Benefits of Immersion
Exciting new research from neuroscientists and psycholinguists on the impact of learning two languages during the infant-toddler years has highlighted the human brain’s extensive capacity to learn multiple languages, as well as the infant’s ability to separate out each language and to interpret contextual cues to know which language is appropriate in a given context.[i] There is wide scientific consensus that bilingual infants develop two separate but connected linguistic systems during the first year of life.[ii] We now know that infants have the innate capacity to learn two languages from birth and that this early dual language exposure does not delay development in either language. Recent research also suggests that the development of two languages benefits the brain through the development of greater brain tissue density in areas related to language, memory, and attention.[iii] Young children learning two languages also have more neural activity in the parts of the brain associated with language processing.[iv] This increased brain activity and neural density may have long-term positive effects on specific types of cognitive abilities, such as those that require focusing on the details of a task and knowing how language is structured and used.[v]
These studies have also demonstrated that knowing more than one language does not delay the acquisition of English or impede academic achievement in English when two languages are supported. Research on children who learn English after their home language has been established — usually around age three — has also shown that most young children are capable of adding a second language during the ages 3 through 8 and that this dual language ability confers long-term cognitive, cultural, and economic advantages.[vi] The multi-language approach is one of the few instructional methods that seem to benefit children, as measured by standardized achievement testing and positive reports from parents, teachers, and administrators.[vii]
For more information please see the Mandarin Immersion FAQ: http://www.chinesebilingual.com/?page_id=36
Footnotes:
[i] Kuhl, P.K. Early language acquisition: cracking the speech code. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 5(11), (2004), 831843.
[ii] Genesee, F., J. Paradis, and M.B. Crago. Dual Language Development and Disorders: A Handbook on Bilingualism and Second Language Learning. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing, 2004.
[iii] Mechelli, A., J.T. Crinion, U. Noppeney, J. O’Doherty, J. Ashburner, R. Frackowiak, & C.J. Price. “Structural Plasticity in the Bilingual Brain,” Nature, Vol. 431 (2004), 757.
[iv] Kovelman, I., S. Bakers, & L.A. Petitto. “Bilingual and Monolingual Brains Compared: An fMRI Study of a ‘Neurological Signature’ of Bilingualism.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Atlanta, GA, October 2006.
[v] Bialystok, E., F.I.M. Craik, & J. Ryan. “Executive Control in a Modified Antisaccade Task: Effects of Aging and Bilingualism,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, Vol. 32, No. 6. (2006), 13411354.
[vi] Bialystok, E. Bilingualism in Development: Language, Literacy, and Cognition. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Hakuta, K., Y.G. Butler, & D. Witt. How Long Does It Take English Learners to Attain Proficiency? 2000. http://lmri.ucsb.edu/publications/00_hakuta.pdf (accessed February 13, 2007).
[vii] Collier, V., & W.P. Thomas. Reforming education policies for English learners means better schools for all. The State Education Standard, 3(1), (2002), 3036. & Collier, V., & W.P. Thomas. The astounding effectiveness of dual language for all. NABE Journal of Research and Practice, 2:1 (Winter 2004), 120.
Thomas, W. A national study of school
These studies have also demonstrated that knowing more than one language does not delay the acquisition of English or impede academic achievement in English when two languages are supported. Research on children who learn English after their home language has been established — usually around age three — has also shown that most young children are capable of adding a second language during the ages 3 through 8 and that this dual language ability confers long-term cognitive, cultural, and economic advantages.[vi] The multi-language approach is one of the few instructional methods that seem to benefit children, as measured by standardized achievement testing and positive reports from parents, teachers, and administrators.[vii]
For more information please see the Mandarin Immersion FAQ: http://www.chinesebilingual.com/?page_id=36
Footnotes:
[i] Kuhl, P.K. Early language acquisition: cracking the speech code. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 5(11), (2004), 831843.
[ii] Genesee, F., J. Paradis, and M.B. Crago. Dual Language Development and Disorders: A Handbook on Bilingualism and Second Language Learning. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing, 2004.
[iii] Mechelli, A., J.T. Crinion, U. Noppeney, J. O’Doherty, J. Ashburner, R. Frackowiak, & C.J. Price. “Structural Plasticity in the Bilingual Brain,” Nature, Vol. 431 (2004), 757.
[iv] Kovelman, I., S. Bakers, & L.A. Petitto. “Bilingual and Monolingual Brains Compared: An fMRI Study of a ‘Neurological Signature’ of Bilingualism.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, Atlanta, GA, October 2006.
[v] Bialystok, E., F.I.M. Craik, & J. Ryan. “Executive Control in a Modified Antisaccade Task: Effects of Aging and Bilingualism,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, Vol. 32, No. 6. (2006), 13411354.
[vi] Bialystok, E. Bilingualism in Development: Language, Literacy, and Cognition. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Hakuta, K., Y.G. Butler, & D. Witt. How Long Does It Take English Learners to Attain Proficiency? 2000. http://lmri.ucsb.edu/publications/00_hakuta.pdf (accessed February 13, 2007).
[vii] Collier, V., & W.P. Thomas. Reforming education policies for English learners means better schools for all. The State Education Standard, 3(1), (2002), 3036. & Collier, V., & W.P. Thomas. The astounding effectiveness of dual language for all. NABE Journal of Research and Practice, 2:1 (Winter 2004), 120.
Thomas, W. A national study of school