The idea that being bilingual gives people an advantage on cognitive functions has gained more popularity throughout the years . Be as it may, the specific cognitive advantages of bilingualism seem to be hard to pinpoint. Some studies that focused on the advantages of bilingualism on facets of executive control, and many of these pointed out how inhibition and “shifting” play important parts (Bialystok & Viswanathan, 2009).
Nonetheless, little research has been conducted on the relevance of bilingualism on working memory (WM), and even less research has been done for gender differences effects on WM, and in both cases, results tend to be mixed. The present study aims to find a link between the two factors, and the effects they have on WM, by analysing data collected out of 50 participants who took part in an N-back task. The results of the analysis points out a nonsignificant relation between the factors, and the reasons could be multiple, but a possible one could be that bilingual and gender advantages has benefits on some aspects of the cognitive control such as focused attention, updating, switching (Miller & Cohen, 2001, Miyake et al., 2000), but not on others, such as WM.
INTRODUCTION
Speaking two languages correctly requires a bilingual subject to exercise a high level of cognitive control (Green 1998; Abutalebi 2008; Christoffels, Kroll, Bajo 2013). It would b precisely this need to manage the simultaneous activation of the two languages, which would train the brains of bilingual individuals to engage the executive control system in a more efficient way (Abutalebi 2008; Bialystok 2009)
This particular advantage of bilinguals has been confirmed both in bilinguals who have acquired their second language at an early age and in those who have acquired their second language in post-adolescent age, even if with qualitatively different manifestations (Tao, Marzecová, Taft, Asanowicz et al. 2011). Unraveling the different components of executive functions influenced by linguistic processing in bilinguals, however, is not an easy task. Many pieces of research on bilingualism and executive control have concentrated in the past (Bialystok, 2001) on the possible roles of inhibition and shifting (i.e. the ability to pass from one language to another quickly). However, few studies have investigated the role of WM and how it is modified by bilingual linguistic experience.
WM is considered as one of the most important components of executive functions. It is crucial in many cognitive abilities and is involved in tasks in which subjects must ignore interference, resist distractions, or resolve conflicts in information processing. The development of WM capacity is considered as one of the most important factors of cognitive development (Jarrold 2007). The WM is defined in many ways depending on whether the topic is about humans or animals. For Baddeley (1992, 1999), WM is a ‘brain system that provides temporary storage and manipulation of information necessary for complex cognitive tasks such as language comprehension, learning, and reasoning’.
According to him, the WM can be divided in a central executive who has control over three storage buffers: the phonological loop, the visuospatial sketchpad, and the episode buffer. Baddeley, along with others (e.g. Shimamura 2000), sees executive control as a series of processes involved in the selection, activation, and manipulation of information in WM. At the same time, there is a good amount of documentation regarding gender differences in spatial ability, but all of it seems to not be understood in full, if not at all. To see whether WM is an important factor in these differences, Kaufman (2007) conducted a study where 50 males and 50 females performed tests of three-dimensional mental rotation and spatial visualisation, along with tests of spatial and verbal WM, but no significant differences were found concerning WM alone.
The elaboration, involving both storage and the simultaneous processing of spatial representations, fits loosely with current conceptions of WM (Miyake & Shah, 1999). In a brain activation study conducted by Speck et al. 2000, a WM task showed more bilateral activation in males, versus overall left hemisphere activation in females. This study gives insight on how different brain structure could be playing a role in short term memory, and consequentially, on WM differences between male population versus the female population.
Nonetheless, only a handful of studies have found sex differences WM (Duff and Hampson, 2001, Geiger and Litwiller, 2005, Vecchi and Girelli, 1998), but they did not give any definitive explanation on the link between WM and gender differences. Even though some of these experimental designs, including one used by Shah and Miyake (1996) would have given a great insight to the question “Does gender influence our WM capacity?”, all of them tend to have problematics that make it difficult to answer to the question definitively.
The major aim of this study is to find a link between the two variables cited (gender differences and bilingualism) and their effect on WM, but also to contribute to a growing literature on the subject.
Ethical Issues
Participants have been presented with a complete debriefing in what the tasks and questionnaire asks. Participants have also been debriefed in fully on details of the research. They signed a consent form where they could find the contact details of the researchers and seminar leader of this coursework, to ensure any further questions could be answered in full if any arise. Ethical guidelines of confidentiality and anonymity were followed. The ethical form has been approved by the seminar leader of this coursework.
DISCUSSION
A central aim of this report was to investigate whether WM capacity is affected by sex differences or bilingualism. To be able to answer that question, the researchers opted to test the WM of 50 individuals with an N-back task. The results of the N-Back Task are particularly interesting because the N-Back Task directly evaluates the capabilities of the WM, and is often used to measure the updating functions of the memory. The updating function requires the monitoring and coding of information arriving relevant to the task of the moment to appropriately revise the items held in the WM, replacing old information that is no longer relevant with the new and more relevant information (Miyake et al. 2000).
Although the n-back task was not specifically used in studies investigating WM in bilinguals, it is a paradigm widely used in the neuroimaging literature (Owen, McMillan, Laird, Bullmore 2005), in which it was expressly used for measure WM and executive functions. These studies found a correlation between the updating function and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the presumed site of important executive processes (Jonides, Smith 1997; Owen et al. 2005). The results of the present work with the n-back are controversial. Jaeggi et al. (2010) in a review that studied the psychometric properties of the n-back and its relations with WM, found that it is useful in experimental research on WM; despite this, the authors have shown that this test has a poor reliability regarding individual differences while it predicts inter-individual differences in cognitive functions such as fluid intelligence, especially when measured with high load levels.
In this study, the monolingual group does not differ from the bilingual group in measures WM capacity. It is not clear therefore if the result of then-back in the present study is calling into question aspects of the updating capacity of the WM or it is due to the fluid intelligence in conditions of high load, as proposed by Jaeggi, Buschkuehl, Perrig, and Meir (2010). This demarcation will be investigated in future research. One possible explanation is that the ability to control interference in information processing often found in bilingual children is involved. This ability to resist distractions or interferences has been found in bilingual children from different studies (e.g. Bialystok 2009) and could be attributed to the need to inhibit one language while using the other. The underlying dynamics requires attention control to be able to select the relevant information.
Our results, although preliminary and part of a larger study on the effects that bilingualism could have on the functions of WM, can be considered compatible with what is proposed by Morales et al. (2013) on the possible beneficial effects on WM in bilingual individuals and their strengthening effects when there are high demands or demands on executive functions. Furthermore, the present study has raised interesting questions that can be developed in future work, which in particular will explore in more detail and with more numerous samples the specific role different types of WM might play in bilingual cognitive advantages, while also focusing on gender differences.
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Bialystok E. (2001), Bilingualism in development: Language, literacy, and cognition. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Bialystok E. (2009), Bilingualism: the good, the bad, and the indifferent. Bilingualism, 12, 3-11.
Bialystok, E., & Viswanathan, M. (2009). Components of executive control with advantages for bilingual children in two cultures. Cognition, 112(3), 494-500.
Christoffels I.K., Kroll J.F., Bajo M.T. (2013), Introduction to Bilingualism and Cognitive Control. Front. Psychol.,4:199
Duff, S. J., & Hampson, E. (2001). A sex difference on a novel spatial working memory task in humans. Brain and cognition, 47(3), 470-493.
Geiger, J. F., & Litwiller, R. M. (2005). Spatial working memory and gender differences in science. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 32(1), 49.
Green D. W. (1998), Mental control of the bilingual lexico-semantic system. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1:67-81
Jaeggi S., Buschkuehl M., Perrig W., Meir B. (2010), The concurrent validity of the N- back task as a working memory measure. Memory,18:4, 394-412.
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In today’s world, an estimated 43% – nearly half of the world is bilingual . Bilingualism is 1 defined as “being able to speak and understand two languages fluently” but overall, the 2 topic is much more complex than we might realize. The term bilingualism may be used to describe individuals or whole societies and it may be something which occurs naturally or with some instruction. There may be equal proficiency in both languages or one language of the two may be more dominant. These definitions and differences will be discussed in greater detail in the main body of the essay.
Bilingualism is beneficial in many ways as the world is progressing. There are many advantages if you are able to communicate with other people in other parts of the world, both socially and in terms of employment but psychologists have become interested in the idea that bilingualism may have other benefits such as conflict management, problem-solving and general cognitive ability.
This essay will examine the different types of bilingualism and consider the extent to which this ability may have a positive effect on overall cognitive development.
What is bilingualism?
Giving the definition of bilingualism (being able to speak or understand two languages fluently), you would think that’s it. Looking deeper into the different types of bilingualism it’s far more complex. It all starts when and how you learn the language. A language is a form in which we express ourselves through, it’s a combination of sounds which form words which then form sentences. Each culture/ country has its own language, in some countries of the world population is already bilingual or multilingual. Those countries had a foreign factor that affected their country and therefore speaks more languages. Some of their languages are dialects, a mixture of languages, which gives them a benefit towards multilingualism.
Different ways to learn a new language is can be through; compound bilingual, coordinate bilingual, subordinate bilingual, natural acquisition, guided acquisition, symmetric acquisition, and asymmetric acquisition. Becoming bilingual does not happen naturally, you either learn it unconditionally for eg, during your childhood or you learn it in your older years. Children are usually compound bilingual, meaning they learn two languages at the same time, but adults can it be too as they can learn two languages at the same time besides their first language. The children who are taught the language by their parents can be called natural acquisitions, it’s when a person learns a language without formal instructions. The opposite of this is guided acquisition, this is when you learn a language under instructions, usually perfomered in school, as the teacher teaches then the second language. When bilingual people use their mother tongue and second language daily they are coordinate bilingual. Usually, the mother tongue dominates all of the other languages, which happens on a daily basis, this happens to subordinate bilingual people. Learning new languages can be learned through different skills if the person only learned several languages through the same skill it is called symmetric acquisition. Only when one language dominates the other it is called an asymmetric acquisition
Cognitive abilities
The cognitive ability is the ability to process what we hear and learn into our brains. Neuroplasticity is used in this as it creates new pathways for us to use as we learn something new. Therefore out cognitive ability will increase because those pathways are used more often and get stronger. Looking at the biological side of bilingualism, the left hemisphere of the brain controls language and speech. During a dilemma, a bilingual person has the advantage of thinking the other language, and according to a study they think of more rational decisions. This is as a result of that some emotional weight will be lost in certain words, but it can also be because they see the dilemma from another cultural perspective. Looking at this from the biological approach it can also be the cause that it can be processed through a different neural channel.
