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Jessie Mason
Stephen Plaskon
A Survey of Language Learning
April 23, 2012
Bilingualism in Children: Learning a Second Language in the Home vs. Acquiring a Second
Language in an Educational Setting
1. Bilingualism: History and Experience
Language is an essential trait in any society. Without language and or capability of
communication, the growth and development of society members would stagnate, and this lack
of communication would most likely cause the society itself to fail. In short, without language, a
coherent society cannot exist.
Through the development of different cultures and civilizations through time, different
languages also developed. As a result, in order for a member of one language community to
communicate with a member of a different community, one of two things need to happen: a new
language has to be created, or a new language has to be learned.The first case would result in the
development of, first, pidgin and,later, creole languages. Pidgin languages are created when
members of two distinct language groups form a simplistic common language that shares aspects
of both of the original languages. They typically have ―a small vocabulary, simple grammatical
structure, and a narrower range of functions than the language[s] from which the pidgin was
developed‖ (Otto 59). A pidgin language turns into a creole language when the original speakers
of the language pass it down to the following generations. It undergoes expansion of key
linguistic features to make it more of an actual language instead of a combination of two
different languages. The second case results in what is traditionally considered bilingualism, or if

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more than two languages are learned, multilingualism.
My experience with bilingualism started in fourth grade, when my mother signed me up
for an introductory French class that met once a week before school. I remember being
surprisingly adept at picking up the language and the accent, although my age probably
accounted for most of that. After fourth grade, I was pretty much English-only for the next five
years until I took Spanish 1 during my freshman year of high school. I continued through
Spanish 2 and 3 during my sophomore and junior years, and ended up skipping Spanish 4 to take
AP Spanish Language, receiving a 5 on the exam. Now, at the end of my first year at UVa, I am
almost halfway done with my Spanish major and it seems safe to say that I have reached a point
where I can call myself bilingual. I’m able to communicate through written and spoken word
confidently and fluidly in both Spanish and English.Personally,I’ve found bilingualism to be one
of the most useful skills I possess when it comes to navigating the academic and social realms of
my life.
My second language acquisition has been relatively smooth,(compared to my peers, some
of whom genuinely struggle when it comes to learning a new language) and so I have become
increasingly interested in the different ways second languages are acquired, and if learning a
language in the home versus in an educational setting makes a difference in the language
learner’s control of each language.
2. Definitions
Discussing bilingualism requires an understanding of different terms related to the
acquisition of two (or more) languages. The critical period is the time during which language
acquisition is supposed to be the easiest; usually defined as the time from birth until puberty.
Simultaneous bilingualism occurs when a child acquires two languages prior to age 3, as

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opposed to successive bilingualism, which refers to children acquiring their second language
after age 3 (Otto 71). Children who know two or more language sometimes confuse knowledge
of their first and second languages when speaking, ―For example, a child might use the
vocabulary or syntactic structure of one language when attempting to communicate in the other
language‖ (Otto 72). This is known as language interfernce.Learning a second language without
continuing to develop the first can result in a phenomenon termed subtractive bilingualism,
where a second language is learned at the price of losing the ability to speak the first language.
Additive bilingualism also exists; programs that cause additive bilingualism place emphasis on
the acquisition of a second (target) language while, at the same time, development of the first
(home) language is continued (Otto 73).
With regard to the issue of subtractive bilingualism, Congerclaims that ―bilingual
education either interferes with English-language acquisition or has no effect‖ (1119). However,
a study conducted by Dixon found that ―…bilingualism does not necessitate the improvement of
one language at the expense of the other. Although dominance in one language or the other was
common (slightly over 50%), nearly one-quarter of the children [in the study] showed high
proficiency in both languages, indicating strong dual language proficiency is possible‖ (31).
In this paper, I will use the term ―home bilingual‖ to refer tochildren who learn both
languages in the home and ―schooled bilingual‖ to refer tochildren who learn their first language
in the home and acquire their second language in school, whether in an ESL, bilingual education,
or immersion program.
3. Second Language Acquisition
The acquisition of a second language is not exactly the same as the acquisition of a first
language, although the two processes do share some similar qualities. Towell and Harkins list

