[0:18]I came to the US as a Cuban refugee at the age of eight. This was my introduction to English and the beginning of my bilingual journey. My family settled in Miami, in the immigrant community of Little Havana, where every kid I knew and grew up with, spoke Spanish and English. Bilingualism was our normal. As new waves of family members emigrated from Cuba throughout my childhood and adolescence, and as we welcomed the first generations born in the US, I became witness to and a part of their bilingual journeys. It's no surprise that I became interested in studying bilingual development in children and youth. And over many years in this field, I continue to be amazed at the prevalence of misconceptions about children and early bilingualism. I teach and speak about this subject often, and I hear the same questions over and over. People ask, won't kids be confused by learning two languages at the same time? Won't bilingualism cause delays or other problems? These questions stem from the misconception that somehow growing up with two languages might be bad for kids and their language development. On the other hand, I'm also asked about the optimal time for second language learning, and whether it isn't best to learn languages when you're very young. In other, in this case, the concern is that if you don't learn a language at an early age, you'll never be fluent in that language. In other words, isn't bilingualism a good thing? A bit confusing, right? But these seemingly contradictory ideas reflect quite common misunderstandings about growing up with two or more languages. Tonight I'd like to address these questions and hopefully debunk some of these prevalent myths so that we can all be better informed about early childhood bilingualism. Understanding bilingualism matters because one in every two people in the world is bilingual, and bilingualism is on the rise, around the world and here in the US. The science of bilingualism is a relatively young field, but research over the last few decades can help us answer some of these pressing questions about early bilingualism. Let's start with that question about whether learning two or more languages early in life confuses children. One misunderstood behavior, which is often taken as evidence of confusion, is when bilingual children mix words from two languages in the same sentence. This is known as code mixing. In fact, code mixing is a normal part of bilingual development and bilingual children actually have good reasons to do this. One reason some children code mix is that it happens frequently in their language communities. That is, children are just doing what they hear adults around them do. A second reason is that just like monolinguals, young bilinguals are still building their linguistic resources. Similarly to how a monolingual one-year-old might initially use the word dog to refer to any four-legged creature, bilingual children also use their emerging language repertoire resourcefully. If a bilingual child does not know or cannot quickly retrieve a particular word in one language, she might borrow it from the other language. Rather than being a sign of confusion, code mixing can be seen as a path of least resistance and a sign of bilingual children's ingenuity. There's further evidence that bilingual children use their two languages rather strategically. Kids as young as two years old, show some ability to adapt their language according to the language used by their conversational partner. This evidence suggests that young bilinguals are flexible and responsive language users.
[4:22]Another common myth relates bilingualism with language development problems, including language delays and even disorders. But research clearly shows that bilingual children are no more likely to have language difficulties, to show delays in learning, or to be diagnosed with a language disorder than monolingual children. Milestones of language development are comparable in all languages for monolingual and bilingual children alike. All children begin to babble at the same time, whether they're growing up with one or more languages. Like monolingual children, most bilingual children speak their first words around the age of one, and can use two word phrases by the time they're two. Families and educators perceptions are often otherwise, namely, they feel that children are behind due to their bilingualism, revealing an interesting disconnect from scientific findings. This is best illustrated when we look at the young at young children's vocabulary. Because bilingual children's vocabulary is distributed across their languages, they typically know fewer words in each of their languages when compared to their monolingual counterparts. But this apparent difference disappears when you calculate bilingual children's conceptual vocabulary across both languages. That is, if you add together known words in each language, making sure not to double count cross language synonyms, like perro and dog. Then bilingual children know approximately the same number of words as monolingual children, and often they actually know more. And yet a third common myth about childhood bilingualism goes something like this. If a child does not learn a second language when she is very young, she will never be fluent in that language. Many people are familiar with the concept of a critical period for language acquisition, the idea that humans are not capable of mastering a new language after reaching a certain age. But this is a controversial theory. Researchers disagree about whether a critical period exists at all, and they disagree about when this critical period may occur. Disagreement aside, research on bilingualism converges on a simple take-home point. Earlier is better for some aspects of language learning. There may not be a sharp turn for the worse at any point in development, but there does seem to be a slow decline in some language learning abilities with age. In other words, our brains may be more receptive to some aspects of language earlier in life. However, other factors such as motivation, attitudes about the two languages, social context, and the learning environment itself also have powerful impact on the degree to which people acquire additional languages. Learning languages at different ages has different advantages, and it is possible to learn languages at any age. In fact, language learning tasks, like acquiring grammar, vocabulary, syntax, and literacy, may be easier for older learners because they already have developed proficiency in these areas in their native language, and this language ability transfers to new languages. For example, older immigrant students whose native language literacy skills are well developed, children like me, acquire English proficiency significantly faster than younger immigrant students. So in summary, does early bilingualism confuse, hinder or inhibit language development? No. Are there benefits to early bilingualism? Yes. But can you learn additional languages later in life? Absolutely. Research shows us that bilingual acquisition is as normal as monolingual language acquisition. Kids learning one language go through similar processes as kids learning two or more languages. But there are also some unique bilingual behaviors like code mixing that are a normal part of bilingual development process that we don't see in the language development of monolingual kids. Research also shows us that success acquiring two languages depends critically on the learning environment, which means that bilingual kids need to interact and be engaged with people who speak both languages on a regular basis. And it's important for families to know that their home language is a tremendous resource, not a hindrance to their child's overall language acquisition. What is also important to consider is how we think about bilingual children, particularly those from immigrant backgrounds. What kind of preconceptions do we have, both positive and negative, about children who are growing up in homes and communities where languages other than English are spoken? Why do so many of us think of this as a problem rather than a great asset? Why does the bilingualism of these children sometimes trigger our prejudices instead of our admiration? Rather than worry about how bilingualism may harm children, why not consider how it might enrich their lives? As educators, we need to think about how to design rich learning environments that build on and sustain the multitude of languages children bring to our schools. Imagine a US where we value and promote bilingualism for all children. Imagine the walls that might tumble. The borders that might dissolve. The rich and generative communication and understanding that might result. And the family connections and legacies that could be sustained. And what conditions would we have to create to make this a reality? To nurture and maximize every child's bilingual potential. That's a mighty and worthy goal for all of us to work toward. Thank you.
