Discuss about the Childrens Dual Language.
Dual language in children is a concept that refers to the process of teaching children to communicate in two languages or more. In the child’s early life usually between one and three years, the child’s ability to learn can be compared to that of an adult because it is at this stage that they begin developing approaches to learning language among other domains. Research has found out that a good number of children speak other languages other than English at home. For the purposes of second language acquisition, researchers have stated that learning of the first language is quite critical. This because if a child is not is not dexterous in their first language, this is likely to affect their ability to learn a second language (Najafi, 2011).
(Hammer et al., 2014) while studying bilingualism in children found out that economic status of the child’s family plays a great role in their ability to learn two languages. He found out that Children from low income background who join kindergarten with no skills to communicate in English are unlikely to catch up with their counter parts from well of families.
Research conducted by different researchers has considersdered different factors in their research on dual language development in children (Hammer et al., 2014) found out that a number of factors play a role in assessing a child’s dual language ability. They considered child’s mastery of their first language vocabulary, Child’s mastery of their second language, as well as the child’s mastery and ability to communicate in both languages.
Acquisition of a second language at an early age is often referred to as early bilingualism. It is the opposite of late bilingualism which is the acquisition of a second language at a late age. Of great consideration is the context in which the child’s acquires their second language. Here researchers have analyzed how different children acquire their second language by considering secondary or primary bilingualism. Primary bilingualism refers to the act of acquiring a second language through interaction with the people around you. This is particularly happens inform of unstructured communication among the people around the child. On the other hand secondary bilingualism happens in a formal context. This is whereby a child is specifically taught in order to acquire a second language. So researchers will take into consideration whether the child acquired the second language naturally or whether they were taught.
Regarding the proficiency of a bilingual child, researchers have considered Receptive and Productive ability of the child. The difference between these two is the understanding and producing of the two languages. Receptive bilingualism means that a child can understand both languages but they are not able to produce the two languages on their own. On the other hand, productive ability refers to the ability of the child to understand and communicate in both languages. By putting these into consideration, the researcher is able to classify the child accordingly according to their level of competence.
Researchers have also considered children from the new and the old communities. In this context, old communities in particularly country reefers to the people who have originated from the country, while on the other hand, new communities refer to the immigrants into a particular country. Dual language development abilities of these two communities are likely to be different. .immigrants may shift to their new countries without completely taking over the
Grammatical system that exists in the grammar of native speakers (Collins, 2014)
Regarding the child’s proficiency, they evaluated each bilingual child individually on the child’s ability to express their ideas feelings, thoughts and wishes in both languages. They then rated the child’s proficiency level on a linear scale. They conducted their research mostly through observation of the sample population within different contexts. They did their research within the home settings of the children m, within the larger societal setting as well as within the formal school settings. The Research involved sampling children from different economic backgrounds and gender.
After conducting thorough research, different researchers have come up with a wide range of findings. (Pena & Halle, 2011) found out that children of the new bilingual type had had a grammatical gender loss as compared to the monolingual ones. Researchers have also found out that bilingualism in children brings a lot of advantages to these children as compared to their counterparts who have mastery of only one language. In particular, they have indentified bilingual students as having the ability of being more creative, possessing sharp problem solving skills and being able to observe tolerance towards different kinds of people. This was however, was the opposite with children who can speak only one language.
Other researchers have found out that, both bilingual and monolingual and bilingual children display similar patterns in language acquisition despite the fact that bilingual children are not so much exposed to the two languages as are the monolingual children within the same setting.
Researchers have also disputed the notion that a child cannot adequately learn two languages at the same time. Some people have always been of the opinion that a child is not in the capacity of learning two languages simultaneously without getting mixed up as to which words belong to which language, however, it has been argued that so long as people interacting with the child in a social context are using the two languages each at a particular time, the child will automatically learn the appropriate way of using each language within the course of time and be able to communicate effectively,.
Parents also play an integral role in the children’s acquisition of more than one language. Precisely, if parents speak to their children using the two languages at different times, they are likely to make them acquire vocabularies in both languages. On the other hand, the language community has also been identified as playing a role in a child’s dual language development. In this case, if they support the use of all the languages this is likely to have a positive impact on a child’s multilingual capacity while on the other hand if one of the two languages is preferred by the wider community this is likely to hinder the child’s dual language development.
Additionally watching television in the second language has been identified as factor that has promoted the ability of children to become multilingual. However, this has been associated with deterioration of the child’s use of the first language.
Based on research by different researchers, a number of lessons can be drowning from their findings in order to promote positive dual language development in children. The first suggestion is that parents and early childhood development should use the two languages appropriately. They are supposed to use each of the languages separately without mixing the two in single conversation .This is likely to enable the children make a distinction between the vocabularies that exist in each of the languages.
Parents should also not discourage Dual language development in their children on the notion that it is likely to make them confused. Although this is not true, it could hinder the child’s ability to lean a second language.
This can also be achieved through engaging in communications with the children using the two languages. Parents can develop the culture of maintaining a communication flow between them and their children using different languages. This will not only encourage them to keep talking, but it will also make them acquire mastery of the languages.
(Tabors, 2008) argued that teachers are tasked with the responsibility of introducing new and interesting words in all the classroom activity to enable learning. Childhood educators should therefore ensure that they break the classroom monotony which will speed up the learning process and ease the understanding of the use and meaning of the words. The children should also be allowed to interact with other children as well as adults to improve on their mastery of language.
Conclusion
In conclusion dual language capacity is quite important especially in the current times where knowing many languages has become the norm. It’s clear that Researchers dealing with dual language development in children have those factors that they consider in their research. Such research should be objective and represent the wider picture. Parents, the society and childhood educators have roles to play in as far as promoting of dual language in children is concerned .Thy should therefore ensure that that play their roles sufficiently so that they can enhance learning among these children.
References:
Najafi, B. (2011). Supporting Positive Language and Literacy Outcomes for Young Dual Language Learners: Introduction. Child Development Perspectives, 5(1), 1-3. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-8606.2010.00139.x
Tabors, P. (2008). One child, two languages. Baltimore, Md.: Paul H. Brookes Pub. Co.
Collins, B. (2014). Dual language development of Latino children: Effect of instructional program type and the home and school language environment. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29(3), 389-397. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2014.04.009
Hammer, C., Hoff, E., Uchikoshi, Y., Gillanders, C., Castro, D., & Sandilos, L. (2014). The language and literacy development of young dual language learners: A critical review. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29(4), 715-733. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2014.05.008
Peña, E. & Halle, T. (2011). Assessing Preschool Dual Language Learners: Traveling a Multiforked Road. Child Development Perspectives, 5(1), 28-32. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-8606.2010.00143.x
Hachar, S. (2014). Dual Language: A Study on Teachers’ and Administrators’ Perceptions of Dual Language Effectiveness: Pre-K through Third Grade in Spain. Journal Of Education And Human Development, 3(4). https://dx.doi.org/10.15640/jehd.v3n4a8
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