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five observable phenomena of second language acquisition: transfer of properties of the L1 (first
language) grammar into the L2 (second language) grammar, staged development in second
language acquisition, systematicity in the growth of L2 across learners, variability in learners’
intuitions about, and production of, aspects of the L2 at certain stages of development, and
second language learners stop short of native-like success in a number of areas of the L2
grammar (7-14).
Transfer of properties of the L1 grammar into the L2 grammar is most noticeable if the
first and second languages differ in a specific construct, ―because this leads to patterns in the
speech of the non-native speaker not found in the speech of the native speaker‖ (Towell and
Harkins 7). This property would not be as visible in a home bilingual, since he or shelearns both
of his or her languages as native languages, instead of acquiring them as second languages.
Transfer of properties that two languages share, like definite and indefinite articles, can also help
the schooled bilingual in acquiring his or her second language more quickly (Towell and Harkins
9).
Although the stages of first and second language acquisition differ, first and second
language learners go through specific stages in their acquisition of the target language (Towell
and Harkins 10). The example given by the aforementioned authors is schooled bilinguals
learning the word order patters in German, and the gradual transition from ungrammatical
structures to grammatical ones that they go through.In addition, most second language learners
start off from an different level of grammar relative to one another, and these starting grammars
may provide certain advantages or disadvantages to learners.
Systematicity in the growth of L2 knowledge across learners is visible in the stages that
second language learners go through in learning a language. These stages are independent of

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their home languages. Specifically, ―learners from different L1 backgrounds develop L2
linguistic knowledge in a way that is not directly attributable either to their L1, or to the L2
input‖ (Towell and Harkins 11). These stages also appear to be independent of how the second
language is learned, whether in a natural or classroom environment.
Variability in learners’ intuition about and production ofa second language allows for
different constructions of an idea to be produced by the learner. These variable structures can
occur without pattern until the speaker learns which variant is correct, or continue to vary
randomly if the learner never learns the rule governing the variation (Towell and Harkins 12).
This seems a little bit similar to the concept of distribution in linguistics, in which two or more
forms of a word or phrase can appear in different situations depending on context and speaker.
The final phenomenon listed, that second language learners stop short of native-like
success in L2 grammar, seems debatable. I would argue that schooled bilinguals usually have a
better grasp on the concepts behind and situations in which to use complicated grammatical
structures in the L2 than do native speakers. However, that may just be my personal experience
with high-achieving, high-effort individuals and may not reflect the general pattern.
4. Second Language Acquisition in the Home
Raising bilingual children has been a goal of mine for years. I have seen the benefits that
stem from knowing more than one language, both professionally and socially. I’m able to
comfortable converse and communicate with a much broader scope of people than I would be
able to if I only spoke English, andI would love to afford the same opportunity to my children,
and begin fostering it at a young age.
In Carlson’s article on his experiences with bilingual homeschooling, he praises both the
bilingual approach to imparting language to his daughter and going about bilingual education in

