3-225 - Describing and Quantifying "bilingualism"; the need for consistency and accuracy for research and education

Session Type: Conversation Roundtable

Integrative Statement

It is estimated that over half the world’s population uses more than one language is daily life, making multilinguals the majority. Individuals’ use of their languages is complex and dynamic across their life span, with some children learning two languages simultaneously, others sequentially, and acquisition being complimented by attrition that is all happening within a complex socio-cultural context. Bilingualism affects more than development of language, with social, cognitive, and neurological discoveries. Understanding the challenges and advantages inherent to multilingualism has important implications for education and development more generally. And yet, lack of consistency in measurement and quantification of bilingualism makes a comprehensive examination of existing research arduous. Bilingual researchers struggle with this issue, leaving those whose focus is not bilingualism with little hope of understanding how to represent this aspect of a child is their own research. How do researchers describe the bilingual experience and measure it in a way that is informative and consistent?

This Conversation Roundtable consists of a group of international bilingual scholars from different disciplines (neuroscience, psychology, education, and linguistics) convening to tackle the issue of quantifying bilingualism. We will first find an agreed upon definition of “bilingual”. We will then discuss what descriptors best represent this definition and how this can be quantified across childhood and socio-cultural contexts for the purpose of research and education. The intention is to come to set of guidelines for use in both bilingual research and other research to best serve the developing child.

Sub Unit

• Language, Communication

Moderator

• Alena G Esposito, Emory University

Panelists

• Gigi Luk, Harvard University Graduate School of Education

• Ping Li, Pennsylvania State University

• Xiuli Tong, University of Hong Kong

• Jose Náñez, Arizona State University