Biological approach
Looking at the biological approach psychologists can look through a Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) which parts of the brain function when we use another language. FMRI detects any change in blood flow in the brain, if the blood flow is higher in a certain area it will light up and can be observed because that part of the brain will be in use and will, therefore, show more activity in that region. The grey matter is found in the outer part of the brain which controls the sensory, inhibitory, muscle control, sensory perception and many more regions such as listening, hearing, speech and more. Another study conducted by the georgetown university medical center whose aim was to see whether bilingual people have more gray matter than monolingual people. They referred back to the study Maguire et al (2002) who saw that the taxi drivers had larger hippocampus than regular people. It showed that if people were trained on a specific area, that that part of the brain would grow because of the practice and would therefore also have more gray matter and a bigger hippocampus.
There has been a study done using fMRI, where participants speaking English and Spanish had to perform tasks where they were forced to alternate between their two languages. The fMRI scan showed that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) showed an increase in activation when the participants had to name pictures in Spanish and English. The DLPFC is a region in the frontal lobe, which is associated with working memory, attention, and inhibition. Not only was the DLPFC affected but also the left-IFG (left inferior frontal gyrus) is affected, this part of the brain is the language production center, it controls the linguistic and non-linguistic cognitive control. This shows that in the brain of a bilingual there are more areas affected when switching languages.
Advantages
A study by Victoria Marian and Anthony Shook (2012) Bilingual people have something called “language co-activation” this is when they are using one language, and that the other is active at the same time. Although language co-activation has its weaknesses. There was a study done where a bilingual perso (Russian-English) had to pick up a marker out of all the objects lying in front of him. They tracked his eye-movement and saw that the person kept staring at the stamp instead of the marker, this is because marker in Russian is “marka”. They concluded that language co-activation can lead to difficulties. As both languages are in use at the same time and can lead to misunderstanding and misinterpreting some words. Another difficulty is when a bilingual person is unable to find the right words to speak, although they know the definition, this is called tip-of-the-tongue states
There is a famous experiment called the Stroop test, which is when participants get to see a list of colored words, with a different color name for eg. the word “green” is the color blue and the word “yellow” is in the color red. Participants had to say the color of the word out loud instead of reading the word. They found out that bilingual people are far more advanced inhibitory control, which means they can ignore irrelevant information better than monolinguals. In this experiment, the bilingual people used their inhibitory control more as they can ignore the word and focus on the color.
Not only can the bilingual person access several languages but they can also manage the access of the languages at any time. This is called the control mechanism, they use this mechanism when they speak and listen. It is an important skill as they have to control which language they have to access when listening or understanding the given information. This skill can change the brain regions that are affected by this mechanism. Being bilingual has also its advantages for elderly people, for example, who can suffer from dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. In hospital records in Toronto, they found that bilingual patients suffered from dementia four years later than their monologue patients who grew up together. Also in Italy, they saw the same pattern, bilingual patients with Alzheimer’s disease had stronger neural connections than the patients who only spoke one language.
After surviving a stroke a monolingual person can be damaged in the brain and their cognitive ability can be affected. After research done in India with 600 stroke survivors, they concluded that 40.5% of the bilingual patients had normal cognition compared to 19.6% of the monolinguals. This can be due to the large contrast of neurological pathways in a bilingual brain compared to the monolingual brain.
A neurological pathway is a way the signal from one region of the nervous system travels to another region of the nervous system, this happened through synapses and axons.
Emotions
Earlier in my essay, I talked about how some words can lose their meaning and value in another language, and how other words have far more meaning in the other language. You can say they have two different ‘minds’/ personalities, due to the value of words, because the language has their own thought they also have their own personality and therefore also their own behavior. Deawle and Pavlenko (2008) conducted an online study on the emotions on bilingual people. They asked their participants; “Do you feel like a different person sometimes when you use your different languages?”. They asked this question because in their past they would move to countries and found that their bilingual students could switch between language easily, but they also observed that their behavior changed as the language switch also change. In the results of their online study, 65% of their participants agreed to the statement.
Other researchers have also found that participants change behavior when alternating languages. Ervin (1964) has also researched this with her students, but she used a Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) with French and English. Her results showed that bilinguals use different themes when answering the TAT depending on which language they had to do the test. In her results, bilinguals used more verbal aggression towards their other participants in French stories than in English stories.
Cultural approach
In some countries it is common to be multilingual, this is because their native is a mixture of several languages. For example, Maroccan is a mixture of French, Spanish and Arabic and is therefore full of foreign words, so if you speak that language you already have the advantage of becoming multilingual. It also depends on which country you live in if the country has open borders you will meet and be influenced by other languages and cultures. For example, Switzerland has open borders and a lot of its citizens are multilingual and speak; German, Italian, French, Romansh, and English. This could be due to World War 2 that occurred and all the countries were mixed.
Nowadays due to other wars in countries their citizens are fleeing to other countries, causing cultural clashes, and an increase in immigration rates. This graph shows the percentages of the population for each country, the bars are divided into % born in other European member states (dark blue) and into % born in non- Member countries (light blue). It can be seen for most European countries, more than half of their population are non-Member countries of the EU. This shows that the countries are mixing with each other causing more cultures to clash which means languages will too. This might cause for new languages to be created, and the countries their citizens to be multilingual.
Disadvantages
The most common disadvantage is that bilingual people tend to mix their languages while speaking. They do this when they lack vocabulary in one language, they will then use the other language to fill in the words they don’t know. This leads to becoming a subordinate person when the mother tongue dominates the other language. Having the mother tongue dominate the other language can also lead to losing the 2nd language as you don’t practice it as much, and therefore lose the vocabulary. Another type of bilingualism is being receptively bilingual, it means that you can understand a language but not able to speak it. This happens when you are not exposed to a language as often and thus stay on the same level of vocabulary and eventually will lose the language as it is not practiced as often.
A study done by Folke t, et al did a test to study bilingualism, he believed that bilinguals assess their own performance worse than monolingual people do. They did this test by evaluating their metacognition. Metacognition is the ability to think about your thinking, and have thoughts about thoughts. It is used in everyday life to make decisions and see what the outcomes would be if you made that decision. The participants in this study were shown two circles with dots in it. They had to determine which circle had more dots, sometimes it would be obvious but other times harder as the difference would be only one dot. After choosing the circle they had to determine how confident they were in their decision on a scale from not being confident to be confident. The results showed that both monolinguals and bilinguals chose the right circle when choosing the majority of dots, however, it was shown that the monolinguals were better at discriminating when they were right or wrong. It could, therefore, be concluded that bilinguals had less insight into their performance than monolinguals. These results were not expected as bilingual people are usually faster and accurate in performing cognitive tasks, and can, therefore, be seen as a disadvantage.
Conclusion
Bilingualism is a complex topic, which brings a lot of advantages to the cognitive ability. It has been shown that bilingual people are better in decsion making, problem solving, rational thinking and it has also shown that eldery people suffer from dementia or alzheimers on a later age than an average person. Altough bilingualism has also shown that it can affect our personality as some words lose emotion due to lack of vocabulary or because on language dominates the other. It has also shown that a bilingual person has less insight on their performance than a monolingual person. Referring back to my research question “To what extent does bilingualism enhacne overall cognitive ability?”, bilingualism does enhance overall cognitive both positive and negative.
Reference
http://theconversation.com/there-are-also-drawbacks-to-being-bilingual-56726 – Look at these disadvantages
https://www.sciencealert.com/bilingual-brains-have-higher-volume-of-grey-matter-study-suggests- Start off with reading this one.
https://labclab.psychology.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1167/2015/04/Language3.pdf – study
https://languagecoursesguide.com/are-there-any-disadvantages-to-being-bilingual/- Disadvantages of being bilingual.- https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3560439/Being-bilingual-bad-brain-Scientists-say-damage-person-s-ability-judge-performance.html- BAD side of bilingualism, study Falke et al.
Language can define a community in a negative way by making those who do not speak the language well or overall can not understand it, feel left out and alienated from the members of the community. However, language can define a community in a positive way by empowering cultural values and embracing one’s ethnicity and origins. This can also create a stronger and closer community.
What Rodriguez means in the statement is that when using a family’s language in school is causing the intimacy and privacy revolving the language to diminish and be exposed to the public. However, I challenge this assertion made by Richard Rodriguez. I personally have witnessed how a child can speak his family ́s language in school and still obtain the intimacy of the relationships. When I was in elementary school there was a transfer student who came from Mexico not too long ago during that time. He became my partner in class and since he knew fairly little Spanish, I became his translator as well. He would always speak in his native language and the close bond he had with his family didn’t change when he learned English and began to speak it frequently. This is why I believe Rodriguez is incorrect when he states it is not possible to speak the family ́s language without trivializing ¨the nature of intimate life,¨ (Rodriguez, 313).
An aria is a Spanish translation of “area.” I think Rodriguez chose it for his title because it relates to the topic of his autobiography and the struggle he faced due to not feeling like he and his family fit into an area during his childhood. I do believe it is an appropriate title because it is intriguing and gives the reader some insight on what the passage will be about. I also believe it is effective because it summarizes the subject of the text in one word and it since it is in Spanish it combines that aspect of his childhood and ethnicity as well.
What Rodriguez means when he says this statement is that he refers to the public world. The first part of his statement means that his parents’ accent was not an obstacle in terms of communicating what they needed or that it had consequences. However, in the second part of his statement he states that it also did matter because in a way he felt embarrassed and it was unsettling how his parents would struggle.
In my opinion, Rodriguez does not fully convince me that this change in family relationships is worthwhile in terms of his ̈dramatic Americanization,¨ (para. 37). This is because a family bond to me is something sacred and vital. Sure, Rodriguez may have obtained advantages in return for the changes but his intimate family bond will be difficult to reconstruct to the level it used to be.
The thing that Rodriguez means in the statement is that while he was becoming more comfortable with English, changes to his public and private identity were being made. For instance, he states how his private identity ̈diminished ̈ meaning that he was becoming more distant from his Mexican and Spanish speaking background. However, his public identity was obtained and he no longer felt unsettled, awkward, or alienated in public around the ̈gringos.¨
The narrative contributes to the effectiveness of Rodriguez’s argument by incorporating his personal experiences which establish his credibility. His narrative also contributes to the effectiveness by providing as evidence for his argument and create an emotional appeal to the audience.
