Question to the community

[Teresa A. Ukrainetz]

Sorry, didn't mean to de-value objective methods, just that so often the bilingualism impression here is as an unfortunate at-risk condition of poor people of colour that we must distinguish carefully from disorder (and hopefully remove anyway). I enjoyed hearing educated, accomplished bilinguals reflect on their thoughts a reminder in this monolingual society that bilingualism is also normal.
Teresa Ukrainetz



> ----------
> From: 	Alcock, Katie
> Sent: 	Tuesday, November 5, 2002 3:40 PM
> Cc: 	'info-childes '; 'Ellina Chernobilsky '
> Subject: 	RE: Question to the community
>
> Some slightly more objective work than the anecdotes suggested here (sorry, I just have a hard time with the idea of asking someone to lose a language!) has been done by Kathy Kohnert, particularly looking at naming skill and speed as children who started schooling with one language go through school.  I can't recall the exact reference but I think it's in Brain and Language.
>
> In summary if you start school at about 6 then you become equal in home and school languages at about 8 and then cross over at 10 to become dominant in school language.
>
> Two of my undergraduates have replicated this - one only in 9 year olds (they were English dominant or equal in the two languages, and ones who were equal in the two knew more names of objects - if allowed to name in either language - than English monolinguals, if I recall correctly).  The other looked at development and roughly replicated Kathy's findings.
>
> Her paper may be under Kohnert-Rice.
>
> Katie
>
>
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