Do Children Learn Best In Their First Language As A Basis For Bilingual And Multilingual Education

Most of the empirical research confirms that most children learn best in their first language as a basis for bilingual and multilingual education. Studies indicate that six to eight years of education is necessary for the development of literacy and verbal proficiency required for secondary school academic achievement. Empirical evidence suggests that the ability of a child to learn a second language does not suffer if the primary language used for instruction in the entire primary school is the first language. The fluency in mother tongue lays a special foundation for the learning of other languages. If mother tongue is used to instruct a child in the primary schools and then he or she gradually adopts learning using the second language, their rate of learning the second language increases (Benson, 2005). This transition should be gradual rather than forceful if a child is to keep grasp of the first language since forcing a child to abruptly switch to the second language may lead to the loss of the first language. As such, it is important to ensure that the process of linguistic learning is gradual to facilitate proper learning among children (Little et al., 2010).
Researchers have also determined that programs which prepare teachers who are responsive to cultural diversity are focused on the development of teachers with a …show more content…
That is to say that language plays a very important role in identifying an individual to a particular culture or cultural practice (Perso, 2012). Regarding the impacts of the second language on the first language, the study found out that the second language could wipe away the first language especially if the transition process is not carefully handled. As such, it is imperative to proceed with caution when considering the two language aspects due to the ease with which the first language can disappear as a result of subsequent