User:Varnellr16/sandbox

Guidelines

Content

• How recent is the material that is being cited. Are there more recent studies that counter some of the information?

• How does the article flow. Is it addressing information that supports and relates to the topic?
• How could the article still be improved?

Tone

• Are you writing from a neutral position? Is the information being cited supported by biased sources?
• Are there certain subjects that are being touched on unevenly?

Sourcing

• Are the sources being cited trustworthy? Do the sources approach topics with a neutral tone; if not, is the source honest about their bias?

• Are the sources being cited relevant to claims being made in the topic. Are the links functioning?

Talk Page

• How does the information compare or contrast to the its representation in school?

• What do the discussions are taking place, and who is talking about it?
• Is the article represented in any WikiProjects? Is the content thorough and valued?

Article Evaluation

Wikipedia Article

Article Title : Cognitive advantages of bilingualism

Wikipedia Article Link - Cognitive advantages of bilingualism

Personal Notes for the article:

• There are multiple titles that are not neutral. The author of the article uses words like (Some, and many and multiple etc.) in reference to the studies that suggest there are cognitive benefits to bilingualism; however, the way they are used makes it appear as though he/she is pushing their opinions in.
• Change the title to something more neutral. For example : "The Cognitive Effects of Bilingualism."
• There seems to be sections where they are not particularly that well cited, and appear grouped up as mini talking points from the authors perspective.
• Work with the flow a bit, try and get it to read and flow smoother. Focus on what people in the fields have found without creeping the idea of what the title suggests.

What am I wanting to contribute to the article?

• Remove irrelevant information
• Bring the overall tone to a more neutral zone
• Make sure sections are being referenced properly and are cited
• Contribute to sections adding additional information

Notes

Reading ability

• 4 - 5 year old children
• Monolingual English, bilingual Chinese and English, Bilingual French and English
• All of the children had the foundational understanding of reading, but were not capable of doing it by themselves
• The bilingual children were familiar with stories of both their native tongue and english
• Bilingual children understand the symbolic representation better than the monolingual
• Chinese students showed the highest recognition of english print

Edits and Drafts

Anything under the Original section are unedited

Anything under the Edits section have been copied from: Cognitive advantages of bilingualism

Anything under the Drafts section are new additions to be included in the Article.

Original

Reading ability

Bilinguals have also been found to outperform monolinguals in reading ability, as seen in another study by Bialystok. To analyze this area of bilingualism, Bialystok discussed the representational principle, which refers to the symbolic representation of spoken language, or the connection between spoken and written language systems. Understanding this principle would help one with acquiring literacy. For the testing of this principle, she gave children a "Moving Word Task" where the child had to appropriately match the written word to the object on a card. If they could correctly match the two after some rearranging of the cards, it was agreed that they could understand written words as representations of specific words whose meanings cannot change. The study was taken further in order to see when bilinguals grasped this principle in comparison to monolinguals. The results showed that bilingual children were correct on their "Moving Word Task" over 80% of the time, which is a percentage equal to that of monolinguals who were one year older than the bilinguals being tested. Overall, the bilinguals seemed to understand the representational principle earlier than monolinguals, meaning they were earlier prepared for literacy acquisition.

In another study done by Durgunoglu, Nagy, and Hancin-Bhatt, this same concept for bilinguals' reading abilities was also studied. For this specific study, native Spanish speaking children who were learning to read English were tested. The researchers observed these bilinguals to find that their levels of phonological awareness and word recognition in Spanish could predict how well they would be able to recognize words in English. The results showed that the phonological awareness skills established in one language could be transferred to the reading ability in another language. Again, bilinguals seem to be more advanced than monolinguals when it comes to reading ability.

Language structure and awareness

In their book In Other Words, Ellen Bialystok and Kenji Hakuta, both professors studying bilingualism, examined the idea that "the knowledge of two languages is greater than the sum of its parts." They argued that the linguistic benefits of being bilingual are more than simply being able to speak two languages. For instance, if a child is learning two languages whose structures and rules are significantly different from each other, this would require the child to think in more complicated ways. Take for example the arbitrariness of labels for objects, or distinguishing between and using two different grammatical or syntactical structures. These areas would be quite difficult for a child to learn, but would increase the understanding of the structure of language and help gain a greater awareness of meaning. This greater awareness of meaning for bilinguals is what is referred to as metalinguistic awareness (see metalinguistics abilities section above).

