(originally submitted as a coursework for PLIN1303 on 01/05/2018, edited 22/06/2019)
Before 1960s, bilingualism was viewed as a disadvantage. It was once believed that bilingual children acquire languages slower than monolinguals because learning two languages at once confuses the brain. A psychology study even suggests that mental retardation is caused by the use of foreign language at home (Goodenough, 1926). However, attitudes towards bilingualism has changed in today’s world. Over half of the world’s population speak two or more languages now (Marian & Shook, 2012). Bilingualism or multilingualism has become a trend due to the increase in language exchange from globalisation. Moreover, research in the past 50 decades have shown that being able to speak more than one language is beneficial to brain development. There may be certain drawbacks of being a bilingual, however, the advantages of bilingual brains outweigh its disadvantages. In this essay, I will first explain why bilinguals are slower in choosing words, then proceed to explain how this trained bilingual brains to have more cognitive benefits in terms of multitasking and concentration. Following that, I will discuss how problem-solving skills in bilingual brains help them to perform better at mathematics and how information processing helps them learn a new language easier. Finally, I will talk about the health benefits of bilingual brains in delaying age-related declines. For these reasons, I strongly argue that bilingual brains have more benefits than monolingual brains.
Before 1960s, bilingualism was viewed as a disadvantage. It was once believed that bilingual children acquire languages slower than monolinguals because learning two languages at once confuses the brain. A psychology study even suggests that mental retardation is caused by the use of foreign language at home (Goodenough, 1926). However, attitudes towards bilingualism has changed in today’s world. Over half of the world’s population speak two or more languages now (Marian & Shook, 2012). Bilingualism or multilingualism has become a trend due to the increase in language exchange from globalisation. Moreover, research in the past 50 decades have shown that being able to speak more than one language is beneficial to brain development. There may be certain drawbacks of being a bilingual, however, the advantages of bilingual brains outweigh its disadvantages. In this essay, I will first explain why bilinguals are slower in choosing words, then proceed to explain how this trained bilingual brains to have more cognitive benefits in terms of multitasking and concentration. Following that, I will discuss how problem-solving skills in bilingual brains help them to perform better at mathematics and how information processing helps them learn a new language easier. Finally, I will talk about the health benefits of bilingual brains in delaying age-related declines. For these reasons, I strongly argue that bilingual brains have more benefits than monolingual brains.
To begin with, I would like to highlight a study by Gollan et al. (2005) which indicates that bilinguals perform picture naming task slower than monolinguals, but both are equally fast and accurate in classifying the pictures into human made or natural objects. This study suggests that bilinguals and monolinguals are different in language processing at the post conceptual level. Bilinguals named pictures slower because they have to scan through multiple lexicons in their brains and decide on the correct entry. Moreover, their lexicon of a particular language has more lower frequency words when compared to monolinguals that only speak that language, which increases the time needed for bilinguals to retrieve the word. Bilinguals express themselves in two languages in their daily life, causing the frequency of words to be shared between two languages. For example, if a bilingual speaks English at school and Japanese at home, the word ‘blackboard’ is used more frequently in English than in Japanese. Hence, when focusing on a single language, bilinguals might be slower in choosing word entry. However, the increased effort in processing multiple languages simultaneously causes the structure of bilingual brains to change which yields many cognitive benefits.
First of all, bilingual brains are more alert and quicker to rule changing, which improves their multitasking ability. People who speak different languages have different linguistic mechanisms for each language. They need to switch between these mechanisms while communicating in different environment, for example at work or at home. This trains bilingual brains to switch between tasks quickly. In a study where participants are required to switch between categorising objects by colour and by shape, bilinguals outperformed monolinguals in their speed and accuracy (Prior & Macwhinney, 2010). This ability even appeared early in the childhood stage. A study by Kovacs and Mehler (2009) shows that bilingual infants have better cognitive control abilities than monolingual infants. In the study, researchers taught infants to look at a puppet that appeared at one side of the screen when they hear a nonsense word. Halfway through the study, the puppet started appearing at the other side of the screen. Monolingual infants were unable to learn to the new response but bilingual infants successfully adapted to the rule change and updated their predictions. This provides further evidence that bilinguals have better cognitive control system which allows them to switch between tasks efficiently. In other words, bilingual brains have more flexibility and are able to multitask better than monolingual brains.
Apart from that, bilingual brains have better concentration as they are better in screening out and ignoring unnecessary information, resulting them to be more sensitive in sensory processing. This is because the brain’s ability to process multiple languages boosts the performance of brain cells in perceptions. In a neurology experiment by Krizman et al. (2012), bilinguals and monolinguals are exposed to simple speech sounds in a quiet environment and in an environment with background noises. Researchers record and compare the brain activity of bilinguals and monolinguals in these two environments. The results show that the brain activity for bilinguals and monolinguals are equal when there is no background noise, however, bilinguals have larger neural responses than monolinguals in the presence of background noise. This means bilinguals can encode the sound input’s fundamental frequency more easily under disturbance of background noise. The experiment further concludes that bilingual brains can filter information more effectively and have better attention to details.
