Merits And Demerits Of Bilingualism And Cognitive Development

Running head: MERITS AND DEMERITS OF BILINGUALISM AND COGNITIVE

DEVELOPMENT 1

Merits and Demerits of Bilingualism and Cognitive Development

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MERITS AND DEMERITS OF BILINGUALISM AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2

Introduction

Bilingualism is where an individual uses more than one language. This is a crucial

aspect among the adults and the children especially because it helps expose an individual to other

cultural practices. People that have exposure to more than one language, have more social,

economic and health benefits than the monolingual persons (Bialystok, 2009). Bilingualism is

eminent in two forms mainly sequential bilingualism and Simultaneous bilingualism. Children

tend to be more effective in communication because of an early exposure to more than one

language while still young. On the other hand, children tend to have sequential bilingualism

because of getting exposure to a second language after the age of three years. The aspect of

bilingualism has been found to have many cognitive benefits to an individual. At old age, people

that are bilingual have a better cognitive ability as compared to the people that are monolingual.

The bilingual persons tend to have a lower cognitive declination when they get aged. In America,

bilingualism is highly encouraged due to the benefits associated with it (Baker, 2011). By the

year 1998, about 11% of the Americans were bilingual. In the wake of 2012, there were about

20% of the population that was bilingual. At present, about 50% of the world population is

bilingual.

The brains of bilingual person are structured different from that of a monolingual person.

The implication is that the aspect of bilingualism has a significant impact on the brain structure

of a person which influences cognitive declination at advanced age. The process of brain

development changes altogether, from the point one start learning a second language (Cummins

& Swain, 2014). This explains the reason as to why and bilingual and monolingual persons have

different performance capability in life. The aspect of bilingualism makes the brain of a person

more effective. This paper examines the merits and demerits of bilingualism.

MERITS AND DEMERITS OF BILINGUALISM AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 3

Literature Review

In the past bilingualism was considered a hindrance to personal progress. Currently

being bilingual is an advantage for both an individual and the society. They are both healthy and

social benefits of being bilingual. People that are bilingual tend to have a longer concentration

span, more memory, higher ability to multitask, and lower chances of disease infection such as

dementia (García, 2011). In academics’ persons that are bilingual perform better than those that

are monolingual. The performance of an organisation relies on the ability to communicate

effectively. As such, employees that can communicate in more than one language are a great

asset to an organisation. It is important to note that being bilingual is an aspect that makes one be

more open-minded (Kroll et al., 2006). Bilingual persons are exposed to a wide range of aspects

of the community which is unlike the monolingual persons. Moreover, they are less affected by

the changes in the physical environment.

For those people that travel around the globe, being bilingual is a great advantage. The

ability to community in several languages help them to better communicate with people from

different cultures. This opens new business opportunities. The bilingual parents can easily bring

up a bilingual child thereby promoting better lives. An aspect of bilingualism can be denoted in a

child right from the time of birth (Martin-Rhee & Bialystok, 2008). The speed at which a child

learns to pronounce words is an indication of chances of bilingualism. There is a positive

relationship between bilingualism and cognitive development process. The intellectual

development of an individual is greatly influenced by the aspect of bilingualism. Just like food is

to be fitness, bilingualism is to intelligence. Various mental activities like remembering reading

writing and so forth, are directly linked to the cognitive ability of an individual. Being bilingual

could be advantageous to an individual due to merits such as a higher mental flexibility, higher

MERITS AND DEMERITS OF BILINGUALISM AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 4

ability to conceptualize concepts and the diversity of information acquired as well as a very high

IQ. Generally, one is considered superior for having the ability to effectively communicate in

more than one language.

The first language that an individual is exposed to influences how he or she views the

world. This is because exposure to more than one language influences the cognitive ability of an

individual. The cognitive skills are greatly influenced by an exposure to more than one language.

There is cognitive damage, or retardant development of the same, where one is not exposed to

only one language. Learning one language, activate the skills to learn a second language.

Advantages of bilingualism

Bilingualism has been denoted to have great significance in reducing the decline in the

cognitive ability at old age, which is the major health advantage associated with bilingualism

(Prior & MacWhinney, 2010). The bilingual persons at old age have denoted higher ability to

switch between activities and ignore information that may contain irrelevant details. This is a

special attribute that is only eminent among the people that are bilingual.

