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Ministry of Education and Science, Youth and Sports ofUkraine
Luhansk Taras Shevchenko National University
Research Work
“Effects of Bilingualism on theIndividual: Intelligence, Group
Identification, Character Formation,Educational Problems”
Done by:
Daria Masliieva
Master course
(English philology)
1
Luhansk, 2014
PLAN
Introduction................................2
I. Effects of Bilingualism on Intelligence. 4
II. Effects of Bilingualism on Group Identification................................10III. Effects of Bilingualism on Character Formation......................................13IV. Effects of Bilingualism on Educational Problems.......................................15
Conclusion..................................19List of references.......................21
3
Introduction
It is an undeniable fact that we are all in touch
with language throughout our lives. We use a language to
communicate with people, to express our thoughts and
feelings, to identify ourselves with our culture, and to
understand the world around us. The language we speak
shapes our mind and character, makes us a member of a
certain culture and community, and influences our
cognitive abilities and the way of thinking. Today, in
fact, more and more of the world’s population become
bilingual or multilingual.
For many years scientists have had continuous
discussions and conducted multiple researches concerning
bilingual children and their mental abilities relating to
intelligence and education. Researchers have fallen into
two main directions in answering this question. Some
researchers claim that bilingualism is a negative
phenomenon that has detrimental effects on bilingual.
Thus, experts believed that a bilingual person could not
be an intellectual, since he was carrying two or more
languages in his head. However, the situation has changed
dramatically over the past several decades, with the
development and use of new testing. Recently, a number of
4
researchers have proved that bilingualism positively
affects cognitive, personality, and educational
developments. Children with bilingual ability offer an
opportunity for researchers’ to explore the connections
between language and thought. Bilingual children have
advantages in education, due to cognitive development,
divergent thought, and mental flexibility [2].
Researchers have shown that the bilingual brain can
have better attention and task-switching capacities than
the monolingual brain, thanks to its developed ability to
inhibit one language while using another. In addition,
bilingualism has positive effects at both ends of the age
spectrum: Bilingual children as young as seven months can
better adjust to environmental changes, while bilingual
seniors can experience less cognitive decline [16].
Surprisingly, that in the past, bilingualism was
viewed as a worry for the parents. It was believed that
it caused confusion in children and it impeded their
first language learning abilities. However, since that
time, a different picture has immerged, a picture which
is optimistic and supportive of bilingualism in
childhood. The turning point took place, however, in 1962
with the publication of Peal and Lambert’s study of
bilingual children in Montreal schools. Ironically, the
5
original intention of the study was to document how
bilingualism negatively affected intellectual performance
so that appropriate solutions could be developed to solve
the existing problems. However, the result of the
research was unexpected. The bilingual group performed
significantly better than the monolingual group on most
of the measures, including verbal intelligence [11].
The aim of this research paper is to focus on the
influence of bilingualism on different aspects of human
life, such as level of intelligence and cognitive skills,
group identification, character formation and emotional
state of a person, and educational problems that may
occur.
6
I. Effects of Bilingualism on Intelligence
Cognitive ability relates to mental activity, such as
thinking, remembering, learning, or using language.
Research demonstrates the differences in cognitive
functioning between monolinguals and bilinguals. Analysis
and control are language components that develop later in
monolinguals than in bilinguals [2]. These abilities
refer to representation and selective attention in
language that aid in comprehension and understanding.
Adults who speak two languages in childhood are
profoundly affected in their cognitive development. This
advantage can manifest itself in several ways. The
majority of field researchers conclude that this ability
allows bilinguals the advantage of diversity and
flexibility in cognition to a significant level over
monolinguals. Latham proposes that bilingual children
naturally develop cognitive representation verbally, non-
verbally, and symbolically. Truly bilingual students
surpass monolingual students on many intelligence tests,
both verbal and nonverbal. Language fluency is determined
by listening, speaking, and reading abilities [9].
7
To maintain the relative balance between two
languages, the bilingual brain relies on executive
functions, a regulatory system of general cognitive
abilities that includes processes such as attention and
inhibition. Because both of a bilingual person’s language
systems are always active and competing, that person uses
these control mechanisms every time she or he speaks or
listens. This constant practice strengthens the control
mechanisms and changes the associated brain regions [16].