Throughout the text, Rodriguez identifies and rebuttals various counterarguments. One major counterargument is found towards the beginning of the passage when he states that, ̈Supporters of bilingual education today imply that students like me miss a great deal by not being taught in their family ́s language,¨ (Rodriguez, pg. 308). Another counter argument he addresses is towards the end of his letter on page 312. He states that he hears ̈bilingual educators say that children lose a degree of ¨individuality by becoming assimilated into public society.¨
Rodriguez develops his argument using personal experiences and opinions. I do believe he is still convincing because an experience can not be compared to numbers or data. An experience is something not all can relate or obtain. However, I do believe a bit of formal evidence would have strengthened his argument because it would have backed up his opinions with facts.
The competing communities of Rodriguez’s public and private impact the development of his personal identity by causing him to become confused and lost for a time. The competition between them also impacts the development of his personal identity by allowing him to have two parts which can be seen in his private and public life.
I do agree with the statement made by Rodriguez in the 1994 interview. This is because he describes the cliche of how the ¨American campus¨ views multiculturalism versus what people actually mean when they say multiculturalism. I also agree with him because as a Mexican I can say that I search to find other Mexicans who share the same ideas, cultural values, and opinions as me.
Rhetorical Precis
The selected passages from “Aria” by Richard Rodriguez narrates his journey of how the English language changed his childhood. Rodriguez begins by claiming how before he and his family spoke English regularly, the public world was challenging and unsettling, develops by explaining how he felt secure and comforted in the private Spanish speaking world created by his family, and concludes by demonstrating how English invaded their private world and caused a rift in his family but also came with advantages in the public world. His purpose is to inform immigrants of his love hate relationship he created with English during his childhood in order to depict how it helped shape into the man he is today and how the journey was necessary to add on to his “public individuality”. Rodriguez constructs a serious and informative tone and appeals to the audience and their understanding of the hardships of being an immigrant and feeling alienated.
Analytical Argument
The general argument made by Richard Rodriguez in his work, “Aria,” is that there is a cause and effect for everything. More specifically, Rodriguez argues that although the incorporation of English into his daily life may have altered the relationship with his family, it was essential to create his public individuality. He writes that “the changes in my private life after my Americanization, it is finally to emphasize the public gain,” (Rodriguez, 313). In this passage, Rodriguez is suggesting that the advantages he gained should not be shadowed by the changes made to his family. In conclusion, Rodriguez’s belief is that struggle is needed to thrive.
In my view, Rodriguez is correct, because with difficulties and changes one learns to succeed in life. More specifically, I believe that with one negative thing comes at you, a positive one will appear. For example, his family bond became a bit distant but without the incorporation of English into their lives, he wouldn’t have achieved the advantages he has today. Although Rodriguez might object that it will never be easy for him to “hear intimate family voices,” I maintain that he and his family can create the bond they had before and slowly incorporate more Spanish into their private life as they used to.. Therefore, I conclude that putting aside the changes made to his private world, Rodriguez benefited from learning the “public language,” (Rodriguez, 313).
Intro and Body Paragraph:
In Richard Rodriguez’s ̈Aria,¨ he narrates his journey of how the English language changed his childhood. Rodriguez develops this narration by explaining how he felt secure and comforted in the private Spanish speaking world created by his family, and by demonstrating how English invaded their private world and caused a rift in his family but also came with advantages in the public world. The purpose of the narration is to inform immigrants of his love hate relationship he created with English during his childhood in order to depict how it helped shape into the man he is today and how the journey was necessary to add on to his “public individuality”.
Conclusion
Towards the ending of the text, Rodriguez illustrates the advantages and consequences of incorporating English into his public and private life. For instance, as he rebuttals a claim made by bilinguists, he writes how they fail to realize that ¨by becoming assimilated into public society,̈ it is therefore possible to achieve ¨public individuality,¨ (Rodriguez, 312). The purpose of this statement is to give an example of an achievement he obtained on his journey. In addition, he also writes how he lists the changes to his private and family life ¨to emphasize the public gain,¨ (Rodriguez, 313). The purpose of this is to directly state how with a loss, a gain is introduced.
According to Richard Rodriguez language can define a community positively by allowing intimacy with people with that same language. For example, it allowed Rodriguez to feel in a way that he was safe and that he was comfortable hearing the same language in his household. It can define a community negatively by the community becoming isolated due to the fact that others usually don’ t speak the same language.
Rodriguez means in the statement that one shouldn’t really speak a family language at home because it may disadvantage the children. It may lead to the student not really understanding or being able to communicate with others. As seen in the essay Rodriguez is very familiar with this because he takes it to account that he has experienced this on his own. Since he was only a Spanish speaker and didn’t really know much English he was isolated and he didn’t really understand the concepts of anything which contributes to missing out on education. So within that, he conveys that one shouldn’t be educated in bilingual education.
An aria is a term associated with music. It is usually a long song that is accompanied by one person that fits the song perfectly. I think Rodriguez chose the title “ Aria” because as a child he felt that he was isolated, being the only one in the classroom not knowing English. I believe the title is effective because it relates to the entire concept that he was trying to pursue in writing the essay.
Rodriguez establishes ethos in his first four opening paragraphs by giving credibility about his knowledge of bilingual education on his part. He acknowledges his own personal story which allows us to see that he is credible in the sense that he is able to speak about his own story/ issue that he had grown up in his childhood.
Rodriguez means in the statement given that even though his parents couldn’t speak English that well it mattered to him because he knew that his parents were still going to have to live with the discomfort of not being able to be seen as a regular person in a community. It also meant that they weren’t going to be able to get the same opportunity that he had acquired due to the fact that they didn’t speak English with “ease.”
Rodriguez doesn’t really convince me that change in a family relationship is worthwhile in terms of “dramatic Americanization” because in my opinion family is way more important than becoming more of an American because family is forever unlike “dramatic Americanization.” “Dramatic Americanization” separates family as seen in the essay, so without it, it brings the family closer together.
I believe Rodriguez means within the statement given is that while trying to become a public society it can reveal yourself to finding your own public individuality by finding who you truly are.
The narrative contributes to the effectiveness of Rodriguez’s argument by allowing the audience to see/understand his perspective of how he felt. It also allows the readers to get a good relationship with Rodriguez because they are able to understand his emotions leaving pathos as an appeal.
The major counter-arguments that Rodriguez addresses are that “ “It is not possible for a child — any child — ever to use his family’s language in school. Not to understand this is to misunderstand the public uses of schooling and to trivialize the nature of intimate life — a family’s ‘language’” (para. 5). He also addresses that “Supporters of bilingual education today imply that students like me miss a great deal by not being taught in their family’s language.” (p.308) Although there are many more counter-arguments these seem the most important to me.
I believe that Rodriguez is very convincing because sometimes logical statistics don’t help the passage be convincing such as in this case. I believe that formal evidence wouldn’t strengthen his argument because he was trying to explain his story to have an intimate relationship with the readers instead of just stating facts.
The competing communities impact the development of his personal identity by making Rodriguez unsure of who he was. He was confused in a way that he didn’t know what language to choose whether it was English which would affect his lifestyle as well as his parents or Spanish which would affect the perspective that society would view him.
I agree with Rodriguez all the way because as a Mexican I see my values differently than other people, as well as people, view their values differently as well.
Rhetorical precis:
Aria by Richard Rodriguez portrays his childhood journey on how English had changed his whole life more likely his childhood Rodriguez begins by stating that the world before he knew how to speak English was very unknown to him by the reasoning that he didn’t know how to speak the “public” language, which then develops by narrating how he felt safe, comfortable and secure knowing his house was full of “ Spanish” noise and concludes by describing how the “public” language benefited his life with new changes yet he lost things throughout the transition of learning a new language. His purpose is to inform his readers in order to address his transition to learning a new language and how that affected his identity and his family life. Rodriguez constructs an informal yet very descriptive tone about his childhood and appeals to the audience and their sense of understanding of his bilingual situation with education.
Analytical argument:
The general argument made by Richard Rodriguez in his work “Aria,” is that he stands against bilingual education. More specifically, Rodrguez argues that the education system is truly wrong and that the students should primarily be taught in the language that everyone is able to use. He writes “ My awkward childhood does not prove the necessity of bilingual education.” In this passage, Rodriguez is suggesting that we should mainly learn the public language because with public language one can have great outcomes in life unlike with the bilingual language. In conclusion, Rodriguez’s belief is that one should be taught in the public language instead of a bilingual language.
In my view, Rodriguez is wrong because we should all have the choice of whether or not we should be taught in the language that we want. Yes, we should be taught in the public language but we should also be taught in a bilingual language. For example, as seen in the essay Rodriguez seems like as he has lost his cultural identity because he had to learn in the public language. More specifically, I believe that one should not lose their own self-identity because of the way the education system teaches. Therefore, I oppose Richard Rodriguez in the sense that we should be taught in both languages public and private or the language that seems more comfortable to oneself.
Intro and Body Paragraph:
“Aria: a memoir of a bilingual childhood” by Richard Rodriguez portrays the challenging childhood that Rodriguez had to face within learning a public language. Rodriguez’s purpose was to inform his readers about the life-changing experience that he had to go through. He conveys this purpose by stating that the world before he knew how to speak English was very unknown to him by the reasoning that he didn’t know how to speak the “public” language, which then develops by narrating how he felt safe, comfortable and secure knowing his house was full of “ Spanish” noise and concludes by describing how the “public” language benefited his life with new changes yet he lost things throughout the transition of learning a new language.
Rodriguez begins his essay by informing his personal childhood before the transition to the new language. His purpose in doing so is to give background information about how life was like without his new identity. For instance, he comments that “ Spanish seemed to be the language of home. (Most days it was only at home that I’d hear it.) It became the language of joyful return” and that he was “ often frightened by the sounds of los gringos, delighted by the sounds of Spanish at home.” He also points out that Spanish was “ Conveyed through those sounds was the pleasing, soothing, consoling reminder of being at home. His expressions both inform about his childhood before learning a new language, allowing him to convey a sense of understanding of life before English and appeals to the audience’s emotions and understanding.
Introduction: The Multifaceted Advantages of Bilingualism
Famous psycholinguist Frank Smith once said, “One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way.” In today’s modern global world where it is possible to communicate with anyone anywhere on the planet at any time, there are still a few barriers to communication remaining. One of those barriers is language. In the United States, roughly 80% of people speak only one language, in comparison to this roughly 40% of Europeans speak only one language. America is a wide-ranging and diverse nation, a nation of many cultures and peoples. By learning a second language and becoming bilingual you can reap the rewards with long term economic benefits, increased mental health, and an expanded ability to communicate.
