Title of the article: Debunking common myths about raising bilingual children
Even with the majority of children in the world being raised with two or more languages
(4), there are still certain longstanding misconceptions surrounding the effects of
bilingualism. The article provides insights on why some of these claims do not hold water;
the misconceptions give rise to concerns which seem to be rooted in the idea that
children raised as bilinguals would face developmental issues (linguistic and
cognitive).The article debunks three myths regarding bilingualism that are concerned with
delay in general development (in fact, there seems to be some cognitive advantages), the
existence of a linguistic lag compared to monolinguals and confusion between the two
input languages (citing babies being able to babble differently according to who they are
interacting with to refute this claim). The writer also provides some important pointers for
parents, all of which calls for them to be encouraging, involved in exposing their children
to both languages and to not be too concerned with unbalanced bilingualism. The article
takes on a “pro-bilingual” sentiment and assures parents that bilingualism would not bring
about any sort of detrimental effects to their children’s development.
The piece, however, seems to be constrained to bilingualism in typically developing (TD)
children. One related research issue worth looking into is bilingualism with regards to
children with neurodevelopmental disorders, which can range from Specific Language
Issues (SLI) to Autism (ASD). It is often assumed that these children should be raised as
monolinguals to avoid overload and confusion in addition to their pre-existing disorders
(2); these seem to be intensified versions of the misconceptions of bilingualism in TD
children. This is partly due to language specialists and educational professionals
encouraging parents of these children to use just one language in the home environment
and to enrol them in schools with monolingual programs (1). Neurodevelopmental
disorders implicate language related difficulties, meaning children with these disorders
would naturally manifest a lower competence in language abilities as compared to TD
children. However, a comparison like this would only present the effects of the disorder
on language competencies and not the effects of bilingualism on children with disorders.
The comparison has to be between bilingual and monolingual children with the same
developmental disorder. Since the myth of the monolingual brain has long been debunked
(1), I am inclined to say that it is very likely bilingualism in these children is possible
without any detrimental effects and that the myths on bilingualism addressed in the article
still stand as myths for children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Paradis et al. (2003) reports that bilingual SLI children around the age of 7 display the
same levels of language competency as monolingual SLI children (5). The same results
are reported for children with ASD and Down Syndrome (3). It has also been reported
that the majority of existing studies yield results which agree that bilingualism presents
has adverse effects on children with neurodevelopmental disorders (2). However, not all
neurodevelopmental disorders receive the same amount of attention in research; there
are significantly fewer studies on Intellectual Disabilities and communication disorders
other than SLI (2). This is perhaps where future studies should place their focus on, to
address this imbalance in bilingual research within this sector that is concerned with
neurodevelopmental disorders.
Even with the majority of children in the world being raised with two or more languages
(4), there are still certain longstanding misconceptions surrounding the effects of
bilingualism. The article provides insights on why some of these claims do not hold water;
the misconceptions give rise to concerns which seem to be rooted in the idea that
children raised as bilinguals would face developmental issues (linguistic and
cognitive).The article debunks three myths regarding bilingualism that are concerned with
delay in general development (in fact, there seems to be some cognitive advantages), the
existence of a linguistic lag compared to monolinguals and confusion between the two
input languages (citing babies being able to babble differently according to who they are
interacting with to refute this claim). The writer also provides some important pointers for
parents, all of which calls for them to be encouraging, involved in exposing their children
to both languages and to not be too concerned with unbalanced bilingualism. The article
takes on a “pro-bilingual” sentiment and assures parents that bilingualism would not bring
about any sort of detrimental effects to their children’s development.
The piece, however, seems to be constrained to bilingualism in typically developing (TD)
children. One related research issue worth looking into is bilingualism with regards to
children with neurodevelopmental disorders, which can range from Specific Language
Issues (SLI) to Autism (ASD). It is often assumed that these children should be raised as
monolinguals to avoid overload and confusion in addition to their pre-existing disorders
(2); these seem to be intensified versions of the misconceptions of bilingualism in TD
children. This is partly due to language specialists and educational professionals
encouraging parents of these children to use just one language in the home environment
and to enrol them in schools with monolingual programs (1). Neurodevelopmental
disorders implicate language related difficulties, meaning children with these disorders
would naturally manifest a lower competence in language abilities as compared to TD
children. However, a comparison like this would only present the effects of the disorder
on language competencies and not the effects of bilingualism on children with disorders.
The comparison has to be between bilingual and monolingual children with the same
developmental disorder. Since the myth of the monolingual brain has long been debunked
(1), I am inclined to say that it is very likely bilingualism in these children is possible
without any detrimental effects and that the myths on bilingualism addressed in the article
still stand as myths for children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Paradis et al. (2003) reports that bilingual SLI children around the age of 7 display the
same levels of language competency as monolingual SLI children (5). The same results
are reported for children with ASD and Down Syndrome (3). It has also been reported
that the majority of existing studies yield results which agree that bilingualism presents
has adverse effects on children with neurodevelopmental disorders (2). However, not all
neurodevelopmental disorders receive the same amount of attention in research; there
are significantly fewer studies on Intellectual Disabilities and communication disorders
other than SLI (2). This is perhaps where future studies should place their focus on, to
address this imbalance in bilingual research within this sector that is concerned with
neurodevelopmental disorders.
