Simultaneous Bilingual Language Acquisition

3745 Words8 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Language acquisition

Rationale and Strategy

I originally grew up in a small town and wasn't exposed to different cultures like I am now in the city. I became fascinated with different languages and how amazing it is that children are capable of learning multiple languages at one time. To fulfill the requirements of a class here at State University, I spent two weeks assistant teaching at a bilingual elementary school. I greatly enjoyed this experience and returned home to become a nanny for a family near by my home that are raising their children to be bilingual with the help of the mother who is fluent in Spanish as well as English. While taking care of these children, I experienced language barriers and was faced with an amazing opportunity to witness children learning two languages first hand. I plan to discover the advantages or disadvantages of children being bilingual at a young age. I would like to investigate which language they are more fluent in and their strategies for increasing vocabulary in both languages. I would like to discover the techniques that they are using for increasing their Spanish vocabulary in addition to their English vocabulary.

My strategy for this investigation is to spend time with the family and observe them. I plan to note the toys or other strategies that the family uses to increase the fluency of both languages for their children. I will interview the parents as well as two of the three children since the other child is still an infant. I will observe the children playing and see which language they typically communicate with each other to and how they speak to their parents. I will do research on bilingual children and their language development in order to learn more information and provide the parents with s...

... middle of paper ...

...abulary Development." International Journal of Bilingualism 6.4 (2012): 541-565. Print.

MacLeod, Andrea, Leah Fabiano-Smith, Sarah Boegner-Page, and Salome Fontolliet. "Simultaneous bilingual language acquisition: The role of parental input on receptive vocabulary development." Child Language Teaching and Therapy 29.1 (2012): 131-142. Print.

Patterson, Janet. "What Bilingual Toddlers Hear and Say: Language Input and Word Combinations." Communication Disorders Quarterly 21.1 (1999): 32-38. Print.

Restrepo, M. A., A. P. Castilla, P. J. Schwanenflugel, S. Neuharth-Pritchett, C. E. Hamilton, and A. Arboleda. "Effects Of A Supplemental Spanish Oral Language Program On Sentence Length, Complexity, And Grammaticality In Spanish-Speaking Children Attending English-Only Preschools." Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools 41.1 (2010): 3-13. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Bilingualism and Multiliteracies in Australia

    1325 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is important to maintain children’s home language as it may help them learn and understand a second language. Barratt-Pugh (2000) discusses the benefits of bilingualism and maintaining it through early childhood settings, also mentions the concerns families have for their children maintaining two languages through schooling. Research within the article states that children who speak more than one language will have a higher level of understanding literacy content, form, genre, as well as understand the differences and translating within both languages. This demonstrates a contrast of strengths and experiences with literacy (linguist...

    Read More

  • Essay On Being Bilingual

    1555 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... how to speak fluently in two languages is because they think it will confuse their child and mess them up with their first language, which is wrong. Children can benefit from being bilingual when it comes to schooling, because knowing more than one language can help that child figure things out easier and simpler than a monolingual would know how to do. Jobs also have a big effect on bilingual people, they can attract business, and many companies need people who are bilingual. Music is also factors because many people listen to it daily learn many things about themselves and who they are. People usually do not think music can be such an effect on people’s lives and their culture but it does and there is proof of it. Overall, teaching a child to be fluent in more than on language will have many positive effects on him/her and will benefit from them completely.

    Read More

  • Why I Am Proud To Be Bilingual

    618 Words  | 2 Pages

    I feel that although it was a difficult move, I am happy that my parents decided to move me to a Bilingual Program. Now, I could ask my teachers questions in Spanish about the words or things I didn’t understand. This helped me get more knowledge in English and to have a better vocabulary. I am proud to be bilingual for many reasons. However, in this paper, I will only explain three of the reasons.

    Read More

  • Bilingualism And Bilingual Values, By Maria De La Luz Reyes

    1197 Words  | 3 Pages

    The technique relies on a holistic approach that adopts instructions that allow students to actively participate in the learning process. This is easier for children that feel that the society appreciates their diversity through bilingualism and biliteracy. The society and parents need to encourage children to take up bilingual classes because they offer a lot of benefit to the society through favoring critical thinking, rationality, and sensitivity to other cultures, empathy, and detached or balanced awareness. However, Sonia Nieto mirrors a society that is made to fake being American and become ashamed of their family. It helps appreciate that it is not by choice that anyone speaks any other language as the first language and that the society and community influence the language of choice. Therefore, bilingualism cannot be detached from any community that freely promotes and accommodate the language spoken by the other community. Children and community members learn each other’s language without disregarding each other favoring effective learning that influences bilingualism and biliteracy in the long

    Read More

  • Competency Statement C-11

    544 Words  | 2 Pages

    In my class, I have children who speak other languages at home, my goal is to include them and their language into our daily routine and this help teaches the other children to be open to the difference. I incorporate this into our classroom by hanging both language’s around our room, and go over the basic’s words during our group time for example, numbers, colors, shapes, basic sight words. The children’s whose first language maybe different will be excited to share with their friends what they know. I also find stories that are bilingual to use during our story time.

