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The Simultaneous Bilingual Child... lengthy lengthy 139 San Beda UniversitySan Beda Rowena Javier- Rivero, .A. Rivero, Javier- Rowena Simultaneous Bilingualism, Social Interaction Theory, Zone of Theory, Bilingualism, Social Interaction Simultaneous This paper is based on the researcher’s on the researcher’s paper is based This research A Study Acquisition A Language The Simultaneous Bilingual Child: Bilingual Simultaneous The ost people believed that children’s cognitive development development cognitive children’s that believed people ost is manifested through language. It is believed that

and and mostly unintelligible Keywords: Keywords: Abstract: Proximal Development, Social Acutiation Language Development, Social Acutiation Proximal to to (1) present the profile of the simultaneous bilingual child; (2) Identify of acquisition the bilingual child’s affecting the factors of simultaneous the implication and (3) Determine languages; and . of language the development bilingualism to assumption that a bilingual child acquires languages languages acquires a bilingual child assumption that simultaneously as influenced the media the family, by This includes social environment. child’s some factors relatives (like others significant and television), such the (particularly as the to result would mentioned, this the factors and friends). With attempts This paper cognition. and of language the development M With this, the research aimed to find out how a child who grows grows who child a how out find to aimed research the this, With the bilingual child’s acquisition implication of of simultaneous bilingualism to language and cognitive languages; and what development? is the up in a bilingual environment simultaneously acquires languages. Specifically, this sought answers to bilingual the child following: acquire languages; How what does are a the factors affecting sentences. in an intelligible language. Like in the case Ravine of my daughter, who was two (2) years and 11 months old but can only speak few essential months - 24 months, it is expected that their language is intelligible intelligible is language their that expected is it months, 24 - months months 36 at wherein cases are there However, comprehensible. or or 3 years – 5 years old, some children cannot express themselves language is a display of wit or knowledge. For most children, ages 18 ages children, most For knowledge. or wit of display a is language Introduction Rivero... illustration below) (See cognition. and language of development the to result would friends) and relatives (like others significant and television), the family,includes environmentthat (particularlysocial media child’s languages simultaneously as influenced by some factors such as the between what the child can learn unaided and what he what and unaided learn can child the what between difference existence ofwhat hecalledthezoneofproximal development. what can beattainedalone.” (Rozycki &Goldfarb, 2000) can be developed with adult guidance or peer collaboration exceeds that skill of range “The interaction. social in engage children when attained development of level A (ZPD): Development”Proximal of Full development oftheZPDdependsuponfullsocial interaction (Rozycki &Goldfarb, 2000) ourselves. within then environment social with contact mediate to initiallyusually are symbolism and Language . a of or tools of use the through occurs mediation that interaction; social future development= of ZPD); that full area cognitive another development requiresby surrounded development current of area (the cognitive developmentis limited tocertain range a any at given age INTERACTION Bilingual Child h rsace’ asmto ta a iiga cid acquires child bilingual a that assumption researcher’s The oe f rxml eeomn o ZD ees o h gp or gap the to refers ZPD or development Proximal of Zone the of notion the is theory Vygotsky’s in tenet essential One The potential for cognitive development depends upon the “Zone that states Theory Development Social Vygotsky’s S. Lev Simultaneous Bilingualism: Profile ofthe SOCIAL ZONE OFPORXIMAL ment Family, Media, Child's Acquisition DEVELOPMENT Significant others ing theBilingaual - SocialEnviron Factors Affect of Language: 140 - - DEVELOPMENT and Cognition Development of Language COGNITIVE The Simultaneous Bilingual Child... . scaffolding 141 It has long been assumed that bilingual children are at a Children Children may learn more than one language from the time they It is in this context that the researcher aims to support the earlier earlier the support to aims researcher the that context this in is It There There are some common myths about children growing up In an and diversified increasingly multilingual world, more and The distance between the actual development level as disadvantage disadvantage when learning language and that their progress in learn one. behave behave much like monolingual children (Saunders, 1988). manage to learn two language in They about the same time and to about the same degree of skill as monolingual children take to preschool, preschool, or a kindergarten program. in Some homes where children two or grow more languages up are used. Studies language of development such bilinguals” “native suggest of that they the are born, or are a begin they second when be language introduced may A. The Bilingual Child assumption that the development of cognition and language environment; social the of as such factors by affected is child bilingual a language. a acquiring in difficulty the with associated be cannot thus, without competition from other language (De Houwer, 1999). other language (De Houwer, without competition from languages will confuse the child and acquiring lead language. to Second, grave it problems is in claimed that the the main language acquisition of of the environment will stand a better chance how they look at other people’s children. look at other people’s children. they how bilingually; first, it is often claimed that