How Does Multilingualism Correlate With Scholastic Achievement

 An individual speaker who uses two or more
languages competently.
 two Latin words namely “multi” that means
many and “lingua” that means language.
 Thus multilingualism is referred to as the
ability of a speaker to express himself or
herself in several languages with equal and
native like proficiency.
 Now widely recognized as a natural
phenomenon which relates positively to
cognitive flexibility and achievement at
school.
 Equivalent vocabulary growth
 Preventing Dementia
 Improved memory
 Brain responds to many languages
 More “open” to new languages than
monolingual peers
 More cognitively flexible!
 Improved decision making skills
 refers to our ability to disengage from one
task and respond to another or think about
multiple concepts at the same time.
“ Since learning another

language literally rewires your
brain” (Trends in Cognitive Science
article published in 2012)
 areas responsible for functions such as task-
switching, auditory processing, and memory
are more frequently and readily activated in
bilingual/multilingual individuals than
monolingual.
 Multilingual education using both the first
language and a second language usually
contributes to academic success.
 Multilingual educational programs perform better
across the board academically (including in
mathematics), when compared with monolingual
students who are instructed in their mother
tongues only. In other words, competent
multilingualism itself has positive benefits for the
individual.
 a speech and language therapist Dr. Elsie Naude
from Pretoria realized that when parents
encourage children to acquire additional
languages then they are also investing in the
child intellectually.
 Children have increased ability to apply more
reading strategies effectively due to their
greater experience in language learning and
reading in two—or more—different languages
(Nayak et al. 1990),
 Multilingualism provides an insight into the
understanding of different cultures and
experiences hence a multilingual becomes
multicultural in nature.
 Multilingualism provides a competitive edge
in today’s job market. Besides the academic
and professional credentials, employers also
look for fluency in the desired languages as
an added advantage.
“language relies on
society, culture and
mind.”
 Multilingualism enhances an automatic
understanding and appreciation of cultural
values of the societies that are contained in
the concerned languages. The experiences
gained from learning different languages
automatically tend to change the attitudes,
skills, beliefs of the people, society and
create an expansion of world view.
 Knowledge of more than two languages
allows us to communicate with many people
in both personal and professional contexts.
 Alba, J., Chromiak, W., Hasher, L., & Attig, M. (1980). Automatic encoding of
category size information. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning &
Memory, 6, 370–378. Albert, M. L., & Sandson, J. (1986). Perseveration in aphasia.
Cortex, 22, 103–115. Allport, A., Styles, E. A., & Hsieh, S. (1994). Shifting
intentional set: Exploring the dynamic control of tasks. In C. Umilta & M.
Moscovitch (Eds.), Attention and performance XV (pp. 421–452). Cambridge: MIT
Press.
 Anderson, R. C., & Ortony, A. (1975). On putting apples into bottles—A problem of
polysemy. Cognitive Psychology, 7, 167–180. Barclay, J., Bransford, J. D., Franks,
J., McCarrell, N., & Nitsch, K. (1974). Comprehension and semantic flexibility.
Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 13, 471–481. Barsalou, L. W.
(1982). Context-independent and context-dependent information in concepts.
Memory & Cognition, 10, 82–93. Barsalou, L. W. (1983). Ad hoc categories.
Memory and Cognition, 11, 211–227. Barsalou, L. W. (1989). Intraconcept
similarity and its implications for interconcept similarity. In S. Vosniadou & A.
Ortony (Eds.), Similarity and analogical reasoning (pp. 101–140). Cambridge:
C.U.P. Barsalou, L. W. (1991). Deriving categories to achieve goals. In G. Bower
(Ed.), Psychology of learning and motivation: Advances in research and theory. Vol.
27. NY: Academic Press. Beals, D. E., & Tabors, P. O. (1995). Arboretum,
bureaucratic and carbohydrates: Preschoolers’ exposure to rare vocabulary at
home. First Language, 15, 57–76. Beeman, M. (1998). Coarse semantic coding and
discourse comprehension. In M. Beeman & C. Chiarello (Eds.), Right hemisphere
language comprehension (pp. 255–284). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Berg, E.
A. (1948). A simple objective test for measuring flexibility in thinking. Journal of
General Psychology, 39, 15–22. Bishop, D. V. (1997). Uncommon understanding:
Development and disorders of language comprehension in children. Hove, UK:
Taylor & Francis. Bohlmann, N. (2001). The effects of feedback on perseverative
errors in problem solving with 3- to 5-year-old children. Unpublished MA thesis,
San Diego State University, San Diego, CA.

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 An individual speaker who uses two or more

“ Since learning another

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