The chapter focuses on research on the development of language in bilingual children. Bilingual children are the children that have exposure to two languages. Many researchers have in the past focused on researching the development of language in children whose exposure is to a single language. However, the number of children who are exposed to two languages is growing, and this raises the need for research on their development of language. Research on the development of language in bilingual language is, therefore, a new area of research that will provide answers to many arising issues.
Language development in bilingual children
The method and procedure defined in the chapter include conducting research on bilingual children who have not yet started school. It includes the procedures for obtaining samples of bilingual children as well as the methods to determine the properties of environment that are bilingual. Nevertheless, the chapter includes methods of determining how well the bilingual children know the languages they are exposed to.
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One of the procedures of obtaining samples for this research is by collecting samples from habitats that are thought to be bilingual and using the infants from the areas that are likely to be bilingual in future. Another procedure considered is listening at the same time and using the techniques of brain imaging to analyzing speech spontaneously and testing how the bilingual children are developing. This process allows researchers to obtain grammaticality from children that are bilingual. The methods of determining the properties in an environment that are bilingual include using diary on languages as well as conducting interviews with the caregivers. So as to determining how well the children know the languages in those environments, researchers need to record speeches that are spontaneous and conduct tests that are standardized using instruments developed by the individual investigator.
The issues for which this method is best suited include issues arising due to lack of scientific information about children who are bilingual. Another problem is the low academic achievements for children that grow in bilingual environments as compared to those that are exposed to a single language. Another issue is associated with conducting research on older school going children, which is difficult because one has to seek permission from the schools.
One of the difficulties in the method is determining the current variability in the bilingual abilities of children in the bilingual environments. The variability in these conditions increases the diversity of the complete research. Another difficulty is the inability and indecisiveness of children when selecting subjects in schools. Further, the children who grow up in bilingual environments have difficulty in learning how to read and speak because of the struggle they undergo as they try to learn two languages at the same time. This is unlike children who grow up in monolingual environments who are only exposed to a single language because they can learn the language fast.
The possible pitfall is that there might be a question of how well to account for the development of languages in bilingual children. This is because the available theories are only focused on accounting for the monolingual development of languages. The benefits of using the method include that the researcher can acquire first-hand information from the target group. The researcher is also able personally to discover aspects in the populations that cannot be obtained from other data sources.
In conclusion, the reading focuses on a research of language development in bilingual children. Past researchers have focused on monolingual children's language development thus not satisfying the need of bilingual children. The researcher has therefore used the primary method of obtaining data to find information regarding language development in bilingual children.
