Language

Acquisition and Benefits of Bilingualism

Dr. Park-Johnson
September 24, 2014

1. Language Acquisition
a. What do babies do all day?
i. Listen to language!
ii. Input
b. All human babies have brains that allow for language to develop
i. Setting the brain
1. English /f/ sound
2. Brain starts to become specialized in your native
language.
ii. Your brain stays flexible until you get no more new input (no
new sounds, grammar, etc.)
c. Bilingual children: what about babies that hear more than one
language from birth?

2. Benefits of bilingualism
a. Myths of bilingualism:
i. If you forget your home language, youll be better at English
faster. So speak only English at home. FALSE!
ii. Your home language will get in the way of learning English.
FALSE!
b. Truths of bilingualism:
i. Your first language (L1) will greatly help your learning of your
second language (L2).
1. Ex. Deaf children
2. Ex. ELLs
c. Cognitive Benefits of Bilingualism
i. Metalinguistic awareness: treat language as an object of
thought and study
ii. Flexibility with word assignment:

1.

iii. Use syntactic cues better: use clues in sentences to identify
where the sentence is going.
iv. Divergent thinking:
1. Flexible perceptions and interpretation, creative
thinking, especially in problem-solving
2. Innovative, outside-the-box thinking skills (can be very
helpful for math and science)

v. Communicative sensitivity
1. Understanding and deciding on the language choices for
various situations and contexts
2. Show more sensitivity to the content of language
3. More sensitive to messages and what it contains
4. Sensitive to the needs of listeners
vi. Ability to learn multiple languages
1. Improved ability to learn a third, fourth, fifth, etc.
language
vii. Protect against brain disease
1. Research has shown that bilingualism has a protective
effect against Alzheimers disease
d. Social Advantages of Bilingualism
i. Socioeconomic benefits
1. Get better jobs by speaking multiple languages
ii. Interactions
1. Communicating with a wide range of people in
academic, business, and personal settings
iii. Developing your identity
1. Being bilingual helps children, teens, and adults form
their identity through exposure to multiple perspectives
and cultures
iv. Cultural awareness and construction
1. This is not how it is for everyone.
3. Conclusion
a. There are numerous advantages of being bilingual.
b. Its important for schools, students, teachers, parents, and society in
general to learn this, so we continue to encourage bilinguals
(especially ELLs) to keep their first language.