Does a Primary Language Impairment Affect Both Languages in a Bilingual Child?

Discussion Internationally, bilingualism is the rule. Even in the US which many have considered the holdout for monolingualism, bilingualism is increasing with more than 18% of people (>5 years) speaking 2 languages and it is expected that by 2030 more than 40% of children will learn English as their second language (L2). Children learn two or more languages in different contexts. A child may learn two language with parents speaking two different languages at home since birth, may have one language spoken at home and another in the community (such as a daycare setting) since birth, or may learn one at home since birth and a second at a later age when they have wider experiences (going to Kindergarten) with their community or immigrate to another country. There are places where bilingualism is less of an immigrant phenomenon and is an integral part of the community. Examples of stable bilingualism are French-English speaking parts of Canada, or Welsh-English speaking parts of Wales. Children can successfully use both languages. Just because a child is young does not mean they will be more proficient in the second language (L2). There is data from children who immigrated in the year before school begins and the year afterwards. The older children who immigrated and moved directly into a school setting became more proficient. This is probably because they were older and more proficient in their primary language (L1). Children use their languages differently depending on t...
Source: PediatricEducation.org - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: news