For as long as there have been humans there has been a language for them to communicate with. As we evolved as people, we created more complex and more diverse languages which made it more difficult for us to understand each other. With these complex languages, it becomes critical that people understand more than just one of these languages. By understanding, just one language people severely limited their ability to communicate and trade and learn from one another. Communication is without a doubt one of, if not the most critical skill you can have, not only for work or for relationships but for life in general. It is critical to be able to communicate effectively.
The Economic Upside of Knowing Multiple Languages
One reason that becoming bilingual can benefit you is the multitude of economic benefits that it can bring you. Knowing multiple languages opens many opportunities for economic gain and prosperity, through more job opportunities and more international business. As communication improves and more businesses gain more global influence, knowing more than one language gives you more opportunities and a leg up on the competition. The articles by Patricia Gándara and Francois Grosjean support the claim of the many economic benefits of bilingualism. Patricia Gándara sees bilingualism as a vital tool in a Globalizing world and economy. Gándara is a research professor and co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA. She has worked for decades to support Hispanics and inclusivity in education. In 2011 Gándara was appointed to President Obama’s Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics and has worked to support bilinguals during her entire career. The article “The Economic Value of Bilingualism in the United States” from The Journal of the National Association for Bilingual Education goes into detail about the multiple benefits bilingualism has on economic opportunities. In this article, Gándara says “Full literacy in another language brings substantial economic benefit. Moreover, the failure to nurture these linguistic skills in the children of immigrants exacts a cost to the earnings of these potentially bilingual students” (Gándara 4). Bilingualism can provide many different economic benefits, employment, and overseas opportunities as well as communication benefits. Bilingualism is helpful in so many ways and we should support bilingual learning more as a country. Gándara’s ideas on the economic benefits of bilingualism are supported by the beliefs of Francois Grosjean. Bilingualism has a multitude of benefits and there are many reasons why more people should pursue bilingualism. Francois Grosjean sees bilingualism as an increasingly beneficial tool in life and a necessity for the future. Grosjean is the former Director of the Language and Speech Processing Laboratory at the University of Neuchâtel. He was also the co-founder of the journal Bilingualism: Language and Cognition from the Cambridge University Press. Grosjean’s article “The Amazing Rise of Bilingualism in the United States” from PsychologyToday talks about how bilingualism has seen a steady rise throughout the United States and the importance of starting the search for bilingualism early and its benefits. “There is a steady increase of the percentage of bilinguals between 1980 and 2018 … this percentage is still low compared to traditionally multilingual countries” (Grosjean 5) America is becoming a bilingual country and it is achieving that quite quickly. Within the next 10-20 years America will likely become 35-40% bilingual. Bilinguals often see more opportunities for communication and economic advancement, and it is important to not get left behind. The multiple economic benefits of bilingualism are plain to see. Bilingualism is soon going to be critical for job interviews and resumes everywhere. Bilingualism will be crucial to achieving economic prosperity and it is never too soon to start.
Boosting Mental Health and Brain Functionality
Another reason that becoming bilingual can benefit you is the long-term mental and brain health benefits. Studies have shown that bilinguals have better long-term mental health and see the onset of diseases such as Dementia much later than monolinguals. Jubin Abutalebi and Rebecca Fox are both dedicated supporters of bilingualism. Jubin Abutalebi sees bilingualism as providing a long-term mental benefit that can improve brain health. Abutalebi is a cognitive neurologist and Assistant Professor of Neuropsychology at the University Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milan. He is the editor-in-chief of the international journal “Bilingualism: Language and Cognition” and has been published numerous times in different prestigious neurological journals. Abutalebi collaborated on this article with, Lucia Guidi, Virginia Borsa Matteo Canini, Pasquale A. Della Rosa, Ben A. Parris, and Brendan S. Weekes. The article “Bilingualism provides a neural reserve for aging populations” published in Neuropsychologia (March 2015) discusses many of the beneficial effects of bilingualism. One of the main points is how bilingualism can improve brain health and can help slow the onset of dementia and other brain-related health problems. This study by Abutalebi states that “behavioral evidence shows that bilinguals are diagnosed with dementia about 4–5 years later compared to monolinguals” (Abutalebi et al 3) and “aging induces a decline in performance on conflict resolution that is more prominent in monolinguals with respect to bilinguals and this decline is reflected in the decreased gray matter” (Abutalebi 23). There is a clear scientific benefit to bilingualism, with increased brain health and gray matter, and delayed aging effects in comparison to monolinguals. Being a large supporter, Rebecca Fox also sees bilingualism as beneficial in cognitive abilities and benefits, aging and health, and employability. Fox is a Professor of Education and Division Director of the Advanced Professional Teacher Development and International Education in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University; Fox is also the author of dozens of scholarly articles and two books on multiple education topics. “Benefits of foreign language learning and bilingualism: An analysis of published empirical research 2012–2019” from the journal Foreign Language Annals discusses many of the wide-ranging benefits of bilingualism. In this article, Fox states, “Additional results stress the benefits of foreign/world language skills relating to employability and academic achievement and propose that the accumulation of years of language learning positively impacts the development of cross‐cultural awareness and communicative competence” (Fox 3). Bilingualism does not just help with academics or brain health it can have benefits in every part of life. Mental and brain health is an important part of life; bilingualism allows you to improve that health and see more long-term benefits as compared to monolinguals. Bilingualism has many benefits for the future; starting young and staying consistent can help you in your journey.
Enhanced Communication Skills and Global Reach
The final benefit of bilingualism is the ability to communicate. Communication is critical for all aspects of life. Being able to communicate effectively and between many different people is especially important and bilingualism allows you to do that with many more people than monolinguals. Linda M Espinosa sees bilingualism as increasingly beneficial in modern life and sees it as critical to start teaching children multiple languages at young ages. Espinosa is a former professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Missouri-Columbia and has served as the Co-Director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University. Espinosa has done extensive work and research with lower-income families throughout California on the benefits of bilingualism. In the journal, Global Education Review Espinosa authored an article, “Challenges and Benefits of Early Bilingualism in the United States Context” in which she talks about the multiple benefits of early bilingualism on young children and young minds. Espinosa states in this article “Despite the robust research documenting the extensive capacity of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers to learn multiple languages and the cognitive, social, and linguistic benefits of early bilingualism, most young learners in the United States do not receive enriched education that supports their emergent bilingualism” (Espinosa 2). The American education system does not have the ability to effectively support and assist young bilinguals in their search to learn a second language and it is hurting these students in the long run. Similarly, to Espinosa, Rosselli also sees bilingualism as a critical part of communication. Mónica Rosselli sees bilingualism as important to increase individuals’ cognitive performance and brain reserve. Rosselli is a Professor and Associate Chair of Florida Atlantic University’s Department of Psychology. She focuses specifically on the cultural and linguistic variables that influence the onset of dementia in patients. Rosselli’s article “The Effects of Bilingualism on Verbal and Nonverbal Memory Measures in Mild Cognitive Impairment” from the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society discusses many of the aspects of brain health that bilinguals have. Rosselli’s study states “Bilingual group significantly outperformed the monolingual group on two LASSI-L cued recall measures and showed the increased volume of the hippocampus” (Rosselli 4). The bilingual group showed increased memory on verbal tasks and an increased volume of the hippocampus, the section of the brain that focuses on learning and long-term memories. The ability to communicate is critical to every single part of life and knowing just one language severally cripples who you can communicate with. In today’s ever-expanding globalizing world, knowing just a single language really limits you. Bilingualism allows you to talk to people from all over the world and communicate effectively.
Debunking the Myths: Addressing the Criticisms of Bilingualism
The studies into the many benefits of bilingualism have shown how it can benefit Brain health and Communications; however, certain studies show members of the scientific community who believe that while bilingualism has its benefits, it also has detriments. Julia Ouzia sees bilingualism as more of a hindrance than a benefit. Ouzia is a Ph.D. graduate from Anglia Ruskin University and is a teaching fellow at London University. She also has several published studies on bilingualism and its effects on cognitive processing. Ouzia’s article “There are also drawbacks to being bilingual” from theconversation.com and The University of Cambridge, states that bilingualism has many disadvantages that go along with its benefits, namely Cognitive processing. “Monolinguals were better able than bilinguals to discriminate between when they were right and when they were wrong. In other words, bilinguals had less insight into their performance than monolinguals. … These results indicate that bilingualism may be associated with cognitive disadvantages as well as benefits” (Ouzia 2) this excerpt from Ouzia’s article says how while bilinguals have their advantages over monolinguals, they also have certain disadvantages and the research into these differences has not been conclusive enough. While there is certain evidence stating that bilingualism has specific detriments in decision making and Metacognitive processing the research into these supposed detriments is truly little and these studies that are quoted in this article are very new and have been contested within their scientific communities. Even if these detriments in cognitive processing are real it does not affect the other benefits of bilingualism such as communication and economic opportunities.
Conclusion: The Indispensable Value of Being Bilingual
In today’s world of many people, cultures, and languages, knowing just a single language is very limiting. By learning a second language and becoming bilingual you can reap the rewards with long term economic benefits, increased mental health, and an expanded ability to communicate. Bilinguals see more economic opportunities and more Job positions, especially in overseas markets which is especially important in today’s economy. They also benefit from improved and better brain and mental health compared to monolinguals with delayed onset of brain diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia. Finally, being bilingual allows you to communicate with billions of people with whom you would not otherwise be able to communicate. Some studies show that bilinguals also have some detriments along with their benefits. However, these studies are relatively new, and these detriments do not affect bilingualism’s communication and economic benefits. Becoming bilingual can be easy, fun, and can provide several benefits.
Claire Lilienthal Elementary School (CLS) strives to provide an excellent education for children in the San Francisco Unified School District. Over 690 children are studying in the school, and their background is very diverse, the largest group of the students (30%) being of Asian descent.
Apart from the comprehensive curriculum, CLS provides additional opportunities, and the full day Korean-English Immersion program (KIP) is one of them.
Nowadays, bilingualism can be regarded as a typical environment for children living in multinational countries. The specifics of bilingual children cognitive development should be taken into account by the schools they study in, and the KIP initiative demonstrates the acknowledgement of this fact by the modern society. At the same time, there are also hidden KIP advantages that are connected to bilingualism and its influence on cognitive development and performance.
In particular, it has been proved that bilingual children demonstrate better executive functions performance. CLS is the only school in Northern California to implement KIP for students in grades K-5, and to increase the parents’ awareness of the true benefits of the program, a study devoted to the advantages of bilingualism for children’s development will be carried out.
