Assesses the importance and implications of the 'critical period' in second-language learning, which occurs when second-language learning overlaps primary language learning, ages two to thirteen. (LG)

Argues that the second language acquisition process involves two models, providing complementary accounts of different components which could be combined. An integrated model is proposed that would carry the acquisition-learning distinction of the Monitor Model while including the Neurofunctional Theory, which uses the distinction to describe the…

An attempt is made in the present paper to resolve inconsistencies between the results of recent studies which have reported that bilingualism is associated with positive cognitive consequences and earlier studies which suggested that bilingualism might adversely affect cognitive and scholastic progress. Because recent studies involved balanced…

Ausubel distinguishes two kinds of human learning: (1) rote learning, relevant only to a small fraction of human learning, is the mechanistic formation of discrete, isolated traces in cognitive structure, usually through a process of conditioning; (2) meaningful learning, characteristic of most human learning, is a process of "subsuming"…

Studies conducted with middle-class balanced bilinguals in "additive" environments, where both languages are prestigious, have generally reported that bilinguals showed a higher level of cognitive performance than monolinguals. In these studies, bilinguals showed higher levels of general intellectual skills, higher levels of divergent thinking, a…

This study challenges the Toukamaa and Skutnabb-Kangas theory of semilingualism and suggests that an integrated set of sociological and sociolinguistic factors can predict the performance of minority bilinguals in school. Semilingualism is described as a low level of competence in the minority language, a linguistic handicap that prevents the…