Simultaneous bilingualism is a form of bilingualism that takes place when a child becomes bilingual by learning two languages from birth. According to Annick De Houwer, in an article in The Handbook of Child Language, simultaneous bilingualism takes place in "children who are regularly addressed in two spoken languages from before the age of two and who continue to be regularly addressed in those languages up until the final stages" of language development.De Houwer 1996, sec. 3. Both languages are acquired as first languages. This is in contrast to sequential bilingualism, in which the second language is learned not as a native language but a foreign language.
Prevalence
It is estimated that half of the world is functionally bilingual, and the majority of those bilinguals are 'native speakers' of their two languages. Wölck has pointed out that there are many "native bilingual communities", typically in South America, Africa, and Asia, where "monolingual norms may be unavailable or nonexistent".Wölck 1987, p. 9.
Beliefs about simultaneous bilingualism Some popular misconceptions about bilingualism include the ideas that bilingual children will not reach proficiency in either language and that they will be cognitively disadvantaged.Tucker and D'Anglejan qtd. in Diaz 1984, p. 24. Many studies in the early 20th century found evidence of a "language handicap" in simultaneously bilingual children, linking bilingualism with a lower intelligence.Diaz 1984, p. 25. However, many of these studies had serious methodological flaws. For example, several studies relating bilingualism and intelligence did not account for socioeconomic differences among well-educated, upper class monolingual children and less-educated (often immigrant) bilingual children.
Recent research has found evidence that simultaneous bilinguals have a cognitive advantage over their monolingual counterparts, particularly in the areas of cognitive flexibility,Diaz 1984, p. 35. analytical skill,Diaz 1984, p. 36. and metalinguistic awareness.Diaz 1984, p. 37. However, most studies agree that simultaneous bilinguals do not have any definitive cognitive advantage over monolinguals.Arnberg 1987, p. 31.
Despite these findings, many therapists and other professionals maintain that simultaneous bilingualism can be harmful for a child's cognitive development. One side argues that only one language should be spoken until fluently spoken and then incorporate the second language. The other side argues that the child, whether simultaneously bilingual or not, would still have speech issues. Some bilingual families have chosen to stop speaking a language after hearing about the supposed negative developmental effects of child bilingualism from people in authority.De Houwer 1996, sec. 2.
People were once concerned that being exposed to more than one language would be confusing and cause bilinguals to lag behind their monolingual peers in language development,Hoff, Core, Place, Rumiche, Señor, & Parra, 2012Kennison, 2013 but multiple researchers have refuted this claim. Bilinguals appear to acquire the same milestones—including when they say their first word, when they say their first telegraphic phrase, and when they obtain a vocabulary of fifty words—within the "normal range of variation" of monolingual development in each language.Genesee & Nicoladis, 2007Pearson & Fernandez, 1994 This is an analysis of overall vocabulary in bilinguals, as this is the more accurate and appropriate measure of language development in bilinguals. Analyzing only one of a bilingual individual's languages would seriously underestimate their true vocabulary knowledge.Bialystok, Luk, Peets, & Yang (2010) Any vocabulary deficits in one language are likely filled by knowledge in the other language, suggesting a likelihood that bilinguals know more vocabulary words than monolinguals in general. To this effect, researchers emphasize the importance of assessing overall vocabulary in bilinguals because assessing only one is an underestimation of their true knowledge, and when assessed in overall vocabulary bilingual children were no different from monolingual children in terms of language development.
Importance Studying bilingual acquisition is important because it may have real effects on academic performances for bilingual children in school. Research has shown that vocabulary size is an indicator of academic performance and literacy.Bialystok, Luk, Peets, & Yang, 2010 It is known that different contexts can cause differences in vocabulary in each language. Despite these differences, have suggested that bilingual children are not necessarily disadvantaged in academic performance or academic spoken language because they have a good grasp on the language used for their academics. Regardless, home vocabulary is still relevant to academic life, and it is important to get a better balance in vocabulary acquisition to be able to effectively communicate in both languages.
As researchers have shown, context is also incredibly important to the acquisition of bilingual vocabulary. Speaking with children in different languages in different contexts will allow them to gain a more full vocabulary in each language. Furthermore, increasing the number of people children interact with in each language will provide them with more opportunities to learn in varied contexts.MacLeod, Fabiano-Smith, Boegner-Pagé, & Fontolliet's (2013) Study has provided evidence against the popular "one-parent-one-language" approach, as it restricted the contexts a child had for interactions and use of that language.
Due to the effects of environment on language acquisition, it is important that all languages are valued and have support for proper bilingual growth. This includes having proper resources to encourage learning and use of multiple languages. This is difficult for people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who do not have access to special bilingual schools.