The primary goal of this study consists in testing the ideas and assumptions concerning the positive impact of bilingualism on executive functions. However, increasing the parents’ awareness of the KIP benefits is also an important goal, and the population that we expect to benefit from this research is the students of the school who will be more likely to enjoy the advantages of KIP.
The population addressed by this study includes Korean-English bilingual children while monolingual students are regarded as the control group. Three groups of students (in grades K-2) will be tested to gather information about their working memory, inhibition, and cognitive flexibility. The groups with include English-speaking monolingual children, Korean and English speaking bilinguals and those English-speaking children who have been participating in KIP for at least a year. We will attempt to gather enough pupils at the Claire Lilienthal School, but other San Francisco schools with similar demographics may also be involved.
We expect the tests to be entertaining as they are going to be presented in the form of games designed specifically for children. The tests include the dimensional change card sort, the game “Simon Says”, the visually cued recall test, and the attention network task. Apart from the test results, other characteristics (age, socioeconomic status) will be gathered with the help of the parent questionnaire and school records. Additional characteristics are necessary to match the children’s performance correctly.
The team of the study is yet to be established, but we understand that we need to take into account particular challenges. The study will require at least one Korean language specialist we hope to recruit from CLS staff. In general, we expect support and participation from CLS and KIP executives and members, and we are willing to include them in our team.
We intend to evaluate the process of the study continuously with the help of the team members observation notes and databases. We allow the possibility of modifying the plan in the course of the study, and a pilot experiment will be launched for this purpose. Attention will be paid to flaws and difficulties along with the opportunities that can be encountered. The variables will be evaluated with the help of the established tests that have already proved their reliability along with customized questionnaires that will be modified to suit the needs of out sample. The study can only fail to achieve the primary goals if the results are inaccurate which is why avoiding biases an essential requirement for a positive outcome evaluation.
Claire Lilienthal Alternative K-8 Elementary School (CLS) is a public school in San Francisco, California. As stated in Claire Lilienthal Alternative K-8 School Overview (2015), CLS aims to provide an excellent education for children in the San Francisco Unified School District. According to Niche.com, Inc. (2015), 84% of students of CLS are considered proficient in math and (or) reading which suggests that the school has been fulfilling its purpose successfully. The 695 students of CLS have a diverse background: currently, about 26% of the pupils are white, while 22 of them are of multiracial descent, 10% are Hispanic, and 8% are African American. The largest group of CLS students (30%) is of Asian descent (Niche.com, Inc, 2015, para. 4).
Apart from the comprehensive curriculum, CLS provides other opportunities for their students. The examples of such opportunities include the Outdoor Education Science Program and the school’s partnership with the San Francisco Arts Education Project. An Inclusion Program is suggested for students with special needs. Apart from that, CLS is the only school in Northern California to implement the full day Korean-English Immersion program (KIP) for students in grades K-5 to help both Korean and English-speaking students “develop the ability to speak, read and write in two languages at the same time” (Wells, 2015, p. 1).
KIP was created with the help of the San Francisco Korean Immersion Education Alliance, Inc., a non-profit parent-founded organization aimed at supporting Korean language and cultural education within the region. The introduction of this program to the school’s curriculum is justified by the large number of Asian CLS students. However, it is pointed out in the KIP Handbook that other pupils who are willing to be introduced to Korean culture and language are very welcome to participate.
Problem Statement
KIP is an excellent opportunity that can assist bilingual students in their studies. Apart from that, it offers monolingual students the opportunity of learning a second language while providing them with inspiring information about the foreign culture. Finally, there are also hidden KIP advantages that are connected to bilingualism and its influence on cognitive development and performance.
It should be pointed out, however, that the final group of advantages does not appear to be widely known. In order to increase the parents’ awareness of the benefits that KIP actually promises, a study devoted to the advantages of bilingualism for children’s development can be carried out. A vivid demonstration of the positive impact of bilingualism on certain cognitive processes can be used to increase the popularity of KIP which can be beneficial both for the school and, most importantly, for children who will be more likely to participate.
Problem Background
Scientific Background
Executive functions (also called cognitive control) include “the mechanisms that enable human cognition to move away from automatic responses, towards more complex, goal-driven behaviors” (Stocco & Prat, 2014, p. 51). These functions are associated with a number of intellectual and emotional development aspects, including social competence, moral conduct, and school readiness (Carlson & Meltzoff, 2008). Academic performance is probably the most traceable parameter that depends on executive functions. For example, working memory contributes to reading comprehension and mental arithmetics achievements (Morales, Calvo & Bialystok, 2013).
There exists a bulk of scientific evidence that supports the concept of bilingualism enhancing executive functions performance. It should be pointed out that not every aspect of executive functions appears to be connected to bilingualism (Carlson and Meltzoff, 2008). There is sufficient evidence to assume that affected areas include such parameters as inhibitory control (“the ability to resist a habitual response or information that is not relevant”), working memory (“ability to hold information in mind and mentally manipulate it”), and cognitive flexibility (“ability to adjust to changes in demands or priorities and switch between goals”) (Barac, Bialystok, Castro & Sanchez, 2014, p. 702).
The boost of executive functions as a result of bilingualism can become traceable since the first year of life, and there is evidence to the suggestion that the employed language pairs are irrelevant in this respect, and any kind of bilingualism has a beneficial effect on cognitive development of a child (Barac et al., 2014, p. 704).
Research Background
The impact of bilingualism on various aspects of intellectual activity and cognitive development has been studied for more than a hundred years. For the first half of the previous century, the prevalent belief was that bilingualism had a negative impact on children’s development. However, the studies of that time that were demonstrating better intellectual development in monolingual children were later accused of inaccuracy.
For example, the tests could be conducted only in English, and the level of proficiency in this language varied among bilingual children. Similarly, the children were not matched properly from the point of view of age or socio-economic conditions. (Barac et al., 2014). The fact that socioeconomic status is important for cognitive development has long been proved (Calvo & Bialystok, 2014). Once scientists realized these mistakes, the results of studies on bilingualism began to indicate that bilingual children actually tended to outperform monolingual in a number of factors (Barac et al., 2014).
Apparently, there is no denying the fact that bilingualism is a cognitively challenging experience. However, as a result, it can be regarded as an exercise that beneficially affects cognitive performance (Morales et al., 2013, pp. 187-188). In general, the positive impact of bilingualism on executive function has been demonstrated by a growing number of studies, for example, those by Blom, Küntay, Messer, Verhagen and Leseman (2014), Mezzacappa (2004), Stocco and Prat (2014), Foy and Mann (2013), and Carlson and Meltzoff (2008).
The Impact of the Problem on Society. The Significance of the Problem
Bilingualism is a common condition for children in a multinational country, and the knowledge about the specifics of their development and their educational needs should be taken into account while creating curricula. Apart from that, the beneficial effects of bilingualism on cognitive performance appear to be a viable incentive for introducing children to different linguistic environments. Schools can be regarded as the institutions that are capable of informing parents about their children’s opportunities in this field. Increasing the awareness of parents concerning programs like KPI is entirely consistent with the mission of CLS as well as that of other schools.
Proposed Study
Study Description
The suggested study is aimed at providing visible proofs to the fact that bilingualism affects cognitive development of children in a positive way. Three groups of CLS students (in grades K-2) will be tested to gather information about their executive functions. The groups will include English-speaking monolingual children, Korean and English speaking bilinguals and those English-speaking children who have been participating in the immersion program for at least a year.
Apparently, in order to assess cognition in children, tests are modified to take into account their level of development and to resemble a game (Reinstein & Burau, 2014). The tests that are proposed for this study include the dimensional change card sort, the games “Simon Says” and “Statue”, and the Kansas reflection/impulsivity scale (Carlson & Meltzoff, 2008).
Apart from that, the parents/guardians will be asked to fill out a questionnaire aimed at determining the linguistic background of the children along with the specific features of their behavior. The socioeconomic status, age, language fluency of the children are going to be taken into account in the processing of the results so that the mistakes of the previous century studies would not be repeated.
The results of the study are expected to provide additional evidence for the study of bilingualism, namely, to demonstrate the positive impact of bilingualism on certain cognitive processes.
Previous Studies
The effects that bilingualism has on executive functions have been extensively investigated in the past several years (Barac et al., 2014). The tests suggested for this study have also been widely used for similar investigations, for example, in those by Morales et al. (2013) and Carlson and Meltzoff (2008). Still, further investigation of the issue appears to be relevant for a number of reasons.
Firstly, the Korean-English language pair appears to be underrepresented in this field of study. The language pairs that are covered in executive function studies include Chinese-English, French-English, and Spanish-English ones (Carlson & Meltzoff, 2008; Mezzacappa, 2004). The study by Blom et al. (2014) was devoted to cognitive advantages in Turkish-Dutch bilingual children. The study of Soliman (2014) involved studying components of working memory tests in Arabic–English bilingual children.
The work of Kang (2012) did examine Korean-English bilingual children, but the focus was not on the cognitive development, but on phonological awareness and academic performance. Secondly, positive results of this study may provide evidence to the supposition that any kind of bilingualism can have a positive effect on executive functions. At the same time, the English-Korean language pair is central to the study because the KIP is concerned with it.
Possible Results
It is true that the specific components of executive function that are involved in language processing and, consequently, may benefit from bilingualism, are not fully determined yet (Morales et al., 2013). The main reason for that is the fact that the results of studies occasionally contradict each other. For example, the study of Engel de Abreau (2011) did not reveal any differences in working memory performance between bilingual and monolingual children. This result, however, contradicts those obtained by Morales et al. (2013). Given the amount of scientific work that proves the beneficial impact of bilingualism on executive function (as presented above), we may expect the bilingual English-Korean children to outperform monolingual students in the course of the proposed study.
Conclusion
From the point of view of the further research concerning the relation between bilingualism and executive functions, the proposed study may provide support for a number of ideas. Those include the suggestion that using any language pair in their communication has a positive impact on a child’s cognitive performance as well as the disputable issue of working memory being or not being affected by bilingualism.
Apart from that, the proposed study will provide additional evidence to be used in research concerning bilingualism. The fact that the research is almost bound to prove the beneficial effect of bilingualism on cognitive development in children means that its results could be used by CLS teachers to increase parents’ awareness concerning the advantages of KIP and improve the program’s popularity. The latter means that more children are going to participate in the program which is consistent with the school’s mission of providing supreme education opportunities.
Methods
Goals and Objectives
The primary goal of this study consists in testing the idea that bilingualism affects certain kinds of executive functions, namely cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, and working memory processes in a positive way. Given the contradictory data, the question of working memory is controversial. Therefore, any kind of evidence concerning this issue gained through the study is especially important.
