Bilingual Eduction Programs - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 797 Downloads: 5 Date added: 2019/10/30 Category Education Essay Level High school Tags: Bilingual Education Essay Did you like this example? Nowadays, when you go to schools there is an ever growing populaion of bilingual students . As we look at schools , there is still a need for programs for bilingual students and they should be kept in schools. Bilingual programs in schools are needed because bilingual students can outperform in executive control tasks, bilingualism helps improve thinking, and these programs help all students. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Bilingual Eduction Programs" essay for you Create order Bilingual speakers outperform their counterparts in executive control tasks As students grow up and consistently speak two languages, this allows their brain to outperform their monolingual peers in executive control. Merriam-Webster defines executive control as the ability to carry out goal-directed behaviors through complex mental processes, such as reciting memories or impulse inhibition. A study, conducted on groups of monolingual and bilingual 8-year-old students, showed that bilingual students were significantly more correct than their counterparts when asked to recall two different items from memory. Furthermore, the study also shows when the tasks were made harder, bilingual students outperformed monolingual students. In another study, it was shown that bilingual students, even at age 6, surpass their fellow monolingual students when they are asked to do difficult and controlled actions. All in all, these studies have exhibited that bilingual students, even at different ages, can surpass their monolingual peers when it comes to challenging and designated actions(Bialystok, 2011). Thus, bilingual programs would help prove and support those finding even farther by nurturing bilingual speaking. Bilingualism helps thinking throughout students life How cool would it be if speaking two languages helped you keep your brain in good shape as you age? Well, it is quite possible it can happen, bilingual programs have the chance to foster the brain longevity and how efficient it can stay as you age. A study done on healthy adults between the ages of 60-68, who were either bilingual or monolingual, had a fMRI while they were asked to do three basic tasks. They were asked to identify a shape, next they had to name the color of an object, then the last task, which was named the switch task was to combine the two tasks. As a result, bilingual adults had less of a delay in their swit ch tasks than the monolingual adults. Brian gold, a study researcher, said it can suggest that bilingual adults use their brains more efficiently than monolingual speakers. Furthermore, he states that the regular shifting from one language to the other may strengthen the efficiency regions involved in changing tasks(Rettner, 2013). So, this study shows and supports that if students are nurtured to continue to speak to two languages, their brain can become much more efficient as they grow older. Both monolingual and bilingual students benefit from these programs Dual language programs help not only the brain of the bilingual student, but they also help monolingual students in the classroom. When you think of bilingual programs, you may think of non- native English speaking students trying to learn English and become affluent in the language, but that may not always be the case. There is a specific type of bilingual programs, called two-way dual-language programs, that educate both English learners and English speakers in the classroom. This program promotes both types of students to benefit from one another and become interdependent on one another as well and the teachers. Because instruction time in the classroom is at least 50% in the non- language, the program allows English learners to help native English speaker through a second language and native speakers to help learners through the curriculum. Thus, learning together can increase students interest in school and the topics in the curriculum, improve students motivation, and can further speed up a students progress in school(Thomas Collier, 2003). So, bilingual programs can be a huge benefit in the classroom not only for the bilingual student but their monolingual peers as well. Conclusion As you read through my paper , i hope that you were persuaded and show why the need to keep bilingual education programs is still there. The bilingual popluation of people, not only students, is not going away nor is it shrinking; these programs are able to show what an advantage it is and what monolingual people have to benefit from them. Charlemagne once said, To have another language is to possess a second soul. References Bialystok, E. (2011, December). Reshaping the mind: The benefits of bilingualism. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65(4), 229-235. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/docview/889452671/abstract/CDB8A9B134CF4B9APQ/1?accountid=35812 Thomas, W. P., Collier, Virginia P. (2003, October). The multiple benefits of dual language. Educational Leadership, 61(2), 61-64. Retrieved from https://www.dentonisd.org/cms/lib/TX21000245/Centricity/Domain/7948/Ed%20Ldrship%20-%20The%20multiple%20benefits%20of%20DL.pdf Rettner, R. (2013). Early bilingualism improves thinking in old age. Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/26094-bilingualism-aging-brain.html