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Д
А Г О Г И Ч Е С К И Е
НАУКИ
F. N. Yozilova
PROPERTIES INHERENT IN BILINGUAL CHILDREN
This particular article discusses some effects of bilingualism on young children's language development. As it has become highly common to many families around the world to raise a bilingual child, sometimes by choice, sometimes by circumstances, there might indeed be advantageous and disadvantageous sides of raising a child to be bilingual. In other words, along with benefits that bilingual children stand out among their monolingual peers, challenges that a child in a bilingual atmosphere is bound to come across, ought to be taken into account.
Keywords: bilingualism, language acquisition, simultaneous acquisition, sequential bilingualism, language development, monolingual peers, bilingual proficiency, code-mixing, dominant language.
In our modern age, speaking more than one language has become an asset which offers much better future prospects both in personal and professional lives of people. Thus, more and more people are not only learning themselves but, at the same time, are exposing their children to 2 or more languages from birth. Though the process of language acquisition can vary according to ways of becoming bilingual: through simultaneous or sequential acquisition at the early stage of language development [1; 2].
I assume, with the latter one, language learning process becomes slightly easier for a child who has already gained some perception of a language and is able to picture notions in his mind. Those previously developed notions in L1 are easier to be comprehended and compared to the target second language exposed to the child at a later stage of childhood.
Upsides of Bilingualism:
1. More sources to gain knowledge from
Throughout a period of time there have been many scholars who have carried out different researches on bilingualism and its advantages on children. Kathleen M. Marcos, for instance, was convinced that bilingualism
© Yozilova F. N., 2021.
Djumabayeva J.Sh.-Scientific supervisor: Assoc. Professor
enables children, who are exposed to two languages and eventually become fluent at both of them, to benefit from more data gained via people and resources available around them [2;1].
Indeed, that is highly natural for people who speak more than one language to have more opportunities to meet and communicate with more people from different nationalities, backgrounds and countries, especially while travelling to different corners of the globe.
On top of that, understanding various languages can easily open so many doors into the world of literature written in various languages, which is, to my mind, would be just an indulgence for oneself who is a monolingual.
2. Learning English for bigger opportunities in professional life
Furthermore, speaking of my countrymen most of whom are fluent in Uzbek and Russian as a second language are by far more successful at lending better jobs in comparison with solely Uzbek-speaking monolin-guals. Without going far, in the new Republic of Uzbekistan since recently it's been number one requirement to be fluent in English if one is willing to get a prestigious job in well-known companies and organizations. Internet is another reason why many monolinguals of my motherland are eagerly learning English. As it is well-known, these days nearly 80-90% of fresh and up-to-date information is posted in English and English has already become the major world language of business and communication. Hence, an army of individuals world-wide are becoming bilinguals for better and bigger opportunities.
3. More creativity and academic success
Having a good command in two languages contributes to cognitive development as well. To be more specific, according to some group of scholars, bilingual children effortlessly exceed on the academic side, doing better in tests that both require and do not require using the language. Also, youngsters with the ability to speak in two languages are likely to be more skilled to create new ways to deal with issues and better problem solvers regardless of their level of difficulty [3;1].
To my view of thinking, this is because the child who has already started experiencing not only one challenge of learning his mother tongue, but also, given an extra challenge of acquiring the second language, has boosted stronger will power and persistence. For bilingual children of this kind, learning an extra language and being already ahead of their monolingual peers is already one solved problem. Thereby, some other tasks do not seem to intimidate them at school.
Downsides of Bilingualism:
1. Code-mixing and not being fluent at one language at a time
More often than not, bilingual children, when expressing themselves, mix words from both spoken-by-them languages within a sentence. Many researchers consider this phenomenon to be natural and call it "a sign of bilingual proficiency" [1;5], [8;2].
I agree that bilinguals mix words for fun with their other bilingual peers who will definitely comprehend each other anyways. However, this is not the case all the time. Code-mixing or hybridization of languages in a single sentence may not always prove that bilingual children code-mix on purpose. In many cases, bilingual children lack vocabulary in one of the languages to carry on the conversation in the language they started speaking, thus they continue their unfinished speech or sentence mixing words from the second language. Or in some situations, even if there are plenty of words in their lexicon, all of those words are not well-activated, not used as frequently as those of monolinguals.