Apart from that, as a result of this study, the theory according to which the positive impact of bilingualism on executive functions does not depend on the language pair involved, is also going to be tested. In this particular case, it is the Korean-English pair that is going to be studied, and this bilingual set appears to be underrepresented in the research on the matter. The proposed study, therefore, is mostly aimed at providing additional evidence to the bilingualism research, accumulating relevant knowledge, and testing the suppositions that appear to be underrepresented or controversial.
At the same time, additional goals are pursued by the study. By providing a vivid example of the positive effects of bilingualism with the help of Claire Lilienthal School Korean Immersion Program, we intend to increase the parents’ awareness concerning the benefits of the said program. The population that we expect to eventually benefit from this process is the students of the school who will be more likely to enjoy the advantages of bilingual studies program.
To achieve the goals, the following objectives have been set:
To create an enthusiastic research team in collaboration with CLS.
To define the sample for the research.
To develop and refine the research instruments taking into account the specifics of the sample.
To carry out the research, analyze the results and make conclusions concerning the primary goals requirements.
To evaluate the results of the research and utilize them to achieve the secondary goals.
Population
The population addressed by this study includes Korean-English bilingual children. The children who are beginning to be exposed to a bilingual environment are also targeted by the study.
Sampling
The study sample will include roughly equal numbers of students in the grades K-2, male and female, that will be divided into three groups. The groups will include the Korean-English bilingual children who are exposed to two languages since their birth; English monolingual children (the control group), and the children who are involved in the immersion program at school but are not exposed to bilingual experiences at home.
Monolingual children are going to be regarded as the control group: the results of the performance exhibited by the bilingual students are going to be evaluated in comparison to that of monolingual students. We realize that the native bilingual children will most certainly have different command of the two languages they know. We will take into account their preferences concerning the test instructions language; apart from that, we will document these discrepancies and take them into account while processing the tests data.
The first stage of sampling and will include searching for subjects with the help of CLS resources and employees. Upon finding students that possess the necessary qualities, we will contact their parents or guardians and suggest participating in the study. The benefits and risks will be explained to them as well as the potential scientific value of the study. We intend to use flyers as a means of contacting subjects during this stage of the research; in certain cases personal contact could be deemed preferable. The students who agree to participate will become the final sample of the study. Additional information about the children will be gained with the help of questionnaires offered to the parents. The consent forms will be given to the parents or guardians (see Appendix C); the oral consent of the children will be required.
We will attempt gathering enough students at the Claire Lilienthal School. From the information presented by Niche.com, Inc. (2015), it can be concluded that there are about 250 children studying in the grades K-2 of CLS. Still, in case the resulting sample will appear to be insufficient, we will involve other San Francisco schools with similar demographics. It is obvious, however, that the group of immersion students can only be gathered in the school which puts it in a special position. We anticipate fewer difficulties with sampling the group of bilingual children and no problems with monolingual students. We expect every sample group to consist of up to twenty children. This number can be changed in case certain opportunities concerning the sample will or will not arise.
The anticipated risks for the population are minimal. There is a chance that children will get uncomfortable or unhappy with their own performance. The fact that they are allowed to stop the test at any moment will be clearly stated. Apart from that, we will not inform the children about their peers’ performance and will not evaluate their own in order to avoid any kind of negative experiences. We will also maintain complete confidentiality regarding the results of the tests or any personal information that we will gain access to. The possible incentive for the children would be T-shirts with CLS logo.
We may also offer the parents to reimburse the money spent to get to the meeting. In certain cases, we may travel to the child’s place instead since the equipment is highly transportable. Even though the parents of the children are not targeted by the study, their collaboration is very important for its success.
Research Methods
Design
The proposed study will utilize purposive sampling method in order to determine the primary sample group of subjects. The relevant information regarding the subjects will be gained with the help of school reports and teachers and specifically developed parent questionnaire. The tests proposed for this study are not going to be created especially for it. These tests have been used by a number of studies and their reliability as a means of measuring the executive functions performance of children has been demonstrated. Apart from that, these tests are specifically adapted to be used with children: they are presented in the form of a game and the specifics of children cognitive development have been taken into account in the process of their creation (Carlson & Meltzoff, 2008).
Procedures
Upon finalizing the sampling process, we will determine the time and place for children to participate in the tests. We expect it to be most convenient to invite children to CLS, but in certain cases the place can be changed. The parents/guardians of the children will be offered the consent forms. An oral consent of the child will be requested as well.
We intend to record the testing process in order to be able to properly assess the responses of the children. Given the fact that most of the tests presuppose fast responses, in order to document them properly, video tapings would be most advisable. We will inform the participants about this necessity and its reasons prior to the tests, and they will be free to refrain from participating in case they do not wish to be videotaped or to have their children videotaped.
The tests will be presented in the form of games, some of them computer-assisted. One of these games is “Simon Says” as it was defined by Strommen in the previous century (Carlson & Meltzoff, 2008, p. 288). The task demonstrates a child’s inhibitory control along with cognitive flexibility, and it has been used, for example, in the studies by Bialystok et al. (2005) and Carlson and Meltzoff (2008).
Similarly, the dimensional change card sort task is presented as a card game: the images on the cards vary in shape and color, and the child is expected to sort them while taking into account only one of the dimensions. As the rules change (for example, from sorting the circles and the squares to dividing the cards according to the color), they conflict and require paying more attention to the relevant information (Carlson & Meltzoff, 2008, p. 287).
The visually cued recall test is meant to assess children’s working memory and inhibition. It presupposes showing a child an array of pictures while pointing out some of them. The children are to remember and show the “special pictures” after all of them are demonstrated (Carlson & Meltzoff, 2008, p. 288). Finally, the attention network task as presented by Rueda et al. (2004) will be suggested to test children’s inhibition. This is a computer game that requires “feeding” a fish that keeps appearing on the screen facing different directions. The instructions will be provided in the language of the child’s choice; apart from that, all the tests presuppose a number of “practice” trials that would be necessary to ensure that the child understands the rules of the game.
We intend to conduct a pilot test with up to three children from every group in order to define difficulties that might arise in the course of procedures. In case any problems are faced during the pilot tests, or any suggestions will be proposed by the team members, the procedures plan will be improved and customized.
The parents will be offered to fill out the questionnaire devoted to the family’s linguistic background and the child’s personal qualities. The questionnaire may be developed and customized depending on the specific features of the sample that we will be able to get access to. The presence of the parents during the tests will be discouraged as this may serve as a distraction for the children.
Post-Experiment Activities
Upon finalizing the experiment part of the study, the gathered data will be processed as shown in the following sections. The results will be summarized, and a report will be formed. The process and the outcome of the study will be evaluated from the point of view of the goals achievement as well as team and participants feedback.
Staffing
The key staff roles include:
Primary Investigator (PI) – NAME.
Responsible for the implementation of the relevant actions within the planned timeframe.
Responsible for the coordination of other members’ tasks.
Responsible for carrying out the team meetings after the strategically significant events (see Appendix A) to receive feedback and revise the plan if necessary.
If possible, can participate in other research activities. Still, the primary responsibility of PI consists in providing the smooth implementation of the planned activities.
Coordinators:
Mr. Tyler Graff, CLS Principal.
Ms. Patty Harmon, CLS Assistant Principal.
Donald Persky, President of San Francisco Korean Immersion Alliance, Inc.
Other school and KIP member who are willing to participate.
The primary responsibility of the coordinators consists in providing the information necessary for sampling and, if possible, testing locations. Other types of participation can be discussed.
Data analysts:
Team members and PI.
Responsible for sampling and test data analysis.
Assessors:
Team members and PI.
Responsible for carrying out the tests, evaluating questionnaires, preparing reports concerning the results, and monitoring the process.
The specifics of the study require another staff member: Melissa Harmon, a CLS teacher and a Korean language specialist who will have to be employed as an assessor as well.
The language specialist will be responsible for the following tasks.
Providing the translation of the tests that would be suitable for children to read and understand to avoid the mistakes emphasized by Barac, R., Bialystok, E., Castro, D., & Sanchez, M. (2014).
If necessary, adapting the translation to suit the specific needs of children.
If necessary, translating consent forms and questionnaires meant for parents who would prefer to fill them in the Korean language.
Conducting tests in Korean for the children who would rather use this language.
Ensuring the communication with the Korean-speaking children and adults.
Given the scope of the specialist tasks, it is obvious that having one of them is almost insufficient. We expect CLS to collaborate with us and; therefore, we wish to recruit one or two more teachers with the knowledge of Korean language from the school. The experience of working with children is another benefit that such a recruitment would mean for the study.
Evaluation
Process Evaluation
We intend to evaluate the process of the study continuously, and this intention is reflected in the allowances concerning changes in the instruments, tests, and procedures. To be able to receive feedback on our activities from every participant, research notes will be used. Every member will be asked to make notes or keep a research diary about every research-related activity meant for his or her personal use. During team meetings members will be encouraged to report the notes they find important. The team meetings will take place every month or after a significant event (for example, in case problems with sampling arise).
In such a way, we expect to be able to evaluate the process of the study. Our intent to launch a pilot experiment is also caused by the wish to assess the adequacy of our methods in practice before we conduct the actual study.
It should be pointed out that the evaluation does not presuppose only the determination of flaws within the plan or the inadequacy of the chosen methods. In case an opportunity to improve the design arises or a team member comes up with a consistent suggestion, they are going to be weighed and, if considered useful and affordable, incorporated into the initial plan. Whenever a suggestion concerning the improvement of the procedures is made, it should be recorded; its evaluation is going to be carried out during the next team meeting. However, in most cases we would refrain from broadening the scope of our study. The core of the plan and especially the goals are not expected to be changed. In case an opportunity for broadening the study will arise, we would consider carrying out another investigation upon finishing this one.
Outcome Evaluation
The outcome variables of the current research include the demographic variables, linguistic variables, personal character traits of the children and the results concerning their executive functions performance. The data will be gathered with the help of the questionnaires, tests, and school archives, and the assessors are responsible for providing the data analysts with the reports containing this information (see Appendix B). The demographic characteristics (age, gender, socioeconomic status) will be processed and summarized along with the language command and (if applicable) the personal traits of the children.
In respect to the latter, the self-control and attentiveness are going to be the most relevant traits. The results of the tests will be coded by the analysts to facilitate the data processing and the results reporting; the correlation between the mentioned characteristics and the tests results will be determined. The differences in the performances of native and non-native bilingual and monolingual children with respect to other characteristics will be determined. These differences will be calculated with respect to cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, and working memory.
