New York Times Covers Bilingualism Research

Check out this op-ed on our research on communicative benefits of multilingual exposure--We find that in addition to cognitive benefits of bilingualism (e.g., enhanced executive function), being exposed to multiple languages gives children an early-emerging communicative advantage. Specifically, children who regularly hear more than one language in their everyday environments outperformed purely monolingual children on tasks that required taking a communicative partner's perspective in order to determine her intended meaning. Most interestingly, we found that children did not have to be able to speak multiple languages to show these benefits, that the benefits emerge in infancy, and that even a minimal amount of regular exposure to a second language is enough to produce communicative gains. Click the link below to read the full story!