Ar 21:53 -0800 2001-01-02, scríobh Asmus Freytag:
>>>There won't be. All evidence (and there's lots of it here in Ireland where
>>>we have English-medium and Irish-medium schools) shows that, in general,
>>>children who are bilingual do BETTER in school than monolingual children.
>My own personal attempt at explanation is that the rapid acquisition of a
>full second language (and culture) during that time might have bound some
>of the capacity that otherwise could have expressed itself in improved
>analytical scores. The alternative conclusion would be that the analytical
>test measured an innate skill largely unrelated to and unaffected by my
>ongoing scientific training.
>With this experience as a background, I've been very wary in accepting
>any purported study results in this area.
But you were NOT a child when you took the tests, were you? Language
acquisition ability reduces as one ages, in general. Rather sharply as
adolescence sets in.
Michael Everson ** Everson Gunn Teoranta ** http://www.egt.ie
15 Port Chaeimhghein Íochtarach; Baile Átha Cliath 2; Éire/Ireland
Mob +353 86 807 9169 ** Fax +353 1 478 2597 ** Vox +353 1 478 2597
27 Páirc an Fhéithlinn; Baile an Bhóthair; Co. Átha Cliath; Éire
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