Cognitive Psychology: Bilingualism Literature Review Discussion

This discussion post explores the multifaceted aspects of bilingualism, examining its advantages and disadvantages through a critical analysis of existing literature. The author begins by defining bilingualism and highlighting its potential benefits, such as enhanced communication skills, expanded social circles, and cognitive advantages like delayed onset of Alzheimer's and improved executive functions. The discussion also addresses the criticisms and disadvantages associated with bilingualism, such as potential confusion in children and lower scores on verbal tests, as suggested by some studies. The author acknowledges the limitations of these studies and concludes that, despite ongoing debate, acquiring knowledge and learning languages are generally beneficial for personal development. The post synthesizes various research perspectives, offering a balanced view of the complex relationship between bilingualism and cognitive abilities.

Running Head: BILINGUALISM
BILINGUALISM
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

1BILINGUALISM
Bilingualism is the art of knowing more than one language, and it occurs in an individual
through various ways such as the exposure to two languages since birth, which makes them use
them for their entire life, and then some people learn their native language in childhood, and later
they learn the second language.
Bilingualism has several advantages, according to Antoniou (2019), for the person who is
experienced with more than one language because it helps in communicating with more number
of people, which will enhance an individual’s social circle as well as expanding links to
employment and trade. The opportunity to interact with other cultures and traveling to various
places with the confidence of knowing the local language. Sometimes it also helps in obtaining
medical services and career opportunities involving multiple languages such as a translator or an
interpreter. It is also said that being bilingual delays the chance of Alzheimer’s disease and
enhances executive functions (Woumans et al., 2015). The process of constantly interacting and
influencing people by using two languages that includes resolving and managing competition
between two languages results in several cognitive benefits. These benefits are seen in other
activities such as playing musical instruments, learning photography, and playing computer
games, which helps in cognitive stimulation. The management of multiple languages in the day
to day life has been more helpful in cognitive development because using languages is one of the
most complex activity a human can go through as it requires intense brain network to interact
with people all our life (Bialystok, Craik & Luk, 2012).
Bilingualism has few disadvantages too as seen in several studies by Kroll et al. (2015),
bilingual acquisition was referred to as ‘problem of the bilingual child’. It suggested that people
with bilingual nature tend to score low marks in verbal tests subjected on cognitive abilities. It
led to confusion in children when they used more than two languages in their daily life, which

2BILINGUALISM
was followed by cognitive impairment. An excerpt depicted that bilingual children are more
prone to mental confusion than in monoglot children. From bilingualism being a hardship to
using a foreign language in the house is the reason for mental retardation, bilingualism has been
a target of criticism by many researchers (Valian, 2015). However, researchers did not take into
consideration the limitations in these studies, such as age, socioeconomic and the level of
bilingualism, which includes children from refugee families and the obstruction to education due
to war (Pelham & Abrams, 2014).
To conclude this essay and summarize the literature reviews, it can be said that
bilingualism is still a disputed topic due to its conflicting literature review and people siding
towards the extreme. The researchers on both sides have their strong viewpoints regarding the art
of speaking in two languages. However, gaining knowledge is always beneficial to an
individual’s personality, and learning different languages is always an enhancement to build a
personality and to achieve different opportunities. The disadvantages of being bilingual is also a
strong criticism towards the researchers who are saying that bilingualism helps in cognitive
abilities.

3BILINGUALISM
References
Antoniou, M. (2019). The advantages of bilingualism debate. Annual Review of Linguistics, 5,
395-415.
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I., & Luk, G. (2012). Bilingualism: consequences for mind and
brain. Trends in cognitive sciences, 16(4), 240-250.
Kroll, J. F., Dussias, P. E., Bice, K., & Perrotti, L. (2015). Bilingualism, mind, and brain. Annu.
Rev. Linguist., 1(1), 377-394.
Pelham, S. D., & Abrams, L. (2014). Cognitive advantages and disadvantages in early and late
bilinguals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and
Cognition, 40(2), 313.
Valian, V. (2015). Bilingualism and cognition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(1), 3-
24.
Woumans, E. V. Y., Santens, P., Sieben, A., Versijpt, J. A. N., Stevens, M., & Duyck, W.
(2015). Bilingualism delays clinical manifestation of Alzheimer's disease. Bilingualism:
Language and Cognition, 18(3), 568-574.