The Beauty of Bilingual Education: A Blog Series: May 2016

What Is Bilingual Education?

As a parent debating whether or not to enroll your child in a bilingual education program, you possibly already have an idea of what bilingual education is. The Bilingual Education Act begins defining bilingual education as "a program of instruction designed for children of limited English proficiency in elementary or secondary schools," and then continues explaining what these programs should do for their students. Basically, the complete definition states that:

Bilingual education is an instructional program for students of limited English proficiency.
In these programs students will study the English language so that they will progress in learning the English language as well as further developing their own native language.
The ultimate goal of bilingual education programs is for students to effectively progress through the educational system.

Although this definition of bilingual education specifies that these programs are for children with limited English proficiency, the general and more common definition of bilingual education is the use of two language as media of instruction. When thinking about the benefits of bilingual education, this will be what I refer to, rather than solely teaching children English.

Apart from there being two definitions for bilingual education, there are also three or more different types of bilingual education programs. The three most popular and commonly used programs are English as a Second Language (ESL) programs, Transitional programs, and Dual-Immersion programs. Below is a chart with each program and a brief description of what each program entails.

For more information on the different bilingual education programs available, watch this short video.

Four Myths About Bilingual Education

In your search for bilingual programs for your child you have probably already come upon several myths about bilingual education programs. In this next blog we debunk four of the most common misconceptions people have about bilingualism and bilingual education.

Myth #1: I have heard that bilingual children are more likely to have language difficulties, delays, and disorders.

Reality: Evidence that one bilingual child has a language disorder or delay does not mean that every bilingual child has one too. One worry that parents often have is that their children do not know as many words in each language as monolingual children know in their language. Although it may seem that children know less words in each language, when the words from both languages are counted together as one, researchers find that bilingual children know about the same or even more words than monolingual children.

Myth #2: I have heard that younger children learn a second language easier and quicker than older children.

Reality: Research shows that learning a second language may be better for older children since they can benefit from already having well-developed language and literacy skills for their first and native language. Researches also have found that literacy skills in children's first language can aid the literacy development in a second language, especially when the languages are similar. Therefore, it may be better for older children to learn a second language, rather than younger children.

Myth #3: I have read that in order for children to become successful bilinguals, each parent has to speak one language to them.

Reality: This concept is often referred to as "one-person one-language." The importance here lies in the balance that must occur between the exposure that children have with the languages rather than who speaks what. This practice of "one-person one-language" may lead to success in some cases where children receive balanced exposure to both languages at home since both parents are the primary care givers to the children. However, if parents are not together or do not live together, this practice will not be successful because the children will not receive the same amount of exposure in each language. Therefore, this practice works best when both parents are the primary care givers and can create a balance between the use of both languages.

Myth #4: I am concerned that my child will be confused while learning two languages and will not be able to differentiate between them.

Reality: This concern is known among researchers as the "limited capacity theory," and although it may sound convincing to some, it does not prove to be true. Children who acquire two languages from birth or at an early age achieve the same fundamental milestones in language development as monolingual children. Often, parents worry that bilingual children are confused when they use two languages in the same sentence. However, in doing this, children may preserve grammatical structures for both languages, which indicates that children are able to activate and access both languages at the same time.

For more disproving of myths click here or read "Myths About Childhood Bilingualism" by Fred Genesee.

Practical Benefits of Bilingual Education

While thinking whether or not to put your child into a bilingual education program, you may ask yourself how a bilingual education will benefit your child in the long run. Apart from the social and cognitive benefits of being bilingual, children and adults who are bilingual also benefit from the practicality that comes with speaking two languages.

One practical benefit of bilingualism is that it makes traveling easier at times. This is especially true when the language being learned is a commonly spoken language such as Spanish, French, English, German, or Mandarin. Being bilingual also allows for more personal interactions when traveling in a country that speaks the language(s) that you or your child know.

Another practical benefit of bilingual education and bilingualism is that it gives both children and adults a more global perspective of their surroundings and the world beyond where they live. Bilingual children are also more likely to become interested in other cultures or countries that speak the languages they speak. In becoming more interested in other cultures, children also become more tolerant of people from other cultures.

Finally, one of the most common benefits of receiving a bilingual education and being bilingual is that it becomes a significant career advantage once your child is older. Bilingual professionals are in high demand these days, therefore anyone with a bilingual background will receive benefits in employability and salary.

These three practical benefits of receiving a bilingual education and being bilingual are only some of the advantages that bilinguals have in today's society.

Social Benefits of Bilingual Education

By now, you have probably already done some research on the benefits of bilingual education, however if you haven't, you have come to the right place! Receiving a bilingual education has some practical benefits for children, such as giving them a more global perspective and better job opportunities. Additionally, children's social skills also benefit from learning two languages.

One of the ways that a bilingual education affects children's social skills is through communication. A study done at the University of Chicago found that bilingual children are better at communicating than monolingual children. Through this study, researchers also found that multilingual children better understand the perspectives of others. These conclusions were reached after children were asked to pick the smallest car from a group. Monolingual children chose the smallest car out of the three, but multilingual children chose the smallest car of the ones that the adult could see. In making these choices, researchers noticed that multilingual children were taking into account the perspective of the adults before making their choices on which car to choose.

Another way in which bilingual education affects children's social and communication skills is through increasing their communicative sensitivity. This is a specific level of awareness about what is going on in any particular language interaction. Children learning two languages have a higher sense of this sensitivity because they often have to pick up cues of when to change languages. Multilingual children also have to constantly be thinking about who speaks what language, who understands what language, as well as times and places in which different languages are spoken. Through these different thought processes, multilingual children become more aware of their surroundings, and therefore subconsciously improve their communication and social skills.

To see more about the study from the University of Chicago read, The Exposure Advantage: Early exposure to a multilingual environment promotes effective communication.

Cognitive Benefits of Bilingual Education

Although there are many known practical and social benefits of receiving a bilingual education, the cognitive benefits are lesser known by the general public.

In the past couple of years, researchers have found a direct correlation between bilingualism and Alzheimer's Disease. A study led by Tamar Gollan, a neuropsychologist from University of California San Diego, found that people with a higher degree of bilingualism were more resistant to the onset of the dementia and other symptoms of Alzheimers. This means that the more bilingual a person becomes, the onset age for Alzheimers decreases. In fact, research also found that bilinguals were diagnosed with Alzheimers 4.3 years after monolinguals were diagnosed, which goes to prove that bilingualism does decrease the onset age of dementia.

Apart from delaying dementia and Alzheimers, receiving a bilingual education also has other cognitive benefits. Researchers from Washington State University found that bilingualism is associated with increased control of attention, improved working memory, greater awareness of form and structure of language, and better abstract and symbolic representation skills. Additionally, in recent years preliminary evidence has been found that shows that being bilingual may physically remodel parts of the brain. These findings imply that while receiving a bilingual education benefits people socially and practically, being bilingual also benefits them cognitively.

To learn more about the relationship between bilingualism and the onset of alzheimer's, click here.

For more information on how bilingualism specifically affects different parts of your brain, click here.

What Now?

After reading the past couple of blogs on the different benefits of bilingual education you may be asking yourself what all of the information means and how it applies to you and your family's situation. I hope that through reading these few blog posts you find answers to questions you previously had about bilingual education and if you were uncertain about whether or not bilingual education would benefit your child, I hope that these posts help you better make the decision to enroll your child in a bilingual education program.

Here is an infographic to summarize the findings from the past couple of blog posts!

For more information on bilingual education and its benefits, I have attached links to several articles at the bottom of this post.