It is believed that bilinguals have an advantage in
mental skill sets and flexibility. The dominant belief at
this time is that there is a superiority of divergent
thinking abilities among bilinguals. The ability of
children with two languages gives rise to control and
divergent ability over problems of a nonverbal nature due
to the diversified skill sets at work. Therefore the
problem solving process is different from others used
previously at a young age by children who only have a
single language knowledge base. Due to this flexibility,
and increased knowledge base, bilingual children are more
likely to express themselves without the constraints of
symbols [15].
Being bilingual can have tangible practical benefits.
The improvements in cognitive and sensory processing
8
driven by bilingual experience may help a bilingual
person to better process information in the environment,
leading to a clearer signal for learning. This kind of
improved attention to detail may help explain why
bilingual adults learn a third language better than
monolingual adults learn a second language. The bilingual
language-learning advantage may be rooted in the ability
to focus on information about the new language while
reducing interference from the languages they already
know. This ability would allow bilingual people to more
easily access newly learned words, leading to larger
gains in vocabulary than those experienced by monolingual
people who aren’t as skilled at inhibiting competing
information [16].
However, since levels of bilingualism exist, the
affect to cognitive development is correlative. In a
study conducted by Ellen Bialystok, both monolingual and
bilingual children were shown sets of cards depicting red
and blue boats and rabbits. They were then asked to
separate the cards based first on color and later on
subject. The bilingual children demonstrated the ability
to separate and distinguish between the first
instructions and the second set of instructions. The
tendency was for the bilingual subjects to perform as
requested with disregard to the previous test’s
9
parameters. They, therefore, demonstrated a level of
superiority in the cognitive function of analysis and
control. Single language children are less effective at
solving problems, which contain distracting, but
pertinent information. Also according to Bialystok’s
research, this superiority is expected to continue
because of the representative function (higher order
rule) as awareness and inhibition is needed to solve the
problem. Representative function relates directly to
executive functioning [3].
It has been acknowledged that learning a second
language has a positive effect on intellectual growth. It
enriches and enhances a child’s mental development; it
leaves students with more flexibility in thinking,
greater sensitivity to language, and a better ability for
listening. It also improves a child’s understanding of
his native language.
There are a lot of different experiments conducted
and theories suggested which corroborate that bilingual
children have a higher level of cognitive development
than that of monolingual children.
Bialystok (1986) has shown that children’s
bilingualism positively affects their increasing ability
to solve problems involving high levels of control of
10
linguistic processing. In this respect, an empirical
study was carried out on immigrant students who are
originally Finnish and living in Sweden. The purpose was
to assess the extent to which students’ acquisition of
Swedish academic skills is related to their Finnish
proficiency [3].
A variety of tests in both languages were used; most
assessed cognitive and academic abilities such as
vocabulary knowledge, synonyms, antonyms, etc. as well as
academic achievement in reading, math and other school
subjects. The data can be summarized as follows: Those
who attended school in Finland (prior to immigration)
approached the level of achievement of normal Swedish
pupils in the written comprehension test considerably
more often than those who began school in Sweden. Those
who attended school in Finland for at least three years
did best. Research has shown positive effects of
bilingualism on the following metalinguistic abilities:
early word distinction; sensitivity to language structure
and detail; detection of ambiguities; correction of
ungrammatical sentences and detection of language mixing
and control of language processing [3].
Furthermore, bilingualism enhances problem solving
where the solutions depend on selective attention or
11
inhibitory control. This advantage seems to continue
throughout the bilingual's lifespan and is even present
in elderly bilinguals [3].
The advantage shown by bilinguals – as discussed by
Ellen Bialystok – is found also in certain
metalinguistic abilities, that is, our capacity to
analyze different aspects of language (sounds, words,
syntax and so on) and, if needed, to talk about these
properties. But the advantage is present only when
selective attention or inhibitory control is needed to do
the task. This is the case when a problem contains a
conflict or an ambiguity such as counting words in a
correct sentence, using a new (or made-up) name for an
object in a sentence, judging that a sentence such as
"apples grow on noses" is syntactically grammatical even
though it contains a semantic anomaly, and so on [15].
