Bilingual Acquisition and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood: Challenges to the Research Paradigm

Year 2007, Volume: 6 Issue: 3, 422 - 429, 26.06.2007

Yavuz Akbulut

Abstract

The belief that learning a second language (L2) poses challenges to cognitive
performance in early childhood is questioned along with the ideas of proponents and
opponents. It is regarded colorable to claim that development in bilinguals and monolinguals
can be different because of the functions or advantages of specific experiences in each
language. Studies maintaining that bilingualism influences cognitive development in early
childhood lead one to the conclusion that language and cognition are interdependent rather
than independent issues. Nevertheless, bilingualism has been treated as a single discrete
independent variable ignoring that it is a multidimensional notion, which seems to remain a
problem in the experimental paradigm of research. Thus, to scrutinize on the influences of
bilingualism, it is considered crucial to take into consideration the unique features of
participants, tasks and the relationships of those tasks to the constructs in question. Finally,
bilingual children’s ability to transfer their decontextualized skills and knowledge from one
language to another is regarded as an advantage while children in monolingual contexts are
only able to carry out the very same tasks only in one language

Keywords

Cognitive development, early childhood, bilingual acquisition

Erken çocuklukta çift dilliliğin kazanımı ve bilişsel gelişim: Araştırma paradigmasındaki problemler

Abstract

İkinci dil kazanımının bilişsel performansa olumsuz etiketi ileine yönelik inançlar savunucuların ve karşı gelenlerin fikirlerini yararlanılarak sorgulanmıştır. Kazanılan farklı farklı dillerdeki farklı işlevleri nedeni ile dilli ve çift dilli çocuklarda gelişimin farklılıklarından öne sürmek kabul edilebilir görünmektedir. Çift dilliliğin bilişsel gelişimi etkilediğini savunan çalışmalar dil ve biliş kavramlarının birbirinden bağımsız olduğu, birbirleri ile ilişkili olduğu mevcutuna yönelmektedir. Ancak çift dilliliğin tek kişi bir bağımsız değişken olarak algılanması ve çok yönlü bir olgu oluşunun göz ardı edilmesi, araştırma paradigmasında hala rastlanan bir problemdir. Bu kişilik çift dilliliğin etkileri üzerine odaklanabilmek için, çift dilli çocukların eşsiz olan özelliklerinin gideri alınması, gerçekleştirilen görevlerin özelliklerinin incelenmesi ve bu görevlerle incelenen yapılar arasındaki ilişkilerin açığa çıkarılması Gerekmektedir. Son olarak, çift dilli çocukların bir dili öğrenme ortamında elde ettikleri deneyimleri başka bir dil öğrenme ortamına aktarma yetileri bir avantaj olarak ele alınmış, tek dilli çocukların aynı görevleri sadece tek bir dil ortamında yerine getirmeleri durumunda daha dezavantajlı olabilecekleri tartışılmıştır.

Keywords

Bilişsel gelişim, erken çocukluk, çift dilliliğin kazanımı

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