Bilingualism

Charlemagne once said that “to have another language is to possess a second soul. It is possible that he was not wrong at all. Bilingualism has been a discussion topic for researchers ever since it first appeared in human history; and it is undeniable that whenever there is contact between two communities with different languages, some degree of bilingualism would appear.

There are hundreds of studies about bilingualism and its different aspects: Its sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic consequences in the individual, the characteristics of programs, the link between bilingualism and intelligence, etc. As a matter of fact, there has been a negative attitude about the cognitive effects of bilingualism.

One of the most permanent beliefs about the issue has been the one known as the deficit viewpoint which state, in absolute contradiction to Charlemagne’s quote, that the bilingual child’s “intellectual and spiritual growth would not [thereby] be doubled, but halved. Unity of mind and character would have great difficulty in asserting itself in such circumstances” (Laurie, 1890: 15 in Baker 2013:139).

This perspective on bilingualism states, first, that a bilingual individual will be in trouble to use any of the two languages efficiently. It is believed that as the individual becomes more proficient in one language, he will show some detriment in the skills of the other one, that is, one of the languages will suffer some degree of attrition.

Secondly, thinking and reasoning effectiveness are thought to be affected because of the use of two languages. The monolingual mind will be more efficient, basically due to “storage room” issues.

Such was the basic premise of the Period of Detrimental Effects of bilingualism , as discussed by Baker (2013). This period lasted from early 19th century up to the 60’s; and most of the conclusions of scholars at the time were based on the results of monolingual and bilingual individuals in IQ tests, where monolinguals showed higher scores and it was a widely spread belief that it was due to intellectual superiority. However, there are several aspects to consider regarding IQ tests design, implementation, and analysis:

• Definition and measurement of intelligence: Defining what it is and who possesses it, is hard. Intelligence is usually measured indirectly.

• Language of testing: IQ tests are usually given in English language. Thus, it is a clear disadvantage for a bilingual person whose proficiency and literacy are higher in the other language spoken. According to Baker (2011), tests that are holistic and sensitive of dual language capabilities are preferable. So, bilingual people should be tested not only in English but also in the other language they speak. The context of interaction of the individual also has a great impact on how accurately they will use and understand the language of the test.

• Statistically, the difference between monolingual and bilingual individuals’ scores has not been significant

• Selection of competences for classification: the difference between a monolingual and a bilingual speaker is determined by different factors, including language use, language ability, code switching ability, literacy, etc.

• The samples used in the studies are not always large enough to establish valid generalizations of the results.

Research has shown that there are differences in the way monolingual and bilinguals process language and knowledge, but those differences are not necessarily related to being bilingual. Disadvantages might as well be potential and not factual; some of them are that semantic fluency might

...