Parents used to believe that introducing a second language to a young child would result in language confusion, speech delay, and/or reading or writing problems in school.
But researchers have found a different – and surprising – result of what bilingualism does for children.
Bilingual Children Have Better Attention Spans
According to a five-year study of bilingual children at the Cornell Language Acquisition Lab (CLAL), learning a second language does not have any negative effects on a child's cognitive abilities.
To the contrary, researchers found that the children were actually more attentive in the face of distraction when compared to children who could only speak one language.
According to Barbara Lust, a developmental psychology and linguistics expert, that’s an important finding because the ability to focus and pay attention is a key role in academic readiness and success at school. Lust, and her collaborator on the research project, Sujin Yang, a former postdoctoral research associate at the lab, have published their findings in several academic journals.
Lang has been studying language acquisition in young children for over 30 years across more than 20 different languages and cultures. Children, she said, can naturally acquire more than one language at once – and do so most quickly if immersed in the languages.
Other Advantages to Being Bilingual
In addition to the strengthened cognitive advantages of being bilingual, Lang says there are other benefits for bilingual children.
- Social benefits. A child can access other cultures and world in ways that those who only speak one language cannot.
- Native-like proficiency. Early exposure and learning of a second language is the best outcome in terms of whether the child will have a heavy accent speaking the second language.
Tips on Teaching a Child a Second Language
Lang suggests the following tips for parents who may want their child to learn a second language early in life.
- Immerse the child in the second language as early as birth.
- Provide opportunities for the child to hear the language spoken in other settings besides the home, including interactions with peers who speak the second language.
- There's no need to focus on “teaching” the child a new language. Kids will learn spontaneously if the they hear the language on a daily basis.
- Read and tell stories to children in the second language; provide fun activities in both languages.
- Speak and promote both languages in your everyday life with the child.
Remember, studies show that language confusion does not happen and children will naturally sort out the languages by themselves.
For more information on this research on bilingual children visit:
Benefits of Child Learning a Second Language
Discovering Child Language and Cognitive Growth.
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