Second Look at Second Language Learning: The Bilingual Edge by Kendall King and Alison Mackey

In my pre-publication post of May 23 I promised to report back on The Bilingual Edge: Why, When, and How to Teach Your Child a Second Language by Kendall King and Allison Mackey.

I've had a chance to take a closer look at this handbook on raising bilingual children and found it informing and informal enough for most parents. One valuable section dispels many of the myths associated with early bilingual learning. The foremost myth, of course, is that teaching two languages simultaneously delays the emergence of independent speech. King and Mackey's research showed no such measurable effect. Another interesting finding was that although early experience was important in attaining a native accent in both languages (the window for hearing and appropriating all human language sounds begins to close at 10 months), fluency (i.e., mastery of grammar and wide vocabulary) can be developed during any time in childhood and that adolescents (and even adults) can sometimes master these elements of language at a faster rate than very young children.

Another commonly held belief is that the two languages should be taught by different persons, for example, that daddy should speak English and mommy should speak French with the child. Research did not show any particular advantage, except for perhaps convenience and coverage of the language, for this method. Children who heard both languages from two or more relatives did mix words from both languages in the same sentences initially, but the children soon sorted out the two as time passed. The authors' data did not show any particular advantage for language videos or recordings for very early learners, but suggested that they might be helpful for school aged children.

The authors warn that second language development is as individual a process as is learning the mother tongue. First-borns do better on average than later children, and girls show more fluency than boys. Some children learn languages "holistically," that is, speaking whole phrases or sentences without understanding the function of each word, and others are "itemizers," learning the meaning and function of each word before then put it all together into sentences. Some are auditory learners; some are visual learners, and kinetic and tactile experience are important for some children.

King and Mackey encourage bilingual learning at any age and at any intensity, pointing out that early experience with more than one language makes learning languages later in life easier. One particularly strong argument for bilingual experience, backed up by ample research, is that children with early bilingual experience tend to outperform monolinguals on mental tests, displaying more mental flexibility in other areas of activity, although the authors point out that this effect shows up only with "relatively high levels of proficiency in both languages."

Implementing bilingual experience with a very young child can be both a daunting and rewarding undertaking, and the basic information and helpful tips which King and Mackey offer can be invaluable to parents looking for a starting point in this endeavor.