Bilingualism

Bilingualism

Literature Review

There is extensive literature available pertaining to the concept of development of literacy particular that of bilingualism. However, many researchers have researched on this particular subject from different domains ranging from psychological development, language penetration in children and level of proficiency of multilingualism in both individuals and groups. Over the period of time, growth has been seen in this particular area of study. This paper particularly discusses the key concepts of language theorists such as those of Skinner, Krashen, Cummins and few others. In the light of these concepts, I will discuss my understanding of the concept of bilingualism.

Bilingualism

Bilingualism is an act of using two languages, either by an individual or a fraternity of speakers. As a matter of fact, bilingual persons surpass those of monolingual speakers in the overall population of world. The main reason behind such a notion is the need of the world, because the world has became a global village, with the passage of time .However, the cultures have amalgamated and this has created a need for a particular social phenomenon, hence, bilingual is one of its products. With the ease of the access of vast amount of information, it has become easy for individuals as well as for communities to get facilitated through this notion. Individuals now are in quest of acquiring additional knowledge of languages, and this quest has resulted in such a number of populations (Baker, 2011).

The definition of bilingualism is subject to debate. As a matter of fact, one may define bilingualism as an edge or mastery in another language. This means an individual must have sufficient level of knowledge same as that of native language. However, on the other hand, the tourists who often have sufficient knowledge of the phrases of particular language are also, for another perspective, bilingual. Due to such dilemma pertaining to the confusion that exists in the understanding of the definition of bilingualism, it has become tedious to define this term in absolute manner. This has also made it difficult for the institution who teaches bilingualism to classify an individual on the basis of it. As a matter of fact, the threshold level of knowledge need for an individual to qualify for the title of bilingual is still unknown or at least not clarified. Subsequent to this result, most of the speakers do not receive idea level of proficiency in a foreign language, this made them to be classified as deficient and the teaching of language has been seen as a failure over the period of time (Bailystok, 2009).

Skinner

The debate between natures vs. nurture does apply to the theory of acquisition of language. As a matter of fact, many of the researchers admit the both of the elements - nature and nurture, play due role in the adoption of language. In fact, some researchers put more emphasis over the aspect of learning, while other give biological influence more shares. From the biological point of view, according to Skinner, the ability of children to ...