Critical Review of The Advantages of Bilingualism Debate

Critical Review
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Critical Review
A summary of the Article
Mark Antoniou authored the Article in 2019. It focuses on analyzing the advantages of the bilingualism debate. The author explains that before the mid-20th century, bilingualism was associated with cognitive disadvantages. However, researchers have portrayed numerous benefits of bilingualism over the past few decades. For instance, in some cases, bilingualism can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Although some investigators have not found research results associated with bilingual advantages, others have shown various benefits associated with bilingualism. As such, the research by Antoniou (2019) focused on reviewing and critically examining the evidence for and against the bilingual advantage in brain plasticity, mental aging, and executive functions.
Introduction and Literature Review
The study is based on the theory that bilingualism has numerous advantages. For instance, people who know many languages can communicate with many people, expanding their social circles, increasing their chances of employment, and carrying out businesses across the globe. In the 20th century, researchers perceived that bilingualism caused cognitive disadvantages because it adversely affected children. The research conducted between the 1920s-1950s showed that individuals who spoke numerous languages could not score excellently in the verbal tests that evaluated their cognitive abilities. During this time, researchers concluded that using many languages in a child’s early life confused children, thus causing cognitive impairments. However, recent studies have discovered that bilingualism helps improve executive functions, such as the cognitive processes that regulate behavior and help attain goals.
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The researcher...