Second Language Acquisition and Bilingualism

In America, in that respect is a predominant growth in louvre-foldx ethnicities and cultural backgrounds leading to the us duration of three-fold quarrels in the Ameri bathroom culture. thither is a growing need for many flock to examine and utilize multiple languold elds at heart the workplace and deep down mavins own individualized life. The grandness of multilingualism and the experience of multiple spoken communications is ever increasing, and therefore becoming to a greater extent in-chief(postnominal) for the younger generations. The push for knowing multiple wordings and becoming bilingual has many potency negative and compulsory effects.Bilingualism is the ability to ingestion both languages when communicating orally or in writing. The usage of multiple languages within the Ameri groundwork culture is becoming in truth common and beneficial. It is difficult beca go for as instructor you always let to find modernistic and interesting methods in g raze to elevate imageers interest, only if at the same epoch it is enjoy commensurate since teachers be given the opportunity to work with them. For myself, I enjoy working with bilingual tykeren I as a c argongiver deliver to learn the students low gear language so that I get surface be able to transfer with them as much as possible in their infixed language. soon in my split uproom I know a German inbred. His name is Lucas and he is fifteen months old. His m other is German and his pay off is an American soldier. Both of his parents turn to side and German. So at family line they express with him in both languages. I emit to his mother and father on a daily basis to find let on young words in German so that I can rebuke to him in both languages. I defend discovered that some words that I do say in German he really does respond to them bust, than if I would tell him to do some liai boy in face. minute language bring forthment is the process of breeding o ther languages in addition to the native language.Second language scholarship is a long process which can accommodate many stages. For instance, a squirt who come up tos German as the mother tongue starts culture side of meat when he/she starts going to spring up. English is intentional by the process of indorsement language accomplishment. Students of insurgent language science go through the same stages of eruditeness, the cessation of encyclopedism varies. around students tend to learn unwrap by responding to visuals and pictures. thither are many positive benefits in the scholarship of a trice language and bilingualism. There are many positive affectional factors for bet on language acquisition and bilingualism.Some positive factors can be listed as the students attitude towards erudition the new language, the teacher motivational attitude, and the growth in the students offset printing language. too reading a second language at an early age can own a positive effect on intellectual growth, and similarly enhance and enrich the childs mental and phylogenesis. Furthermore it can well-defined the doors of opportunities to other cultures and table service the children learn and appreciate other people from other countries. There are two attri unlesses of bilingualism. The first type is simultaneous bilingualism.Simultaneous bilingualism is when children acquire two languages prior to the age three. Simultaneous bilingualism unremarkably happens when the language drilld at home is different from language workoutd in the community or school. The parents, caregivers or other family members might not speak the language of the school or the community, or the parents could speak two or more languages but pretend made a purpose about which language they speak with the child. (http//www. brainy-child. com/ phrase/bilingual. shtm) The second type of bilingualism is ordered bilingualism. straight bilingualism refers to instance s in which a child acquire their second language after the age of three (Otto, 2010, pg. 71). Once they have reached the nonparallel bilingualism stage some children learn their second language formally through school or through language framees. With successive bilingualism a child has the advantage of their first language as a base. They use this to both analyze and develop the second. For example, the child knows that language is organized in a particular order. The more mature a child is they also have a better vocabulary base, acoustic perception, and comprehension. thus they would make fewer errors in a second language. For example, I once worked with a little boy, Julien, he spoke NO English when he entered my classroom (only Spanish) also, and his mom spoke NO English. As time passed he picked up English but when he got angry he would pour off in Spanish. ABSOLUTELY the cutest thing I ever saw When parents to do not speak English I take that as a learning opportunity for myself and the parent. I try to communicate in that parents native language as best as I know how. Even if that manner only knowing the basics.As the socio-economic class progressed, the parent also learned how to speak English from taking classes on the the States installation. When she could finally communicate with me she was very raise and so was I. Our relationship really grew. However, there is a critical period of learning a second language, Many linguists turn over there is a critical period (lasting near from birth until puberty) during which a child can easily acquire any language that he or she is first-stringly unfastened to. Under this view, the structure of the brain changes at puberty, and after that it becomes harder to learn a new language.This means that it is much easier to learn a second language during childhood than as an adult. Apart from the above, children do tend to develop more native-like pronunciation when bilingualism begins before adolescence. (http//www. brainy-child. com/ name/bilingual. shtm) With that creation said children tend to learn a second language better before the age of fifteen. Learners and their learning strategies will change over time. A five year old will have a different language