Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Bilingual babies...

Hey GL's! Sorry, that it's taken so long for me to add a blog. But I came across this video clip about bilingual children and how language development occurs!
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3 comments:

Jon Fisher said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
August 30, 2008 at 9:45 AM
Jon Fisher said...

This is a great video Dorothy! I found it interesting that the reporter in the video refers to the children developing a set of circuitry for each language and storing the information in two different parts. Some neuroscientists would argue that the information is stored in the same region in children who learn two languages from a very young age -particularly for reading. In the book "How the Brain Learns", David Sousa points out that functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging studies show that in children who learn two languages early process both languages in the same region (Wernicke's and Broca's area) and that people who learn a second language later process each language in slightly different area. This may explain why it's harder to learn a language once you get older.
Great posting!

Sousa, David A., 2005: How the Brain Learns. 3rd Ed. Thousand Oaks, CA. Corwin Press

August 30, 2008 at 9:50 AM
Deborah said...

Given the idea that language learning can occur simultaneously and children develop circuitry be it in separate areas of the brain or same (depending on age of experiences with L1 or L2) supports the idea that the literacy instruction in 2 languages will not confuse children. The suggestion is literacy instruction can occur as early as possible. The question becomes how is the instruction best delivered and/or do you deliver instruction in 2 languages or just 1?

September 2, 2008 at 10:42 AM

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