When the metalinguistic task requires the analysis of
representational structures, then monolinguals and
bilinguals obtain similar results. This occurs when the
task is to explain grammatical errors in a sentence
substitute one sound for another, interchange sounds, etc
[15].
One domain where it would appear that bilinguals do
less well than monolinguals is in vocabulary tests such
12
as choosing a picture that illustrates the word spoken by
the experimenter. This is not surprising, however, as
bilingual children start being affected by the
complementarity principle which states that bilinguals
usually acquire and use their languages for different
purposes, in different spheres of life, and with
different people. When bilingual children are evaluated
in terms of both their languages, then the results
improve greatly [15].
In a study of a sample of Mexican-American bilingual
pre-school students, Diaz and Padilla (1985) reported
positive effects of bilingualism on several age
appropriate tasks of cognitive ability. A total of 32
preschool students who attended Spanish-English bilingual
pre-school programs in Texas, were videotaped while
performing three different tasks: block designs,
classification, and story-sequencing tasks. After brief
instructions, children were asked to work on their own
for a period of five minutes for each task. The effects
of bilingualism on performance on the three tasks were
analyzed in multiple-regression equations controlling for
ability in the first language and months of preschool
education. Children’s degree of bilingualism predicted
significant portions of performance variance in both
classification and story-sequencing tasks [6].
13
Starting in the 1960’s and continuing into the
1990’s, dozens of studies were conducted on the
relationship between learning a second language early in
life and cognitive ability. Robinson (1992) summarized
many of them in one of his articles by concluding: “the
picture that emerges is ... a youngster whose experience
with two language systems seems to have left him or her
with a mental flexibility, a superiority in concept
formation, and a more diversified set of mental
abilities.” The studies also demonstrated that children
who have studied a foreign language perform better on
standardized tests and tests of basic skills in English,
math and social studies [12].
Latham believes that metalinguistic awareness is
strengthened by bilingual capability. This awareness
allows an individual to associate different sources of
information in language and consequently apply it to
other areas of thought and aids in problem solving
ability. This ability is a resource in word recognition.
Intelligence development is positively impacted by
metalinguistic awareness. Metalinguistic awareness is a
key contributor to divergent thinking as well as
creativity and the ability to think freely. It has been
supported by many years of research in the field that
14
generally bilingual subjects are superior to monolinguals
in the arena of divergent thinking [9].
There is a hypothesis that working memory is enhanced
in bilingual children, particularly in conditions for
which the other core components of executive control are
also required. There are two reasons for this hypothesis.
First, from the perspective of unity, the established
effect of bilingualism on some components of the
executive function will necessarily involve all of the
components, including working memory, through their
common foundation. Second, from the perspective of
diversity, the joint activation of both languages for
bilinguals in language processing requires not only
inhibition and selection but also maintenance of
representations of context, interlocutors, and discourse
– all functions of working memory [9].
Jim Cummins argues that the cognitive factor has a
central role in the speed and success with which the
language is acquired. He also states that other
individual factors, such as motivation, and
conversational factors that determine the size and type
of exposure to the second language, are also central to
the acquisition process and interact with cognitive
factors [5].
16
II. Effects of Bilingualism on Group Identification
It is significant to notice that there are different
points of view concerning the question of how
bilingualism influences people’s group identification and
personal development.
On the level of personality development, it is
believed that speaking two languages is a negative factor
in personality or identity development [1]. There is a
number of researchers claim that bilingualism has
detrimental effect on personality which leads to tension
and emotional lability. It is sometimes stated that there
is a conflict between the child’s bilingualism and his
personality and emotion [7].
Appel and Muysken emphasize importance of use of
minority languages. Recognition of the language (and
culture) of minority groups will improve the social and
cultural relations between these groups and the rest of
society. The reinforcement of the cultural identity of
minority groups (through minority language teaching) will
help reduce the likelihood of polarization and socio-
political friction [1].
The political unity of a country will be fostered if
everybody is educated in the same national language. In
17
the USA the slogan 'one nation, one flag, one language'
was used in this context. The minority language is
thought to have an important cultural and political
meaning for minority groups. The use of minority
languages will strengthen the political identity of these
groups, and this could endanger political unity,
especially in the case of regional or ethnic independence
movements [1].