All the feedback from any participants will be taken into account during the final team meeting. This meeting will be devoted to the evaluation of the process of the research and its outcomes. The results will be used for future reference among those who are willing to proceed researching activities. Simply put, the study outcome evaluation will be determined with regard to the goals achieved or partially completed. In fact, the study can only fail to achieve the primary goals in case it is aborted before the results are calculated or in case the results cannot be trusted. In every other situation, the study will provide evidence that can be used in the further research of bilingualism.
It is obvious, however, that the achievement of the expected results is most desirable. In this case, we will manage to demonstrate the positive effects of bilingualism on cognitive development in children which is our secondary goal. The achievement of this objective, however, does not depend on our efforts. Moreover, we should not allow this goal to cloud our perception. We need to conduct the tests as impartially as possible which is, naturally, required for the achievement of both goals. Since we intend to provide reliable results, we will need to avoid biases. This is a necessary requirement for a positive outcome evaluation.
References
Barac, R., Bialystok, E., Castro, D., & Sanchez, M. (2014). The cognitive development of young dual language learners: A critical review. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29(4), 699-714. Web.
Bialystok, E., Craik, F., Grady, C., Chau, W., Ishii, R., Gunji, A., & Pantev, C. (2005). Effect of bilingualism on cognitive control in the Simon task: evidence from MEG. Neuroimage, 24(1), 40-49. Web.
Blom, E., Küntay, A., Messer, M., Verhagen, J., & Leseman, P. (2014). The benefits of being bilingual: Working memory in bilingual Turkish–Dutch children. Journal Of Experimental Child Psychology, 128, 105-119. Web.
Calvo, A., & Bialystok, E. (2014). Independent effects of bilingualism and socioeconomic status on language ability and executive functioning. Cognition, 130(3), 278-288. Web.
Carlson, S., & Meltzoff, A. (2008). Bilingual experience and executive functioning in young children. Developmental Science, 11(2), 282-298. Web.
Claire Lilienthal Alternative K-8 School Overview. (2015). Web.
Engel de Abreu, P. (2011). Working memory in multilingual children: Is there a bilingual effect? Memory, 19(5), 529-537. Web.
Kang, J. Y. (2012). Do bilingual children possess better phonological awareness? Investigation of Korean monolingual and Korean-English bilingual children. Reading and Writing, 25, 411–431. Web.
Morales, J., Calvo, A., & Bialystok, E. (2013). Working memory development in monolingual and bilingual children. Journal Of Experimental Child Psychology, 114(2), 187-202. Web.
Reinstein, D., & Burau, D. (2014). Integrating Neuropsychological and Psychological Evaluations. Hoboken, NJ: Taylor and Francis.
Rueda, M., Fan, J., McCandliss, B., Halparin, J., Gruber, D., Lercari, L., & Posner, M. (2004). Development of attentional networks in childhood. Neuropsychologia, 42(8), 1029-1040. Web.
Soliman, A. (2014). Bilingual advantages of working memory revisited: A latent variable examination. Learning and Individual Differences, 32, 168-177. Web.
Stocco, A., & Prat, C. (2014). Bilingualism trains specific brain circuits involved in flexible rule selection and application. Brain And Language, 137, 50-61. Web.
Carry out the initial sampling with the help of the school(s)
x
x
Contact potential subjects
x
Define the final sample
x
Refine the questionnaires (if necessary)
x
x
Conduct the pilot tests
x
Analyze the results of the pilot test
x
Refine the tests (if necessary)
x
Conduct the rest of the tests
x
x
Process the data
x
Analyze the results
x
Evaluate the results
x
Create the report
x
Appendix B
Measurement Instruments
We will need to measure a number of subjects’ characteristics. The demographic characteristics (age, gender, socioeconomic status of the family, education of the parents) will be found out with the help of school records and parent questionnaire. The linguistic background and relevant character traits/behavior patterns of the children will also be evaluated with the help of parent questionnaire.
In respect to the latter, the self-control and attentiveness are going to be the most relevant traits. The questionnaire will be developed specifically for the study; depending on the specifics of the sample it will be modified and, if necessary, translated into Korean. Apart from that, the language command of the children will be assessed with the help of school records. The instruments that will be used to assess children’s cognitive abilities include the game “Simon Says”, the dimensional change card sort task, the visually cued recall test, and the attention network task. These instruments are not developed by the team, but they may be modified by it to suit the needs of the research.
Appendix C
San Francisco State University
Informed Consent to Participate in Research
The Influence of Bilingualism on Executive Control Functions in Young Children
Purpose and Background
The purpose of this research is to investigation of differences in cognitive development between bilingual and monolingual children.
The researcher, Jennifer Lee, is a student at San Francisco State University conducting research for a course in Child and Adolescent Development. You are being asked to participate in this study because you are part of CLS and we are value everyone in CLS.
Procedures
Your will be asked to participate in a number of tests performed in the form of games. We do not expect the tests to take more than an hour of your time. Please, note that the process is going to be videotaped. It is necessary for accurate analysis of the data.
Risks
There is a risk of loss of privacy. However, no names or identities will be used in any published reports of the research. Only the researcher will have access to the research data In case your feels uncomfortable with any activity, you are always free to stop.
Confidentiality
The research data will be kept in a secure location and only the researcher will have access to the data. All research data will be stored in an encrypted document on a password protected computer.
The video recordings of your activities may be shown to our colleagues. In case we find it desirable, you will be notified about it and will be free to prohibit us from doing so. Once the recordings serve their purpose, they will be destroyed.
Direct Benefits
We do not expect yourself or your child to benefit from participating in this study. However, it is significant as a way of accumulating knowledge concerning bilingualism. Apart from that, the results of this particular study will be used to improve the Korean Immersion Program and increase the awareness concerning its advantages.
Costs
There will be no cost to you for participating in this research.
Compensation
For participating in this study, your child will receive a T-shirt with the logo of Claire Lilienthal Elementary School. Your expenses for traveling to the school will be reimbursed, and you will receive a token gift of a pen with the logo of Claire Lilienthal Elementary School.
Alternatives
The alternative is not to participate in the research.
Questions
You have spoken with Jennifer Lee about this study and have had your questions answered. If you have any further questions about the study, you may contact the researcher by email at [email protected] or you may contact the researcher’s advisor, Professor Linda M. Platas at [email protected]
Questions about your rights as a study participant, or comments or complaints about the study, may also be addressed to the Human and Animal Protections.
Consent
You have been given a copy of this consent form to keep.
PARTICIPATION IN THIS RESEARCH IS VOLUNTARY. You are free to decline to participate in this research, or to withdraw your participation at any point, without penalty. Your decision whether or not to participate in this research will have no influence on your present or future status at San Francisco State University.
Bilingualism is the ability to speak two different languages fluently. Research has shown that bilingualism is important in the modern world because of globalization, which has led to rapid immigration (Cenoz & Genesee, 2001). In many cases, children learn one language from their parents, and the other language at school.
For example, many children learn their native language at home and another language such as English or French at school. Bilingual language acquisition takes place in two main ways that include simultaneous acquisition and successive acquisition (Cenoz & Genesee, 2001). In each of these ways, language acquisition is largely determined by certain factors such as age and comprehension of another language.
Simultaneous acquisition takes place when a child learns two languages immediately after birth, or when the child learns a second language before attaining the age of three (Houwer, 2009). In contrast, successive acquisition takes place when a child learns a second language after establishment of a first language. Simultaneous acquisition is more advantageous because children go through the same stages of development similar to stages undergone by children who learn a single language (Cenoz & Genesee, 2001).
However, it is different in the case of successive acquisition. Children usually experience ‘nonverbal” periods during which they try to understand the second language (Houwer, 2009). Age is an important factor that determines the length of the nonverbal period in children. Younger children go through shorter periods compared to older children.
Simultaneous bilingualism usually occurs among children who are addressed in two different languages for long periods that allow for acquisition of both languages (Houwer, 2009). In such a case, children acquire both languages as first languages. In contrast, successive acquisition normally occurs when an individual travels to another country where the language used is unfamiliar (Troika, 2012).
Therefore, the second language is learned as a foreign language. On the other hand, it occurs when a child attends school and receives instructions through a language that is different from the one used at home (Houwer, 2009). Some therapists argue that simultaneous language acquisition is harmful to the cognitive development of children.
They argue that a child should learn one language first and a second one introduced only after the first one is spoken fluently (Troika, 2012). According to them, successive acquisition does not affect the cognitive development of children. However, the other group of therapists argues that simultaneous acquisition does not affect the cognitive development of children in any way.
Successive acquisition is similar to first language acquisition because a child learns the second language through analysis of rules and making errors. Research has shown that there are cases of language interference in simultaneous acquisition. This happens because of codeswithcing that involves using two languages in communication (Troika, 2012).
It mainly happens because of the need to emphasize something or due to lack of an appropriate word to use when using one of the languages. Research has also shown that the ability to acquire language is different in both cases. Simultaneous acquisition is more effective than successive acquisition.
Children who acquire a second language through successive acquisition are usually less fluent and less cohesive (Houwer, 2009). This is in contrast to simultaneous acquisition because both languages are acquired as first languages. In this case, children are more fluent and cohesive in their communication. They are able to express themselves fluently and without challenges.
In conclusion, simultaneous and successive second language acquisitions differ significantly. Simultaneous acquisition is similar to first language acquisition and both languages are acquired together. In contrast, successive acquisition occurs after complete acquisition of a first language. In addition, lack of fluency and cohesiveness is observed in successive acquisition while it is not observed in simultaneous acquisition.
References
Cenoz, J., & Genesee, F. (2001). Trends in Bilingual Acquisition. New York: John Benjamins Publishing.
Houwer, A. (2009). An Introduction to Bilingual Development. New York: Multilingual Matters.
Troika, M. (2012). Introducing Second Language Acquisition. London: Cambridge University Press.
Bilingualism is a concept fully related to the issue of language. In this context, bilingualism is referred to the ability of someone speaking two languages. However, the concept have been widely applied by individuals who have grown an interest in learning two languages while in some circumstances the concept have been formalized into institution, and legal policies. Such institutionalization of two languages is popular in Canada.
In Canada, two languages, English and French have been accorded a legal status in a constitution provision that allows the two languages to be given priority in courts, public institution and office and even in the Canadian parliament. However, the issue of bilingualism in Canada does not specifically mean that all citizens and individuals should be bilingual.
