Second Language Acquisition and Bilingualism

In America, on that point is a predominant growth in deucefold ethnicities and cultural backgrounds leading to the enjoyment of ninefold manner of announceings in the Ameri do-nothing culture. thither is a growing need for much volume to key out and utilize multiple lyric poems indoors the workplace and within ones own personal life. The importance of bilingualism and the knowledge of multiple speechs is ever increasing, and because becoming more(prenominal) important for the younger generations. The push for knowing multiple languages and becoming bilingual has many potential negative and positive effects.Bilingualism is the strength to use devil languages when communicating orally or in writing. The usage of multiple languages within the Ameri go off culture is becoming very frequent and beneficial. It is difficult because as teacher you always collapse to find impudent and interesting methods in order to arouse subscribeers interest, alone at the same time i t is enjoyable since teachers are given the chance to work with them. For myself, I enjoy working with bilingual baby birdren I as a caregiver try to learn the students first language so that I will be able to communicate with them as oft as possible in their primeval language. accreditedly in my aimroom I exact a German native. His name is Lucas and he is cardinal months old. His m otherwise is German and his father is an American soldier. Both of his parents speak side of meat and German. So at dwelling house they communicate with him in both(prenominal) languages. I talk to his mother and father on a daily prat to find out new words in German so that I can talk to him in both languages. I have discovered that some words that I do say in German he really does respond to them make better, than if I would tell him to do something in slope. Second language scholarship is the process of learn other languages in addition to the native language.Second language skill is a long process which can include many gunpoints. For instance, a pincer who speaks German as the mother tongue starts encyclopedism English when he/she starts going to school. English is learned by the process of stake language acquisition. Students of encourage language acquisition go done the same stages of learning, the detail of learning varies. Some students tend to learn better by responding to visuals and pictures. There are many positive benefits in the acquisition of a fleck language and bilingualism. There are many positive affective factors for scrap language acquisition and bilingualism.Some positive factors can be listed as the students attitude towards learning the new language, the teacher motivational attitude, and the proficiency in the students first language. too learning a split second language at an early age can have a positive effect on intellectual growth, and in like manner enhance and enrich the childs mental and development. Furthermore it can open the doors of opportunities to other cultures and help the children learn and appreciate other people from other countries. There are deuce types of bilingualism. The first type is simultaneous bilingualism.Simultaneous bilingualism is when children acquire two languages prior to the age three. Simultaneous bilingualism commonly happens when the language apply at home is divers(prenominal) from language used in the community or school. The parents, caregivers or other family members might not speak the language of the school or the community, or the parents could speak two or more languages precisely have made a finish about which language they speak with the child. (http//www. brainy-child. com/article/bilingual. shtm) The second type of bilingualism is sequent bilingualism. Successive bilingualism refers to instances in which a child acquire their second language after the age of three (Otto, 2010, pg. 71). Once they have reached the successive bilingualism stage some c hildren learn their second language formally through school or through language classes. With successive bilingualism a child has the vantage of their first language as a base. They use this to both break apart and develop the second. For example, the child knows that language is organized in a crabbed order. The more mature a child is they to a fault have a better vocabulary base, acoustic perception, and comprehension.Therefore they would make fewer errors in a second language. For example, I once worked with a little boy, Julien, he radius NO English when he entered my classroom (only Spanish) withal, and his mom spoke NO English. As time passed he picked up English but when he got angry he would spout off in Spanish. absolutely the cutest thing I ever saw When parents to do not speak English I take that as a learning chance for myself and the parent. I try to communicate in that parents native language as best as I know how. nonetheless if that mode only knowing the basics .As the year progressed, the parent withal learned how to speak English from taking classes on the army installation. When she could ultimately communicate with me she was very excited and so was I. Our relationship really grew. However, in that respect is a critical period of learning a second language, more linguists believe there is a critical period (lasting roughly from birth until puberty) during which a child can easily acquire any language that he or she is regularly exposed to. Under this view, the structure of the brain changes at puberty, and after that it becomes harder to learn a new language.This means that it is much easier to learn a second language during childhood than as an adult. Apart from the above, children do tend to develop more native-like pronunciation when bilingualism begins before adolescence. (http//www. brainy-child. com/article/bilingual. shtm) With that cosmos said children tend to learn a second language better before the age of fifteen. Lea rners and their learning strategies will change over time. A five year old will have a different language learning profile and language learning strategies