How Bilingualism Affects Cognition And Whether Or Not The...

As time has progressed, a new era of multiculturalism has arisen and with it has come the ability (or requirement) to learn more than one language, or in other words, becoming a bilingual or multilingual individual. However, with this new trend, controversy has arisen as to how this affects performance in terms of cognitive abilities. The purpose of this essay is to find out to how bilingualism affects cognition and whether or not the effects are positive. Cognitions is the term used to describe the process of knowing, reasoning and remembering. Many researchers have set out to solve this contentious mystery. For years, it was believed that a bilingual individual meant that one was at a disadvantage when compared to their monolingual†¦show more content†¦History of Bilingual Research In the early and mid-20th century, there was a notion between researchers and the public alike that bilinguals were not equivalent in terms of cognitive abilities when compared to monolinguals. Harsh statements such as the one by Epstein (1995) said that bilingualism was a â€Å"social plague† and that it was â€Å"a hardship devoid of apparent advantage,† (Yoshioka, 1929), as cited in Hakuta Diaz (1985). The research conducted in their time concluded, â€Å"Bilingualism acted as a handicap that affected a person for their life in terms of cognitive development and intellectual advancement,† (Saer, 1940). However, it should be noted that the early studies that were conducted had many limitations. For example, whether or not the person was actually fluent in their second language was not a criterion in sample collections. In some extreme cases, the extent of one’s bilingualism was measure by where they lived, surnames, and the extremeness of the parentsâ⠂¬â„¢ foreignness. Another weakness present in the methods implemented by these early researchers was that the social and economic, or socioeconomic state of the subject was not accounted or adjusted for as observed by Mcarthy (1930). She found that the majority of the bilingual children present in these early studies were those of immigrant laborers while the monolinguals