Bilingualism is good for learning

October 5th, 2011

Cambridge University researchers are spreading the message that bilingualism is good for learning, rather than a hindrance as sometimes perceived.

The Bilingualism Information Network in Cambridge (BIN-C) will host its third workshop at the University’s Festival of Ideas on 22 October (www.cam.ac.uk/festivalofideas/).

The Festival of Ideas is the UK’s only arts, humanities, and social science festival and this year offers over 160 free events to participants of all ages during 19-30 October.

Research shows that children who speak more than one language are multiply advantaged over their monolingual playmates and yet among some parents and teachers there is a perception that growing up multilingual is a risk to educational development.

Aiming to dispel such misconceptions and champion the benefits of bilingualism are researchers Drs Dora Alexopoulou, Napoleon Katsos and Teresa Parodi of the Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, founders of BIN-C and hosts of the ‘Bilingualism in schools’ workshop at the Festival of Ideas.

As Dr Alexopoulou explains there are many benefits of bilingualism: “Studies show that a bilingual child is better able to cope with tasks that involve attention, memory and concentration. The mental gymnastics needed to constantly manage two or more linguistic systems increases cognitive flexibility and makes learning easier.”

The advantages of bilingualism hold regardless of whether the language is spoken by many or is a ‘useful’ language, observes Dr Parodi.

“Moreover, lack of awareness about bilingualism may lead to schools incorrectly diagnosing, or failing to diagnose actual learning difficulties if a phase of linguistic difficulty is observed”, she added. ”Typically, if the problem shows in both languages this will point to a learning difficulty, but not if it only shows in one of them.”

Recent research by Dr Katsos also aims to identify a method to distinguish between a child showing a normal delay and a child with an underlying learning problem. With the help of a Social Entrepreneurship Catalyst Award from HEFCE and UnLimited, Dr Katsos is now turning the research into an off-the-shelf language assessment tool.

Research has also shown that raising and educating children to be bilingual doesn’t happen simply because two difference languages are spoken at home, but instead requires continued input on the part of the parents. The commitment of teachers and parents is therefore vital.

‘Bilingualism in school’ is on Saturday 22 October, 2pm-5.30pm at the Faculty of English, University of Cambridge. The workshop is led by researchers from various departments throughout the University of Cambridge specialising in different aspects of learning more than one language who will take part in the panel and open floor workshop.

The workshop is free to participants but pre-booking is required. Press are welcome to attend. Please see the University of Cambridge Festival of Ideas website for more information: http://www.cam.ac. … ivalofideas.

Provided by University of Cambridge