Impact of Second Language Acquisition

Impact of Second Language Acquisition and Bilingualism on Language Development
Chelsey Mason
ECE 315: Language Development in Early Childhood
Prof. Kathleen Kelley
July 28, 2011

Impact of Second Language Acquisition and Bilingualism on Language Development There is nothing more remarkable than the emergence of language in children. As adults, we find it difficult to understand children on their journey to learn a language. We overlook the facts that we are not born speaking properly and that this is a learned trait. Language development is an exciting period in a child’s life. To be able to watch a child’s abilities to understand, process, and produce their native or another language is amazing. Children go through many developmental stages while becoming fluent in a language, often a language that is not their native. “Language is essential to society. It forms the foundation of our perceptions, communications, and daily interactions. It is a system of symbols by which we categorize, organize, and clarify our thinking” (Otto 2010). It becomes a task to teach a child how to properly learn a language or any language. With language development, a child must have an understanding of how language mechanisms work. Teaching a child the proper knowledge of language could be a daunting task if the teacher does not understand the child’s background. Every child comes from a different cultural background, often with different dialects spoken. As a teacher, we must teach the knowledge of phonetics, semantics, syntactic, and morphemic, before attempting to introduce a child to a second language. “The syntactic, semantic, morphemic, phonetic, and pragmatic aspects of the two languages may be significantly different” (Otto 2010). “Children who are exposed to two languages at home acquire both languages as “first languages”” (Otto 2010). Bilingualism is becoming more known in the US. More parents want their children to grow up knowing, in this case, both English and Spanish. With experience with two home languages, it does not take a child long to pick up on and acquire all concepts of both languages if the languages are spoken norm within the household. Having a family member speak both English and Spanish fluently by the age of 8 (includes proper or “Formal” English and Spanish) was remarkable. Now knowing how complex learning two languages can be for children puts those teachers/parents that teach a second language on a pedestal due to the fact of having persistence and patience to learn to understand the child. It is known that when learning two languages, the child will begin to speak in both languages simultaneously and not have a clue they are doing so. This does make it harder on the teacher/parent that does not speak both languages.
“The acquisition of a second language will follow the same sequence as development of the first language with receptive and expressive knowledge of the oral language development first, followed by knowledge of the written language; however, learning difficulties may occur in the classrooms where the curriculum expectations do not acknowledge the need to first acquire target language oral competency before instruction in target written language” (Otto 2010). As previously mentioned, children who are considered “simultaneous or successive bilingualism” will have more difficulty in the classroom transitioning from one language to another. Often times, English is the primary language in the classroom. The child, when speaking, will start the answer/statement off in English, but quickly convert to Spanish without knowing (language interference). It will make it difficult for the teacher to understand the child if he/she does not speak the L2 language. “It appears that children acquire bilingualism with less confusion when the languages are kept separate by the parent or caregiver who speaks them” (Otto 2010). The cognitive development of learning two languages depends on how well the child understands the concepts of each language learned. “Recent research has been more balanced, identifying areas in which bilingual children excel and others in which bilingualism has not effect on their development” (Bialystok 2008). Robin Turner stated “being fluent in two languages can help the brain stay healthier for longer” (Turner 2007). Research shows that bilingual children have a lower chance of “mental decline” (Turner 2007). It seems that bilingual children have a healthier brain function than those who are not. When debating the impact bilingualism has on a child. We must first understand the child’s background. Getting answers to questions such as: Does the parent(s) have formal education?, Do the parent(s) speak only one language?, How will this impact the child’s work in and out of the classroom (i.e.: getting assignments completed when help is needed)?. “It is imperative that we understand the impact of these language backgrounds on children’s cognitive and educational futures” (Bialystok 2008). If we do not have an understanding of the child’s background, it will make it more difficult to teach the child. Every language has different dialects taught. If teachers are teaching the formals of the language, and the child is hearing the “common” version in the home, it will make the language concepts harder to understand for the child. It would be easier for the child to learn the dialect then learn the formal version. “Parents are often concerned that using a non-community language as the language of their home will disadvantage their children” (Bialystok 2008). “Children’s success in school is strongly dependent on their proficiency in the language of instruction, a relationship that holds for important linguistic activities, non-verbal computational subjects, and content-based curricula” (Bialystok 2008). There are challenges faced when attempting to teach a child that is bilingual or has to become bilingual. Some challenges consist of “distinguishing between the two systems of sound-symbol correspondences as well as differences in syntax” (Otto 2010). There are many other characteristics that have a major impact on how well a child will acquire the concepts of a second language. Those factors include, but are not limited to age (learner characteristics), social interactions (social setting), and the language exposure (Linguistic input). “Age is a significant factor in second language acquisition. Before age 5, children’s acquisition of an additional language resembles the first language development in both process and proficiency” (Otto 2010). Therefore, it is best and much easier for a child to learn an additional earlier in life. This makes it easier for children to learn to speak the language phonetically correct without the additional accent most adults have. However, there are “additional individual learner variables that affect second language acquisition include the learner’s cognitive abilities, personality, motivation, self-confidence, and home language competencies” (Otto 2010). No research can accurately state how well each child will learn or how fast a child will fluently learn an additional language. “While a body of research has examined such variables as socioeconomic status and parental education, and its relationship to children’s language acquisition, much less is known about the second language acquisition” (Neuharth-Pritchett 2007). We have to consider these factors when teaching an additional language, whether or not it is spoken in the home and the level of the parent’s education. In the classroom setting, we are faced with many obstacles. When dealing with bilingualism, we have to be aware of the resources we can offer both the child and the parent. Many schools have programs for “second language learners”. The only down-side to that is that most programs are for Spanish speakers learning English. Those who speak a language such as “French” would find much difficulty getting the assistance they needed in the classroom. The school system would have to offer individual/group translators, if available. Bilingual Education is becoming widely common among students. There are two types of bilingual education: transitional and developmental. “The transitional bilingual approach recognizes the need to being instruction in the language in which children are fluent; however, the first language is not considered valuable to the children’s long-term education; only English is valued” (Otto 2010). The transitional approach eliminates the cultural background. By doing this, teachers would make it harder for parents to have influence in the classroom. They would feel unwelcomed because of their culture. A child’s cultural background cannot be omitted when attempting to teach a new language. There may be aspects in their culture that prohibits them from learning certain parts of a language. The developmental bilingual approach “emphasizes both languages through children’s education, so that fluency in both the first language and English are developed and maintained” (Otto 2010). When trying to create a classroom that promotes positive learning for language development for diverse students, include the following guidelines written by Beverly Otto: 1. Selecting literature from different cultures and dialects in the classroom. 2. Emphasizing that language use is determined by the culture in which it is used. 3. Focusing on the pragmatics of language: how language is used differently in different situations and settings. Talk about the ways we use language in various social routines and settings, such as ordering at a fast-food restaurant… 4. Modeling a curiosity and interest in other languages and dialects. Show your interest in other languages by bring other languages into your classroom. 5. Learning basic greetings and expressions in a variety of languages and dialects 6. Encouraging students in monolingual classrooms to develop and awareness of linguistic diversity through literature, guest speakers, media, and field trips to ethnically diverse communities. (Otto 2010)
There are many books that are written in both English and Spanish. This would give children a chance to learn about each other’s culture and share experiences. Have students to act out different stories that you have read. Maybe even have them to write their own based on their cultural beliefs. If you have a student who has not yet learned English fluently, have the English speakers learn to say “hello”, “good-bye”, and small key phrases to help the student in the classroom. This will both develop awareness of different languages and alert non-English speaker that his/her classmates are there to help as well.
Many believe that learning a second language in early childhood is too much for a child to comprehend and fluently learn. The research complied by Ellen Bialystok stated it best:
“The evidence for overwhelming positive benefit of bilingualism, together with evidence that bilingual children are not cognitively handicapped, indicates an important role for schools in providing a means for these children to build up their language skills in the school language so that they can be full participants in the classroom and reap the most positive benefit from their educational experience” (Bialystok 2008).
It is up to the parents and school educators to make a decision as to what is best for the child. If the parents chose to have a child learn a second language, it only makes them better socially and more developed cognitively. There are formal assessments that are being researched on how well a child learns a second language. If the child has a harder time understanding the concepts of the language, the formal assessments will inform both the parent and school of the best routes to take in order to better assist the child.
“Children who have acquired a level of fluency in two languages have been described as having the following increased language competencies: higher levels of metalinguistic awareness, greater and earlier awareness of language structure, wider perspectives, and more social skills” (Otto 2010). There is no research that shows a monolingual student being smarter than a bilingual student and vice versa. Each student’s cognitive development on linguistics all depends on how well the student grasps the concepts of a language. It depends on how well-connected the languages sound-symbols, syntaxes, and phonetics. It also depends on whether the child hears the language throughout his school, community, and home, as well as the cultural beliefs and socioeconomic status of the family. “The acquisition of literacy skills in these children depends on the relationship between the two languages and the level of proficiency in the second language” (Bialystok 2008).
Second Language acquisition and early bilingualism has both positive and negative effects on a child just as anything else would. Due to the increase in immigration, more parents are choosing to have a second language taught to children. Many feel it will help them later in life or in the ever changing world we live in. Positive language development in early childhood settings does depend on many variables. Most are due to the cultural background and socioeconomic status.