It is important to notice that acquisition of a
second language often leads to cultural assimilation.
According to this view, a learner can only become
proficient in a second language if he or she wants to
adapt to the cultural values of the target-language
community. For instance, according to Gardner, students
while learning a second language are acquiring symbolic
elements of a different ethnolinguistic community; the
student has 'to make them part of his own language
reservoir. This involves imposing elements of another
culture in one's own life space. As a result the
student's harmony with his own cultural community and his
willingness or ability to identify with other cultural
communities become important considerations in the
process of second-language acquisition'. Statements like
this one suggest that cultural assimilation, or at least
the adoption of the main cultural values of the target-
18
language community, is an important condition for
successful second-language acquisition [1].
However, there is another point of view concerning
this question. Because of the rather low correlations
between social and psychological variables (inc1uding
cultural attitudes) and second-language proficiency this
idea lacks strong supportive evidence. Furthermore, one
can point to studies of societal bilingualism.
Bilinguals, especial1y those in an additive context, do
not seem to be torn between two cultures associated with
the respective languages. Of course, languages are
related to cultures because of their habitual use in
certain cultural contexts, but this does not necessarily
imply that speaking a certain language also means
adopting the culture and life style of the community in
which the language is the dominant medium of interaction.
If this were the case, proficient bilinguals should be
more or less forced to live with two possibly conflicting
systems of norms and values. Bilinguals do not have to
identify with the culture of the target community to be
able to acquire adequate competence in the language of
that community [1].
In subtractive bilingual groups different reactions
to the strain of biculturalism are found. Child (1943)
19
did a now classic study of the ethnic attitudes of
second- generation Italians in the USA. His results
showed three types of reactions: (a) an identification
with American social and cultural values, (b) rejection
of everything American and strong orientation towards the
Italian heritage; and (c) a refusal to think in ethnic
terms [4]. Tosi (1984) investigated bilingualism and
biculturalism of Italian immigrants in Great Britain. He
points to the conflict between the first generation,
which shows a highly conservative attitude, and the
second generation, which feels the pressure of the wider
bilingual, bicultural context. He also found Child 's
first two reactions, which he calls the 'apathy reaction'
and the 'in-group reaction'. The term 'apathy' is chosen
because this reaction 'develops when the individual feels
unable to cope with the conflicting values of two
opposing environments, and naturally slides towards the
acceptance of one - the one from which the stronger
pressure comes'. In cases of in-group reaction the
individual primarily identifies himself for herself with
the Italian community. The third type of reaction Tosi
distinguished, which is different from that of Child, is
the 'rebel reaction'. Only a few young people displayed
this reaction, refusing to choose between the old and the
20
new culture, and trying to become really
bilingual/bicultural [1].
The relation between language and culture does not
seem to be as strong and fixed as is often assumed. It is
not true that speaking a certain language inevitably
leads to holding certain cultural values, as the famous
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis would claim. According to this
hypothesis the language an individual speaks determines
his world view. Sapir and Whorf considered language to be
the guide and the programme for the mental activities of
the individual, and the interpretation of the surrounding
world to be channeled via linguistic categories. If the
world view of the members of a linguistic community
constitutes their non-material culture, then this implies
a strong relation between language and culture. However,
the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is much disputed, end it has
never been properly and extensively supported
empirically. In the field of bilingualism the question is
even more vexed. What is the world view of a bilingual?
By which of the two languages is it determined? Or has a
bilingual two world views between which he has to switch
depending on the language being used? Many questions can
be generated, but it is difficult or even impossible to
provide the definite answers [1].
21
III. Effects of Bilingualism on Character Formation
Concerning personality development, a number of
researchers argue that bilingualism does not affect
personality. McLaughlin (1978), for example, mentions
that the emotional and psychological conflicts that the
bilingual children experience are not emerged from
learning two languages but by hostile attitudes of
society. He argues that it is not bilingualism that leads
to negative effects on personality but socioeconomic
considerations such as being in an inferior social group
and having poor teachers and schools. He also argues that
the difficulties that arise from conflicts of
biculturalism, having to adjust to two ways of life, may
produce conflicts of behaviour and the stigma of
inferiority [10].
