Bilingualism In Children School

Morphology deals with the formation of words with each word has at least one morpheme. A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of language. The word (dog) is one morpheme because d and og alone are not meaningful. The word (dog) can also be split into do and g. This is also meaningless because the word do does not relate to dog, and g is not meaningful (Owens, 2012, p. 21).

There are two types of morphemes: a) free morphemes that function independently, and b) bound morphemes that do not function independently. Examples of free morphemes include rug, happy, and toy whereas bound morphemes would be ‘un-‘, ‘–s’, ‘-ly’, and ‘–est’ (Owens, 2012, p. 21). In this way, bound morphemes can be attached to nouns, verbs, and adjectives to give words more meanings. Phonology deals with the organization of speech sounds within a language. Every language is composed of a variety of speech sounds that are known as phonemes. Phonemes are the smallest units of sounds that have meaning in a language. Humans are capable of producing 600 different sounds that are used in languages across the world. However, English has approximately 43 phonemes. Dialectal variance may impact this number slightly (Owens, 2012, p. 22). By comparison, semantics governs the meaning of words. World knowledge and word knowledge are important components that allow people to understand the meaning of words.

World knowledge refers to an individual’s understanding of events based on their experiences. In contrast, word knowledge is knowledge that is gained through words and symbols. This can be through writing or speech. Both types of knowledge allow individuals to associate meaning to words (Owens, 2012, p. 23). Finally, pragmatics focuses on the way language is used to communicate. Specifically, it consists of conversational rules, types of discourse, such as jokes and narratives, and ways of appropriately communicating ideas (Owens, 2012, p. 24). Effective pragmatics is achieved when an individual understands the culture and the people that relate to the conversational act. For speech to be understood, it needs to be directed towards the correct people. If the speaker is not communicating with others with whom they want to share their messages, then their ideas will not be shared.

Culture is related to pragmatics because the people involved in the conversation need to be aware of the rules of society so they can understand when and how it is acceptable to interact with and speak with others. There are many professionals that work with the ELL population. These professionals need to have patience to work with this population because it can be very difficult for students to learn a new language. The two most common professionals that work with the ELL populations are ESL teachers and speech-language pathologists. ESL teachers directly teach students how to use the English language. In fact, all types of teachers work with ELLs because any teacher may have an ELL student in their classroom. Therefore, teachers don’t need to be ESL teachers to work with ELLs. Teachers need to have proper training that allows them to understand how to implement teaching strategies to help these students understand what is being taught. Speech-language pathologists work with the ELL population by helping them comprehend and articulate words in English. Speech-language pathologists can also work on accent reduction and fluency with their ELL clients.

Objectives of the Study: To inform people about:

1. The benefits of being bilingual.
2. The factors that influence making decisions about rising a child to be a bilingual.
3. The advantages and disadvantages of bilingualism.
4. The stages of second language acquisition.
5. Strategies to help acquiring a second language.

Outline

1. Introduction
2. Benefits of Bilingualism
3. Improved memory
4. Enhanced problem-solving skills
5. Better critical thinking skills
6. Increased concentration
7. Ability to multitask
8. Better listening skills
9. Acceptance of other cultures
10. Benefits you during your travels
11. Valued in the workplace

Factors influencing making decisions about raising a child to be a bilingual

1. The status of the family in society.
2. Place of residence.
3. Calibre of the child

The advantages and disadvantages of bilingualism

1. Advantages
2. Development of cognitive skills
3. Increased interest in other cultures
4. Positive impact on the child’s educational future

Disadvantages

1. Ignorance is bliss
2. Could lead the child to confusion
3. Stress causing diminished interest leading to retaliation
4. Misjudging the child’s behaviour if not considering the second language culture

Five stages of second language acquisition

1. Silent or receptive stage
2. Early production
3. Speech emergence
4. Intermediate fluency
5. Continued language development / advanced fluency