Bilingualism has positive effects on children.
December 10th 2007 10:36
When children develop their abilities in two or more languages throughout their primary school years, they gain a deeper understanding of languages and how to use it effectively. They have more practice in processing language, especially when they develop literacy in both, and they are able to compare and contrast the ways in which their two languages organize reality. More than 150 research studies conducted during the past 35 years strongly support what Goethe, the German philosopher, once said: "The person who knows only one language does not truly know that language."
The research suggests that bilingual children may also develop more flexibility in their thinking as a result of processing information through two different languages.
Also, "For decades, people have wondered whether the brains of bilingual people are different from monolinguals. People also worry that the brains of bilingual children are somehow negatively impacted by early experience with two languages," explains Petitto, who also holds the John Wentworth Endowed Chair in the Social Sciences. "The present findings are significant because they show that the brains of bilinguals and monolinguals are similar, and both process their individual languages in fundamentally similar ways. The one fascinating exception is that bilinguals appear to engage more of the neural landscape available for language processing than monolinguals, which is a very good thing."
The team proposes that bilingual language processing provides a new window into the extent of what nature's neural architecture for language processing could be, if only we used it. Petitto adds, "The irony is that we may find it is the monolingual that is not taking full advantage of the neural landscape for language and cognitive processing than nature could have potentially made available."
to be continued...
The research suggests that bilingual children may also develop more flexibility in their thinking as a result of processing information through two different languages.
Also, "For decades, people have wondered whether the brains of bilingual people are different from monolinguals. People also worry that the brains of bilingual children are somehow negatively impacted by early experience with two languages," explains Petitto, who also holds the John Wentworth Endowed Chair in the Social Sciences. "The present findings are significant because they show that the brains of bilinguals and monolinguals are similar, and both process their individual languages in fundamentally similar ways. The one fascinating exception is that bilinguals appear to engage more of the neural landscape available for language processing than monolinguals, which is a very good thing."
The team proposes that bilingual language processing provides a new window into the extent of what nature's neural architecture for language processing could be, if only we used it. Petitto adds, "The irony is that we may find it is the monolingual that is not taking full advantage of the neural landscape for language and cognitive processing than nature could have potentially made available."
to be continued...
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