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the home. He and his wife decided to pull his daughter out of traditional schooling, opting
instead to homeschool in a dual-language manner. He claims, ―through bilingual homeschooling
she was able to grow and learn using both of her first languages in various contexts every day so
that now, as an adult, she has a balanced native-speaker command of two languages —
something that never would have happened had she continued to attend school‖ (12). It’s not
clear whether it was the focus that the homeschooling provided or the bilingual aspect of it, but it
seems that in this instance, learning a second language in the home provided a much better
environment to actually acquire and be able to utilize a second language.
A child’s parents are his or her first language teachers. If the parents of a bilingual child
are not particularly strong in one or another language themselves, then the child’s level of
knowledge in that language will obviously be lacking. This may be discouraging to either the
child or the teacher (in the educational setting), however, ―teachers must… keep their
expectations high for all of their bilingual students: regardless of their SES [socioeconomic
status] or home language, students of all backgrounds are capable of reaching high proficiency in
two languages‖ (Dixon 33).
In researching children who learn two or more languages at home, I began to wonder
whether teaching an entire family two languages at once would be feasible, and if it would help
parents and/or children develop and maintain a firm grasp on the target language and its
structures. This would be a combination of learning a language in an educational setting and
learning a language at home, since everyone would technically be receiving their education from
a strictly classroom setting, but the parents and children would be living in the same linguistic
environment and be able to help each other learn the target language. Children who learn a
second language in school, specifically one that their parents don’t speak, face certain challenges

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in acquiring one language and maintaining another. As Wang puts it,
For those children whose home language is different from that of their school (or
mainstream) language, the home language literacy development path is often different.
Although their emergent heritage language literacy skills developed at home in early
childhood will no doubt benefit their school literacy development, their emergent literacy
skills will not automatically become conventional home language literacy skills unless
special efforts are made.
As these children become more involved in mainstream school learning as well as
extracurricular activities, they have less time for home language literacy activities.
Without extra effort, it is unlikely that these children’s home language literacy will
develop any further and may even terminate (89-90).
I have no real idea as to how a widespread parent-child bilingual education system could be put
in place, and more research needs to be done, but I believe that putting second language learning
into a home where a parent and child both don’t know the target language could be an effective
method of teaching a second language and encourage them to work together in their acquisition
of said language.
In order to create and maintain bilingualism in a home environment, Piper recommends
using each of the two languages for distinct and separate tasks, saying ―[children] seem to have
little trouble learning the separate languages of their two parents, or the language of their parents
and the language of their peers or other caretaker‖ (139). She also firmly asserts that acquiring a
second language does not put children at risk for falling behind in their linguistic capabilities nor
in their education, and that ―bilingualism is clearly an advantage‖ for school-aged children (139).
Piper details case studies on specific children as they progress through their bilingualism.
One child, Quy, moved to the United States with his mother from a refugee camp in Malaysia.
His mother spoke little English, and taught him what she knew while mainlyusing Vietnamese in
everyday life. His experiences in English-only daycare and preschool helped to kick-start his
English language learning. For a while he refused to speak Vietnamese to his mother, but once
he realized that he could separate his Vietnamese use from his English, but retain the ability to

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use them whenever he wanted, his language development rapidly increased. He was able to help
other Vietnamese-speaking students in his class, and by kindergarten, he was on the same
linguistic level as his native English-speaking peers (166-174).
A second child observed by Piper, Miguel, came from a Spanish-speaking family native
to Monterrey, Mexico. In order to prepare him for English school, Miguel’s mother taught him
the English she knew, and made sure that every day he did three things: watch Sesame Street,
learn five new words (nouns or verbs), and go to a playground where he could intermingle with
English-speaking children. This base in English provided him a solid jumping-off point once he
got to traditional school, but he ran into a few issues with the way his teacher thought he should
be educated. Fortunately, his mother and the principal worked with his teacher and modified his
education plan to fully take advantage of his English and Spanish language background (182-
187).
Essentially, learning two languages in the home is a useful, if potentially difficult,
method to foster bilingualism in children. Going to a school that only teaches in one language
can hinder the growth of the other language, but in case studies where the parent maintained the
use of one language in the home and the child was exposed to a second language in school, there
was no issue in growth and maintenance of bilingualism.
5. Second Language Acquisition in an Educational Setting
Most information found on second language acquisition in an educational setting focused
on one of two topics: children from non-English-speaking homes learning English out of
necessity, or native English-speaking adults trying to learn a second language for work or
personal reasons. I will only be discussing the first case, as there was more literature readily
available and it contrasts more specifically with the situation of children learning both a first and

