Bilingualism in development : language, literacy, and cognition /
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 constraint...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge, UK ; New York :
Cambridge University Press,
2001
Cambridge, UK ; New York : 2001 |
| Subjects: |
| Summary: | 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 "Bilingualism in Development explores language and cognitive development in bilingual children, focusing on the preschool years. It begins by defining what we mean by bilingualism and what the standards are for considering children to be bilingual. Then it examines how children who learn two languages early in childhood develop both linguistic and nonlinguistic cognitive skills." "The author presents her own theoretical framework for cognitive development and language processing, which she uses to interpret the differences between the performance of bilingual and monolingual children. Basing her discussion on research conducted with children of different backgrounds, the author examines the following developmental abilities: language acquisition, metalinguistic ability, literacy, and problem solving. The studies - which used various types of methodology - show that bilingualism has a significant impact on children's ability to selectively attend to relevant information. These findings are related to a number of issues regarding the education and social circumstances of bilingual children. The author considers the implications of her theory for language acquisition and cognitive development of all children."--Jacket |
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| Item Description: | Description based on print version record |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (xii, 288 p.) 1 online resource (xii, 288 pages) xii, 288 pages ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (p. [249]-279) and index Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-279) and index |
| ISBN: | 0511012373 051103590X 0511051131 0511152809 0511173652 0511303289 051160596X 0521632315 0521635071 1107115760 1280432233 9780511012372 9780511035906 9780511051135 9780511152801 9780511173653 9780511303289 9780511605963 9780521632317 9780521635073 9781107115767 9781280432231 |
| Access: | License restrictions may limit access Online version licensed for access by U. of T. users |