through my researched texts using the literacy narratives written by both my peers and myself.
1.
Yip, Virginia, and Stephen Matthews. The Bilingual Child: Early Development and
Language Contact. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2007. Print.
Virginia Yip is a professor in Linguistics and Modern Languages at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Stephen Matthews is the associate professor in Linguistics at the University of Hong Kong. This book presents the perspectives of both authors, acting as parent researchers, observing and participating in their respective children’s bilingual experience. The book is written in simple English and can thus be comprehended by any informed layman. However, there are experimental write-ups, graphs and lots of data that is slightly difficult to understand in the first reading. Both students and scholars who are interested in learning about bilingual acquisition can use the book. The book focuses on the process of development of different languages in children. The authors draw parallels between bilingual development in children with bilingual and multilingual communities.
The authors, Yip and Matthews explore the idea of two distinct languages being naturally learned by children who experience both languages in their everyday environment. They also try and convey to readers that learning two languages is not burdensome for a child and that one should appreciate dual heritages. The book emphasizes on the benefits of developing two languages. I feel this relates to Maddy’s project one in the sense that bilingualism provides one the confidence to actually speak the languages that they learn. Maddy asks why it matters to learn a language if you cannot speak it in different situations. This book shows us how by simply learning two languages one can be more exposed to different situations especially in the age of globalization.
Although living in a situation in which two languages are spoken fluently, might impact a child’s learning ability in another way. A child, trying to process both languages, could mix up the two languages, which would lead to a hybrid language being learned and spoken (Canagarajah). According to Shivanii’s Project one narrative, upon hearing both Sindhi and Spanish in her everyday environment, she did not pick up both the languages independently, but ended up speaking a mix of the two languages in the same sentence. In my opinion, this could hinder learning in both languages. A hybrid language may be useful (Canagarajah), but in this case we are comparing the development of two separate languages. Although, the book does mention that, “the two language systems interact with one other shaping the child’s overall development” (Preface xv) there is no emphasis on how the two co relate with one another in development. According to Shivanii’s project one narrative, the hybrid language did not affect her speaking ability, but I feel the author fails to mention the limitations of picking up a hybrid language. In my opinion, learning a hybrid language can greatly affect the development of two distinct languages.
While the book explains a lot about how bilingual languages develop and influence the way children speak, there is no regard for the personality of the child. In my opinion, one’s personality can be a major factor in the ability to develop a language in different situations. Maddy’s project one narrative does not exactly address this complex issue, but it was the reason that the idea sprang to me. Especially when she writes, “if you can’t even say” goodbye. Also the line “buzzing in your brain” shows that sometimes even though we want to say something, even though the phrase may develop in our minds, it is our emotions that affect whether we express it, especially in a different language.
“I realized that if I had tried to speak French, not only could my French have gotten better but maybe I could have understood their culture a little more than I did…”. A quote from Cam’s literacy narrative proves that one’s attitude affects the way they develop languages. With emphasis on the second language, I believe that Cam suggests that our mental attitude towards languages may affect the way they develop. This idea has been overlooked by most sources that I cam across in writing this essay.
2.
Bialystok, Ellen. Language Processing in Bilingual Children. Cambridge [England: Cambridge UP, 1991. Print.
This book consists of a collection of papers that explores the ways in which bilingual children cop with two language systems. Bialystok combines articles by different researchers into a book that thoroughly analyzes bilingual development in children. From the source of bilingualism to grammar, this book investigates issues with bilingualism, and most importantly the processing and acquisition of languages in these children. My interpretation of the contents of the book closely matched the abstract. Even though I thought that the book would simply provide the reader with ideas and opinions on bilingual processing, it contains experimental data and also focuses a lot on the problems that bilingual children face in the development process. I did not know that the book also investigates the relation between bilingualism and the cognitive ability of children.
In the book, Language Processing in Bilingual Children, Jim Cummins’ article contains an experiment that determines the relationship between a first language and a second language. The chapter also focuses specifically on the role of one aspect of the cognitive resources that children bring to second language acquisition. Reading this chapter will definitely help answer the given question. The chapter talks about how proficiency in first language and second language are related to the acquisition process of the child’s second language. Hence, skill in a first language may be a factor that aids the development of a second language.
The relationship between first and second language development helps me understand Maddy’s literacy narrative in such a way that it provides a perspective that the ability to speak a second language in specific situations may depend on cognitive ability. However, I do not believe this to be true. I think that a person may simply not be able to speak in certain situations because of his or her personality and shyness. It may not be cognitive ability that is involved but simple emotions. However, this book was published in 1991. Human feelings and understandings are more liberal in today than in 1991 and thus the authors may not have thought of the emotional side to learning at the time.
