Have you ever heard that learning another language is good for your brain? Well, it’s true! Studies have shown that learning another language has positive effects on your brain. It is claimed that cognitive advantages of bilinguals occur when a certain level of proficiency is obtained. Research that has been done on bilinguals has mostly focused on balanced bilinguals or bilinguals whose two languages are well developed. Recent research has shown that balanced bilinguals have cognitive advantages that monolinguals do not have. Studies have concluded that the more a child is proficient in both languages, the greater the probability of cognitive advantages.
Research has shown that bilinguals are more divergent thinkers. Divergent thinkers are more creative, flexible in thinking, and imaginative. They are also more original and elaborate with their thinking. For example, if you asked a bilingual, “How can I use a piece of wood?”,convergent thinkers would give you typical answers that you would expect such as building a house or building a wall. Divergent thinkers may give you answers such as for propping up a wobbly table, blocking a hole, or breaking a window.
Transferring Knowledge and Skills:
Studies have shown that bilinguals have increased metalinguistic awareness than monolinguals. If ESL students, or emergent bilinguals, have reading skills in their first language, then gaining reading skills in their second language will be easier. ESL students already have the knowledge of concepts of print and phonological awareness in their first language (metalinguistic skills), so they can transfer their reading knowledge and skills to reading in their second language. This may be especially true for languages that share the same writing system. The same is true for academic vocabulary. The more developed a child’s vocabulary is in their first language, the easier it will be for this child to transfer their vocabulary knowledge to their second language. This is called the Developmental Interdependence theory. The more proficient a child is in their first language, the easier and faster it will be for the child to acquire their second language.
Aging:
Learning another language helps decrease some of the negative cognitive effects of aging. Bilinguals who know and speak two or more languages throughout their lives show a decrease in cognitive decline as they age, especially with memory. Research has shown that signs of dementia or Alzheimer disease are delayed with aging bilinguals compared to monolinguals.
Socioeconomic Factors:
An important question to ask is if all children benefit from bilingualism. Do children from all socioeconomic backgrounds share in the cognitive advantages of being bilingual?Have studies only focused on children from middle or higher socioeconomic status or have children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds been included in research as well? Do balanced bilinguals come from families who encourage creative thinking and nurture metalinguistic skills? Does this factor contribute to the cognitive advantages of bilinguals? What about children who come from families who do not foster creative thinking and metalinguistic skills?
Limitations of Test Findings:
It is important to note that test findings have limitations. For example, how are intelligence and creativity measured? As asked above, which populations of bilinguals were included in bilingual research?