BILINGUALISM

BILINGUALISM

As we all know bilingualism refers to an individual who speaks more than one language. Bilingualism can be under the part of language development which may later generate to communication skills of an individual according to Lowry Lauren a certified speech-language pathologist research shows that our world is becoming increasingly multilingual. Consider some of the following statistics: In Canada 11.9 % of the population speaks a language other than English or French at home. In Toronto, 31% of the population speaks a language other than English or French at home. In the United States 21% of school-age children (between ages 5-17) speak a language other than English at home. This number is projected to increase in the coming years. Worldwide, it is estimated that there are more second language speakers of English than native speakers. there are as many bilingual children as there are monolingual children.

These trends mean that many children are being raised as bilinguals. Sometimes bilingualism is a necessity, as a child’s parents may not be fluent in the majority (dominant) language spoken in the community. Therefore, the child may learn one language at home and another at school. But sometimes bilingualism is a choice, and parents may wish to expose their child to another language, even if they do not speak a second language themselves. This could be due to the many benefits of being bilingual.

How children learn more than one language
Bilingual acquisition can take place in one of two ways:
Simultaneous Acquisition occurs when a child is raised bilingually from birth, or when the second language is introduced before the age of three (10). Children learning two languages simultaneously go through the same developmental stages as children learning one language. While bilingual children may start talking slightly later than monolingual children, they still begin talking within the normal range (11). From the very beginning of language learning, simultaneous bilinguals seem to acquire two separate languages (10). Early on, they are able to differentiate their two languages and have been shown to switch languages according to their conversation partner (e.g. speak French to a French-speaking parent, then switch to English with an English-speaking parent) (12, 13).
Sequential Acquisition occurs when a second language is introduced after the first language is well-established (generally after the age of three). Children may experience sequential acquisition if they immigrate to a country where a different language is spoken. Sequential learning may also occur if the child exclusively speaks his heritage language at home until he begins school, where instruction is offered in a different language.

A child who acquires a second language in this manner generally experiences the following (10): 

initially, he may use his home language for a brief period.
he may go through a “Silent” or “Nonverbal” Period when he is first exposed to a second language. This can last from a few weeks to several months, and is most likely a time when the child builds his understanding of the language (14). Younger children usually remain in this phase longer than older children. Children may rely on using gestures in this period, and use few words in the second language.
he will begin to use short or imitative sentences. The child may use one-word labels or memorized phrases such as “I dunno” or “What’s this?”. These sentences are not constructed from the child’s own vocabulary or knowledge of the language. Rather, they are phrases he has heard and memorized.
eventually, he will begin to produce his own sentences. These sentences are not entirely memorized, and incorporate some of the child’s own newly-learned vocabulary. The child may use a “formula” at first when constructing sentences and insert his own word into a common phrase such as “I want…” or “I do….”. Eventually the child becomes more and more fluent, but continues to make grammatical mistakes or produce sentences that sound abbreviated because he is missing some grammatical rules (e.g. “I no want eat apple” instead of “I don’t want to eat an apple”). Some of the mistakes a child makes at this stage are due to the influence of his first language. But many of the mistakes are the same types of mistakes that monolingual children make when they learn that language.

Author's insights : BILINGUALISM LIGHT-BULB MOMENT WITH THE BILINGUALISM IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN INDIVIDUAL. WHAT IS BILINGUALISM IN MY OWN PERCEPTION? As have been stated, bilingualism is the capability to know more than one language and basically it is part of the development of an individual’s language skills. When in comes to language development, not everyone is fortunate to have a good communication skill. Some would lack this particular ability. There is one article that I have read which stated that some children were not able to develop their language skills. The article stated that some children tend to have an unfortunate situation in which their development of language skills is delayed. Some of the symptoms of those who have the capacity to obtain a delayed speech ability was first they tend to react less. By means of react is their lack of response for the things that are being presented to them by the use of language. Say for example, a child was not able to retaliate though she or he can react by means of nonverbal actions such as smiling or crying. The latter were the signs or symptoms of having a delayed speech ability. On the other hand, some children could actually learn speaking in language easily. The truth is some children cannot just speak one language but more. This is what we call the bilingualism. Those who can use more than one language. Honestly I am very much fascinated by those children who can use more than one language because honestly learning just one is hard how much more learning two or more. “if you are willing to learn you are able to attain” -Mythos Dominguez