hearing two or more than one language is used. However, people everywhere have strong strong have everywhere people However, used. is language one than ideas about children growing up with a second or third language. These with ideas and influenced their how children people interact more young children find themselves in an environment were more more were environment an in themselves find children young more Discussion determined determined by independent problem potential solving development and as determined the through capable peers. more with in collaboration guidance, or under adult level problem of solving The idea of assisting the learner is known as known is the learner assisting idea of The or she can learn with the help of an adult or a more capable peer. Rivero... bilingual environment andlanguagelearningproblems. relationshipbetweena causal no thereprovideis proofthat visible any signs of language delays or disorders. Moreover, these children children who These grow up with two or 1996). more languages from infancy (Owens,do not show delayed is languages both or one only onelanguage.Thatis: learning children as way same the in develop typically birth from languages more or two learning children of skills Simultaneous BilingualAcquisition people, andofthinkingskills.(Rosenberg, 1996) knowing of of wider a with communicate advantage to able being of , two the have they Moreover, languages. owning two to due thinking in elastic more words, by bound less are they because skills, story-telling superior demonstrated also have or idea, may possess an added cognitive flexibility. Bilingual children bilingual individuals, by knowing two or more words for one they are ableto keep theirlanguageseparate. far more sentences using only one language. This clearly shows that produce they , same the in languages two fromwords use sometime children bilingual young while that, true also is It skill. in one sentence by mature bilinguals reveals a great deal of linguistic twolanguages of use Accordingthe Romaineto (1995), languages. cited as evidence that the child cannot distinguish between the two is sentence single a in languages both from words of use The two. speak two languages go through a stage of mixing and confusing the t s ute camd ht ml cide wo r lann to learning are who children small that claimed further is It Simultaneous bilingualism is learning two languages at once. The that mentioned (2000) Chipongian by cited as (1993) Baker stories andtalk abouthow theyfeel. ask andanswerquestions, follow longerdirections, and can tell words into two phrases. of words andshouldbeusingafewsinglewords. Between Between the ages of three and five, age two, By One-year-old children shouldhavewords 50 andbecombining childrenshould beableto understand avariety 142 children talk insentences, The Simultaneous Bilingual Child... 143 systems but enduring influence of the dominant system dominant the of influence enduring but systems and in the environment. language. weaker shifts. environmental and increasing awareness of the differences. awareness and increasing 5. Final separation of the phonological and grammatical 2. Influence of one on the other when one is favored by 3. Avoidance of difficult words and constructions in the 4. Rapid shifts in the dominance of either language with 1. Initial language mixing, followed by a slow separation Phonological differentiation is also occurring. The earliest There There are three stages in the simultaneous acquisition of two The rate and manner of development appear to be the same Simultaneous Simultaneous Acquisition is the development of two languages have acquired a acquired conception of have that their native specifies this aspect of language. Differentiation of the phonological systems systems phonological the of Differentiation language. of aspect this begins between twenty-four to thirty months. “By age 2, children phonology is usually a combination of the inputs two different into a single system, although the least interference seems to occur in elements may reflect lack of development of structures in one of the languages, because possibly these too are structures difficult at present. contexts or in functionally different ways (Genesee, 1989). The child The 1989). (Genesee, ways different functionally in or contexts uses vocabulary whatever he has available. Mixing of grammatical two two separate lexical systems. It has been argued that in the initial have actually children development, bilingual simultaneous of stage different in use to able are they that systems language different two of monolingual children. of monolingual children. languages in young children. During the first stage, the child has acquisition of a single language. In spite of the bilingual linguistic load, that to the both child languages comparable acquires at a rate whether whether the child is monolingual respects or early simultaneous bilingualism bilingual. does not differ from the In all essential characterized as follows: characterized prior prior to age three by (McLaughlin, 1978 Owens, & 1996). Grosjean, Simultaneous 1982 cited bilingual acquisition can be Rivero... the more complex. Thus, if a construction is more complex in one in complex more is construction a if Thus, complex. more the before constructions simpler the first, languages both to common applies the same syntactic rules to both. The child learns structures the to irrelevant as others… language’s meaningsystem” (Oller&Eilers,1983). and relevant as contrasts certain (Rosenberg, 1996) B. Factors affecting the simultaneous learning of two languages Development, seven.