Bilingualism, Education & Language Acquisition of a Bilingual Child

International audienceThe aim of this conference is to introduce to teachers bilingualism and language acquisition and development among bilingual children. It will begin with a brief reminder of myths about bilingualism. Then, after a very concise history of research on the field, I will define bilingualism in general, which covers a whole continuum of definitions and theorists. After that, I will ask the following question: “How to objectively evaluate bilingualism in quantitative terms?” I will present some known tests for measuring proficiency in both languages in bilingual children. The third part will be entirely devoted to Jim Cummins’ theories (2011, 2014...) on the potential of bilingual education to promote pupil success and create favorable conditions for the development of sustainable individual and societal bilingualism. Finally, the last section will focus on children’s acquisition of both languages by reviewing most significant researches and discoveries observed on bilingualism among preschool children (from birth to 3 years of age) and schoolchildren