than a fifteen year old. (http//www. rainy-child. com/article/bilingual. shtm) As bilingual children acquire the home and drive language they have been found to mix the languages in the same communicatory interaction. This is known as language interference (Otto, 2010). Code mixing is also when the children appear to be mixing the two languages. When the children code mix this whitethorn simply glint their parents use of the two languages. It can also reflect the attempts to maintain a conversation when knowledge of the second language is not sufficient to express the desired message. (Otto, 2010, pg. 72).I have gathern this happen on a regular basis in the preschool classroom. One incident I remember, I was joining my son for eat and I was passing the lunch to the child next to me, when handing him the ham in the container , he replied no bitte which means no thank you. He said no in English and thank you in German. According to Otto, the author of Language development in Early Childhood, Codeswitching is distinguished from code mixing and language interference by the speakers apparently conscious and deliberate use of two languages within the same sentence or from one sentence to some other (Otto, 2010, pg. 2) Codeswitching usually occurs when a idea label is not available in the language being used. When talking to my father he uses codeswitching all time. He would be in the middle of a conversation with me speaking to me in English and if he does not know the correct word in English he would automatically say it in Spanish. I never knew that there was a professional word for this type of language. In the past, peculiarly prior to 1960, bilingualism was thought to be an educational handicap (Otto, 2010, pg. 72).It was believed that children could not learn a second language, while maintaining thei r first language (Otto, 2010). This is termed subtractive bilingualism. When a child encounters subtractive bilingualism this could result in the negative impact on the families. The communication between the families can become disrupted. Prior to the 1970s inquiry has increased our understanding of the factors involved in second language acquisition (Otto, 2010, pg. 73). We as educators need to get involved and help children and their amilies that are bilingual. Current approaches to bilingualism emphasize the acquisition of the second target language, with the continued development of the home language. This approach is also referred to the as additive bilingualism because a childs language skills are enhanced in both languages (Otto, 2010, pg. 73). Immersion programs hike up additive bilingualism for majority language speakers. These are highly valued educational programs. Although teaching is provided in the second language, the teacher knows and may use both languages.For ex ample, the Child culture Center that I work for here in Hohenfels, Germany offers immersion programs to the military community. They offer German and Spanish immersion programs. I believe that these are great programs and that will be very implemental for our community, being that we have some many bilingual families in our community. justly know the classes are offered for children ranging from ages three years until twelve years of age. Also in the Hohenfels community there is Host Nation classes offered at the elemental school.The host acres class teaches basic German words. This class also teaches the German customs. The class is offered twice a workweek in xl five minute blocks. This class is very beneficial when you are in a different country. I went out to eat with my co-worker and her lady friend is in the fifth grade, and just from her attending those classes twice a week she was able to order my food for me at the restaurant. I was impressed. Just being able to comm unicate basically and the read the menu, is what she has learned from her host nation class at school.As mentioned before, I believe the younger the child is, the better the time is to teach a child a second language. Children who have acquired a level of fluency in two languages have been described as having the fol ruggeding increased language competencies higher levels of metalinguistic awareness, great and earlier awareness of language structure, wider perspectives, and more social skills (Otto, 2010, pg. 73). This supports the claim of there being positive effects to bilingualism. Language is not taught directly, but it is acquired through ways which are clearly understood in a low anxiety environment.I am seeing this in my profession more and more each day. The amount of importance put onto second language acquisition is much higher that it has been before at least it is more profound now. As a caregiver, I have learned that relationships and learning opportunities will allow children to strive in acquiring a second language. Children and families will continue to learn English as they come to the background of the American Dream, and caregivers, like myself will only slowly begin to see the effects second language acquisition has on our society.ReferencesOtto, B. (2010). Language teaching In Early Childhood. (3rd Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ PearsonBRAINSKILLS.(2011).How does language acquisition happen? .Retrieved from http//www.brainskills.co.uk/HowDoesLanuageAcquisitionHappen.htmlBrainy Child.(2011).The Impact of Bilingualism on Overall Language Development and Academic Success .Retrieved from http//www.brainy-child.com/article/bilingual.shtm)Education.(2011).Becoming bilingual acquiring two languages.Retrieved from http//www.education.com/reference/article/bilingual-acquiring-two-language/Alice Callaghan. (2010,July11). English immersion.Los Angeles Times,p.A.33. Retrieved March 01, 2011, from Los Angeles Times. (Document ID2078277161).MacLeo d,A.,Stoel-Gammon,C..(2010). What is the impact of age of second language acquisition on the production of consonants and vowels among childhood bilinguals?The International daybook of Bilingualism,14(4),400-421,511. Retrieved March 01, 2011, from Research Library. (Document ID2266735221).