( age about at separatelanguages two manage can and bilingual truly becomes child The decreases. language certain a with people label to tendency the differences, syntactic the with familiar more becomes child the As Taeshner,1978). & (Volterra makes the choice of the words and rules a kind of automatic process” person. “The act of labeling a person with one of the two languages languages as separate as possible, associating each with a particular two the keep to try may child the interference, Todecrease syntactic level. the to confined mostly is it interference, of deal great a and syntactic structures from each language. Although there is still Finally,form. correctlychild thirdthe the stage, in produces lexical simpler its in language other the in first learned be will it language, n h scn sae te hl hs w dsic lxcn but distinct two has child the stage, second the In the in uses child the language the is factor last The 4. 3. The language or languages other family members speak child. the with language of use actual parents’ The 2. Some languages. more or one in ability parents’ The 1. community. siblings orbetween children andgrandparents. between the as such child, the with which about decision a language they speakwiththechild. made have but languages more or two in ability language havemay parents The the of language the school andpossibly ofthecommunity. speak to unable are and home, the of language the language, one only speak parents Owens, R..,1996,p420) 144 Language The Simultaneous Bilingual Child... 145 is used in the community. second language situations speaking to languagesaccording the separate days. or alternate another language (usually each on speaking his or her native language to the child and possibly the common other). each language to is used at school. second language speaks speaks one language while the other parent speaks 4. Both parents speak both languages to the child but 2. Both parents speak one language in the home and a 3. One language is used at home and at school and the 1. One parent, one language. Each parent consistently One study has shown that the quality of the language environment environment language the of quality the that shown has study One Most research shows that the environment fosters language Consistency is the key in early language learning. If languages are are languages If learning. language early in key the is Consistency Experts Experts separating the languages to make language school consistently find that homes are the richer environment. to to the number of conversations initiated with peers. For example, observational studies that compare children’s talk at home and at with caregivers has a specific effect development. Children’s language level is on related to opportunities the children’s language to initiate conversations with caregivers and is negatively related has a large impact on the language development (Mc of Cartney, 1984). the The children amount of expressive verbal interaction new activities, and pays more to what the child wants to it is being said correctly. than about whether say children, one helpful of interaction is a highly responsive one, in one, responsive highly a is interaction of style helpful one children, talk about,on to expands what decide child the lets adult the which that topic, works hard to figure out what the child means, suggests development. development. It relates to the early period (ages children’s 1 interactions to with 3) and their to mothers at home. For young separating vocabulary and into the appropriate language. language. the appropriate into and grammar vocabulary separating language. language as one hybrid the “mixed” learn The child may mix in the same conversation, young children difficulty emphasize boundaries between the languages. For example: For the languages. between boundaries emphasize acquisition easier for children. When kids are learning two languages languages two learning are kids When children. for easier acquisition at the same time parents need to out work language that strategies Rivero... acquisition. Stephen Krashen explains that acquisition takes place takes acquisition that explains Krashen Stephen acquisition. and personality. environment, opportunity, motivation, as such factors other neurological on relies on acquisition language subsequent time, mainlyover development relies acquisition language initial While n i coeain ih i pes (hms 19) Interaction 1993) (Thomas, peers. his with cooperation in and environment his in people with interacting of action the in the is child when only operate to able are that processes developmental An essential feature of them. learning around is that those it of awakens life a intellectualvariety of the intentional into grow children learning (1978), presupposes Vygotskya specific social to and is According part of a process by which children. other can words of continue to make communicationdifficultwith strangers. choice individual highly their intelligible, become has children’s whenLater, response. meaningful a make and intent child’s the understand to likely most is member family a words, meaningful few a only utter can life of year second their in children When well. so about- talking be to likely is child the what therefore and world- child’s the know they because also but relationship affective powerful a of because only not children world, anddozensmore suchtopics. the of parts other grow,livein things people how how about about children’s of how things Stimulating work, their knowledge about numbers, about weather, related. vocabulary,their their enriching involves closely language very are cognition and well as language development. During the preschool years language bryanmawr.edu.biology) affect greatly acquired. is it whichby process the factors environmental and emotional brain, the in the would bestored andprocessed. better the language a of meanings and , accents, , that the number of opportunities the brain has to store and reinforce comprehensible input is the key to acquisition. It would make sense frequent Variedand input. comprehensible to exposed is child a if potnt ad oiain ok oehr o fet language affect to together work motivation and Opportunity Children’s language development is also nurtured by talk with talk by nurtured also is development language Children’s young for partners conversational superb are members Family The quality of the setting has an important effect on cognitive as stored and completed ultimately is acquisition language While 146 Retrived from (http://serendip. The Simultaneous Bilingual Child... 