Bilingualism Paper
Bilingualism Paper
ENG/380
10-8-10
Simultaneous bilingualism describes a situation in which a child learns more than one language from birth, meaning they are spoken to in both languages on a regular basis. If this occurs throughout the final stages of language development, the child will be able to fluently speak and understand both languages; both languages are considered the child’s first speaking language. On the other hand, sequential bilingualism occurs when a second language is not learned as a native language but taught as a foreign language instead (Rowe, B. M., & Levine, D. P., 2006). This could occur in an immigrant family, for example, perhaps the parents do not speak the native tongue of the community, so the children learn it from the schools, while the parents continue to speak their native language to the children at home.
Those that grow up being spoken to in more than one language on a regular basis, simultaneous bilingualism, can be fluent in both languages. A common argument against what some believe about simultaneous bilingualism is that there even if the person is fluent in both languages, there will still always be a ‘dominant’ language. This could derive from speaking one of the languages more often than the other or eventually using one of the languages primarily. The barrier creating a more dominant language could also derive from the fact that there are few in the community who speak one of the languages or that one of the languages simply is not socially dominant, therefore there is avoidance to using that language (Rowe, B. M., & Levine, D. P., 2006). Some also claim there are pressures to make a choice about which language a person uses as their dominant language.
Despite this, studies have shown that there is no guarantee that one who is simultaneous bilingual will end up having more efficient cross-linguistic ability than one who is sequential bilingual. Opinions fluctuate on this due to the fact that the sequential
ENG/380
10-8-10
Simultaneous bilingualism describes a situation in which a child learns more than one language from birth, meaning they are spoken to in both languages on a regular basis. If this occurs throughout the final stages of language development, the child will be able to fluently speak and understand both languages; both languages are considered the child’s first speaking language. On the other hand, sequential bilingualism occurs when a second language is not learned as a native language but taught as a foreign language instead (Rowe, B. M., & Levine, D. P., 2006). This could occur in an immigrant family, for example, perhaps the parents do not speak the native tongue of the community, so the children learn it from the schools, while the parents continue to speak their native language to the children at home.
Those that grow up being spoken to in more than one language on a regular basis, simultaneous bilingualism, can be fluent in both languages. A common argument against what some believe about simultaneous bilingualism is that there even if the person is fluent in both languages, there will still always be a ‘dominant’ language. This could derive from speaking one of the languages more often than the other or eventually using one of the languages primarily. The barrier creating a more dominant language could also derive from the fact that there are few in the community who speak one of the languages or that one of the languages simply is not socially dominant, therefore there is avoidance to using that language (Rowe, B. M., & Levine, D. P., 2006). Some also claim there are pressures to make a choice about which language a person uses as their dominant language.
Despite this, studies have shown that there is no guarantee that one who is simultaneous bilingual will end up having more efficient cross-linguistic ability than one who is sequential bilingual. Opinions fluctuate on this due to the fact that the sequential
Cited: Rowe, B. M., & Levine, D. P. (2006). A concise introduction to linguistics (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.