Is bilingualism or executive control the causative force?

Hakuta and Diaz, addressed the chicken and egg question concerning bilinguals and their enhanced cognitive abilities; do children with greater cognitive abilities tend to learn more than one language, or is it knowing more than one language that enhances cognitive ability? They administered a set of non-verbal tests that are designed to measure cognitive ability (Raven's Progressive Matrices) to a bilingual sample of children. They found a high correlation with the degree of bilingualism (how proficient the individuals were in each of their languages) of their sample and scores on the test, as well as bilingualism did in fact predict performance (and therefore cognitive ability). However, an important point to note, is that most native bilinguals haven't learnt a second language because they are more intelligent. In most cases, they have grown up in a family where use of the two languages is necessary and therefore it is unlikely that the child's intelligence will allow them to learn the second language.

History

Over the course of the past few years, the prevalence of bilinguals in the United States has increased dramatically. While the United States Census Bureau does not directly poll for bilingualism, they do poll for what languages are used in an individual's home, and if it is a language other than English, they then poll for how well that same individual speaks English. In 2012, François Grosjean, a professor of Linguistics from the University of Neuchâtel, interpreted the results from the Census Bureau as follows: 11% of the population was bilingual in 1980, 14% in 1990, and 20% in 2012. This positive increase matches the shift to more positive beliefs about the cognitive advantages of bilingualism.

Before the 1960s, research on bilingual individuals was varied. There was a specific pattern of conclusions, namely that being bilingual was detrimental to a child's linguistic and cognitive development, and that it put the individual at a disadvantage compared to monolingual peers. The general opinion was that bilinguals would have smaller vocabularies, stunted cognitive abilities and that children learning two languages from a young age would be spending too much of their energy differentiating and building the two languages to become competent in either one. Studies referred to the topic as the "problem of bilingualism" or the "handicapping influence of bilingualism" and reported that bilinguals performed worse in IQ tests and suffered in most aspects of language development.

These studies suffered from several methodological problems that undermined the soundness of their conclusions. They employed unstandardized and subjective definitions of bilingualism and of a bilingual individual (e.g., labeling a person as bilingual or monolingual through assumptions based on the national origin of that person's parents or even based on that person's family name), raising the concern that there is no way of determining whether their samples were truly representative of a bilingual population. They also did not control for socioeconomic status (SES) and many of them administered verbal-intelligence tests to non-proficient speakers of a second language in that second language.

In 1962, Peal and Lambert published a study highlighting the importance of controlling for such factors as age, sex, and SES, as well as of having a standardized measure for bilingualism when selecting a sample of bilinguals to be studied. In their study they carefully matched bilingual to monolingual participants, and they found that the bilinguals showed significant advantages over the monolinguals in both verbal and non-verbal tests, especially in non-verbal tests that required more mental flexibility.

Since then, the literature has consistently found advantages for bilinguals over matched monolingual peers, in particular in relation to cognitive areas of aptitude such as perception and executive functioning.

Edited

Reading ability

- ( Difficult to edit because of sources : some of the research you would need to purchase to view )

As an attempt to further analyze bilingualism as it relates to reading capability, there was another study done by by Bialystok. This study was conducted by testing a group of children ages 4 to 5, equally familiar with their secondary language as in their own native tongues. The assessment was made using what Bialystok discussed as a representational principle; which refers to a symbolic representation of spoken language or the connection between the spoken and written language systems. For the testing of this principle, she gave children a "Moving Word Task" where the child had to appropriately match the written word to the object on a card. If they could correctly match the two after some rearranging of the cards, it suggested that they could understand written words as representations of specific words whose meanings cannot change. This study was taken further,

one of the goals was to get a closer look at how a bilingual child would grasp particular principles in contrast to that of a monolingual child. What they found was: the bilingual children appeared to have an 80% and above accuracy answering the "Moving Word Task" questions while the monolingual children's percentage equal to th. who were one year older than the bilinguals being tested. Overall, the bilinguals seemed to understand the representational principle earlier than monolinguals, meaning they were earlier prepared for literacy acquisition.