learning profile and language learning strategies than a fifteen year old. (http//www. rainy-child. com/ name/bilingual. shtm) As bilingual children acquire the home and aspire language they have been found to ripple the languages in the same communicative interaction. This is cognize as language interference (Otto, 2010). engrave liquifying is also when the children appear to be mixing the two languages. When the children scratch mix this may simply reflect their parents use of the two languages. It can also reflect the attempts to maintain a conversation when knowledge of the second language is not equal to express the desired message. (Otto, 2010, pg. 72).I have seen this happen on a regular basis in the presch ool classroom. One hazard I remember, I was joining my son for luncheon and I was passing the lunch to the child next to me, when handing him the ham in the container, he replied no bitte which means no thank you. He said no in English and thank you in German. According to Otto, the author of lecture nurture in Early Childhood, Codeswitching is distinguished from code mixing and language interference by the speakers apparently certified and deliberate use of two languages within the same sentence or from one sentence to another (Otto, 2010, pg. 2) Codeswitching usually occurs when a idea label is not procurable in the language being used. When talk to my father he uses codeswitching all time. He would be in the middle of a conversation with me speaking to me in English and if he does not know the fabricate word in English he would automatically say it in Spanish. I never knew that there was a professed(prenominal) word for this type of language. In the past, in particular p rior to 1960, bilingualism was thought to be an educational handicap (Otto, 2010, pg. 72).It was relyd that children could not learn a second language, while maintaining their first language (Otto, 2010). This is termed reductive bilingualism. When a child encounters subtractive bilingualism this could result in the negative blow on the families. The communication between the families can become disrupted. Prior to the 1970s research has increased our understanding of the factors involved in second language acquisition (Otto, 2010, pg. 73). We as educators need to get involved and help children and their amilies that are bilingual. Current approaches to bilingualism emphasize the acquisition of the second target language, with the continued development of the home language. This approach is also referred to the as additive bilingualism because a childs language skills are enhanced in both languages (Otto, 2010, pg. 73). Immersion programs promote additive bilingualism for major ity language speakers. These are extremely valued educational programs. Although teaching is provided in the second language, the teacher knows and may use both languages.For example, the Child Development core group that I work for here in Hohenfels, Germany offers immersion programs to the military community. They offer German and Spanish immersion programs. I believe that these are great programs and that will be very helpful for our community, being that we have some many bilingual families in our community. Right know the classes are offered for children ranging from ages three years until twelve years of age. Also in the Hohenfels community there is multitude Nation classes offered at the Elementary school.The boniface democracy class teaches basic German words. This class also teaches the German customs. The class is offered in two ways a week in forty five minute blocks. This class is very beneficial when you are in a different country. I went out to eat with my co-wor ker and her daughter is in the fifth grade, and just from her attending those classes twice a week she was able to order my food for me at the restaurant. I was impressed. vindicatory being able to communicate fundamentally and the read the menu, is what she has learned from her host nation class at school.As mentioned before, I believe the younger the child is, the better the time is to teach a child a second language. Children who have acquired a level of fluency in two languages have been described as having the succeeding(a) increased language competencies higher levels of metalinguistic awareness, great and earlier awareness of language structure, wider perspectives, and more social skills (Otto, 2010, pg. 73). This supports the claim of there being positive effects to bilingualism. Language is not taught directly, but it is acquired through ways which are clearly understood in a low anxiety environment.I am seeing this in my profession more and more each day. The amount of importance put onto second language acquisition is much higher that it has been before at least it is more profound now. As a caregiver, I have learned that relationships and learning opportunities will allow children to extend in acquiring a second language. Children and families will continue to learn English as they come to the land of the American Dream, and caregivers, like myself will only late begin to see the effects second language acquisition has on our society.ReferencesOtto, B. (2010). Language Development In Early Childhood. (3rd Edition). upper berth Saddle River, NJ PearsonBRAINSKILLS.(2011).How does language acquisition happen? .Retrieved from http//www.brainskills.co.uk/HowDoesLanuageAcquisitionHappen.htmlBrainy Child.(2011).The Impact of Bilingualism on Overall Language Development and schoolman Success .Retrieved from http//www.brainy-child.com/article/bilingual.shtm)Education.(2011).Becoming bilingual acquiring two languages.Retrieved from http//www.education .com/reference/article/bilingual-acquiring-two-language/Alice Callaghan. (2010,July11). English immersion.Los Angeles Times,p.A.33. Retrieved March 01, 2011, from Los Angeles Times. (Document ID2078277161).MacLeod,A.,Stoel-Gammon,C..(2010). What is the impact of age of second language acquisition on the production of consonants and vowels among childhood bilinguals?The International journal of Bilingualism,14(4),400-421,511. Retrieved March 01, 2011, from Research Library. (Document ID2266735221).