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second language in the home.
I have noticed that there are many people who speak against bilingualism, saying that it
interferes with competency in a person’s first language. However, none of the authors that were
specifically against bilingualism as a concept mentioned whether or not they were competent in
two or more languages. As someone who is bilingual, I believe that bilingualism is not a
hindrance, and rather a useful aid in navigating daily life. In fact, as Dixon puts it,―the fact that a
child is bilingual—or will become bilingual through an early childhood education program—
should not be considered a risk factor for low proficiency in both languages; rather,
socioeconomic status or double home language exposure may put children at risk for low
vocabulary in both languages‖ (32). That is to say, low vocabulary in one or both languages is
not caused by bilingualism, and there are other factors in play in situations where a bilingual
child suffers from vocabulary deficit.
The ―low vocabulary‖ mentioned is a trait that I have noticed in myself and other
schooled bilinguals; but this quality makes complete sense. Home bilinguals have the advantage
of learning basic vocabulary words from birth, in addition to using these words and seeing these
objects or actions in their natural setting. Schooled bilinguals have the disadvantage of not
growing up hearing and using the language in a practical sense, and have to go through rote
memorization of chapter after chapter of vocabulary, instead of acquiring basic semantic
concepts through actual interaction with words and constructs. However, in my personal
experience, there are many ways to get around this vocabulary deficit as long as the person
attempting to learn the language is willing to go outside of the classroom setting to expand upon
the existing vocabulary base. It takes work, but it’s possible.

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Home language and home situation in general can also have an effect on bilingual
development among children. Dixon found―Four major factors that may contribute to the
development of… different [linguistic] profiles among bilingual children includ[ing]: the status
of the languages involved, the socioeconomic status (SES) of the child’s family, the amount of
language input in each language, and the language(s) the mother or caretaker uses with the child‖
(26). This assertion nicely sums up all of the other research I found, and divides the influences
on bilingualism up in an effective manner. It makes sense that the language, economic situation,
amount of language exposure, and home environment all contribute in different ways and in
differing amounts to the development of bilingualism and linguistic skills in children.
The attitudes of teachers of second languages can have a resounding effect on students’
acquisition of a foreign language. I’ve found that it’s easy to tell when a native speaker or
teacher is ―dumbing-down‖ a foreign language. Piper details the practice in the following
passage:
Studies on language input focus on describing foreigner talk, or the modifications native
speakers make when talking with someone they perceive to have less than native
proficiency in their language. Several common modifications have been identified. For
example, native speakers typically choose topics concerned with the present, they chock
more often to see whether they are being understood, they repeat or paraphrase both their
own utterance and the other speaker’s, and they give shorter responses (154).
In the beginning stages of acquiring a second language, I think this is a relatively helpful
practice. It makes the process of language learning a little easier, a little simpler to understand.
However, I believe that once a certain threshold is reached, it is necessary for teachers of second
languages to speak the language to the learner as if they were speaking to a native speaker,
treating the learner as either a beginning native speaker or an experienced one (depending on the
existing skill level). If someone is consistently speaking to a learner on a linguistic level below
his or heractuallevel, it’s impossible to make progress.The learner’s linguistic and conversational

