Multilingualism

and native English speakers to become bilingual (Morales & Aldana, 2010). The Dual-Immersion program works by combining translation support for immigrant students with education of foreign languages and cultures. Dual-Immersion programs support multilingualism rather than causing students to give up their native language and become monolingual. Dual-Immersion classes are a good start to providing an equally excellent education to immigrant students, but they aren’t a perfect solution due to the…

After attending class and participating in the discussion on multilingualism and multiculturalism, I am more aware of the difficulties multilingual and multicultural students face. The Five Tricks card game we played in class really opened my eyes to what these students experience. During the card game, I became frustrated and agitated with those around me because I thought they did not learn to play the game correctly. It was important for me to play by the rules, because my family and I get…

Bilingualism is an important factor in cognitive development. Children’s knowledge of two language systems results in a more analytical orientation to language. Bilingual kids have two ways to describe the world and have more flexible perception and interpretation. Most education programs for emergent bilinguals are based on the fact that English only should be used. The pullout ESL approach continues to be the program of choice in the U.S. While research shows that it takes 5-7 years for ELLs…

Suzanne Romaine has declared that, “Bilingualism and multilingualism are a normal and unremarkable necessity of everyday life for the majority of the world’s population,”(Source C) yet why are most Americans monolingual? Americans are at a disadvantage because they are not using their resources to their full potential. In the United States we are fortunate enough to have such amazing technological advances, nonetheless we are dependent on these advances instead of building off of them. The main…

In chapter 8 it discussed a reason why we have to teach a balanced bilingual curriculum in the classroom. The textbook “Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism” by Colin Baker expressed the cognitive theories of bilingualism and the curriculum. There are three theories that make up the cognitive theories for bilingualism; The Balance Theory, The Iceberg Analogy, and The Thresholds Theory. Within the Iceberg Analogy it broke town the 6 parts of the Common Underlying Proficiency. Also…

and have more doors to other cultures as well as a greater job pool in their futures. She found that bilingualism enhances intellectual growth in youth, furthering their mental development. (CalEarlyLearning, 10) Not to be limited to youth, multilingualism in adults also boosts memory, protects against Dementia, heightens cognitive brain function, and increases job opportunities. A 2004 study showed that bilinguals were more adept in “solving puzzles, planning, and other mentally demanding…

Another study completed providing support for code switching as a home language use strategy was conducted by Yeganehpour (2012). The purpose of this study was to evaluate if code switching in a reading comprehension classroom for English as a foreign language (EFL) learners would have any effect on their learning of English. The researcher administered a pre-test to both a control group and an experimental group. The control group was not allowed to code switch during their reading…

discovered that learning another language had numerous effects on the brain (Nacamuli). Contrary to previous belief that bilingualism stunted a student 's development and caused him or her to develop a learning handicap, scientists found that multilingualism actually increased brain activity (Nacamuli). Learning a language requires the use of both of the brain 's hemispheres; the left deals with analytical…

If you were to ask an American adult whether or not he could speak another language, you would most likely get answer along the lines of, “I took a couple years of Spanish in high school, but I couldn’t speak it now if my life depended on it.” Sadly, if you were to go to a foreign country you would find most people there speak at least two languages. So what’s the difference between our country and theirs? Most of these other countries require their students to start studying another language in…

Bilingualism has recently become a major issue and a valuable one because in comparison with monolingualism it allows people to live between two worlds, two cultures, adopting the specific ways of thinking and feeling of the people they come into contact. To be bilingual involves more than speaking another language than your own, it is all about the inner significance of words apparently similar in two languages but deeply different, this is a major issue analysed by Anna Wierzbicka who strongly…