‘EXPLORING THE BENEFITS OF BILINGUALISM IN EARLY CHILDHOOD’
Keywords:
Key words: bilingualism, early childhood, cognitive development, language acquisition, executive function, social skills, cultural competence, language exposure.Abstract
Abstract: This article examines the advantages of bilingualism in early childhood. The study draws on research from cognitive psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience to explore how being bilingual can enhance cognitive development, language skills, and social and cultural awareness. The article also considers the challenges of bilingualism and offers practical suggestions for parents and educators to support bilingual learning in young children. The findings suggest that early exposure to two languages can have a positive impact on children's cognitive abilities, linguistic proficiency, and cultural competence. This research highlights the importance of promoting bilingualism in early childhood education to promote positive outcomes for children's academic success and overall well-being.
References
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Bialystok, E. (2001). Bilingualism in development: Language, literacy, and cognition. Cambridge University Press.
Byers-Heinlein, K., & Lew-Williams, C. (2013). Bilingualism in the early years: What the science says. The International Journal of Behavioral Development, 37(4), 279-285.
Carlson, S. M., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2008). Bilingual experience and executive functioning in young children. Developmental Science, 11(2), 282-298.
Clark, E. V., & Shatz, M. (2013). Two Languages Are Better Than One for Children’s Executive Functioning Skills: A Response to Antoniou et al.(2013). Child Development Perspectives, 7(2), 145-146.
Collier, V.P., & Thomas W.P.. (1997). School effectiveness for language minority students.Washington DC National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education.
Costa, A., Hernández M., Sebastián-Gallés N.. (2008) Bilingualism aids conflict resolution: Evidence from the ANT task.Cognition;106:59–86.
Cummins J.. (1979) Linguistic interdependence and the educational development of bilingual children.Review of Educational Research;49(2):222–51.
de Houwer, A., Bornstein MH .(2016) The promises and challenges of bilingualism in the 21st century.Advances in Child Development and Behavior;51:1–14
Dupoux E.. et al.(2010) Language-enhanced cognitive control in bilinguals.PNAS;107:9330–5
Gathercole VCM .(2014) Does language learning improve cognitive functions? A systematic review. Psychol Bull 140: 1381–1413.
Hakuta, K., Butler, Y. G., & Witt, D. (2000). How long does it take English learners to attain proficiency?. University of California Linguistic Minority Research Institute.
Hoff E., Core C., Place S.. (2012) Bilingualism, socioeconomic status, and cognitive development: Evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study.Child Dev;83(1):315–32
Kovács ÁM .(2009) Early bilingualism enhances mechanisms of false-belief reasoning.Developmental Science;12:48–54.
Kovács ÁM .(2016) The cognitive and neural development of sentence interpretation in bilingual children.Frontiers in Psychology;7:1263
Marian V., Shook A.. (2012) The cognitive benefits of being bilingual.Cerebrum;2012:13.
Martin-Rhee MM, Bialystok E. (2008) The development of two types of inhibitory control in monolingual and bilingual children.Bilingualism;11:81–93
Poulin-Dubois D.. et al.(2013) Attentional control and the simple view of spoken vocabulary in bilinguals and monolinguals.J Exp Child Psychol;114:197–212.
Verreyt N. et al.(2016) Bilingualism boosts executive control in adults with or without Alzheimer’s disease.Alzheimers Dement;12(7):749–55.
Weber-Fox C., Neville HJ.. (1996) Maturational constraints on functional specializations for language processing:evidence from ERP and behavioral studies.Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.;8(3):231–56.
Yudes C., Macizo P., Bajo MT.. (2011) The influence of expertise in simultaneous interpreting on non-verbal executive processes.Frontiers in Psychology;2:309.