Bilingual acquisition According to De Houwer, there is no established normal development pattern for simultaneous bilinguals.De Houwer 1996, sec. 7. However, similar language development patterns have been seen in bilingual and monolingual children.Taeschner 1983, p. 198. Language acquisition in simultaneous bilinguals generally takes two common forms of exposure to a second language:
A one-person–one-language pattern, where each parent communicates in only one of the two languages to the child or both parents speak both languages to the child.
Language input in bilingual acquisition The most influential factor in bilingual language acquisition is the languages spoken by parents to their children, and the languages spoken by others with whom the child comes into contact.Romaine 1989 p. 166-8. This language exposure is called comprehensible input. In a 1984 edition of Bilingual Education Paper Series, Carolyn Kessler claimed that "children develop faster in the language which is used most in their environment",Kessler qtd. in De Houwer 1996, sec. 4.3. which may or may not reflect the language of the surrounding community. However, bilingual acquisition can also be affected by the amount of input, the separation of input, and the stability of input, as well as attitudes about bilingualism.
Amount of language input It is important to consider amount of input, because not only do the languages of each person affect bilingualism; the amount of time each main input carrier spends with the child also has an effect.Lanza qtd. in De Houwer 1996, sec. 4.1.
It may be the amount of exposure to each language that is the factor for whether or not a bilingual child develops similarly to a monolingual child in each of those languages. Research has shown that children who are exposed less to a language will have "significantly lower receptive vocabulary scores for" that language.MacLeod, Fabiano-Smith, Boegner-Pagé, & Fontolliet, 2013, p.133 By contrast, the receptive vocabulary of bilingual children does not appear to be different from that of monolingual children when 40% to 60% of their language exposure is to that language. Vocabulary size in each language appears to be affected by both the "frequency of exposure" and the "differences in context of exposure" to that language.Genesee & Nicoladis, 2007, p.336 Varying contexts of exposure provide more opportunities for bilingual children to learn more words. Bilinguals who are exposed to more of one language than another will perform similarly on tasks to monolinguals of that language, but they will lag behind in vocabulary of the other language.Umbel, 1992Hoff, 2012
In addition to exposure, research has shown that the context of the language exposure and language use also affects vocabulary. Particularly, studies have shown that vocabularies seem to be separated by a "home context" versus a "school context", depending on what language input they are getting in each. Because this pattern was seen across children with different language backgrounds, this suggests the differences in receptive vocabulary could not be attributable to the different cultural contexts, which has been suggested as an alternative explanation.Bialystok, 2010
Separation of language input There is a spectrum ranging from zero to total separation of language by person. Usually, a simultaneous bilingual child's situation is somewhere in the middle.De Houwer 1996, sec. 4.2. Some linguistic experts, dating from the early 20th century, have maintained that the best way to facilitate bilingual acquisition is to have each main input carrier (usually parents) use one and only one language with the child. By having each parent speak one of the two languages, this method (known as the "one person, one language" approach) attempts to prevent the child from confusing the two languages.
However, the lack of language separation by person does not necessarily lead to failure to communicate effectively in two languages.García qtd. in De Houwer 1996, sec. 4.2. Further studies have shown that a "one person, one language" approach may not be necessary for the early separation of language systems to occur.De Houwer 1996, sec. 5.3. Children appear to be able to disentangle the two languages themselves.
There has been little research done on other methods of language separation. De Houwer points out that input may be separated by situation: for example, "Finnish spoken by all family members inside the home but Swedish once they are outside."
Input stability A change in a child's linguistic environment can trigger language attrition. Sometimes, when input for one language is lost before the final stage of development, children may lose their ability to speak the "lost" language. This leaves them able to speak only the other language, yet fully capable of understanding both.
Attitudes The parents' expectations and knowledge about language development can be instrumental in raising simultaneously bilingual children. Parental attitudes toward "their roles and linguistic choices" also play a part in the child's linguistic development.De Houwer 1996, sec. 4.5. The attitudes of the child's extended family and friends have been shown to affect successful bilingualism.Romaine 1989, p. 213.
The extent to which a language is valued also has an effect on language acquisition in bilingual children. Languages that are deemed more useful or more important will dominate the bilingual mental lexicon while the less valued ones will not be acquired as fully. Studies have shown that children showed slower receptive vocabulary development in what they termed the 'minority' language while the children showed monolingual-like development in the 'majority' language. This has been attributed to the lack of opportunities bilinguals had available for the acquisition and development of their 'minority' language.MacLeod, 2013