However, Appel and Muysken (1987) argue that
bilingualism has negative effects on personality
development, but only when social conditions are
22
unfavourable. They mentioned that the psychosomatic
illnesses which the adults suffer from are not caused by
their bilingualism, but by the social and cultural
conflicts they experience as members of a discriminated-
against ethnic minority, whose language and cultural
values are not appreciated. They also argue that the same
goes for children with psychological and emotional
problems in school often manifested in apathy, aggressive
behaviour or isolation. When the minority's language and
culture are included in the curriculum, as in bilingual
programmes, pupils often show fewer social or emotional
problems. [1].
It is believed that the language you speak determines
the way you think, speak and express your thoughts. Many
experiments have been conducted in order to investigate
this aspect and prove the stated assumption. Scholars
have used qualitative methods to try to understand
language’s impact on personality. In 1998, Michele Koven,
a researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign, spent a year and a half carrying out
ethnographic research with bilingual Parisian adults
whose parents had emigrated from Portugal. All of her
subjects were fluent in both French and Portuguese, and
most maintained close ties to Portugal while living in
France; many planned on returning eventually, though most
23
also had monolingual French friends. Koven focused
specifically on how her subjects represented themselves
in narratives of personal experience, which she elicited
by asking them to recount various life events in both
languages. When Koven transcribed and analyzed the
content of their accounts, she saw that her subjects
emphasized different traits in their characters,
depending on which language they were speaking. For
instance, the women in the French stories were more
likely to stand up for themselves, whereas the female
characters in the Portuguese narratives tended to cede to
others’ demands. And their personalities changed, too.
One girl, Koven writes, sounded like “an angry, hip
suburbanite” when she spoke French, and a “frustrated,
but patient, well-mannered bank customer who does not
want attention drawn to the fact that she is an émigré”
when she spoke Portuguese. Whether that’s due to the
different context in which she learned French and
Portuguese, an inherent difference between the two
languages, or some combination, researchers have yet to
figure out [17].
It is said that speaking two languages is a negative
factor in personality or identity development. Bilinguals
are often expected to experience a conflict of values,
identities and world views because these are probably
24
strongly related to the two different languages.
Therefore they will become cultural hybrids.
Bilingualism, in this view, can cause emotional lability,
and even alienation or anomie [7].
A shift from bilingualism to monolingualism does not
prevent problems. Because of the assimilative forces of
the majority community many members from ethnic minority
groups adept the cultural values of that community, try
to learn and speak its language, while they are in the
process of losing their mother tongue. They will after
encounter discriminating and racist attitudes of the
majority population who nevertheless require them to
assimilate. It is not surprising that this may lead to
psychological or emotional problems. In stable bilingual
communities this type of problem does not have to occur
because a kind of bilingual or bicultural identity has
been established. All over the world, individuals use two
or more languages in their daily verbal interactions, but
this does not cause any psychological strain [1].
IV. Effects of Bilingualism on Educational Problems
It would seem only natural that children in bilingual
communities should have the opportunity to be educated in
two languages: the language of the home and the language
25
of ether groups in the community. But the reality is
different. In most bilingual communities the two (or
more) languages do not have equal status. Side by side
with majority languages, which have prestige and positive
social-economic connotations, there are the minority
languages, often associated with low social- economic
status and lack of educational achievement. They are more
or less stigmatized, and not considered as suitable
vehicles for communication in school or subject to be
taught. Therefore, all over the world examples can be
found of children who are confronted with a language in
school that they do not speak as well as native speakers
of their age [1].
In all these cases there is what is often called a
home-school language mismatch or switch, and this mismatch can
have several negative consequences, for example, poor
educational achievement. There is in fact a vicious
circle, because the minority language is seen as a main
cause for this failure, and its negative connotations are
reinforced once again. Many writers have argued that this
situation can only be changed if the minority language is
introduced into the school, and facilities for minority-
language teaching provided [1].
26
Concerning educational development, McLaughlin points
out that the command of second language is considered to
be a critical factor. He argues that poor performance is
predicted if bilingual child has not mastered the
language well. He writes: ‘As the child’s command
improves, so will academic performance in subjects taught
in that language’. He adds that many factors also should
be taken into account such as poor home environment, the
parent’s low socioeconomic status, negative attitudes of
the majority group, conflicts in culture, and so on [10].
