Recently, I had a discussion with a colleague, Kathy, in regards to children being exposed to more than one language in infancy. Kathy felt exposing young children would confuse the child and hinder the child’s ability to learn language correctly. Kathy felt exposing children to more than one language would have a negative effect on the child’s language development as well as his/her cognitive and educational development. Kathy’s ideas were formed by her own struggles to learn a second language. While learning new concepts and ideas came easy to her all her life, she struggled all the way through her classes in Spanish. She found learning to be challenging for the first time in her life. As the director of a church based program in an upper middle class community Kathy has had no personal experience with bilingual families. All of the children enrolled in her program have English as their native language.
My experiences have been much different than Kathy’s. The program I administered was very multicultural. Many of the families are from other countries attending the local university. We have had families from all over the world literally. The teaching staff all speak English. While we have learned some key words such as bathroom for our older preschoolers, English is what is spoken to the children. In my effort to explain the idea that being exposed to a different language at childcare than in the home I asked Kathy if the children had the same rules, routines or expectations at home as they do when attending her program. Obviously, childcare and home life is different and children learn the differences. While it is easier to see in preschoolers, the differences are there for infants and toddlers as well. I do not know of any preschooler that ‘lines up’ or asks to go to the bathroom once toilet trained. In most early childhood programs these actions are standard behavior and children have no problem knowing the differences. Even the very young learn differences. I have had many conversations with parents in regards to the difference in behaviors they see in their child at ‘school’ when compared to how they act at home. Children wait their turn more frequently as well as share their caretaker’s lap while having a story read.
My discussion with Kathy led me to some real investigating. I knew from personal experience that young children appeared to be on target developmentally despite being exposed to more than one language. Our conversation had me questioning what research was available on the subject. I found a report by Academy for Educational Development made for migrant and seasonal head start programs. The report details some of the work by Ollier and her associates where two group of families with infants were recruited. One group was monolingual and the other group of infants was regularly exposed to two languages. The research showed despite being exposed to one or two languages infants began babbling at approximately the same time. “Babbling in infants living in bilingual environments did not occur later than monolingual children, but slightly earlier” (Stechuk, 2006). The report also addressed other concerns such as delayed language acquisition and confusion. Through the research of Petito and her colleagues no evidence was found to substantiate any of these fears.
Children particularly infants are often underestimated in regard to their ability to adapt and even flourish based on their environment. They are literally like little sponges waiting to soak up whatever we ‘spill’ their way. This is true if it is one or two languages. All this brings up an interesting question. When should we teach children a second language? I thought when I looked for an answer I would find an abundance of research all indicated approximately the same age. The opposite was true. I believe you could find research substantiating your opinion regardless of the age you state.
Personally, I have tried to learn a second language as an adult and although I have learned a few words I would not say I have been successful. I can argue this was more a matter of not being motivated. As an adult educator can attest to adults must be motivated for real learning to transpire. I know I ‘wanted’ to learn but admittedly I can say I was not extremely motivated. I have no real need of a foreign language so on some level I am not truly motivated. When is the optimal learning time for a second language? Is there one?
References
Stechuk, R. A. (2006). Bilingual Infant/Toddler Environments: Supporting Language & Learning in Our Youngest Children. A Guide for Migrant & Seasonal Head Start Programs. Washington, DC: Academy for Educational Development.
Doctorate Program 