The Advantages of Dual Language Learners

08/14/2023

The Advantages of Dual Language Learners

There are three basics for all human beings, but especially for children. The number one basic is wonder, the second one is discovery, and the third is experience.
Bev Bos, 1934-2016, Preschool Director and International Speaker

In the article “Language Liberation in Early Childhood Settings,” Mike Browne and María Eugenia Alvarez Noboa remark, “to be child-centered in the context of Indigenous children, refugees, and children of immigrants, educators and caregivers must first awaken to the mental and emotional journey that many of us have to undertake.”

Browne and Alvarez Noboa invite reflections on four themes as suggested pathways forward to support multilingual children, including shifting perspectives:

Multilingual children are not barriers to the learning environment but are in fact assets. Yet, a study from Umansky and Dumont (2019) shows that many educators have negative and deficit-oriented perceptions toward multilingual children placed in their care. As our friends from the Children’s Equity Project and Bipartisan Policy Center state, “As a subgroup, dual language learners and English learners have a host of linguistic, cultural, and social strengths. Their bilingualism is associated with cognitive advantages, including strong executive functioning skills, attention, perspective taking, and self-regulation.” Allow yourself space to reflect on the deep-seated perceptions you have when it comes to multilingual children.

They offer several points for reflection, including:

How is each child’s linguistic, cultural, and social-emotional capital centered in the way I teach, learn, discover, manage, and show up in relationship with learners?
How can I empower my multilingual students to utilize all the assets and strengths they bring to the school community? How can I strengthen my advocacy and push for language justice to turn unfair situations into fair ones for my multilingual students?

The article, available in the Exchange Hub, also addresses themes of rethinking research and practice, affirming our own identities and inclusivity through multilingualism.

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