After reading Avantika’s literacy narrative again, I noticed an idea that Bialystok did not touch upon. Through her experience, Avantika realizes that language can act as a portal, a portal between cultures and people. However, the idea I thought up was that language could be a portal to another language. In other words, learning one language (first) is likely to aid the development of the second language. For example, learning Hindi in India, will improve he development of the cultural languages like Sindhi and Punjabi. Just like Learning Latin may aid a person learning French or Spanish as a second language.
3.
MacLeod, Andrea A. N., et al. "Simultaneous Bilingual Language Acquisition: The Role of Parental Input on Receptive Vocabulary Development." Child Language Teaching and Therapy 29.1 (2013): 131-42. ProQuest. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.
The article talks about the role of parental intervention in the development of bilingual vocabulary in children. Parental influence is one of the factors that provoke bilingual development in children. However upon reading the article I found that the experiment involved was quite unique. The experiment that was conducted aimed at understanding how children’s receptive vocabulary was influenced by exposure to the majority and minority languages. French and German children were used for the experiment. The conclusion that the article draws is that the one-parent-one-language approach does not aid the development of language according to the study. Although a relationship was observed between exposure to the “majority language” and vocabulary development, no relationship was observed between “minority language” exposure and vocabulary development. These results suggest that other factors are at play in guiding vocabulary development in the minority language.
The article mentions that bilingual children receive less total exposure to each language than monolingual children do to their single language. Hence, according to Bialystok (source 2), linguistic knowledge is distributed unevenly across the two languages that are being spoken by the bilingual child. Unlike Bialystok, this article takes into consideration this theory and uses it while drawing up conclusions. This article also considers different situations in the ability to speak different languages like home and outside of home environments.
In conclusion, I feel that the development of bilingualism can depend on a variety of factors in a child’s life. These include parental influence, the child’s attitude and emotions, development of a first language and many more. The study of these factors could evaluate the makings of bilingualism. With more study about the factors, more people can attempt bilingualism and hence more children can become bilingual. This would lead to more global connections and would decrease communication barriers due to language worldwide. However, further studies should include ways to test bilingual acquisition and development based on emotions and attitude.
ENG 101
Living Multilingualism
Project 3:
A Leap to Bilingualism
What affects language development in bilingual children and what are the factors that give them the ability to learn and speak two languages?
Language development in bilingual children has been an ongoing study for over a decade. The factors that influence a child’s ability to speak and converse in two different languages are still not quite clear to us. This essay will explore these factors and analyse relevant claims and counterclaims using forwarding and countering. I will express my opinion on the issues that are raised through my researched texts using the literacy narratives written by both my peers and myself.
1.
Yip, Virginia, and Stephen Matthews. The Bilingual Child: Early Development and
Language Contact. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2007. Print.
Virginia Yip is a professor in Linguistics and Modern Languages at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Stephen Matthews is the associate professor in Linguistics at the University of Hong Kong. This book presents the perspectives of both authors, acting as parent researchers, observing and participating in their respective children’s bilingual experience. The book is written in simple English and can thus be comprehended by any informed layman. However, there are experimental write-ups, graphs and lots of data that is slightly difficult to understand in the first reading. Both students and scholars who are interested in learning about bilingual acquisition can use the book. The book focuses on the process of development of different languages in children. The authors draw parallels between bilingual development in children with bilingual and multilingual communities.
The authors, Yip and Matthews explore the idea of two distinct languages being naturally learned by children who experience both languages in their everyday environment. They also try and convey to readers that learning two languages is not burdensome for a child and that one should appreciate dual heritages. The book emphasizes on the benefits of developing two languages. I feel this relates to Maddy’s project one in the sense that bilingualism provides one the confidence to actually speak the languages that they learn. Maddy asks why it matters to learn a language if you cannot speak it in different situations. This book shows us how by simply learning two languages one can be more exposed to different situations especially in the age of globalization.
Although living in a situation in which two languages are spoken fluently, might impact a child’s learning ability in another way. A child, trying to process both languages, could mix up the two languages, which would lead to a hybrid language being learned and spoken (Canagarajah). According to Shivanii’s Project one narrative, upon hearing both Sindhi and Spanish in her everyday environment, she did not pick up both the languages independently, but ended up speaking a mix of the two languages in the same sentence. In my opinion, this could hinder learning in both languages. A hybrid language may be useful (Canagarajah), but in this case we are comparing the development of two separate languages. Although, the book does mention that, “the two language systems interact with one other shaping the child’s overall development” (Preface xv) there is no emphasis on how the two co relate with one another in development. According to Shivanii’s project one narrative, the hybrid language did not affect her speaking ability, but I feel the author fails to mention the limitations of picking up a hybrid language. In my opinion, learning a hybrid language can greatly affect the development of two distinct languages.