    Read More

  • Placing English Language Learners in Special Education

    1180 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kapantzoglou, M., Restrepo, M., & Thompson, M. S. (2012). Dynamic Assessment of Word Learning Skills: Identifying Language Impairment in Bilingual Children. Language, Speech & Hearing Services In Schools, 43(1), 81-96. doi:10.1044/0161-1461(2011/10-0095)

    Read More

  • English Language Learners

    1899 Words  | 4 Pages

    De Houwer, A. Two or more languages in early childhood: Some general points and practical recommendations (ERIC Digest). Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics. (1999)

    Read More

  • Bilingual Education

    1698 Words  | 4 Pages

    When visiting just about any school across America, students who attend come from all over the globe. This raises the question across America about bilingual education. This can create many challenges in and out of the classroom. The classroom should be a safe place for all students regardless of what native language they speak. In the essay Lost in translation written by Eva Hoffman, describes a foreign student who tries hard to fit in. Instead, Eva begins to feel angry, hurt and confused because people laugh at her. In Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education by Elizabeth R. Howard, Julie Sugarman, Donna Christian Center for Applied Linguistics Kathryn J. Lindholm-Leary San José State University David Rogers Dual Language Education of New Mexico. Guiding principles gives great ideas to educators to stop kids from making other students feel the way that Eva felt. After reading several articles about bilingual education, it is evident that all children in school should learn English but never lose their native language. When all the students speak one language, students will be less likely to make fun of each other. A good educator should learn enough foreign languages to aid them in effective communication in their classroom although; if an educator does not speak a foreign language, they should recruit within the classroom students to be peer mentors. However, a teacher should be willing to listen and encourage the students. Above all a good educator should be a good role model to their students by respecting their heritage and their language.

    Read More

  • Why Latinos Children Are Failing in Education?

    1330 Words  | 3 Pages

    According with Jean Piaget whose theory on child development has been a great influence in education; language development is the most important phase during the Preoperational stage of cognitive development. During this stage children develop and build up their knowledge and vocabulary by asking questions and expressing ideas through words, images and drawings. This stage is considerate to happen from two years of to seven years of age (Kendra Cherry). Language development has direct implications in the intellectual development of a child, and it is one of the main tools to develop our thinking process. We use words to store and access memories or other information. For Latinos children and especially recent arrivals whose language is Spanish entering to school where their primary language (Mother tongue) has no validation neither use may be traumatic and even hinder their future opportunities to succeed in a school system that is complete foreign in concept and in language. In order to integrate and create opportunities for the Latino students to succeed the in the educational system we must create programs that address the specific needs of the Latino community such as bilingual education where students learn to speak, read and write in their mother tongue language first.

    Read More

  • The Bilingual Model of Deaf Education

    2576 Words  | 6 Pages

    ...n language and the development of literacy. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 13(2), 175-186. doi: 10.1080/13670050903474085

    Read More

  • A Language Barrier

    1256 Words  | 3 Pages

    From my experience, bilingual education was a disadvantage during my childhood. At the age of twelve, I was introduced into a bilingual classroom for the first time. The crowded classroom was a combination of seventh and eighth grade Spanish-speaking students, who ranged from the ages of twelve to fifteen. The idea of bilingual education was to help students who weren’t fluent in the English language. The main focus of bilingual education was to teach English and, at the same time, teach a very basic knowledge of the core curriculum subjects: Mathematics, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences. Unfortunately, bilingual education had academic, psychological, and social disadvantages for me.

    Read More

  • The Pros and Cons of Bilingual Education in Malaysia.

    570 Words  | 2 Pages

    The development of the brain of a bilingual individual is better than a monolingual individual. Few years ago, researchers from the University of Washington (as cited in Klass, 2011, para 4.) found that the brains of bilingual infants (from families where two languages were spoken) are able to discriminate the different of the phonetic sound of the languages they usually heard when they grew up than monolingual infants in where their brains were adapted to only identify their mother tongue only. Dr. Patricia Kuhl, one of the members of this research team thus believe that bilingual education can shape infants’ brains and keep them ready for future challenges. Concurrently, a renowned psychologist, Dr. Ellen...

    Read More

  • Linguistic Diversity and Multilingualism

    997 Words  | 2 Pages

    Fillmore, Lily Wong. "When Learning a Second Language Means Losing the First." Early Childhood Research Quarterly 6.3 (1991): 323-46. Print.

    Read More

  • Essay On Importance Of Mother Tongue

    1290 Words  | 3 Pages

    Research also confirms that children learn best in their mother tongue as a prelude to and complement of bilingual and multilingual education. Whether children successfully retain their mother tongue while acquiring additional languages, depends on several interacting factors.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Multilingual Education

    1306 Words  | 3 Pages

    As time goes by and as the global community develops, the world grows more and more international, making second or third language acquisition become necessary to the majority. With the growing importance of multiple language ability, more and more parents think of bilingual or multilingual education, which means acquisitions of two or more languages, for their kids. In fact, we do have many reasons showing why multilingual education is important and beneficial, such as aspects of interpersonal relationship, employment, brain health, and so on.

    Read More

More about Simultaneous Bilingual Language Acquisition

Open Document