Besides being able to multitask and concentrate more easily, some research suggest that bilinguals are better in mathematics than monolinguals. Zelasko and Antunez (2000) explains that the flexibility and problem-solving skills in bilingual brains provide better understandings in mathematics concepts. In addition, bilinguals are better at resolving conflicts, which improves their critical and logical thinking skills. This is because two language systems in bilingual brains are constantly competing against each other. Bilinguals have to decide which information is relevant to the environment in order to apply their linguistics knowledge. The ability to judge information quickly and accurately in bilingual brains trains them to have better analytic skills and mathematical abilities. In a study by Clarkson and Galbraith (1992), students with higher bilingual competencies significantly scored higher in mathematics tests. Although we cannot immediately conclude that bilingualism causes mathematics ability to improve, we can see that bilingualism helps to train the brain in logical and mathematical skills to a certain extent.
Due to better information processing, it is also easier for bilinguals to pick up a new language. Learning a new language is challenging because the new language may have a completely different grammar structure or phonological rule which conflicts with one's existing knowledge of language. Bilinguals have advantages while learning a new language because they have better linguistic awareness due to cross-linguistics interaction (Jessner, 2006). Bilingual brains process different languages in parallel; the languages do not interfere each other during language processing. This is concluded in a study by Marian and Spivey (2003), which investigates the performance of bilinguals and monolinguals when processing competing lexical items. The results show that bilinguals process phonemic input with lexicons in both languages simultaneously, regardless of the language environment they are in. In other words, when communicating a single language, the lexicon of both languages is activated during language processing, however, they are parallel and do not get mixed up. Hence, when learning a novel language, bilinguals are able to avoid distraction from their known languages, which allows them to access new vocabularies more easily than monolinguals. This suggests that bilinguals have advantages in learning new languages when compared to monolinguals.
Bilingualism does not only benefit children during their upbringing, it also helps protect against brain decline diseases such as Alzheimer. Recent research indicates that bilinguals show initial symptoms of Alzheimer at the average age of 77.7, which is 5.1 years later than monolinguals which show these symptoms at the average age of 72.6 (Craik et al., 2010). This is because bilingual brains function more actively than monolingual brains which prevents the ageing of cognitive mechanism. Similar to our body systems, our brains’ function will deteriorate without constant training and exercising. This is the reason why doctors encourage Alzheimer patients to do brain training exercises such as crossword puzzles to keep their brain active and functioning. In the case of bilinguals, it is believed that the extra processing effort required in bilinguals’ daily communication trains their brains unconsciously, which helps delay Alzheimer. In sum, bilingual brains utilise their brain networks efficiently with better memory and cognitive control, which helps to maintain a healthy brain and fight dementia.
Besides being able to multitask and concentrate more easily, some research suggest that bilinguals are better in mathematics than monolinguals. Zelasko and Antunez (2000) explains that the flexibility and problem-solving skills in bilingual brains provide better understandings in mathematics concepts. In addition, bilinguals are better at resolving conflicts, which improves their critical and logical thinking skills. This is because two language systems in bilingual brains are constantly competing against each other. Bilinguals have to decide which information is relevant to the environment in order to apply their linguistics knowledge. The ability to judge information quickly and accurately in bilingual brains trains them to have better analytic skills and mathematical abilities. In a study by Clarkson and Galbraith (1992), students with higher bilingual competencies significantly scored higher in mathematics tests. Although we cannot immediately conclude that bilingualism causes mathematics ability to improve, we can see that bilingualism helps to train the brain in logical and mathematical skills to a certain extent.
Due to better information processing, it is also easier for bilinguals to pick up a new language. Learning a new language is challenging because the new language may have a completely different grammar structure or phonological rule which conflicts with one's existing knowledge of language. Bilinguals have advantages while learning a new language because they have better linguistic awareness due to cross-linguistics interaction (Jessner, 2006). Bilingual brains process different languages in parallel; the languages do not interfere each other during language processing. This is concluded in a study by Marian and Spivey (2003), which investigates the performance of bilinguals and monolinguals when processing competing lexical items. The results show that bilinguals process phonemic input with lexicons in both languages simultaneously, regardless of the language environment they are in. In other words, when communicating a single language, the lexicon of both languages is activated during language processing, however, they are parallel and do not get mixed up. Hence, when learning a novel language, bilinguals are able to avoid distraction from their known languages, which allows them to access new vocabularies more easily than monolinguals. This suggests that bilinguals have advantages in learning new languages when compared to monolinguals.
