Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/benefits-of-bilingualism-multilingualism/5021348/
A dramatic population shift has occurred throughout our early childhood and K-12 programs. Young children who speak a language other than English in the home and are acquiring English during the preschool years (dual language learners, DLLs), are the fastest growing child population in the United States. Many of these children are exposed to more than one language in the home and can be considered emergent multilinguals. The rate of growth of DLLs in the Early Care and Education (ECE) systems as well as the public schools continues to exceed projections with 10 states experiencing more than 200% growth from 1990-2010. Fortunately, our scientific understanding of both the process of second language acquisition and the consequences of becoming bilingual during this critical period of development have also grown dramatically.Young dual language learners represent multiple language groups, diverse cultural backgrounds, a wide range of family circumstances, and many different countries of origin. This group of children and families is very diverse. However, they share a common trait; they all are learning at least two or more distinct linguistic systems during a period of rapid cognitive, conceptual, and language development. Mastering the fundamentals of one language system during the preschool years is a ...