Essay 2, "Bilingual Education"
Bilingual Education can offer many benefits to people who are involved in an educational program that emphasizes the utilization of two languages as means of instruction, their native language and a second language. According to Packzia (n.d) “Bilingual education develops important cognitive skills such as problem solving, logic, critical thinking and creativity because it exercises your brain and forces you to think about how you can express and effectively convey your thoughts with the vocabulary you possess in each language”. However, independently of the benefits of including bilingualism in education in order to implement it effectively into the education system it takes a long time. Besides, the adaptation of the curriculum, the change of methodologies and organization of schools, as well as having trained teachers that are capable of doing that job. There are many advantages of a bilingual education from early stages such as increasing job opportunities, improving cognitive skills and developing your/being in contact cultural identity
Bilingual education and the development of cognitive skills
Bilingual education may help develop important cognitive skills. Research suggests that Bilingualism has effects on the quality of education and also in the development of cognitive skills. ( Bleakley & Chin, 2008; Moreno & Jesús, 2020;). There is evidence in cognitive psychology and other similar disciplines that show that bilingualism has positive impacts on different aspects of cognitions, such as the reduction of the rate skill depletion mostly in the older population (Cappellari & Di Paolo, 2018). Therefore, implementing a bilingual education into the school system at early stages may help learners develop their cognitive skills.
Second language acquisition as a basis in Bilingual education
Language acquisition can be considered a basis for bilingual education. Recent research suggests that bilingualism and consequently bilingual education are beneficial for the development of cognitive processes and the lexicon. (Heyman, Vulić, Moens, 2017; Marian, Shook, 2012). The main factor of the acquisition of a second language is that a child and its socialization are determined by two languages, elucidating that they learn two different meanings for each word or thing. That is how they are able to expand their lexicon significantly. Besides, there are cognitive processes that are enhanced because the meanings of two words are different in the two languages. (Şaban & Mehmet & Nazan 2016). This supports the idea of incorporating bilingual education in early stages of education.
Bilingual education increases tolerance of other languages and cultures
Attending a bilingual school increases the possibility of meeting with people from different backgrounds, having access to two cultures which can be two different worlds of experience. (Baker, C. n.d). According to Baker (n.d) “Two languages give someone a wider cultural experience, there is often a greater tolerance of differences in cultures, creeds and customs”. The advantage of bilingual education gives children a broader outlook and brings them closer to different races and nationalities. (Richardson, 2001, p.2). Overall, exposure to two languages and culture assists and promotes in students an appreciation and tolerance for the differences in cultures.
A bilingual education broadens jobs opportunities
A bilingual child will have more choices and job opportunities in the future. According to Gandara (2018) “In an interconnected and rapidly changing world there is an increased need for a multilingual workforce and the ability to conduct business in more than one language is becoming more critical. Bilingual people often hold higher positions and earn better incomes than their monolingual counterparts in the same industry”. Being able to read and write in a second language can make you even more attractive to potential employers (Schwartz, 2017). In review, being bilingual does not guarantee a better future but it gives a person an additional valuable skill when job seeking.
Conclusion
Although bilingualism in the past was considered to bring advantages to a child when growing up with more than one language, nowadays bilingualism is largely accepted as providing important advantages to people, especially in the cognitive area. With bilingual education, students have the opportunity to discover new cultural environments capable of opening up infinite possibilities for the future. The successful implementation of bilingual education demands that certain socio-political conditions be in place (Velasco, 2012). In this sense, bilingual education has to be framed by solid, legislative guidelines in order to be properly implemented. On this matter it must be acknowledged that there are many benefits implementing bilingual education. For example, knowing two languages and handling them in a natural way favors the increase in language skills, since through school skills are developed to interpret different codes. Being bilingual allows learning to be more enriching, which helps the intellectual development of students and ensures a good professional projection. (Cumming, 2017).
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