The formalization of English and French as the official languages in Canada was effected in the 1969 to 1988 as a constitutional act (Howard, 2007, p. 78). However, there have been issues that have continued to surround this linguistic phenomenon in Canada and such include; English and French are not linguistically similar, political issues, education challenges psychological effects and speech problems for the minority groups.
The political issue that surrounds bilingualism in Canada has had unresolved issue of inequality of language among the minority groups in Canada. For example, some areas like Quebec are monolingual. This have resulted to a governance and political crisis especially in ensuring all people have equal access to administration services either in trade, government etc.
In other words, the francophone speaking Canadians have been shortchanged in issues of governance since Anglophone speaking Canadians are the majority in the country. In fact, in the commercial sector, it is evident that English had dominated all areas that concerned business in the country.
Educational issues have been an area of concern in Canada. Francophone minority speaking students have for a long time not been offered programs that promote French language in their education curriculum until recently. On the other hand, francophone speaking students have been forced to learn English, showing asymmetrical application of bilingualism in Canada’s education system.
Bilingualism has had a socio-psychological impact on Canadians especially on speech accommodation. In the context of bilingual societies, a lot of word borrowing and code-switching is always exhibited. Relatively, this psychologically affects a speaker’s choice of language depending on the social set up he or she is in at a particular moment. In this perspective, factors such as emotions, motivation, confidence in speakers is greatly affected by pressure to use any of the two languages.
Therefore, this ahs led to Canadian speakers using code-switching to accommodate both languages. However, the code-switching of language words between English and French have raised concerns of the French standard in Canada, particularly in Quebec. The Québécois French has attracted a lot of criticism from classy French speaker who terms Québécois French as in appropriate and below French language standards.
This under standardization of Québécois French has been identified in the use of grammar, pronunciation and even vocabularies. For example, while normal French vowels have around 12 to 13 vowels, the Québécois French vowels are sometimes lengthened to almost 17. Grammatical errors are also prominent in Québécois French especially in use of verb conjugation.
An example is the verb conjugation “ils risent” which is incorrect from an international French perspective. However, the correct verb conjugation should be “ils rient”. All these under standardization of French language have been greatly related to socio-psychological and word borrowing or code-switching issues that bilingualism have had on Canada.
Amid all the problems that surround the bilingual situation and Québécois French in Canada, it would be important to understand the purpose of language in the society and the benefits that a bilingual system of language can bring to Canada. The use of French in Quebec, a part of Canada is justified by history, that is, Canada was once a French colony (Kingsford, 1890, p. 56).
However, the dominance of English language is a global phenomenon that cannot be dismissed, owing to the fact English is globally used to administer international commerce etc. on the other hand, the French speaking Canadians are entitled to quality French speaking programs in their education programs if Quebec is to fully become bilingual like the rest of Canada.
This will eliminate all political, economical and social integration problems that Quebec has been experiencing (Cornwell & Stoddard, 2001, p. 34). However, considering the importance of language in the society, Québécois French has tremendously improved communication among people of the society, confidence in their socio-economic undertakings like nay other language.
It would therefore, be unjustifiable to acknowledge the positive impact that Québécois French has had on Canadians. In a literal perspective, language development and literal works and arts like poetry have been from this stylistic variation of French language, improper grammar and pronunciation based on lexical and phonetic characteristics of French language (New, 2002, p. 90).
It’s therefore, inappropriate to refer to Québécois French as low quality French in the context of where it is spoken. In any case, Canada’s achievement in promoting bilingualism is far more successful than many other countries in the world (Howard, 2007, p. 123). Furthermore, Canada has exhibited a high level of accommodating diverse cultures from a global point of view.
Conclusion
It is in the context of these bilingual issues, that Canada is trying to offer quality French language programs to francophone minority speaking youths in schools. By focusing on the problem and the relevant issues of; use of improper grammar, pronunciation and writing of French, the program are offering students with skills on writing, reading (Brundage & Lahey, 2009, p. 145).
Brundage and Lahey offers one of the best practical starting point in improving language in Canada. However, the impact of their handbook and such other programs is still unknown.
The dominance of English as the most spoken language in Canada and in the world is unmatched. In actual sense, English language has been argued to be the factor behind globalization and the underlying factor behind the success of large economies in international trade. The effectiveness of French speaking programs in Canada is unknown. On the same note, Québécois French is a growing language and like any other language it has already impacted itself in the society, making it difficult to discourage it use.
Considering the issue of social identity, Québécois is part of Quebec identity, a heritage that Canadians who live in Quebec will and cannot relinquish in anytime soon. However, the issue of bilingualism in Canada is a typical example of how bilingualism can have a vast effect on a society, considering the two languages are not individually based but formalized and entrenched legally in the country’s constitution.
References
Brundage, D. & Lahey, M. (2009). Acting on words: an integrated rhetoric, reader and handbook, second edition. Ontario: Pearson Education Canada.
Cornwell, G. H. & Stoddard E. V. (2001). Global multiculturalism: comparative perspectives on ethnicity, race and nation. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.
Howard, M. (2007). Language issues in Canada: multidisciplinary perspectives. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Kingsford, W. (1890). The history of Canada: Canada under French rule. Saratoga: Roswell & Hutchinson.
New, W. H. (2002). Encyclopedia of literature in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
There have been several debates why people in East Asia Countries (South Korea, China, and Japan) have negative impressions and stereotypes about people communicating in their second language in the city.
However, much literature on bilingualism focuses on the experience of minorities because in European and North American context bilingual families tend to be from minority groups.
In line with this, Mother tongue or native language is a cultural stereotype with strong ideological implications varying from culture to culture.
New languages are acquired throughout life for functional reasons-personal advancement and communicating- rather than in association with a complex, personal identity or to give access to another group.
David Matsumoto and Juang Linda stated “most of the problems associated with bilingualism are social or cultural problems” (David, and Juang 258), principal among them is the majority-minority contrast. David Matsumoto and Juang Linda further stated “each bilingual community is unique” (257).
East Asia Countries present an extremely complex picture of bilingualism in contrast to that of the Western World. For the society as a whole, the situation is likely to be complex.
In my opinion, it is because East Asia Countries are not diverse (did not experienced different diversity culture) compared to the western countries, so they view them as surprise people.
In line with Derrick Sharp’s statement, it will be observed that most East Asian Countries are city-states in which speakers from the different ethnic and linguistic groups have been relatively isolated from that of the western world.
Furthermore, there tend to be concentrations of bilingual families among migrant families who may also be economically disadvantaged.
There have been no significant in-migration to most East Asian Countries since the early sixties, hence no much exposure to diverse culture in the world. Moreover, there have been no personal relationships or interaction with people from a different culture.
In most East Asian countries, multilingualism is restricted to elites; although patterns of language ability differ between the classes (and the races) multilingualism is the norm at all levels of the society.
Until the twentieth century inhabitants of East African countries could sustain a lifestyle which operated largely in a mono-ethnic enclave. The Chinese community for example, is drawn from many ‘dialect groups’ including Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, and Hainanese.
It was even possible to live and work within a community that was virtually mono-dialectal. The whole concept of bilingualism becomes problematical outside a monolingual context. The archetypical native speaker is a monolingual who has always lived in a community which is monolingual in the same language.
The spread of bilingualism in most East Asian countries is mainly an effect of learning other languages within the continent.
As in most Western Countries, the range of proficiency in other languages among the inhabitants is wide, with some having native-like effective language and others having only negligible knowledge.
In conclusion, bilingualism cannot be related to any single nation or ethnicity; to a certain extent it must fit in to those who apply it as means of communication. Hence distinctive relationship that is present between Asian countries and language needs to be considered in detail.
David Matsumoto and Juang Linda (2012) maintained that a language attains universal standing when it increases a ‘special responsibility that is acknowledged in all country’ (258) and that this unique standing can be realized by making it a standardized means of communication.
Work Cited
David, Matsumoto, and Juang Linda. Culture and Psychology. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.
Knowing a foreign language is no longer a privilege in a modern society – it is rather an advantage, a chance to communicate even more efficiently and see things through the eyes of the people of a different nationality. For some, the process of language learning and, therefore, the further knowledge acquisition is extremely hard; others pass the stage of cognizing two cultures at once incredibly easy.
Nevertheless, some people argue that, despite all advantages that bilingualism offers, it can be quite a nuisance when it comes to the process acquisition. However, when considering the advantages that bilingualism offers, one will inevitably see that, in spite of its flaws, bilingualism serves to speed up the cognition and educational processes.
When it comes to mentioning the positive aspects of being a bilingual person, the first and the foremost advantage to mention is the ability to convey specific ideas in either of the languages without any problem. Once mastering the languages in question completely, one is likely not only to acquire language skills, but also the ability to understand both cultures, which means that the cultural border will be crossed and that efficient communication with the representatives of both cultures becomes possible.
Another obvious positive aspect of bilingualism for the process of cognition and education concerns the ability to think in an abstract manner. As most theories claim, abstract thinking as the final stage of cognitive process is crucial for the development of one’s skills and further knowledge acquisition, as well as the ability to analyze.
Meanwhile, a perfect command of the second language can possibly help not only trigger associations faster, but also to draw parallels between the two languages, thus, developing the ability to think abstractly.
The final argument in favor of bilingualism as the power enhancer is the ability to sort the incoming information efficiently. Knowing two languages gives the ability to analyze. Hence, the skill to figure out whether a certain piece of information is relevant or not appears.
However, bilingualism does have its problems. On the earliest stages of the language cognition, one is highly likely to confuse homonyms, i.e., the words that look and sound similar in two languages yet have completely different meanings, such as “sensible” in English, meaning “reasonable”, and “sensible” in French, meaning “sensitive.” It must be admitted that, when encountering such words, in a vague context, a bilingual person who is only starting to acquire knowledge in one of the two languages, is likely to be confused.
Considering the existing drawbacks, or, to be more exact, a drawback, and the positive aspects mentioned above one must admit that bilingualism rather contributes to acquiring knowledge and skills than hinders it. Even in the case of a misunderstanding, it is possible to solve the problem with the help of an explanation or a wider context.
Hence, it can be concluded that bilingualism is extremely helpful in the cognitive and educational processes. Allowing one access a certain notion or phenomenon from different aspects and different points of view, bilingualism stretches the horizons of the learning process incredibly.
Knowing two languages opens a pool of opportunities for a person, and these opportunities can be used in a number of fields, which means that bilingualism is definitely a positive phenomenon. Despite the numerous questions and problems which it poses, especially when it comes to learning and knowledge acquisition.