While the book explains a lot about how bilingual languages develop and influence the way children speak, there is no regard for the personality of the child. In my opinion, one’s personality can be a major factor in the ability to develop a language in different situations. Maddy’s project one narrative does not exactly address this complex issue, but it was the reason that the idea sprang to me. Especially when she writes, “if you can’t even say” goodbye. Also the line “buzzing in your brain” shows that sometimes even though we want to say something, even though the phrase may develop in our minds, it is our emotions that affect whether we express it, especially in a different language.
“I realized that if I had tried to speak French, not only could my French have gotten better but maybe I could have understood their culture a little more than I did…”. A quote from Cam’s literacy narrative proves that one’s attitude affects the way they develop languages. With emphasis on the second language, I believe that Cam suggests that our mental attitude towards languages may affect the way they develop. This idea has been overlooked by most sources that I cam across in writing this essay.
2.
Bialystok, Ellen. Language Processing in Bilingual Children. Cambridge [England: Cambridge UP, 1991. Print.
This book consists of a collection of papers that explores the ways in which bilingual children cop with two language systems. Bialystok combines articles by different researchers into a book that thoroughly analyzes bilingual development in children. From the source of bilingualism to grammar, this book investigates issues with bilingualism, and most importantly the processing and acquisition of languages in these children. My interpretation of the contents of the book closely matched the abstract. Even though I thought that the book would simply provide the reader with ideas and opinions on bilingual processing, it contains experimental data and also focuses a lot on the problems that bilingual children face in the development process. I did not know that the book also investigates the relation between bilingualism and the cognitive ability of children.
In the book, Language Processing in Bilingual Children, Jim Cummins’ article contains an experiment that determines the relationship between a first language and a second language. The chapter also focuses specifically on the role of one aspect of the cognitive resources that children bring to second language acquisition. Reading this chapter will definitely help answer the given question. The chapter talks about how proficiency in first language and second language are related to the acquisition process of the child’s second language. Hence, skill in a first language may be a factor that aids the development of a second language.
The relationship between first and second language development helps me understand Maddy’s literacy narrative in such a way that it provides a perspective that the ability to speak a second language in specific situations may depend on cognitive ability. However, I do not believe this to be true. I think that a person may simply not be able to speak in certain situations because of his or her personality and shyness. It may not be cognitive ability that is involved but simple emotions. However, this book was published in 1991. Human feelings and understandings are more liberal in today than in 1991 and thus the authors may not have thought of the emotional side to learning at the time.
After reading Avantika’s literacy narrative again, I noticed an idea that Bialystok did not touch upon. Through her experience, Avantika realizes that language can act as a portal, a portal between cultures and people. However, the idea I thought up was that language could be a portal to another language. In other words, learning one language (first) is likely to aid the development of the second language. For example, learning Hindi in India, will improve he development of the cultural languages like Sindhi and Punjabi. Just like Learning Latin may aid a person learning French or Spanish as a second language.
3.
MacLeod, Andrea A. N., et al. "Simultaneous Bilingual Language Acquisition: The Role of Parental Input on Receptive Vocabulary Development." Child Language Teaching and Therapy 29.1 (2013): 131-42. ProQuest. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.
The article talks about the role of parental intervention in the development of bilingual vocabulary in children. Parental influence is one of the factors that provoke bilingual development in children. However upon reading the article I found that the experiment involved was quite unique. The experiment that was conducted aimed at understanding how children’s receptive vocabulary was influenced by exposure to the majority and minority languages. French and German children were used for the experiment. The conclusion that the article draws is that the one-parent-one-language approach does not aid the development of language according to the study. Although a relationship was observed between exposure to the “majority language” and vocabulary development, no relationship was observed between “minority language” exposure and vocabulary development. These results suggest that other factors are at play in guiding vocabulary development in the minority language.
The article mentions that bilingual children receive less total exposure to each language than monolingual children do to their single language. Hence, according to Bialystok (source 2), linguistic knowledge is distributed unevenly across the two languages that are being spoken by the bilingual child. Unlike Bialystok, this article takes into consideration this theory and uses it while drawing up conclusions. This article also considers different situations in the ability to speak different languages like home and outside of home environments.
In conclusion, I feel that the development of bilingualism can depend on a variety of factors in a child’s life. These include parental influence, the child’s attitude and emotions, development of a first language and many more. The study of these factors could evaluate the makings of bilingualism. With more study about the factors, more people can attempt bilingualism and hence more children can become bilingual. This would lead to more global connections and would decrease communication barriers due to language worldwide. However, further studies should include ways to test bilingual acquisition and development based on emotions and attitude.