Issues on raising a bilingual child in Costa Rica: a myth or a reality?

This article deals with main issues concerning bilingualism and bilingual first language acquisition (BFLA). A review of the literature is presented on how children learn languages. In addition, this paper summarizes what bilingualism is and addresses how the One-parent One-language (OPOL) and the M...

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Autor principal: Allen Quesada Pacheco
Formato: Artículo científico
Publicado: Universidad de Costa Rica 2011
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Acceso en línea:http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=44720020002
http://biblioteca.clacso.edu.ar/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.cgi?a=d&c=cr/cr-006&d=44720020002oai
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Sumario:This article deals with main issues concerning bilingualism and bilingual first language acquisition (BFLA). A review of the literature is presented on how children learn languages. In addition, this paper summarizes what bilingualism is and addresses how the One-parent One-language (OPOL) and the Minority Language at Home (ML@H) methods work. The paper includes sample testimonies of Itzel, a three-year-old child, raised with these methods. It also illustrates samples of her code-switching and code-mixing as part of her evolution in bilingual first language acquisition. Based on this evolution, there is some evidence that a child can become bilingual under foreign language conditions. Finally, the article reflects on the decisive role that dedication, consistency and effort have as crucial components to accomplish BFLA.