Improving Language Acquisition in Bilingual Children Essay -- learning

For most bilingual speakers, the English language is hard to navigate. Like an unknown street, not natural to them, they stumble to find the words to say what they want to say; they trip over cracks of pronunciation, taking wrong turns over careless misuse, out of context phrasing, as they attempt to follow the rules of ambiguous signage established by others. â€Å"Uh, um, hmmm, how do you say†¦?† A long pause follows. The image that comes to mind is of a student scratching at their head, hesitating before finally delivering the â€Å"right† word. It’s a matter of translating it to convey the correct meaning. Many bilingual speakers think out a process of word sorting that allows them to think through their vocabularies, sort, and choose a word that sounds right and is easy to say. A significant amount of bilingual speakers make every effort to learn how to say pronunciations that do not always readily translate from their native language; thus they struggl e to express themselves correctly in everyday conversations. Today in the U.S., The Department of Education reports that 21% of school-age children between the ages of 5 and 17 speak a language other than English at home. Studies have shown that students that first learn to speak languages other than English often face neurolinguistic challenges, especially with the formation of organized thoughts for pronunciations and syntax. It is important that bilingual speakers in the U.S. become more comfortable and confident speaking English, but this can only be carried out and developed correctly if done at the right age and in the right environment. What makes for better bilingual speakers? It all depends on timing. Widely acclaimed linguistic psychologists like Patricia K. Kuhl and Steven ... ...go: College-Hill, 1984. 27-41. Print. Hatch, Evelyn M. "Introduction: A Perspective on Psycholinguistics." Psycholinguistics: A Second Language Perspective. Rowley: Newbury House, 1983. 1+. Print Hatch, Evelyn M. "Phonology." Psycholinguistics: A Second Language Perspective. Rowley: Newbury House, 1983. 12+. Print Badger, Emily. "Where 60 Million People in the U.S. Don't Speak English at Home." The Atlantic Cities. The Atlantic Cities, 6 Aug. 2013. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. Kim, K. H., Relkin, N. R., Lee, K. M., & Hirsch, J. (1997). Distinct cortical areas asso- ciated with native and second languages. Nature, 388(6638), 171–4. "Fact Sheets: Languages Spoken in the United States According to the 2000 U.S. Census." U.S. English. U.S. English, 200. Web. 26 Nov. 2013. Kuhl, Patricia. â€Å"The Linguistic Genius of Babies.† TEDTalks, Feb. 2011. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.