Language Diversity in the Classroom - ymerleksi - home

Bilingualism: A Very Brief Overview 241what has been known for a long time. Nonetheless, they all usefullyemphasize the importance of the setting and, within it, the desires, needs,attitudes and motivations of ordinary people. And they all scotch themyth that some people, or some groups, have no ‘head’ for languages,and that second-language aptitude is a rare commodity usually best seenin non-anglophones.This brings us to another important topic: the relationship betweenbilingualism and intelligence. It is one thing to say that all normal peoplehave the basic capacity to expand their linguistic repertoires, and thatdoing so exacts no cognitive price. But what of the notion thatbilingualism can increase intellectual scope? It is an historically commonview that one’s personality expands with extra languages, particularlyamong those already bilingual and, more particularly still, among thesocial élite for whom an additional language or two was always anintegral part of civilized life. 3Generally speaking, early studies tended to associate bilingualismwith lowered intelligence, and it is unsurprising that many of them wereconducted in America at a time of great concern with the flood ofimmigrants from Europe (roughly, 19001920). As we have seen in earlierchapters, the history of the intelligence-testing movement itself is afascinating and detailed one, as well as an example of the misuse of‘science’ when allied with ignorance and prejudice. In addition, however,to the negative associations between bilingualism and intelligence thatstemmed from social fears and prejudices, there have also been moredisinterested studies that pointed to problems here. Virtually all wereflawed, however, by inadequate controls in their experimental procedures.The problem of statistical inference has been even more important:if one observes a correlation between measured intelligence andbilingualism, then has the first caused the second, or vice versa, or isthere a third factor (perhaps unknown or unmeasured) that influencesboth and thus accounts for their relationship? Correlation need not implycausation.Later research tended to show essentially no relationship betweenintelligence and bilingualism, and this work was generally more carefullydone than the earlier studies. Controlling for gender, age and socialclassdifferences became common procedure, and the lack of such controlwas increasingly seen to have produced the negative associations foundpreviously. What some have seen as a turning-point came in the early1960s, when findings showing a positive relationship between intelligenceand bilingualism began to appear. In Montreal, for instance, Peal andLambert (1962) found that 10-year-old bilingual children outperformed