Bilinguismo e seu impacto no desenvolvimento infantil até a fase adulta

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the possible cognitive effects in people who live in bilingual environments since very early. It’s data come from bibliographic review on bilingualism and second language acquisition in childhood, as well as the cognitive and brain aspects that are part of this process. Being able to communicate in other languages is an effectively competence that has an effect on a range of aspects in the human life and in the geopolitics of the modern world. As a consequence, the number of schools with bilingual proposals has increased throughout the national territory. The motivation for the study came from questions about impacts on cognitive and social development caused by the exposure of a person to two simultaneous languages, considering that part of this initial learning in Early Childhood Education. This study relies on the research of Bialystok (2004), and presents a brief review of the literature to understand the concept of the term bilingualism and the main theories of language acquisition. The impacts of bilingualism on child development and throughout adult life were also analyzed, as well as the contexts in which the learning process is most effective, in addition to identifying and investigating pedagogical factors and methods used in the educational environment of immersion in a bilingual education.