Bilingual development in the early years – an overview of research

John Landon

Hussain and Chloe: similarities and differences

On entering early education, at the age of four, Hussain will have made as much progress in the development of his first language, Bengali, as Chloe has made in the development of English (NALDIC, 1999). Both Hussain and Chloe are fluent in everyday social settings and are already using their first language at home, in their learning through play, to narrate events, for humour, and to exercise their imagination. Through their first language, they have begun to negotiate social relationships at a number of levels of formality, with adults and with other children of different ages. They enjoy television and videos, and listen and take part in songs, rhymes and storytelling. They both come from literate homes, and have seen their parents and siblings reading and writing. At times they have participated in these activities, by listening to stories read to them, and by experimenting with scribing, based on their first language script, writing their name, and making representational drawings (Kress, 1997).

They have also learned a lot about themselves: expectations which others within the family have of them, related to their age, gender, ability, position in the family, and personality. They will also have a dawning awareness of how others outside the family view them, as they make judgements based on ethnicity, appearance, dress, and speech. Hussain and Chloe will, in their turn, be beginning to make discriminating choices about those they meet in terms of their desirability as playmates, their degree of likeness or unlikeness to them (Davey, 1983), sometimes trading on commonly held and expressed racist and sexist ideologies without necessarily believing in them (Troyna and Hatcher, 1991). In general terms, the two children have both made similar progress in their linguistic and cognitive development, and in their growth as social beings.

However, their experiences, on closer examination, have been very different. Some of these differences may be embraced by early education practitioners; others may be ignored or denied. To some extent, both Hussain and Chloe will grow to recognise that the world of education is different from the world of home and that different norms apply. For Hussain, these differences will be so much the greater. This will require adjustments to be made by Hussain, his family and practitioners in the early education establishment. However, if these adjustments are made sensitively and collaboratively, the fact that Hussain, unlike Chloe, is developing bilingually and biculturally, will lead to lasting personal, social, cognitive and linguistic advantages for him and his friends, and will enrich his development as a confident individual, successful learner, responsible citizen and effective contributor (SEED, 2004).

Two types of bilingual development: simultaneous or sequential second language acquisition

Children, like Hussain, from minority linguistic and cultural communities, may enter an early education establishment already bilingual. Their parents/carers may use different languages to communicate with them, or they may have acquired one language from their parents/carers and the language of wider communication, English, from older siblings or English-speaking friends. In cases of simultaneous acquisition (for six different categories, see Romaine, 1995), children will quickly have become aware of when it is appropriate to use one or another of their languages (for case studies, see Fantini, 1981; Taeschner, 1983; Saunders, 1988). Nicoladis (1998) suggests that the ability to use the appropriate language with a particular person occurs very early, between 12 and 18 months, and is well established by the age of two (Genesee et al, 1996).

In Hussain’s case, the second language is acquired, following acquisition of the first, once he starts learning outside the home and community environment. Sequential or successive acquisition is the experience of many emergent bilingual children entering early education establishments in Scotland. As A Curriculum Framework for Children 3 to 5 recognises: ‘The pre-school years are an ideal stage at which to enrich children’s language experiences by exposing them to different languages’ (SCCC, 1999:15).

It is important for early years practitioners and parents/carers to consider the social and linguistic factors which impact on the child’s second, or additional, language development and the stages of development through which they can be expected to progress. In addition, it is important that they keep in mind the vital role which maintenance and development of the first language can play in confirming identity, raising academic potential and in facilitating second language acquisition (Baker, 2001).

Developing as a bilingual: the first steps

Children develop concepts and language at one and the same time, as they interact socially with other children in meaningful and motivating settings. When this process is taking place in their first language, they are building directly on the language development and early learning which has taken place at home. When cognitive and linguistic development is taking place in a second or additional language as part of more formal learning, there may well be a hiatus until the child can interact socially with the peer group and early years staff, and until learning experiences which would be meaningful, if conducted in the first language, become meaningful in English. The speed with which this hiatus is bridged will depend on the language used in the educational setting, the way the learning environment is set up, the child’s learning style, ability and motivation, and the degree of social acceptance of the child by other children (Siraj-Blatchford and Clarke, 2000).

When young children find themselves in a social situation in which people around them speak a different language, they really have only two options. They can continue using their first language, or they can stop talking altogether. If speakers of their first language are present in the learning environment (for example, adult members of their own or other families, other children or bilingual staff), learning will continue, without a break, through the first language, alongside the development of English, thus easing the transition between home and early years education. Where speakers of the first language are not present, Saville-Troike (1987) found that 3-7-year-olds continued to speak their first language as if those around them could understand. In highly contextualised play situations, this form of ‘communication’ achieved its desired end; however, when ‘the context alone did not suffice for meaning to be inferred, the response to an unintelligible verbalisation was frequently a blank look’ (1987: 85).

There is evidence from a study in primary schools in ‘mainly white’ suburban areas of Glasgow, carried out by Smyth (2001), that many teachers, in opposition to general research findings which show the benefits of bilingualism, were uneasy about the continued use of the first language in school and at home. They were of the opinion that it is in the child’s best interests to become monolingual in English as quickly as possible. Smyth showed that these attitudes generated a subliminal classroom ethos which inhibited use of the first language.

The alternative to use of the first language is a ‘silent period’. Case studies of children who undergo a silent, or non-verbal, period (Itoh and Hatch, 1978; Granger, 2004) suggest that younger children maintain their silence for lengthier periods than older children. Tabors (1997) emphasises that ‘although children may not produce utterances during this time, most engage in various forms of non-verbal communication [for attention-getting, requesting, protesting and joking] with those who do not speak their home language’ (1997:43). Clarke (1996) shows that when the learning context is meaningful and motivating, children are absorbing the new language and building up their comprehension. Other factors, like personality and learning style, as well as the surrounding ethos of the learning environment, may also contribute to the length of the ‘silent period’.

Many children who are at the early stages of second language acquisition, especially those in mainly English-speaking early education establishments, may find themselves quite socially isolated. They may work alone, mostly ignored by other children and unable to express their needs to adults. On occasions, other children will encroach on their territory, to attempt to join in an interesting activity, and, when co-operation appears to be rebuffed, may purloin the resources from under the eyes of their non-communicating partner. This can lead to frustration and sometimes violence on the part of the developing bilingual. Tabors (1997) describes this as the classic double-bind that anyone learning a new language must face: ‘in order to learn this new language, [children] must be socially accepted by those who speak the language; but to be socially accepted, [they] must already be able to speak the new language’ (1997:35). Such social interactions need to be carefully monitored, and, if necessary, mediated, by staff.