REFERENCES
Bialystok, E. Second-Language Acquisition and Bilingualism at an Early Age and the Impact on Early Cognitive Development. Rev ed. In: Tremblay RE, Barr RG, Peters RDeV, eds. Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development [online]. Montreal, Quebec: Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development; 2008: 1-4. http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/documents/BialystokANGxp_rev.pdf. Otto, B. (2010). Language Development in Early Childhood (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Neuharth-Pritchett, S. (2007). Research Into Practice: Interventions for Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 22(1), 97-104. Retrieved July 20, 2011, from Research Library. (Document ID: 1364034121).

Turner, R. (2007, May 24). Bilingual good for the mind :[FIRST Edition]. Western Mail, p. 2. Retrieved July 20, 2011, from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID: 1306453481).

References: Bialystok, E. Second-Language Acquisition and Bilingualism at an Early Age and the Impact on Early Cognitive Development. Rev ed. In: Tremblay RE, Barr RG, Peters RDeV, eds. Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development [online]. Montreal, Quebec: Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development; 2008: 1-4. http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/documents/BialystokANGxp_rev.pdf. Otto, B. (2010). Language Development in Early Childhood (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Neuharth-Pritchett, S. (2007). Research Into Practice: Interventions for Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 22(1), 97-104.  Retrieved July 20, 2011, from Research Library. (Document ID: 1364034121). Turner, R.  (2007, May 24). Bilingual good for the mind :[FIRST Edition]. Western Mail, p. 2.  Retrieved July 20, 2011, from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID: 1306453481).