History

Over the course of the past few years, the prevalence of bilinguals in the United States has increased dramatically. While the United States Census Bureau does not directly poll for bilingualism, they do poll for what languages are used in an individual's home, and if it is a language other than English, they then poll for how well that same individual speaks English. In 2012, François Grosjean, a professor of Linguistics from the University of Neuchâtel, interpreted the results from the Census Bureau as follows: 11% of the population was bilingual in 1980, 14% in 1990, and 20% in 2012. This positive increase matches the shift to more positive beliefs about the cognitive advantages of bilingualism.

Before the 1960s, research on bilingual individuals was varied. There was a specific pattern of conclusions, namely that being bilingual was detrimental to a child's linguistic and cognitive development, and that it put the individual at a disadvantage compared to monolingual peers. The general opinion was that bilinguals would have smaller vocabularies, stunted cognitive abilities and that children learning two languages from a young age would be spending too much of their energy differentiating and building the two languages to become competent in either one. Studies referred to the topic as the "problem of bilingualism" or the "handicapping influence of bilingualism" and reported that bilinguals performed worse in IQ tests and suffered in most aspects of language development.

These studies suffered from several methodological problems that undermined the soundness of their conclusions. They employed unstandardized and subjective definitions of bilingualism and of a bilingual individual (e.g., labeling a person as bilingual or monolingual through assumptions based on the national origin of that person's parents or even based on that person's family name), raising the concern that there is no way of determining whether their samples were truly representative of a bilingual population. They also did not control for socioeconomic status (SES) and many of them administered verbal-intelligence tests to non-proficient speakers of a second language in that second language.

In 1962, Peal and Lambert published a study highlighting the importance of controlling for such factors as age, sex, and SES, as well as of having a standardized measure for bilingualism when selecting a sample of bilinguals to be studied. In their study they carefully matched bilingual to monolingual participants, and they found that the bilinguals showed significant advantages over the monolinguals in both verbal and non-verbal tests, especially in non-verbal tests that required more mental flexibility.

Since then, the literature has consistently found advantages for bilinguals over matched monolingual peers, in particular in relation to cognitive areas of aptitude such as perception and executive functioning.

Information to consider

• Sources all seem to be reputable, although one is a psychology website which err on the side of controversy. Although the sources that are provided on this site are reliable themselves.
• The article itself is C Rated : it isn't quite up to standard in some of the requirements
• High importance rating
• The talk page only has 5 comments and they are widely spaced apart, over years. The two most recent ones address many of the issues. "The article seems POV." Maybe I can help fix better the quality of the article. Hopefully

Works Cited

My Citations: All of my collected sources

( Psychology Today ) - What are the Effects of Bilingualism

( NCBI ) - The Cognitive Benefits of Being Bilingual

( NIH ) - Bilingual Effects in the Brain

( Medical News Today ) - Bilingualism: What happens in the brain?

( Science Daily ) - Bilingualism and the Brain: How Language Shapes Our Ability to Process Information

From Article : Citations used in each section

Language structure and awareness

( New York L BasicBooks. ) - In other words: the science and psychology of second-language acquisition.

( Developmental Psychology ) - Levels of bilingualism and levels of linguistic awareness.

( Review of Educational Research ) - A systematic review and meta-analysis of the cognitive correlates of bilingualism.

Reading ability

( Developmental Psychology ) - Effects of bilingualism and biliteracy on children's emerging concepts of print.

( Developmental Psychology ) - Languages, scripts, and the environment: Factors in the developing concepts of print.

( Journal of Educational Psychology ) - Cross-Language transfer of phonological awareness.

( Literacy Development in Multilingual Context ) - Acquiring literacy in English and Spanish in the United States.

( Psychology Today ) - Bilinguals in the United Sates.

( Teachers college Columbia university ) - Bilingualism and mental development.

( Children's Language, vol.5. Erlbaum. pp. 320-344 ) - The relationship between degree of bilingualism and cognitive ability.

( The Journal of Genetic Psychology. 103(2): 259–282 ) - Bilingualism and the measurement of intelligence: Review of a decade of research.

( The Pedagogical Seminary and Journal of Genetic Psychology. 82 (1): 21–57 ) - A review of the literature on the effects of bilingualism upon the measurement of intelligence.