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skills aren’t being challenged, so there is no way to improve.
With regard to the reading skills of bilingual children, ―Research suggests that the age of
first multilingual language exposure affects reading development in children learning to read in
their multi-languages. There is definitely a reading advantage for children who are educated in
multilingual schools‖ (Wang 30). The existence of two separate grammars, once for each
language, might be a factor that strengthens the reading skills of bilingual children. However,
children with strong reading skills may be more predisposed to learning a second language. I
learned to read (in English) at around 2 or 3 years of age, much sooner than my peers in daycare,
and my reading skills had far surpassed that of my peers by the time I reached kindergarten. I
attribute this to my home environment; I grew up in a household where books were regarded as
important as food. In a home such as this, reading was a valuable skill and one of many activities
that my parents and I shared as leisure activities. A love of reading and communicating, fostered
at a young age, may have contributed to my ease when I began to learn a second language.
It may be that strong reading skills lead to bilingualism, and this manifests in bilingual
children as higher reading ability in both languages. However, Wang details the reading
advantages afforded to bilingual children, citing
a study [that] compared bilingual Spanish-English children with English-speaking
children in monolingual English schools. Early first bilingual language exposure had a
positive effect on reading, phonological awareness and language competence in both
languages: early bilinguals (age of first exposure 0-3 years) outperformed other bilingual
groups (age of first exposure 3-6 years). Remarkably, schooling in two languages
afforded children from monolingual English homes an advantage in phonemic awareness
skills. Early bilingual exposure is best for dual language reading development, and it may
have such a powerful positive impact on reading and language development that it
counteracts the negative effect of low socioeconomic situation on literacy(30).
This research points out an obvious correlation between bilingualism and both reading
development (in home bilinguals) and phonemic awareness (in schooled bilinguals). This

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information directly contradicts the ideas of those who argue that bilingualism adversely affects
the linguistic development of children, and asserts that bilingualism in fact aids immensely in
that development.
Piper details two more case studies, this time on children whose first English exposures
occurred in a school setting. The first, Lucy, came from a Portuguese family living in
Vancouver, British Columbia (where she was born). The community in which she lived had no
reason to use English in daily life since everyone spoke Portuguese, so she had little to no
English exposure before she went to kindergarten. Five weeks between the first and second
observations of Lucy during her first year of school in an English-only kindergarten, her English
skills improved from the level of a 2 year old monolingual to that of a three and a half year old.
(174-177). The constant exposure to native English speakers in an English-only setting,
combined with her prior knowledge of Portuguese and status as an emerging reader in her native
language probably contributed to Lucy’s rapid growth in her English skills.
The second child, Jani, lived in a Labrador community and attends a school where she
was taught by two co-teachers; one spent half the day teaching the class in English, and the other
taught the other half of the day in Inuktitut. Jani had the distinct benefit of attending a school that
valued both her home language and the common language of the area as equally useful, and so
she had the opportunity to develop her skills in both languages at the same pace without having
to work particularly hard at one language or the other to maintain her linguistic capabilities (180-
182).
Children who learn a second language in school may flourish or stagnate linguistically,
depending on the individual personalities and motivations of the children in question and their
home language situations. I see no reason why a child still in the critical period shouldn’t be able

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to acquire a second language and communicate with it at a native-like proficiency, as long as
proper instruction and support is provided in both the home and school environment.
6. Methods of Teaching a Second Language in the Classroom
There are many types of programs utilized in the classroom setting for second language
learners. Otto separates these programs into five categories: English as a second language,
bilingual education, immersion programs, the submersion approach, and foreign languages in the
elementary school programs.
ESL or ESOL (English as a second language or English for speakers of other languages)
programs focus only on teaching English, with no emphasis put on the speakers’ home languages
(Otto 81). Students in these classes come from diverse language backgrounds, and it seems that
an ESL setting could be very chaotic for both teacher and students since everyone is coming
from a different language, and skill level within that language. However, since everyone is trying
to learn the same language regardless of their home language, it might be easier than trying to
integrate the home languages of each individual into the process of learning English.
There are three types of bilingual education programs. TBE (Transitional bilingual
education) programs set the goal as the gradual transition from the student’s first language to
English. However, these programs don’t consider the first language valuable to students’ long-
term education (Otto 81). These programs are a little better than ESL programs when it comes to
understanding the linguistic backgrounds of the individual children and using their previous
language knowledge to make connections between their home and target languages.
Developmental bilingual education programs emphasize both the home and target languages
throughout students’ education (Otto 81). These programs help to create fluency in not just the
target language, but also improve skills in the home language.

