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Trevor Lin

Maddie Roepe

Writing 2

11 December 2023

Cover Letter

Dear Reader,

Since I can remember, two languages have characterized my household: Mandarin and

English. Early in their childhoods, my parents immigrated to the United States to escape poverty

in Taiwan and Vietnam and to achieve the American dream. Despite their young age, complete

devotion and work ethic were necessary at an early age for my parents to become financially

stable and adjust to American culture, as evident when they were required to dedicate much time

and effort to learning English. Growing up, my Dad told me of the countless hours he spent with

an English tutor while my Mom discussed the difficulties of learning English and growing

farther from her Mother, who could only speak Mandarin. While my parents are now perfectly

fluent in English and Mandarin, it wasn’t always like this. During a critical stretch of their

childhood, my parents learned their native language for their home environment and English for

school. These thoughts crossed my mind when I decided my topic for Writing Project 2 would

focus on bilingual children’s language and literacy development.

When starting this project, I intended to write about the advantages and disadvantages

that bilingual students experience when learning to read compared to monolinguals. To get a

better understanding of this conversation, I began listening in on this respective research

community. However, when gathering sources and information, I surmised that this research

community couldn’t come to a definitive conclusion on whether or not being bilingual benefits
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or hinders learning how to read and write. Moreover, I recognized that most articles didn’t

compare monolingual and bilingual learners and instead treated them independently of one

another. As a result, I shifted my project’s focus to the general process of bilingual children’s

language and literacy acquisition.

By listening in on this research community, I learned that this topic is much more

complex than my previous belief that being bilingual meant twice the amount of work for

gaining literacy. For example, I discovered that many external factors influence a bilingual

child's literacy development. Researchers claimed that language and literacy development, which

is the ability to use and understand written and spoken words, dramatically depends on outside

factors. These factors include duration of exposure to each language, a child’s socioeconomic

status, similarities between the languages, and much more. Furthermore, I was previously under

the belief that being bilingual was beneficial when learning languages as they’d be able to notice

patterns between languages and grammar. Throughout this research community, researchers view

this as bilingual children having two language systems, with the question of whether or not

they’re independent or dependent on one another. When delving further into this topic, I noticed

that the research community shared vastly different opinions. For example, academic journals

near the turn of the century found data supporting the idea that bilingual children developed

literacy in one language independently from their other language. Conversely, recent studies

found that certain aspects of one language, such as reading comprehension, can positively

influence reading comprehension in another language. Because this issue yielded no conclusion,

I thought this division would be the perfect focus for my fictional narrative.

Through my brief experience with research communities, I’ve learned that conversations

within these communities center on affirming or disproving previous findings to build

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knowledge on each topic. For example, more recent academic journals based their research on

past academic journals' results, while others attempted to disprove past notions. Furthermore, I

learned that individuals in research communities are always open to further research, whether it

agrees or disagrees with their current findings. With each academic journal possessing a section

listing the restrictions of their experiments, researchers are opening the door for future

community members to fill in the gaps of knowledge. As a result, I believe this conversation will

continue along the infinite cycle of conducting research, making claims, reaffirming or

overturning these claims, and encouraging more research until conclusive evidence suggests

whether bilingual children develop languages independently or interdependently.

Because much of this research community’s content consists of technical jargon and

extensive procedural details, I thought it would be best to translate their conversation into a

fictional narrative. By leaving out details about research experiments and mathematical formulas

involved in finalizing statistics, readers outside this research community can understand the gist

of the topic just as I did. Furthermore, I wanted the setting of the fictional narrative to center

around an event that seamlessly brought together the authors of my five academic journals to

further their conversation. I landed on a panel discussion, which I hope allows readers to get an

accurate portrayal of how this research community operates. Ultimately, I hope to end the

discussion panel with a poll given to the audience and focus on my protagonist’s thoughts when

he makes the decision to cast a vote agreeing with the theory that independence and

interdependence exist in bilingual children’s language and literacy development.

Sincerely, Trevor Lin

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Independent or Interdependent?

The howling winds and pouring rain were the only things on John’s mind as he climbed

up the steps of Campbell Hall. All around him, fellow students scrambled to the doors in

desperation for shelter from the tumultuous conditions. “Just yesterday, there wasn't a cloud in

the sky,” John muttered. Although just a freshman at the University of California, Santa Barbara,

John had already grown accustomed to perfect weather characterized by blue skies and

impeccable temperatures.

As he stepped through the central doorway, a wave of heat hit John, providing a blissful

comfort compared to the harsh environment outside. However, his dread for the impending

boredom that would be the next hour of his life overwhelmed and negated these positive

emotions. An uninspired linguistics major, John was required to attend a panel discussion of his

choice, provided it had something to do with his major. Just a week ago, he had reluctantly

shuffled through the pamphlet containing all his options. Only one had caught his eye.

With mild interest, John began reading about a panel discussion on bilingual children’s

language and literacy development. He felt a spark of curiosity as he glossed through

information about the event. As a bilingual himself, details about the role vocabulary played in

one’s ability to learn and understand written language resonated with John’s childhood struggles.

He remembered the painstaking hours at the dinner table spent reading and memorizing

flashcards of foreign words. Only after darkness replaced sunlight and his dinner had grown cold

could John translate Chinese characters into simple, somewhat comprehensible sentences.

