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Welcome to the Bilingualism (Psychology of Language) Wiki!

Bilingualism refers to individuals who are bilinguals, "people who can speak two languages", versus a monolingual, "people who can only speak one language" (Sternberg, xxx, 423). Researchers go further and categorize the types of bilingualism:

**-Additive Bilingualism:** " a second language is acquired in addition to a relatively well-developed first language", **-Subtractive Bilingualism:** "elements of a second language replace elements of the first language", **-Sequential Bilingualism:** "occurs when an individual first leans one language and then another", **-Simultaneous Bilingualism:** "occurs when a child learns two languages from birth" (Sternberg, xxx, 424).


 * The most important people who have contributed to this area of behavioral Psychology  **
 * **Michael Cole,** Professor at the University of California San Diego. He focuses on communication, psychology, and meditational theory of mind. He is also the Director of the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition (LCHC). His work has included researches on the cognitive development, the mind, culture, activity, and how it affects learning. In his interview with Vlad Glaveanu he discusses “the theoretical and methodological difficulties that have shaped his work for several decades, a work accompanied at times by great frustrations but also remarkable rewards” (Glaveanu, n.d.). His work was resourceful because he studied both culture and mind, not just one. Cole has also been awarded the American Psychological Association Award for exceptional impact to the Application of Psychological Research to Education in 2010 (Glaveannu, n.d.).


 * **Vygotsky’s** interest in literature and language tied in to his psychological career. His theories were about children and how language and their cognitive development occur. His idea was children learn language because they want to express their needs to people. He suggested that language development happened simultaneously with other mental processes. So it can be drawn that according to Vygotsky, a child would learn a second language because he or she needs to.


 * **Paiget’s** contribution to language was developed in his cognitive theory that children construct their own knowledge, they learn own their own without interventions, and are naturally motivated to learn (Piaget’s Theory, n.d.).


 * Key findings in Bilingualism **

One of the key findings in bilingualism is the mastery of language in relation to age. According to researches “native like mastery of some aspects of a second language are rarely acquired after adolescence” (Sternberg, 2009, p. 424). This theory can be understood because the older an individual gets, the more dominant their native or first language becomes. While for children, they could be using one language at home, but they have to change their dominant language to adjust at school, which allows them to pick up the new language faster. According to Sternberg (2009), “a recent study found that age of acquisition and proficiency in a language are negatively correlated…this does not mean we cannot learn a new language later in life, but rather, that the earlier we learn it, the more likely we will become highly proficient in its use” (p. 425). Acquiring a second language is beneficial for the brain, so the earlier is happens the better. “Bilingualism is associated with more effective controlled processing in children; the assumption is that the constant management of 2 competing languages enhances executive functions…Children's cognitive development is characterized by a growth in both control of attention and representational complexity, whereas aging leads to a decline in the effectiveness of attention control but not in the ability to utilize habitual procedures and representational knowledge. Bilingual children, therefore, experience a boost in the development of the types of cognitive processing that typically decline with aging.” (Ellen, Fergus, Raymond, and Mythilli, 2004). This explains that a child becomes more diverse because they are able to communicate it two distinct ways and their brain allows them to, while the older an individual gets the brain is less elastic and so the elder is more comfortable with their dominant language.


 * Major Objections to These Findings **

If late learned words are acquired in a fragmented form, they should be easier to segment than early-learned words. These findings have led researchers to consider alternative hypotheses (Hernandez, 2007).

According to some researches, language can be acquired after adolescence too, like understanding vocabulary and fluency. “There do not appear to be critical periods for second-language acquisition” (Sternberg, 2009, p. 424). It in fact should be promoted to older people that they can learn a second language because “bilinguals and that bilingualism helps to offset age-related losses in certain executive processes” (Ellen, Fergus, Raymond, and Mythilli, 2004).


 * REFERENCES **

Bialystok, E., Craik, F. M., Klein, R., & Viswanathan, M. (2004). Bilingualism, Aging, and Cognitive Control: Evidence From the Simon Task. Psychology And Aging, 19(2), 290-303. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.19.2.290

Glaveanu, Vlad. (n.d.). On the Study of Culture and Mind: Interview with Prof. Michael Cole. Retrieved from

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Hernandez, A. E., & Li, P. (2007). Age of acquisition: Its neural and computational mechanisms. Psychological Bulletin, 133(4), 638-650. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.133.4.638

Piaget's Theory ((n.d.)). Retrieved from []

Sternberg, R. (2009). Cognitive psychology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth