What are the advantages of bilingual children?
How does bilingualism affect our children? Do you think that two mother tongues could be detrimental to your child's good language development and delay his language acquisition? Would it be an advantage or a disadvantage to raise our children by teaching them two mother tongues? In this article, we dispel all your doubts about bilingual children!
Until recently, it was thought that growing up with two mother tongues could affect the linguistic development of a child. Indeed, learning two distinct vocabularies could delay one's language acquisition.
Today, we know that this is not the case. It has been found that bilingual people have more facility than others for tasks that require close attention, inhibition and inhibitory control or when it comes to making use of short-term memory. Despite all the studies and investigations, so far it is not entirely clear that there is an advantage to being bilingual. In this article, we will illuminate the situation, using the most recent studies.
How does bilingualism affect children?
- Bilingualism improves the executive function of children
To make the subject a little clearer, researchers at the Georgetown University Medical Center conducted a study. In this one, they compare the gray matter volume of bilingual adults and monolingual adults. Thus, they establish that bilinguals have a greater amount of gray matter in the frontal and parietal areas of the brain, responsible for executive functions.
The cerebral gray matter is formed of neuronal bodies, unlike the white matter which is composed of neuronal fibers carrying information from one area to another of the brain. This gray matter differs from person to person according to the experiences she has experienced.
What is an executive function? Executive functions are the brain functions that manage attention, short-term memory, organization and control of impulses (inhibition or inhibitory control). Bilingualism increases our ability to believe It is not only cognitive skills that are affected by bilingualism, but also the ability to believe. According to a study, children raised at an early age in a bilingual environment think that this is what we learn throughout our lives and not how we are born who makes us who we are. To believe that what we are is something innate, that we are born with, is called essentialism. The study shows that bilingual children do not demonstrate this belief, while monolingual children though. Bilingual children think that we are the result of our experiences. I am what I am thanks to what I have lived so far, and I was not born that way, but I grew up and developed as my experiences grew. These are important discoveries, since children who think essentialistically would be better able to develop stereotypes as well as prejudicial attitudes in their future. Thus, learning a second language at an early age would help develop an ability to accept human diversity. Moreover, to believe that we are what we are due to our birth characteristics means that we will strive less to progress or to improve as an individual, thus creating rigid and conservative personalities.
Bilingualism delays aging of the brain. Stimulating our brain and keeping it active is essential to delay aging and prevent it from neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, cognitive deterioration or dementia. According to a study, people with Alzheimer's who reportedly spoke at least two languages regularly during their lifetime would have experienced symptoms on average five years later than normal. In addition, bilingual people would be diagnosed with cancer four years later than monolingual people. Of course, other factors are important to prevent the onset of degenerative brain diseases, such as a balanced diet or regular sports activity.
Being bilingual facilitates learning a new language There are several studies (such as this one ) that show that bilingualism facilitates the learning of a third language. This could be because bilingual people have more language resources and are more open to learning new languages.
If both parents speak different languages, it is important that they agree that each language should always speak the same language. In this way, they will better reinforce the learning of their child's two languages. It is also recommended that the child read and see films in both languages spoken at home without favoring one.
Citation
Raising Bilingual Children → linguisticsociety.org
How young children learn English as another language → britishcouncil.org
Does Bilingualism Cause Language Delay? →multilingualliving.com
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