Effects of Bilingualism on Personality, Cognitive and Educational Developments: A Historical Perspective

Abstract

From the first half of the 20th century, the question of whether bilingualism affects the individual has been discussed as a topic of essential investigation. Researchers have fallen into two main directions in answering this question. Some researchers claim that bilingualism is a negative phenomenon that has detrimental effects on bilingual. Recently, a number of researchers have produced evidence on the positive side that claim that bilingualism affects cognitive, personality, and educational developments. The study discusses these two views further regarding the three main dimensions. Then the study explains why the two views are so contradictory. The paper concludes that there is no a clear-cut answer for the question of the paper namely, Is bilingualism a problem? However, although a lot of studies are contradictory and each one needs firm methodological grounds recent studies with implementation of advanced research technologies and methods tip the balance in favor of bilingualism.