|
Description:
|
Bilingualism in Development is an examination of the language and cognitive
development of bilingual children focusing primarily on the preschool
years. It begins by defining the territory for what is included in
bilingualism and how language proficiency can be conceptualized. Using
these constraints, the discussion proceeds to review the research relevant
to various aspects of children's development and assesses the role that
bilingualism has in each. The areas covered include language acquisition,
metalinguistic ability, literacy skill, and problem-solving ability. In
each case, the performance of bilingual children is compared to that of
similar monolinguals, and differences are interpreted in terms of a
theoretical framework for cognitive development and processing. The studies
show that bilingualism significantly accelerates children's ability to
selectively attend to relevant information and inhibit attention to
misleading information or competing responses. This conclusion is used as
the basis for examining a set of related issues regarding the education and
social circumstances of bilingual children. Her style makes this a very
readable book, at times downright funny. I recommend this book to
linguists, psychologists, sociologists and educators. Journal of
Multilingual and Multicultural Development Bilingualism in Development
differs from, and even surpasses other books of this kind in that it
assembles a wide range of research on children's language development,
interprets it with analyses of how bilingualism affects that development,
and, above all, breaks the myths surrounding bilingualism and bilingual
education. Bilingual Research Journal.
|