Another advantage of being bilingual is that having knowledge of more than one

language enables one to be more effective in communication. For example, English does not

have some words to express certain feelings. However, we may have very effective words in

another language to describe such feelings. Persons that have exposure to more than one

language are thus more effective in communication (Kroll et all., 2006). People that have

exposure to more than one language often borrow some word from another language to make

their communication more effective. Bilingualism is critical for an individual to have greater

exposure to many other aspect of a community such as the exposure to some language frames

and metaphors that enrich their communication and community understanding.

MERITS AND DEMERITS OF BILINGUALISM AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 5

Bilingual people scores better in academic than the monolingual persons. For example,

people that are bilingual perform better in mathematics English and many other subjects. In

addition, people that are bilingual tend to have greater ability to recall as well as the capability to

memorize and remember listed items. These attributes are crucial in boosting the academic

absorption rate among the bilingual persons.

People that are bilingual have also denoted great ability to make better decisions. The

bilingual people better define and stand for what they believe in. They are less likely to be

swayed by such as advertisement, politics and many other aspects. Bilingual people happen to

have a firm ground on what they choose to stand for. They can critically view issues and make a

well balanced decision.

It has been denoted that people that are bilingual happen to have a less cognitive decline

at old age even if they learned a second language at old age. Bilingual persons are less likely to

be infected with diseases at old age such as dementia. The delayed cognitive decline among the

persons that are bilingual is often because of the attention mechanisms and the ability to focus on

the fine details of the second language. Bilingual people can pay much attention as compared to

persons who are monolingual (Garcia, 2011). Exposure to more than one language helps in brain

development. The cognitive ability of the brain, the brain function and the brain structure are

literary influenced by learning a second language. This is the reason as to why bilingual people

have a long lifespan. This aspect of the brain is more effective because the brain can contain

more than one language within its network. Learning one language activate the brain's ability to

learn a second language.

Bilingualism is also a very important tool in cross-cultural communication. People that

are bilingual can communicate with people from different cultures. This aspect is very crucial in

MERITS AND DEMERITS OF BILINGUALISM AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 6

enhancing interactions among people in business social circles (Alladi et al., 2013). In addition,

people that are bilingual tend to be more effective is switching from one activity to another, they

are much more flexible; they are good at multitasking. The bilingual children as young as seven

months can adjust to the changes in the physical environment while the aged experience delayed

decline in cognitive ability. Further, it has been noted that bilingual people have higher ability to

control the active executive communication because of their ability to switch from one language

to another.

Unlike the monolingual persons, bilingual people have a higher ability to solve non-

verbal tasks. This is especially the case in conflict resolution. Unlike the monolingual persons,

bilingual people have a better executive performance both at young age and old age. For the

bilingual children, with higher cognitive ability, they can differentiate between languages even

before they have learned how to speak the first language effectively (Cummins & Swain, 2014).

Bilingualism is crucial in removing brain retardation for both the young people and the aged.

People that have exposure to several languages can do more in life. Knowing only one language

is a limitation because one is not able to freely interact with others in the process of achieving

life goals. It is often advised that one learns more than one language for the purposes of

performing various activities effectively.

The Bilingualism aspect has a great impact on society in general. Currently, due to

globalization, the world is becoming one, a global village scenario. The Implication of this is that

when people move from one location to another there is always the importance of learning a new

language in the new place. People need to socialize as they conduct their day to day business.

Having exposure to more than one language, is thus a crucial tool in the cross-cultural

communication.

MERITS AND DEMERITS OF BILINGUALISM AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 7

Disadvantages of Bilingualism

For the adults, it is not much easy to learn a second language without interfering with the

first language. Whenever an adult learns a second language some critical aspects of the first

language are undermined. It is worth noting that the bilingual aspects are most beneficial to the

children because they are in the process of learning both first language the second language.

Young people or the children can distinguish between one language and the other unlike the

adults. Bilingualism is thus a more important aspect to the younger as opposed to the mature

people.

From an academic perspective, bilingual people tend to perform better in academics in

both languages as compared to the native monolingual persons that specialize in one native

language. However bilingual persons are more proficient in both the first second. The bilingual

persons have disadvantage in that they often experience “Tip of the tongue” which is a problem

that is not eminent among the monolingual persons (Pelham & Abrams, 2014). The bilingual

people have a challenge that every time they must communicate, they always must decide which

language to use. This is unlike the persons that are monolingual who have only one language to

communicate in.

