Early childhood bilingualism: Perils and possibilities

Abstract

Notwithstanding the evident professional, personal, and social advantages of bilingualism in Canada and internationally, fear and pessimism are often expressed about raising or educating children bilingually. These fears are often founded on four myths: (1) the myth of the monolingual brain; (2) the myth of time-on-task; (3) the myth of bilingualism and language impairment; and (4) the myth of minority language children. These myths are important because they provide a basis for decision making about raising and educating children bilingually and, thus, it is important to validate them empirically. This article will explore each of these myths and review research fi ndings relevant to each. Research on three populations of dual language learners will be considered: preschool children who acquire two languages simultaneously; majority language students attending second language immersion programs; and children who acquire a minority language at home but are schooled in a majority language.

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