147 of the child’s life. All kids have a need and a desire to communicate when language are positive and meaningful. (Retrieved 2006) Articles/Rosenberg-Bilingual.html, from http://iteslj.org/ language as easily as the mother’s. as language as easily other family members, the school, the community and especially the child, will affect one or both of the languages. the Both languages must be development or given importance and a sense of worth in all aspects second language. development. For example, different if language than the but mother, frequent the trips father speaks take him a away from home, the child will not learn his second language community for the retaining a child the of chances the increase will time longer period of • Attitudes toward each language expressed by the parents, parents, the by expressed language each toward Attitudes • • Relationships within the family affect bilingual language bilingual affect family the within Relationships • • Stability and mobility. A family that remains in the Individual Individual differences in acquisition are heavily Each child learns language at his or her own speed. This is depends crucially on vocabulary knowledge. The more words learn to speak only when they hear people talk to stages in the early Language development circumstances. them different in many and comprehension depend upon how parents and teachers spoke to them. (Retrieved from http://www-news.uchicago.edu) Children speak. to learning in role important an plays environment The influenced by the language environment a child experiences. In a out found Harms, by cited (2002), Huttenlocher by published paper four-year-olds’ and three- among differences dramatic a that language learners. such as: of factors a variety to related acquire acquire the syntactic structures Interaction of with other full speakers of grammatical the language sentences. seems crucial role in to the acquisition of play syntactic and lexical structures a by in language acquisition. by The of provided “scaffolding” children these help might children with conversation their in adults between between children and caretakers seems to play an important role Rivero... C. Implicationto LanguageandCognitive Development better their chancesofdoingwell inschool.(DeHouwer,the 1999) and speak to learn will they better the know, children teachers, siblings,orapeer. shared parents, as through such else, learns someone with child experiences solving the problem where process, dialectical a of 2001) think.(Kristindottir, to how and think to what to, means the with children the provides culture Therefore, culture. surrounding the from adaptation intellectual of tools or thinking their of means or their of much thinking (knowledge) acquire from Second, it. children acquire the process children First, development. intellectual of than rather communities, human individuals. development of intellectual function The a is words. children of of means by child the to transmitted are thought of modes advanced because think to how learn will child the how determining for tool crucial a is language will think (Schutz, 2004). In this process of cognitive development, history are crucial determinants of the way in which that individual personal child’s the and reared is child the which in the of culture in which the individual grows up. Consequently, the history the of social the in practiced activities the of products of and skills, thinking are not primarily determined by innate cognitive factors, but are the is, That development. historical socio- of products the form and history social of matrix a in shape phenomenon. (Hakuta, 1990) cognitive on processes depending on attitudes society’s and effectsactions towards the to profound have according can so bilingualism theory, mediation, this linguistic through shaping social of process a as it viewing processes, thought guiding in language of importance the emphasized Vygotsky S. Lev activity.cognitive of part central a is language that assumption the on based is ability The claim that bilingualism would have any effect on cognitive on effect any have would bilingualism that claim The Society providesSociety interactionthe plays that rolesfundamental in result a as developments Moreover,cognitive viewedVygotsky child’s the to contributions of sorts two makes Culture Vygotsky cognitivebelievedfundamental all that activities take 148 The Simultaneous Bilingual Child... 149 Simultaneous acquisition of two languages in young children Simultaneous bilingualism is learning two languages at once. The once. at languages two learning is bilingualism Simultaneous The study attempted to explicate how a child who grows up in According to Vygotsky, an essential According feature of to Vygotsky, learning is that it Interactions Interactions can take many forms, Vygotsky stresses language has three stages: the first stage, the child has two separate lexical children take to learn one. to take children “native bilinguals” much monolingual like suggest that “native behave they children. They manage to learn two language systems in about the same time and to about the same degree of skill as monolingual communication skills of children learning two or more languages from birth typically develop in the same way as children learning only one language. Studies of the language development of such bilingualism to language and cognitive development? language and cognitive bilingualism to the conclusions; (1) How does a bilingual child acquire languages?, (2) What are the factors affecting the bilingual child’s acquisition of languages?, and (3) What is the implication of simultaneous a bilingual environment simultaneously acquires languages. The following questions guided the researcher in drawing answers for Conclusion to to operate only when the child is in the action of interacting with with his peers. and in cooperation