Editing Multilingualism (section)

===Order of acquisition===
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In [[sequential bilingualism]], learners receive literacy instruction in their native language until they acquire a "threshold" literacy proficiency. Some researchers use age three as the age when a child has basic communicative competence in their first language (Kessler, 1984).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hanen.org/web/Home/AboutHanen/NewsViews/OneLanguageorTwo/tabid/220/Default.aspx|title=One Language or Two? Home Language or Not? Some Answers to Questions about Bilingualism in Language-Delayed Children |last1=Weitzman|first1=Elaine |website=hanen.org|publisher=[[The Hanen Centre]]|access-date=8 May 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090530230334/http://www.hanen.org/web/Home/AboutHanen/NewsViews/OneLanguageorTwo/tabid/220/Default.aspx|archive-date=30 May 2009}}</ref> Children may go through a process of sequential acquisition if they migrate at a young age to a country where a different language is spoken, or if the child exclusively speaks his or her heritage language at home until he or she is immersed in a school setting where instruction is offered in a different language.

In [[simultaneous bilingualism]], the native language and the community language are simultaneously taught. The advantage is literacy in two languages as the outcome. However, the teacher must be well-versed in both languages and also in techniques for teaching a second language.

The phases children go through during sequential acquisition are less linear than for simultaneous acquisition and can vary greatly among children. Sequential acquisition is a more complex and lengthier process, although there is no indication that non-language-delayed children end up less proficient than simultaneous bilinguals, so long as they receive adequate input in both languages.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gass|first=Susan M.|title=Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2008|isbn=978-0805854985|language=english}}</ref>

A coordinate model posits that equal time should be spent in separate instruction of the native language and the community language. The native language class, however, focuses on basic literacy while the community language class focuses on listening and speaking skills. Being bilingual does not necessarily mean that one can speak, for example, English and French.

====Outcomes====
Research has found that the development of competence in the native language serves as a foundation of proficiency that can be transposed to the second language – the common underlying proficiency hypothesis.<ref>{{cite web |title=Developing Native Language Literacy in Language Minority Adults |url=https://www.ericdigests.org/1993/native.htm |website=ericdigests.org |access-date=24 February 2019 |language=en |archive-date=24 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190224062558/https://www.ericdigests.org/1993/native.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Trudell |first1=Barbara |title=Language choice, education and community identity |journal=International Journal of Educational Development |date=May 2005 |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=237–251 |doi=10.1016/j.ijedudev.2004.08.004 |url=http://www.sil.org/resources/archives/5099 |access-date=6 December 2019 |archive-date=19 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719163752/https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/5099 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}; cited in {{cite news |title=The perils of learning in English |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/02/23/the-perils-of-learning-in-english |access-date=24 February 2019 |date=21 February 2019 |quote=Research demonstrates that children learn more when they are taught in their mother tongue than they do when they are taught in any other language. In a study of children in the first three years in 12 schools in Cameroon, those taught in Kom did better than those taught in English in all subjects. Parents might say that the point is to prepare children for the workplace and that a grasp of English is more use than sums or history. Yet by year five, the children taught in Kom outperformed English-medium children even in English. Perhaps this is because they gain a better grasp of the mechanics of reading and writing when they are learning the skills in a language they understand. |archive-date=23 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190223145929/https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/02/23/the-perils-of-learning-in-english |url-status=live }}</ref> Cummins' work sought to overcome the perception propagated in the 1960s that learning two languages made for two competing aims. The belief was that the two languages were mutually exclusive and that learning a second required unlearning elements and dynamics of the first to accommodate the second.<ref name="Hakuta-1990">{{cite book | last=Hakuta | first=Kenji | chapter=Language and cognition in bilingual children | chapter-url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED329635.pdf#page=46 | editor-last=Padilla | editor-first=Amado M. | editor-last2=Fairchild | editor-first2=Halford H. | editor-last3=Valadez | editor-first3=Concepcion M. | title=Bilingual education: issues and strategies | publisher=Sage Publications | publication-place=California | date=1990 | isbn=0-8039-3638-9 | oclc=20453990 | id={{ERIC|ED329635}} | pages=47–59 | access-date=12 June 2022 | archive-date=1 July 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701132127/https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED329635.pdf#page=46 | url-status=live }}</ref> The evidence for this perspective relied on the fact that some errors in acquiring the second language were related to the rules of the first language.<ref name="Hakuta-1990"/>

Another new development that has influenced the linguistic argument for bilingual literacy is the length of time necessary to acquire a second language. Previously, children were believed to have the ability to learn a language within a year, but today, researchers believe that within and across academic settings, the period is closer to five years.<ref name="Collier-1992">{{cite journal | last=Collier | first=Virginia P. | title=A Synthesis of Studies Examining Long-Term Language Minority Student Data on Academic Achievement | journal=Bilingual Research Journal | publisher=Informa UK Limited | volume=16 | issue=1–2 | year=1992 | issn=1523-5882 | doi=10.1080/15235882.1992.10162633 | pages=187–212}}</ref><ref name="The-Ramírez-report">The Ramírez report:
*Ramírez J., S. Yuen, D. Ramey & D. Pasta. 1991. [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uga1.32108043132136 Final Report: Longitudinal study of structured English immersion strategy, early-exit and late-exit bilingual education programs for language-minority children: Volume I] (prepared for the U.S. Department of Education). San Mateo, CA: Aguirre International. No. 300-87-0156.
*Ramírez, J., Pasta, D., Yuen, S., Ramey, D. & D. Billings. 1991. Final report: Longitudinal study of structured English immersion strategy, early-exit and late-exit bilingual education programs for language-minority children: Volume II (prepared for the U.S. Department of Education). San Mateo, CA: Aguirre International. No. 300-87-0156.</ref>{{Update inline|date=June 2022|reason=It says "today researchers believe...", but the citations are from the early 1990s, i.e. 30 years ago.|?=yes}}

An interesting outcome of studies during the early 1990s, however, confirmed that students who do complete bilingual instruction perform better academically.<ref name="Collier-1992"/><ref name="The-Ramírez-report"/> These students exhibit more [[cognitive flexibility]], including a better ability to analyze abstract visual patterns. Students who receive two-way bilingual immersion, a form of dual language education that brings together students from two different language backgrounds to learn in both languages,<ref>{{cite web | title=Two-Way Immersion Education: The Basics | url=https://www.cal.org/twi/toolkit/PI/Basics_Eng.pdf | access-date=2025-04-11}}</ref> will perform at an even higher level.{{cn|date=April 2025}} Examples of such programs include international and multi-national education schools.