Bilingual parents have worries that their children may encounter communication

problem. In America, the bilingual education is perceived as supplementary education as

opposed to an academic enrichment. As such the bilingual education is not highly valued

especially by the federal policies. It is not pursued as a basic education given the less value

placed on it, however this is in total disregard of its benefits to the society. It is also perceived

that, bilingualism causes confusion in the community, because people in the community don't

MERITS AND DEMERITS OF BILINGUALISM AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 8

have a common language that they all communicate in. This explains the reason as to why

bilingualism is considered divisive in a community.

Among the greatest disadvantages of bilingualism is it aspects of lexical access. People

that have exposure to more than one language undergo two processes. These are mainly the

memory retrieval processes and mental lexicon. These processes are very crucial for a bilingual

person because they are ingredients in the development of a good memory, good vocabulary,

effective reading skills and much more.

Also, bilingual persons have limited access to culture exposure. This is because the native

often discriminates the bilingual people. This way, bilingual people are not able to learn much

about their culture since they do not effectively socialize with the people in the community.

However, this aspect is evident across the community at varying degree.

Conclusion

Bilingualism is an aspect that is imminent when an individual can communicate in more

than one language. While bilingualism has both merits and demerits, the merits far outdo the

demerits. Over 50% of the world population today is bilingual. Some views in the past were for

the idea that, bilingualism is a hindrance to success, however, the perception has changed over

the years. Currently being bilingual is a great asset to the community. Bilingual persons can

interact with people from diversified cultures, doing business with people from many parts of the

world, are open to more ideas, more creative, as well as the fact that they have lower chances of

contracting some diseases like dementia. A parent who is bilingual believe that their children

may have communication problems. A bilingual parent is likely to raise a bilingual child. The

children that are bilingual perform better in academics as compared to those that are

monolingual.

MERITS AND DEMERITS OF BILINGUALISM AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 9

The cognitive ability of an individual is linked to intelligence. People that are bilingual

tend to have a decline in cognition at old age, unlike their monolingual counterparts. The

bilingual persons have a higher ability to resolve conflict multitask and memorize things. It is a

challenge to the older people when they must learn a second language. This is because old

people are not likely to learn a second language without interfering with some aspect in the first

language. The effectiveness of learning a second language is a great advantage to the young

people only because to the aged, they undermine the former language. People that are bilingual

tend to experience “tip of the tongue” while communicating. Further, it is noted that bilingual

people always have a problem every time they need to communicate because they must choose

from which language to communicate and which word to use in the language. However

bilingual people tend to be more effective in communication, especially the executive

communication. This is based on the advantage they must choose from a wide range of

vocabulary to use for communication purpose.

MERITS AND DEMERITS OF BILINGUALISM AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 10

References

Alladi, S., Bak, T. H., Duggirala, V., Surampudi, B., Shailaja, M., Shukla, A. K., ... & Kaul, S.

(2013). Bilingualism delays age at onset of dementia, independent of education and

immigration status. Neurology, 81(22), 1938-1944.

Bialystok, E. (2009). Bilingualism: The good, the bad, and the indifferent. Bilingualism:

Language and cognition, 12(1), 3-11.

Baker, C. (2011). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism (Vol. 79). Multilingual

matters.

Cummins, J., & Swain, M. (2014). Bilingualism in education: Aspects of theory, research and

practice. Routledge.

García, O. (2011). Bilingual education in the 21st century: A global perspective. John Wiley &

Sons.

Kroll, J. F., Bobb, S. C., & Wodniecka, Z. (2006). Language selectivity is the exception, not the

rule: Arguments against a fixed locus of language selection in bilingual speech.

Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 9(2), 119-135.

Martin-Rhee, M. M., & Bialystok, E. (2008). The development of two types of inhibitory control

in monolingual and bilingual children. Bilingualism: language and cognition, 11(1), 81-

93.

Prior, A., & MacWhinney, B. (2010). A bilingual advantage in task switching. Bilingualism:

Language and cognition, 13(2), 253-262.

Pelham, S. D., & Abrams, L. (2014). Cognitive advantages and disadvantages in early and late

bilinguals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition,

40(2), 313.

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