Bilingualism does not only benefit children during their upbringing, it also helps protect against brain decline diseases such as Alzheimer. Recent research indicates that bilinguals show initial symptoms of Alzheimer at the average age of 77.7, which is 5.1 years later than monolinguals which show these symptoms at the average age of 72.6 (Craik et al., 2010). This is because bilingual brains function more actively than monolingual brains which prevents the ageing of cognitive mechanism. Similar to our body systems, our brains’ function will deteriorate without constant training and exercising. This is the reason why doctors encourage Alzheimer patients to do brain training exercises such as crossword puzzles to keep their brain active and functioning. In the case of bilinguals, it is believed that the extra processing effort required in bilinguals’ daily communication trains their brains unconsciously, which helps delay Alzheimer. In sum, bilingual brains utilise their brain networks efficiently with better memory and cognitive control, which helps to maintain a healthy brain and fight dementia.
In conclusion, bilingual brains are indeed more beneficial than monolingual brains. Despite being slower in naming tasks, the advantages of bilingual brains outweigh its disadvantage. By explaining the mechanism and extra processing efforts of bilingual brains, I have discussed that bilingual brains are more flexible and better in multitasking, besides being more attentive to details. Bilingual brains also have better abilities in learning mathematics and language. Moreover, bilingual brains can avoid deterioration of brain cells and protect against dementia. In order to make use of these benefits, multilingualism should be promoted in education systems to boost performances of children because it is important to start at a young age as learning a new language is harder for adults. However, it is not too late for adults if they wish to learn a new language, because after all, multilingualism is a good training for human brain which improves our cognitive abilities. As bilingualism or multilingualism is becoming more and more popular, more research in this field should be done so that we have better understandings in bilingual or multilingual brains.
References:
1. Clarkson, P., & Galbraith, P. (1992). Bilingualism and Mathematics Learning: Another Perspective. Journal For Research In Mathematics Education, 23(1), 34. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/749162
2. Craik, F., Bialystok, E., & Freedman, M. (2010). Delaying the onset of Alzheimer disease: Bilingualism as a form of cognitive reserve. Neurology, 75(19), 1726-1729. http://dx.doi.org/10.1212/wnl.0b013e3181fc2a1c
3. Gollan, T., Montoya, R., Fennema-Notestine, C., & Morris, S. (2005). Bilingualism affects picture naming but not picture classification. Memory & Cognition, 33(7), 1220-1234. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/bf03193224
4. Goodenough, F. (1926). Racial differences in the intelligence of school children. Journal Of Experimental Psychology, 9(5), 388-397. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0073325
5. Jessner, U. (2006). Linguistic awareness in multilinguals (pp. 72-119). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
6. Kovacs, A., & Mehler, J. (2009). Cognitive gains in 7-month-old bilingual infants. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences, 106(16), 6556-6560. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0811323106
7. Krizman, J., Marian, V., Shook, A., Skoe, E., & Kraus, N. (2012). Subcortical encoding of sound is enhanced in bilinguals and relates to executive function advantages. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences, 109(20), 7877-7881. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1201575109
8. Marian, V., & Shook, A. (2012). The cognitive benefits of being bilingual. Cerebrum: the Dana forum on brain science, 2012, 13.
9. Marian, V., & Spivey, M. (2003). Bilingual and monolingual processing of competing lexical items. Applied Psycholinguistics, 24(02). http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0142716403000092
1. Clarkson, P., & Galbraith, P. (1992). Bilingualism and Mathematics Learning: Another Perspective. Journal For Research In Mathematics Education, 23(1), 34. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/749162
2. Craik, F., Bialystok, E., & Freedman, M. (2010). Delaying the onset of Alzheimer disease: Bilingualism as a form of cognitive reserve. Neurology, 75(19), 1726-1729. http://dx.doi.org/10.1212/wnl.0b013e3181fc2a1c
3. Gollan, T., Montoya, R., Fennema-Notestine, C., & Morris, S. (2005). Bilingualism affects picture naming but not picture classification. Memory & Cognition, 33(7), 1220-1234. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/bf03193224
4. Goodenough, F. (1926). Racial differences in the intelligence of school children. Journal Of Experimental Psychology, 9(5), 388-397. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0073325
5. Jessner, U. (2006). Linguistic awareness in multilinguals (pp. 72-119). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
6. Kovacs, A., & Mehler, J. (2009). Cognitive gains in 7-month-old bilingual infants. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences, 106(16), 6556-6560. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0811323106
7. Krizman, J., Marian, V., Shook, A., Skoe, E., & Kraus, N. (2012). Subcortical encoding of sound is enhanced in bilinguals and relates to executive function advantages. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences, 109(20), 7877-7881. http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1201575109
8. Marian, V., & Shook, A. (2012). The cognitive benefits of being bilingual. Cerebrum: the Dana forum on brain science, 2012, 13.
9. Marian, V., & Spivey, M. (2003). Bilingual and monolingual processing of competing lexical items. Applied Psycholinguistics, 24(02). http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0142716403000092
10. Prior, A., & Macwhinney, B. (2010). A bilingual advantage in task switching. Bilingualism: Language And Cognition, 13(02), 253. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1366728909990526
11. Zelasko, N., & Antunez, B. (2000). If your children learns in two languages: A parent's guide for improving educational opportunities of children acquiring English as a second language. Washington, D.C.: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education.
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