Nazia Pasha Journal #3

source 1: http://www.jstor.org/stable/view/1128353 Title: "The Influence of Bilingualism on Cognitive Strategy and Cognitive Development"

1) My source provided specific details and proof via experiment that supports the claim that bilingualism is beneficial to our society. The experiment is testing if the mutual interference between the typical bilingual child's 2 languages forces the child to develop particular coping strategies, which would accelerate cognitive development. The sample consisted of 2 groups of Hebrew-English bilingual children, 1 group tested in the United States and the other group tested in Israel, and 2 groups of monolingual Jewish children, with those tested in the United States speaking only English and those tested in Israel speaking only Hebrew. In spite of lower vocabulary level, the results showed that bilinguals have more advanced processing of verbal material, more discriminating perceptual distinctions, more propensity to search for structure in perceptual situations, and more capacity to reorganize their perceptions in response to feedback. After reading this article, I found myself to be quite intrigued, and a bit surprised by the outstanding results of the bilingual childrens capabilities. While reading the article, I questioned myself about whether different languages give different advantages or capabilities to the bilingual child; as I continue researching this topic, I hope to find that answer.

            As mentioned above, the experiment revealed that bilingual children have many diverse advantages over the typical monolingual child, which therefore strengthens my assertion that bilingualism enhances children’s knowledge and experience. The author also has a neutral point of view, which helps add credibility to the article, in that there is no clear indication of any bias. The author is neutral in that they are describing the experiment in a concrete manner, and are just laying down the law, plain and simple.

source 2: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-benefits-of-bilingualism.html?_r=2& 

Title: "Why bilinguals are smarter"

2)        This article taught me about both sides of the arguments regarding bilingualism; how it has proven to be a form of interference, while at the same time, it has been proven to be a blessing. Researchers, educators and policy makers long considered a second language to be interference; cognitively speaking that hindered a child’s academic and intellectual development. There is ample evidence that in a bilingual’s brain both language systems are active even when he is using only one language, thus creating situations in which one system obstructs the other. But this interference, researchers are finding out, actually forces the brain to resolve internal conflict, giving the mind a workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles. The article also explained various other skills bilingual children have; some examples would be how bilinguals have a heightened ability to monitor the environment or how bilingual people were more resistant than others to the onset of dementia and other symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. The author backed up their assertions with explanations of two different experiments. One study revealed the feasibility bilingual children have with figuring out certain puzzles, compared to monolingual children. The other study reveals how babies exposed to a bilingual environment quickly learned to switch their anticipatory gaze in the new direction while the other babies did not. The collective evidence from a number of such studies suggests that the bilingual experience improves the brain’s so-called executive function — a command system that directs the attention processes that we use for planning, solving problems and performing various other mentally demanding tasks.

After reading this article I feel a lot more confident about my topic, because this article very well backs up my assertion that bilingualism is beneficial towards society because of the comparative advantages it gives people. The authors use of diction and tone does not reveal any forms of bias, although the author probably supports this assertion as well.