Research paper

The Benefits of Multilingualism

Sinai Rincon

Highline College

English 101

Mr. White

October 29, 2018

The Benefits of Multilingualism

There has been a long-standing debate in the United States if dual-language programs should be integrated in our schools. Many studies have been made to either defend or oppose learning more than one language. One of the biggest reasons people oppose dual-language programs is that, if we start teaching a child more than one language at the same time, there would be some language confusion and delays the developmental growth of the child. Another reason for opposition is that parents from the general public that speak limited English have opted out of enrolling their students in a dual language program because of the fear that their child will also encounter the same discriminations they faced. But I believe that the opposition to multilingual education comes from a lack of knowledge on the subject. In this paper, I will describe many of those benefits of dual-language education and hopefully clear up some of the misconceptions.

Benefits in Education

Rhodes, Ochoa, & Ortiz (2005) spoke of how statistics and data show bilingual education programs in the United States provide advantages in academic achievement. Schools across the US have slowly started to create programs in certain areas of our country. In Boston, graduation rates have also increased in public schools since integrating dual language schools. Core subjects are taught in two languages. They started out with Spanish and English, and are now adding French and Haitian Creole, Portuguese and Cape Verdean, and Mandarin and Cantonese in addition to English because of the success achieved with the program. Data showed that the average student in a bilingual program scored higher than 74% in comparison to a student in a traditional program when all test scores were added together. These positive results were in math and also reading and English language growth. With these results, the popularity of dual language is starting to grow, with other school districts also starting to implement the program. There are even reports of benefits that go far beyond academics. The source concluded with the claim that these statistics prove there are benefits to being bilingual and that is we support this in our public schools, we can increase our overall test scores.

Dual Language Programs in Other Countries

Bialystok (2006) presented the results of studies of several foreign countries that show how bilingual individuals continue to outperform their monolingual peers in many tasks. Canada is one of the countries that has shown success in their dual language programs. Beginning in 1965, the province of Quebec has aggressively promoted bilingual immersion education, with approximately 300,000 English speaking children attending French language schools, which turns out to be over 5% of the province’s student population. The source shows the results of numerous achievement tests that demonstration bilingual education students outperforming monolingual education students in a number of areas. Other countries have also made it mandatory in their school systems to learn another language other than their native language. Europe has also had success in implementing such programs in the curriculum of theirs school. It is required to learn another language by 3rd grade, after that after a couple of years another language is added. By the time the student graduates from high school, they know 3 or more languages other than their home language. The source concluded by saying they have shown us that it is possible to advance academically and fluently learn a different language without it hurting one’s native language. Many countries embrace different languages and cultures, from which students can reap the benefits later on in life.

Studies of the Brain/Health Benefits

Kluger (2013) described how fascinating the human brain is and how one could be bilingual even before birth. Babies in the womb can start to distinguish different language tones from the moment they start to hear sounds. By the time the baby is born, they can tell their native language from others. Even when the mother is bilingual, they can recognize both languages. These facts point to the amazing language abilities the brain has from the start. As one ages there are multiple positive effects and outcome of the bilingual brain, more studies show. This does not necessarily mean that a bilingual brain is smarter, but that it is proving to be more resourceful and flexible. According to research, the people who know two or more languages are better at reasoning, multitasking, at grasping and reconciling conflicting ideas. The biggest benefit could be that bilingual brains are more resilient to dementia from Alzheimer’s decease. These brains work faster and use less energy in doing so, and as one ages the brain can retain cognitive abilities longer which it delays dementias such as Alzheimer’s. In number terms, studies find that people who are bilingual have 4 more years of clarity before normal dementia sets in and 5 years before Alzheimer’s.

Professional Success

Kroll, J. F., & Dussias, P. E. (2017) claimed that in today’s United States being bilingual is becoming a professional necessity. With our country becoming more diverse, the need to speak another language has become an asset in everyday life. It is sought out a lot to hire bilingual individuals in many professional careers. Unfortunately, in the U.S. the attitude towards languages other than English has not been generally positive. It is believed that this has to do with the stigma surrounding immigration and cultural diversities. Even though there is some conflict surrounding bilingualism, it has not slowed down the advancements made in the growing bilingual community. More people are seeking to learn a new language, and not just in the popular languages like Spanish or French, but also in Mandarin, Tagalog, Arabic, and Vietnamese, which have become very much needed in recent years. Being able to speak more than one language has become a competitive position in many different work fields. Most are offered more pay if they are bilingual. The source claims that in any job field in our country, it is needed to have someone that can speak a different language to be able to communicate with someone that does not understand English. More and more people are hired because of this skill set, and because of our growing diverse population.

Conclusion

These sources showed that not only would one reap the benefits during their academic studies, but also in a professional career, and even when one reaches old age there are positive outcomes to being bilingual. Bialystok (2006) showed how the programs of many countries prove it is possible to advance academically and fluently learn a different language without it hurting one’s native language. These countries embrace different languages and cultures, in which they can reap the benefits later on in life. Rhodes, Ochoa, & Ortiz (2005) shows that these positive academic results aren’t limited to foreign countries. They can be found in the United States. The benefits also aren’t just academic. Bilingualism is a big benefit on the job market (Kroll, J. F., & Dussias, P. E., 2017). It can also help overall brain functioning, especially later in life (Kluger, 2013). I find these sources very persuasive, and I would take what they so and go further: some may say that we already do have a foreign language option in place in our high schools or middle schools, but these are just a language classes to learn a new languages. What would be much better is core academic curriculum taught in a different language to better strengthen the language. By immersing them in everyday studies using the other language, these students would get the full amount of the great benefits of dual-language education.

References

Bialystok, E. (2006). Reshaping the mind: The benefits of bilingualism. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4341987/

Kluger, J. (2013). The power of the bilingual brain. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/

Kroll, J. F., & Dussias, P. E. (2017). The benefits of multilingualism to the personal and professional development of residents of the US. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29097822

Rhodes, R.L., Ochoa, S.H., & Ortiz, S.O. (2005) Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/256662696_Cognitive_Assessment_of_Culturally_and_Linguistically_Diverse_Students