Lambert (1977) writes: ‘In general, the researchers in
the early period expected to find all sorts of problems,
and they usually did: bilingual children, relative to
monolinguals, were behind in school, retarded in measured
intelligence, and socially drift. One trouble with most
of the early studies was that little care was taken to
check out the essentials before comparing monolingual and
bilingual subjects’ [8].
On the level of educational development, the majority
of studies performed after 1960 indicate that bilingual
education has positive outcomes in all areas: first and
second language skills, other subjects, and social and
emotional aspects. For example, Cummins points out that
the positive results of immersion education for bilingual
children speaking a high-status language in Canada and
27
the USA. He argues that bilingualism does not have
negative effects on language skills. Children should
receive instruction in their mother tongue so that the
acquisition of academic skills can be developed. And
children from majority groups will profit from
bilingualism if the second language is introduced at an
early stage because the first language is developed
outside school. However, these views have not yet found
empirical studies support [1].
Studies proving the harmful effects are often
overstated that bilingualism results in academic
retardation, inferior intelligence and lower IQ.
Bilingual children are seen as socially maladjusted as
compared with monolingual children. They tend to suffer
from linguistic retardation or mental confusion. More
recent studies, however, have attempted to debunk the
studies showing negative effects of bilingualism,
suggesting that the above studies are methodologically
flawed, and therefore yield invalid conclusions. J.F.
Hammers and M.H.A. Blanc (2000) in their book
“Bilinguality and Bilingualism” have managed to document
numerous studies showing that bilingualism results in a
greater ability in reconstructing perceptual situations
and a greater sensitivity to semantic relations between
words, produces superior results on verbal and non-verbal
28
intelligence, better performance in rule-discovery tasks,
and a greater degree of divergent thinking [14].
Traditionally, minority languages on the whole have
had only a marginal place in the education system, but
there are various exceptions. For example, in the
nineteenth century and in the first decades of the
twentieth century, many immigrant groups in the United
States organized mother-tongue education. In the Soviet
Union educational innovations were introduced immediate1y
after the Revolution to promote the use of various
national languages besides Russian in the schools. After
gaining independence the federal government of India
undermined the strong position of English in the Indian
education system. According to the new official policy,
children should receive primary education in their mother
tongue, which in most cases was not English or Hindi, the
newly chosen national language [1].
Cummins has believed that the minority child's
general cognitive development will be retarded if he or
she does not receive education in the mother tongue, and
if the mother tongue is not further developed in the
school. Cummins has developed the threshold hypothesis to
account for the results of studies on bilingual
education. According to this hypothesis, minority
29
children must attain a certain level of competence (the
threshold level) in their first language (and in their
second language as well) to avoid cognitive
disadvantages. When the children's first language has low
prestige, as is generally the case with minority
languages, language development is not stimulated outside
the school, so this is a risk for the education system
[5].
Minority language teaching is a requirement for a
healthy development of the child's personality and the
development of a positive self-image. If schools do not
provide any minority language teaching, then the school
becomes for minority children a place where neither their
language nor culture exists, possibly where they are not
even accepted a place where their social identity is
questioned and undermined. It is also stated that the
self-image of minority children will be harmed if, in the
school, literacy in the minority language is not
developed. When minority children only learn to read and
write in the majority language, then the minority
language must almost inevitably be considered a second-
rate means of communication [1].
According to Cummins's views, bilingualism does not
have detrimental effects on language skills, provided
30
that first-language proficiency is adequately supported.
Children from ethnic minority groups should receive
instruction in their mother tongue in order to develop
adequate cognitive language skills, before full weight is
given to second-language acquisition in school. The
skills developed in the mother tongue will also support
the acquisition of academic and literacy-related skills
in the second language. Only then will bilingualism be
beneficial for these children. Children from majority
groups, speaking a prestige language, will also profit
from bilingualism if the second language is introduced at
an early stage, because the first language, including the
aspects relevant for the acquisition of literacy, is
already developed outside school [5].
31
Conclusion
The aim of this research paper was to investigate
impact of bilingualism on different aspects of human life
including intelligence, development of cognitive
abilities and skills, group identification, character
formation, emotional state and educational problems.
