Bilingual Executive Function

Cognitive skill is one of the great outcomes of bilingual education. When being bilingual, the brain is naturally translating everything into the languages spoken. “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” (Marian and Shook, 2012). The brain is constantly alternating back and forth between languages. This also led to children being able to adjust to different environments a lot better than a monolingual child. “Bilingual have an improved “Executive Function”, a command system that directs the attention process that we use for planning, solving problems and performing various …show more content…
“A York University study has proven that bilingual students have a deeper understanding of the structure of language, important for literacy” (Benson, 2013). This study proves that theory wrong. Bilingual students are constantly learning and expanding their knowledge. Not only are ELL trying to learn how to speak the English language but they are also trying that much harder to understand the literacy. The brain is pushed to a higher level to be able grasp the full understanding. This is helping students become proficient in the English language along with their native language. Becoming proficient in more than one language is a wonderful educational advancement. It takes about five to seven years to become fully proficient in a …show more content…
As previously mentioned, many for cultures take pride in where they come from. They take pride in the language that is passed down to their children. Immigrants come to America to provide a better life for their children. Although families come to live the American dream, they also want to incorporate their culture and make their children aware of it. Learning an additional language often leads to students learning more than just the language. Bilingualism helps expand their knowledge to learning about the culture along with the language. A video presented in class showed a Caucasian student enrolled in a dual immersion class that spoke Chinese. This student grew up surround by the Chinese culture and became so enriched by the culture. His first encounter with the Chinese culture was speaking the language. After learning the language, he become more engaged in the culture by the community he grew up. The child grew up to be proficient in both English and Chinese which led him to visit a different country. Due to his high interest in the language and culture he was aware of a different culture other than the one he was born