Around 55 million of the American population is bilingual. Multiple languages are spoken together with the English language at home or the workplace. Bilingualism is not only common in America but in all parts of the world. About 35 percent of Canada's population is bilingual. With kids growing up in a home were more than one language is spoken, some may ask how this may affect them, but study proves that bilingual children have several advantages over monolingual classmates.
Research found that multilingual children have edge over kids who speak only one language on several aspects of learning such as communication, cognition and social interaction. According to Dr. Dora Alexopoulou, researcher from the Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics at University of Cambridge, "Studies show that a bilingual child is better able to cope with tasks that involve attention, memory and concentration. The mental gymnastics needed to constantly manage two or more linguistic systems increases cognitive flexibility and makes learning easier."
Social skills are the well-established advantage of speaking more than one language. Bilingual children associate themselves and communicate with several people belonging to different places, having distinct nationalities and cultures. Hence, they develop expertise in dealing with diverse society. Multilingual kids also develop communication or linguistic skills. Since they speak two or more languages, their ability to communicate and the mastery of the various languages are enhanced. Bilingual children have greater understanding of the meaning and construction of phrases or sentences which varies on different places compared to monolingual kids.
The capacity to comprehend data and give reasoning, known as cognitive skill is also an asset of bilingual children. Effects of Bilingualism on Cognitive Abilities, a study led by Ron Crosby and Randy Prescod shows that bilingual children have dominance on mental skills and flexibility. Multilingual children have divergent cognitive skills compared to the monolinguals. Based on the study conducted, Bilingual kids brought distinguished problem solving skills that most monolingual children do not possess.
Researches, having shown the benefits of bilingualism, encouraged parents and school administrators to eliminate the misconception that knowing one or more languages may hinder children from excelling at school and in other circumstances. "There's a huge body of research on bilingualism, much of which is quite technical, We hope to raise awareness of the benefits of bilingualism among stakeholder groups by creating access to this state-of-the-art research and by facilitating contact between the community and our network of specialists at the University," Dr. Napoleon Katsos of Cambridge University stated.