After analyzing various scientific experiments,
researches and sources I have come to the conclusion that
there are contrary points of view regarding the influence
of bilingualism. Most of studies conducted in the first
part of the 20th century declared negative impact of
bilingualism, whereas the further investigations proved
the opposite.
32
Thus, most of the studies done before the 1960s
indicated that bilingualism had a negative effect on the
child’s intellectual, educational, and emotional
development. Recently, a number of researchers and
investigators found that bilingualism is a great help to
the child. They declared that the bilingualism has
positive effects that facilitate learning a new language,
and they reported that in school bilingual children are
more motivated and often ahead of other classmates,
especially in intellectual development [13].
Bilingualism is one of the experiences capable of
in uencing cognitive function and, to some extent,fl
cognitive structure. The effects, however, are not
simple; the language de cit and the control advantagefi
interact to create a complex picture of cognition that is
different for bilinguals and monolinguals, but not in a
way that can be simply de ned as better, worse, orfi
indifferent [2].
Some scientists support the notion that learning a
second language in childhood is associated with positive
cognitive gains. Bilingualism in children is positively
related to concept formation, classification, creativity
and analogical reasoning. In addition, bilingual children
demonstrate a refined awareness and control of the
33
objective properties of language, commonly referred to as
metalinguistic skills [2].
The development of bilingual skills certainly depends
on frequent and regular use of both languages by speakers
and persistent mastering of these skills. For example,
language fluency will not be well developed if a language
is spoken in a reduced number of domains and with a
limited number of people. However, a person can become a
fluent speaker of the second language by regular use of
the language for communication in different spheres. The
same rule applies to such skills as reading and writing.
The basic educational problems with regard to
bilingualism are the organization of schools in bilingual
areas and the best pedagogical methods for teaching two
languages.
Influence of bilinguism on character formation and
group identification cannot be treated as purely positive
or negative. The consequences depend on many various
factors including social conditions, home environment,
socioeconomic status, culture, attitudes of society and
many others. It remains to be explained why many
bilinguals feel a strong relation between language and
culture. This connection can be probably explained by the
34
fact that each language is associated with a community
and its cultural values and social life.
The topic of influence of bilingualism on people and
their life is many-sided and not completely investigated.
There are still a lot of questions and contradictions
that need to be studied properly, that is why more
scientists should be involved into researching this
problem in order to elucidate and clarify this
phenomenon.
List of references
1. Appel, R. & Muysken, P. Language contact andbilingualism. – London: Edward Arnold, 1987.
2. Bialystok, E. Acquisition of Literacy in BilingualChildren: A framework for Research. – 2002.
3. Bialystok, E. Children’s concept of word. Journal ofPsycholinguistic Research, 15 (1), 13-32. – 1986.
35
4. Child, LL. Italian or American? The second generationin conflict. New Haven, 1943.
5. Cummins, J. Interdependence of first- and second-language proficiency in bilingual children. – New York:Longman, 1991.
6. Diaz, R. M., & Padilla, K. The self regulatory speechof bilingual preschoolers. – 1985.
7. Diebold, A.R. Jr. The consequences of earlybilingualism in cognitive development and personalityformation. – New York,1968.
8. Lambert, W.E. The effects of bi1ingualism on theindividual: Cognitive and sociocultural consequences. –1977.
9. Latham, Andrew S. The advantages of Bilingualism. –1998.
10. McLaughlin, B. Second-language acquisition inchildhood. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum, 1978.
11. Peal, E., & Lambert,W. E. The relation ofbilingualism to intelligence. – 1962.
12. Robinson, D. W. The Cognitive, Academic andAttitudinal Benefits of Early Language Learning. – NewYork: Longman, 1992.
13. Internet Resource
http://www.westeastinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ANT13-271-Majid-N.pdf
14. Internet resource
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http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/09/27/bilingual-education-problems-and-solutions.html
15. Internet resource
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/life-bilingual/201106/what-are-the-effects-bilingualism
16. Internet resource
https://dana.org/Cerebrum/2012/The_Cognitive_Benefits_of_Being_Bilingual/
17. Internet resource
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117485/multilinguals-have-multiple-personalities
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