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There are three types of immersion programs. Simple immersion programs group
children according to their home language; language arts classes are taught in the students’ first
language and instruction in all other subjects is in the second language (Otto 82). These
programs probably do an excellent job of bridging the vocabulary gap that many learners of
second languages experience. Two-way immersion or dual language programs are designed to
develop students’ linguistic competency in more than one language. Students in the class are
split evenly – half from homes where the home language is English, and half from homes with
another home language. Amount of instruction in each language varies depending on the specific
program (Otto 82). The mix of culture and language that the students already have when they
come into class must be useful for teaching the two different languages as well as the cultural
associations tied in to each one. Finally, second foreign language immersion programs are
designed specifically for native speakers of a single language. The target language is used to
teach 50% of the curriculum in these classrooms (Otto 82).
The so-called ―submersion‖ approach is less of an approach and more of a back up; if a
school does not have any sort of bilingual education or ESL system in place, students who don’t
speak the common language are put into the classroom, even though they may have no
knowledge of the language being spoken. These situations don’t foster comprehensive learning,
since the linguistic levels of the teacher and students surrounding the non-native speaker are
much higher than the linguistic level of the speaker (Otto 83).
FLES (Foreign language in the elementary school) programs are designed to simply teach
a target language. They are structured a little differently than traditional high school style
language classrooms, and successful programs place more emphasis on culture and oral
communication rather than drilling and memorization (Otto 83).

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7. Final Thoughts
Before doing research on the difference between home and schooled bilingual children, I
assumed that if both languages were learned in the home, a child would have native-level grasp
and fluency in both languages, and if a second language were acquired in a school setting, a child
would be functional in that language in the same way that many adults are in their second
languages – approaching fluency, but being nowhere near the level of a native speaker.
Indeed, ―it is clear that children learning two languages simultaneously acquire them by
the use of similar strategies. They are, in essence, learning two first languages, and the key to
success is in distinguishing separate contexts of the two languages‖ (Brown 67). As long as the
support system in both languages is solid and consistent, it seems that children can learn as many
languages as they are exposed to in their home. However, ―research confirms that the linguistic
and cognitive processes of second language learning in young children are in general similar to
first language processes‖ (Brown 67). Children acquiring a second language in a school setting
do so in a manner similar to the way they learn their first language in the home, implying that
every child has the potential to become bilingual. As Wang puts it, ―when school and home join
together and collaborate to buttress multilingual learning, children are likely to thrive and
develop‖ (32). This is reassuring, and makes me hopeful that one day I will be able to foster
bilingualism in children with whom I come in contact, through friends, family, or children of my
own.

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Works Cited
Brown, H. Douglas. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. 4th ed. White Plains:
Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., 2000. Print.
Carlson, David. "Homeschooling and Bilingual Education: A Well-Kept Secret." Encounter 22.4
(2009): 10-3. Web.
Conger, Dylan. "Does Bilingual Education Interfere with English-Language Acquisition?" Social
Science Quarterly (Blackwell Publishing Limited) 91.4 (2010): 1103-22. Web.
Dixon, L., Shuang Wu, and Ahlam Daraghmeh. "Profiles in Bilingualism: Factors Influencing
Kindergartners' Language Proficiency." Early Childhood Education Journal 40.1 (2012):
25-34. Web.
Otto, Beverly. Language Development in Early Childhood. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson
Education, Inc., 2010. Print.
Peleato, Irene Verde. "Educación Bilingüe En EE.UU. Estudio De Casos De Una Escuela
Primaria. (Spanish)." Estudios Sobre Educacion.21 (2011): 139-58. Web.
Piper, Terry. Language and Learning. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc.,
2007. Print.
Towell, Richard, and Roger Hawkins. Approaches to Second Language Acquisition. Bristol:
Multilingual Matters Ltd, 1994. Print.
Wang, Xiao-lei. Learning to Read and Write in the Multilingual Family. Tonawanda:
Multilingual Matters Ltd, 2011. Print.