The Impact of Being Bilingual and Academic Achievement

Nowadays you often hear that the child is bilingual, but what does it mean and does it have an impact on academic achievements? 

A bilingual child is a child that can speak two or more languages in everyday life. Bilingualism isn’t a rare phenomenon. Actually, more than half the world is bilingual? In some countries such as Canada and Switzerland, bilingualism is normal and people who live there speak two languages on a daily basis.

So, does bilingualism have any impact on the academic development of children? 

Bilingualism has been found to have a significant impact on academic achievement. Numerous studies have shown that bilingualism can improve cognitive skills, enhance problem-solving abilities and increase academic performance in a variety of subjects.

The research has shown that bilingual children can enhance academic achievements by improving executive function skills. Executive function is a set of cognitive processes that helps us to plan, organise and execute tasks and includes skills such as attention control, working memory and cognitive flexibility. Bilingual children tend to have stronger executive function skills than monolinguals, due to constant switching between languages and the need to manage two linguistic systems. It has been found that bilingual children perform better in tasks that require planning, problem solving and attention control, which are all important skills for academic success. The ability to process and understand information in multiple languages also improves comprehension skills. 

Bilingualism can also provide social and cultural advantages that definitely  help to improve academic achievements. Bilingual students are able to communicate with a wider range of people, including those from different cultures and backgrounds, which teaches them to be open-minded and makes it easier to understand new cultures and ideas. 

So what are the challenges? 

Even though there are lots of benefits, there are also challenges that can impact early academic achievements. One of the main challenges is the potential for language confusion or mixing, which can occur when students are learning two languages simultaneously. Language mixing can lead to errors in grammar, syntax and vocabulary, which then impacts academic performance. However, research has shown that these errors are typically temporary and tend to decrease as students become more proficient in both languages.

Another challenge is the potential for temporary language loss or attrition, which can occur when the students are not given the opportunity to develop proficiency in one of the languages and can’t practice their language skills in both languages, which is why at BSSP, we encourage students to read and write at home in their native language, as well as give native Russian students the chance to develop their academic skills after school hours using the BIT programme.

The impact of bilingualism on academic achievement is complex and refined, but it’s widely believed that bilingualism enhances academic performance, despite some of the challenges early on that can impact language development. By providing students with opportunities to develop and maintain their proficiency in multiple languages, we help ensure that all students have the tools they need to succeed in school and in life.

Mrs Signer, Year 2 Teacher