However, there are a group of other scholars who admit the contribution of the modeling hypothesis to the bilingual children's verbal output. To be more precise, bilingual children output mixed speech as much as they input mixed speech [9;1].
I would compare young children's brain to a sponge which is to absorb any kind of knowledge introduced around. Language input of any kind sets an example for them to shape up their own language skills. Thus, if people around them including friends, parents who speak two different languages and mix sometimes, serve as the main "role models" to follow and imitate.
2. Even is a bilingual, there is always a "dominant language"1
Lauren Lowry Hanen in her research about bilingual children's linguistics aptitude brings about data which has been previously developed in works of scholars from Toronto and Ontario, who were convinced that bilinguals speak one language better than the other. Rarely one is capable of coming across a bilingual who uses both languages equally proficiently [1;4], [11].
How proficient bilinguals become at their languages is usually dependent on the environment the bilingual lives in, such as his family members, friends, neighbours, schoolmates always use the two languages which serves as input. On top of that, as another greater command of a language is boosted through reading which may be practiced at school. In any case,
1"the dominant language" is a language of greater proficiency in bilinguals.
In most cases, there is a "dominant language" with a language acquired less proficiently [10; 227-252]. "Dominant language" is usually shaped through more frequent and bigger exposure to one of the languages. However, "dominant language" might not dominate throughout the lifetime. That is to say, bilingual's "dominant language" can be impacted by a range of factors such us how old he is, what he has been educated at, what his profession is, in what circumstances he is now and, finally, who he is surrounded by [1; 4], [11].
In my perception, this seems to be natural. Being a fluent user of a certain language for a person who speaks more languages than only one may not be permanent and it does not have to be so. Language speaking skills might be or may not be as active as we, human beings want it to be all the time. However, it is present in the bilingual's or multilingual's unconscious mind in the passive and inactivated part of the memory. As long as a bilingual/multilingual feels to activate that unconscious part of his/her language abilities, it gradually recovers through communication in a short period of time.
All in all, bilingualism is a gift of using to languages that can open doors to a world of endless opportunities to get to know as things as possible. Along with meeting more people from various cultures, travelling easily to different countries, bilingualism is double joy to reach to more sources of knowledge through internet, books and media. However, the "bilingual journey" is not as smooth as one would wish. As every coin has two sides, bilingualism has its own challenges, if one is ready to face bravely, it will pay off at the end of the day.
The list of used literature
1. Bilingualism in Young Children: Separating Fact from Fiction By Lauren Lowry Hanen Certified Speech-Language Pathologist, 2016
2. Benefits of Being Bilingual Second Language Learning: Everyone Can Benefit Kathleen M. Marcos*, 1998
3. Bruck, Lambert, and Tucker, 1974; Hakuta, 1986; Weatherford, 1986).
4. Paradis, J., Genesee, F., & Crago, M. (2011). Dual Language Development and Disorders: A handbook on bilingualism & second language learning. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.
5. Meisel, J. (2004). The Bilingual Child. In T. Bhatia & W. Ritchie (Eds.), The Handbook of Bilingualism. pp 91113. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
6. Genesee, F., & Nicoladis, E. (2006). Bilingual acquisition. In E. Hoff & M. Shatz (eds.), Handbook of Language Development. pp. 324-342. Oxford, Eng.: Blackwell.
7. Baker, C. & Prys Jones, S. (1998). The Encyclopedia of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education. Toronto, Ontario: Multilingual Matters Inc.
8. Two or More Languages in Early Childhood Some General Points and Practical Recommendations ANNICK DE HOUWER, UNIVERSITY OF ANTWERP AND SCIENCE FOUNDATION OF FLANDERS, BELGIUM, 1999 july
9. the Modeling Hypothesis and child bilingual codemixing" by Liane Comeau, fred Genesee, and Lindsay Lapaquette McGill University 2012 november
10. Paradis, J. (2010). The interface between bilingual development and specific language impairment. Applied Psy-cholinguistics, 31, 227-252.
11. Baker, C. & Prys Jones, S. (1998). The Encyclopedia of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education. Toronto, Ontario: Multilingual Matters Inc.
YOZILOVA FERUZA NURMAMATQIZI- 2nd year Master's degree student, Faculty of Foreign Philoogy