people in his environment help as his or her primary tool of intellectual transformation. transformation. of intellectual primary tool help as his or her able are that processes developmental internal of variety a awakens dialogue. It is primarily through their speech that adults assumed to to assumed adults that speech their through primarily is It dialogue. transmit to children the rich body of knowledge that exists in their culture. As learning processes, the child’s own language comes to children grow into the intellectual life of those around them. of those around life the intellectual into grow children concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals. (Rozycki & Goldfarb, 2000) which Human by process learning a of part is and nature social special a presupposes on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the This child applies (intrapsychological). equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of as rooted in social interaction. “Every function in the child’s cultural cultural child’s the in function “Every interaction. social in rooted as developmental appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, the development of cognition. Vygotsky saw cognitive development development cognitive saw Vygotsky cognition. of development the Rivero... to both languages first, the simpler constructions before the more the before constructions simpler the first, languages both to common structures learns child The both. to rules syntactic same the applies lexiconsbut twodistinct has child the stage, second the functionally in or contexts different different ways and phonological differentiation is also occurring. In in use to able systems are language they that different two have actually children systems; help ashisorherprimary tool ofintellectual transformation. to comes language own child’s the processes, learning As culture. to transmit to children the rich body of knowledge that exists in their interaction. It is primarily through their speech that adults social assumed in rooted is plays development cognitive that posited that apparently interaction the provides fundamental roles in the development of cognition which Vygotsky, Society phenomenon. towards actions the and attitudes society’s on depending processes language development is alsonurtured by talkwithotherchildren. what therefore Moreover,children’swell. and so about talking world-be to likely is child’s child the the know they because also but relationship affective powerful a of because only not children environment, andpersonality. language subsequent time, motivation,opportunity,as such factors other on relies acquisition over mainly relies development acquisition neurological language on initial language children’s While interaction the verbal on development. effect expressive specific of a has amount caregivers with The development children. language the the on of impact large a language the has of environment quality The acquired. is it which affect by greatly process the factors environmental and emotional brain, the in seven. becomes child truly The bilingual and can manage two separate languages language at about age each from structures syntactic and correctlychild producesthe third stage, the in and complex; iigaim a hv poon efcs n cognitive on effects profound have can Bilingualism young for partners conversational superb are members Family stored and completed ultimately is acquisition language While 150

lexical The Simultaneous Bilingual Child...

- - - - by Bilin by Vol.18, Issue Vol.18, Retrieved Retrieved New York: Mac New York: UK: Longdunn Press, Press, Longdunn UK: . Available: [On-line] Philadelphia:, 1988. . Retrieved from: psychnet.apa.org, psychnet.apa.org, from: . Retrieved Avaialble: [On-line] http:// www.CAL- . Available: [Online] http://iteslj.org/Ar [Online] Available: . 151 Bibliography The Educational Theory Vygotsky of Lev Semenovich The Educational The Acquisition and Development of Language and Development The Acquisition (2nd ed.) London: Blackwell, 1995. (2nd ed.) London: Blackwell, Two or More Languages in Early Childhood: Some General Points Points General Some Childhood: in Early Languages More or Two The Cognitive Advantages of Balanced Bilingualism. Balanced of Advantages The Cognitive Raising Bilingual Children Bilingual Raising Effect of Quality Day Care Environment on Children’s Language De Language on Children’s Environment Effect of Quality Care Day Bilingual Children: From Birth to Teens. Birth to From Bilingual Children: Language Development An Introduction 4th 4th Edition. Introduction An Development Language Bilingualism Language and Cognition in Bilingual Children and Cognition Language Early Bilingual Development. Journals of Language. Child Early Bilingual Education in Wales: Multilingual Matters. Matters. Multilingual in Wales: Education Bilingual (1896-1934) Retrieved from: http://www.newfoundations.com, 2000. http://www.newfoundations.com, from: (1896-1934) Retrieved Journal of Child Language, 1978. gual Children. millan Publishing Company, 1996. millan Publishing Company, 1996. ticles/Rosenberg-Bilingual.html, edu, 2002. Psychology velopment. Developmental 1984. 1983. & Hearing Research, Journal of Speech, Langauge, 2-years-old. 1, pp.161-179. Cambridge University Press, 1989. Press, University 1, pp.161-179. Cambridge 1990. http://faculty.ucmerced.edu/khakuta/research/publications.pdf, [On-line] http://www-news.uchicago. Available: language development. 1993. 2000. http://www.branconnection.com/topics, from: Recommendations. and Practical digest.com, 1999. Rozycki, E. G & Goldfarb, M.F. M.F. Goldfarb, & G E. Rozycki, T. Taeschner, & V. Volterra, Saunders, G. S. Romaine, M. Rosenberg, Owens, Owens, R.E. Oller, D.K. Oller, & Eilers, R.E. Speech Identification in Spanish- and English Learning Mc Cartney. K. Mc Cartney. Hakuta, Hakuta, K. Harms, W. Research shows teacher and parent conversation important in child Genesee, F. F. Genesee, Chipongian, L. Chipongian, De A. Houwer, Baker, C. C. Baker,