The first years of our lives are the most critical for our brain development. Research shows that this time period is when we develop a majority of our brain cells. This is when we learn what colors are what, how we differentiate humans from animals, everything, how we learn to speak, everything. Personally, I have been very interested in developmental research ever since I learned how “innocent” our brains really are in the beginnings of our life and much the people around us mold our brain into what they are today. When I was only three years old, my parents enrolled me in a school where it was mandatory to take Spanish all throughout my time there, which was from when I was three years old all the way up to when I was fourteen years old. I did not really appreciate that I started learning another language alongside English until very recently. I realized how much it structured my personality and how I was able to engulf myself in other cultures and really appreciate their language. Therefore, I fully support and believe that bilingual education is very important for a child’s or individual’s development throughout their life.
Introducing a language early on in a child’s life allows the language to grow as their brain grows. During the early years, our brain has a lot of neuroplasticity. In a study done by Dr. Berken, Dr. Gracco, and Dr. Klein of which focused on early bilingualism, they define neuroplasticity as the “neural configuration in response to environmental exigencies, whether triggered by the requirement for specific motor behaviors or cognitive skills” (2017). Or in layman terms, neuroplasticity is the “squishy-ness” of the brain and how well it can attain information received. This is just another factor that accentuate why introducing new information, specifically a new language, at such a young age is so beneficial.
The recognition of a language has been found to initiate within the womb; this has been proven because babies are shown to prefer their mother’s voice over others since that is what the fetus is exposed to in utero. According to an idea highlighted Dr. Berken et. al., Penfield and Roberts, in 1959, “…proposed that language acquisition is tied to and restricted by age-dependent plasticity…” (2017). This idea was further proven by Lenneberg in 1967, stating that attaining a native-like proficiency of a language is more difficult after the critical period of puberty (2017). This has been determined to be a critical point in an individual’s life because puberty is a level of maturity that happens throughout the body, even the mind which is not always associated with the term “puberty”. Furthermore, Ellen Bialystok further emphasizes this idea by saying that “the primary goal of early schooling is to establish the foundational skills…the most important of these abilities are language and literacy competence” (2016). All these together identify that the best time to introduce new information and have a child retain it is during their developmental years. This ideology of bilingual education is most pertinent and valuable when introduced between kindergarten and 5th grade.
Bilingual education is something that I believe should be an opportunity presented to any child in their young age. Specifically, bilingual education is “…any school program in which more than one language is used in the curriculum to teach non-language academic subject matter or the language of schooling does not match the language of the home or community” (Bialystok, 2016). The idea of bilingual education has actually been a controversial topic throughout the United States because of the degree of racial discrimination present. However, this education system has demonstrated multiple advantages to bilingual education.
Shortly after this practice being implemented within education systems, specifically in younger grades, “bilingual instruction had long-term benefits for children’s language and literacy proficiency in both languages” (Bialystok, 2016). Specifically, bilingualism has resulted in increased cognitive function, improved cultural and social skills, economic advantages in the new global economy, and improved memory and recall abilities (“Read why…important”, 2021). While it is a semi-controversial, it does have proven benefits when the incorporation of another foreign language is introduced to children during their developmental years.
Bialystok, E. (2016) Bilingual education for young children: review of the
effects and consequences. PubMed Central, 21(6), 666-679. doi:
Berken, J., Gracco, V., Klein, D. (2017). Early bilingualism, language attainment, and brain development. Neuropsychologia, 98, 220-227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.08.031
“Read Why Bilingual Education Is Important”. (2021). Texas A&M International University. Retrieved from https://online.tamiu.edu/articles/education/why-bilingual-education-is-important.aspx
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