Bilingual Argumentative Analysis

Being multilingual or bilingual is the ability to speak more than one language, for some this can be a huge advantage as it provides more diversity and therefore can be a skill that both the workforce and college admissions look at when determining the best applicants. It is no surprise that having the ability to speak more than one language can come as an advantage, however what advantages does speaking more than one language offer? Parents are often concerned that using a non-community language as the language of their home will disadvantage their children (Bialystok, 2008,p.3). However, it has been found that being bilingual is actually associated with cognitive advantages such as enhanced selective attention and advances the development
of executive functioning. As a bilingual student myself I believe that having the ability to speak more than one language is important for many reasons. The command of two or more languages bolsters the ability to focus in the face of distraction, decide between competing alternatives, and disregard irrelevant information (Schwartz, 2011, para. 4).

Research regarding the cognitive advantages that a child may have as a bilingual student can allow parents and teachers to understand the importance of speaking more than one language and the many advantages that stem from being bilingual. The overall theme in my findings was the advancement is a child’s executive functioning and cognitive abilities that they possessed when being raised bilingual. They found that children that spoke more than one language were less likely to be distracted, had stable impulse control, flexible thinking, and better selective attention skills. These skills were exhibited in children as young as 3 years old, which was how they were able to determine evidence of significant advancements in executive functioning as a bilingual child. However, a common theme among my findings also determined that there were no differences in vocabulary between a bilingual and monolingual child. In fact, bilingual children tend to have smaller vocabularies in each language but it does not hinder their ability to reach language milestones as both bilingual and monolingual children reach them at about the same age. Although language itself is not considered an advantage for bilingual children the advantage in problem solving skills and having mental flexibility at an earlier age can increase their school performance and achievements. In addition, the amount of research conducted on bilingual children has been able to conclude that there is indeed a correlation between the cognitive abilities and speaking more than one language.
Bialystock and Viswanathan reported that bilingual 8-year-old children demonstrated more skills than monolingual children on tasks that required that ability to inhibit a response when necessary and the ability to be cognitively flexible and to shift focus from one task to another (Levine, 2016, p. 403-404). We also find that, researchers have demonstrated that there are cognitive advantages of bilingualism, particularly on tasks measuring cognitive flexibility and selective attention. These tasks require regulation of inhibitory mechanisms that allows one to focus attention on relevant information while suppressing attention toward misleading information (Crivello et al., 2016, p.122). Both sources are supporting the advancement of children using experimental conclusions that elaborate on their particular findings. In the popular Newsweek media source we also find evidence of cognitive abilities in bilingual children however, they aim towards informing the public in a different manner. The difference between Newsweek and Levine and Crivello is that fact that Newsweek’s focus is aimed towards stating their opinion to the public using little research to state their claim rather than educating the audience about the advantages that bilingualism has for a child’s development.
However, we also see differences within researchers conclusions of determining at what age group bilingualism advancements can be detected. One study found cognitive advancements in infants as young as 12 months of age by using auditory stimuli between 3-syllable combinations (AAB or ABA) between infants who were being raised in a monolingual or bilingual environment. According to Bialystok, Craik, Green & Gollan (2009), “The crucial manipulation was that each structure was associated with a different response - namely, look either to the right or to the left to see an interesting toy. The experimental results showed that the monolingual babies could learn only one of the responses but that the bilingual babies learned both, a difference the researchers interpreted as demonstrating more flexible learning in bilinguals” (p.90). In contrast to this study, the executive functioning, although found in children as young as 2 years of age, has more of an effect on bilingual children at the age of 3 and up as, “executive function is stronger and apparent on more tasks as children gain practice in managing both languages” (Crivello et al., 2016, p. 123). These differences may be coming from the different types of strategies and methods that each researcher may be using to come to a conclusion, and although at what age this development occurs is not quite apparent yet we can conclude that bilingualism has a major impact on furthering a child’s cognitive development. Although research has proven that being bilingual has an effect on a child’s cognitive abilities, it remains unclear as to what effect speaking more than one language may have at a later age. Does learning a language past the first five years of life have the same effect on one’s cognitive abilities? In order to answer this question a longitudinal research study would need to be conducted. This observational research method would follow the lives of 5 children ranging from five to nine years of age who were not raised in bilingual homes but who are being taught to speak a different language past the crucial developmental period. By examining their abilities in the school setting and how they manage communicating in both languages we can acquire if a difference in their executive functioning is taking place. The children’s cognitive abilities would also be measured through standardized tests that exhibit selective attention and cognitive flexibility through using problem solving skills, which is the area that children raised in a bilingual household tend to excel and have better concept formation in. By comparing the participant’s scores to the scores of students raised in bilingual households we can measure if learning a second language past the crucial development period can still have significant advancements in a child’s cognitive development. In conclusion, it is no question that bilingual children have more cognitive advancements than monolingual children. Although, this research does not state that bilingual children are smarter than monolingual children, it does suggest that learning a second language can aid those processes that are required to being a successful student. I would recommend parents to teach their children a second language not only because of the research that states that it is a beneficial aspect of brain development but also because it can boost a students resume as many employers appreciate and want a diverse applicant. Bilinguals also appear to be better at learning new languages than monolinguals (Schwartz, 2011, para. 11). The positive impact of learning a new language also allows the child to become more familiar with different cultures, which can be a powerful and insightful experience.