Early/Late Development of Bilingualism, Baker: Chapter 5

Luz Ortega

Class: EDBL603

Professor: Dr. Zahra Saleh-Johnson

October 10, 2018

Early Development of Bilingualism   chapter 5 Reflection)

       Chapter five discussed the different ways children and adults can become bilingual. While some children grow up bilingual being spoken to in two languages at home, others have a home language and are taught a different language at school. When adults choose to learn how to speak a new language they often enroll in school.

Children whose parents speak more than one language sometimes have a preference for one, where they become noticeably stronger in the particular language. This preference can be influenced by many factors, especially in the child’s environment. For example, family and friends can influence in a child’s language preference, if a special person or more people that the child feels more affection toward or look up to speak a particular language they would prefer to speak it as well. Environmental factors including society, often influences a bilinguals language preference. Too often the areas dominant language is praised in society and the media while others are not often portrayed in a positive light, or not portrayed at all. Sometime parents can also inadvertently influence a child’s language preference through patterns of language use. This happens when a parent uses one language most of the time when showing love and affection or when they are angry and disciplining.

     Bilingualism can be influenced by the community where child/children is raising. Child/ children can learn the language the they hear in the street or school and use it to interact with sibling or among their friends.  Based on researchers, a person who can speak more than one language develop an extended vocabulary, enhanced language strategies, in addition to overall cognitive advantages as well (Cenoz, 2000, 2003, 2009).

  Speaking more than one language may help a child have more confidence and self-esteem.  In some families parents count on their children to be able to communicate with the community by translating from the main stream language to the home language. In some families, the parents do not speak the second language at all and they completely depend on their children to translate for them. In this situation, the child can see how important the language is to the community which can influence their language preference. The child learns to express themselves and communicate with others in their community. Also some children feel reward when they are able to translate for their parent, likely to further influence their language preference.

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