As his eyes shifted through this panel discussion’s promotion, he found himself reading

excerpts from readings published by the experts set to speak at the event. When his focus locked

on someone named Virginia A. Marchman and her quote saying success depended on “contexts
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inside and outside the home in which children experience the languages they’re learning,” John’s

mind became flooded with memories. He could vividly recall a boiling point in which he had

expressed his anger and frustration at his father, who, unlike John and his mother, couldn’t speak

English. John dwelled upon this argument caused by a miscommunication in which he’d said the

wrong time in Mandarin that he planned on coming home. Though these challenges were behind

him, he still wondered how much easier his childhood would have been learning only English.

How easy would it be to speak one language rather than reserving Mandarin for his parents and

English for school?

Back in the present, John trudged through the crowd of students and quickly claimed an

aisle seat in the back, ensuring a quick exit once this mind-numbing event was over. His previous

curiosity about this event had disappeared once it became a reality that he had to spend the next

hour of his life listening to what was essentially another lecture. As he watched his fellow

students excitedly sit and talk amongst themselves, John couldn’t help but wonder what all their

jubilation was about. Despite knowing almost nothing about the subject other than his personal

experiences, John had already decided on the futility of the topic. All he knew was that being

bilingual meant twice the work. Slouching in his seat, he impatiently waited until the panel

moderator walked on stage and asked for silence.

“Greetings everyone,” she announced. “My name is Carol Hammer. I’ll be your

moderator today. Welcome, not just to this panel discussion but to this research community,

which has spent years researching bilingual children's language and literacy development. As the

author of a review that synthesized this community’s findings over the past few years, I feel

extremely prepared to preside over this conversation. Our hopes for this event are to define
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bilingualism, summarize our findings about their language acquisition, and encourage future

research. And with that, let’s welcome our experts!”

On cue, four individuals emerged from behind the curtains and gracefully took their seats

overlooking a crowd of nearly a thousand.

“For the sake of this panel discussion, let’s broadly define bilinguals as dual language

learners exposed to two languages during early childhood,” Carol said. “As I’ve said before, my

journal conducted no experiments. Instead, it synthesized the findings of about one hundred

eighty peer-reviewed articles. One of the articles that stood out the most was from Virginia A.

Marchman. Virginia, as an associate professor at Stanford, can you tell us what your research

found?”

At the mention of Virginia’s name, John perked up in his chair. Finally, he could place a

face to the woman whose quote had brought him here in the first place. John then shifted his

gaze to the end of the row where a woman with glasses sat and provided her with his undivided

attention.

“Certainly,” responded Virginia as she straightened her posture and turned her attention

from Carol to the audience. “It’s common knowledge that studies of children’s language and

literacy development have disproportionately focused on monolinguals.”

Following this statement, mutters of affirmation spread throughout the lecture hall,

especially amongst the experts on stage. Heat rushed to John’s face as he couldn’t help but feel

embarrassed that he wasn’t among the majority of people who could confirm Virginia’s claim.

“To provide research on this relatively unstudied topic, our research team conducted a

study on bilingual children’s lexical development between the ages of two and six,” continued

Virginia. “For those who don’t know, lexical development is this research community’s fancy
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term for vocabulary growth. Our study’s results concluded that a child’s vocabulary growth is

directly related to a child’s ability to speak a language. This means that bilingual children better

process the language they’ve heard more and the vocabulary they have more experience with.”

However, before she had a chance to continue, another expert asserted themselves into

the conversation.

“Actually, because I published my findings more than a decade before Virginia, it’s safe

to say I was one of the first people to stress the importance of bilingual children having more

experience within their two languages,” said an eccentrically dressed woman.

Virginia, obviously annoyed at the interruption but unwilling to say anything, sunk into

the comfort of her chair, thus inducing an awkward silence until Carol reentered the

conversation. “That’s not fair, Ellen. More than anyone, you should understand that research

communities reaffirm or disprove previous findings, not discredit past researchers.”

“You’re right, that was uncharacteristic of me and this research community,” Ellen

relented.

Seemingly under the impression that this apology wasn’t enough, Carol took it upon

herself to give Virginia the credit she deserved. “Virginia’s research was instrumental in many

general claims my team made based on the last decade of research. For example, her finding that

bilinguals scored lower than monolinguals in expressive vocabulary assessments supported our

general conclusion that dual language learners’ vocabularies in individual languages developed

at a slower rate than that of monolinguals. Isn’t that right Virginia?”

Following this attempt at amends, Carol glanced back at Virginia, who reluctantly nodded

in approval. This maturity and professionalism surprised John. He had previously been under the

belief that competitiveness, arrogance, and stubbornness characterized people in research

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communities. However, the previous events supported nothing short of research communities

encouraging one another’s future research.

“Well, moving right along then,” Carol enthusiastically said. “This discussion about

exposure to vocabulary influencing children’s development in learning to read and write has

reminded me of how challenging it is for researchers to compare the literacy developments of

bilinguals and monolinguals. However, according to one of our experts today, most of this

research community views one literacy skill as the key to measuring dual language learners'

literacy development. As such, the subject of phonological awareness falls under the expertise of

Ellen Bialystok, a Distinguished Research Professor at York University in Toronto. Ellen, could

you explain what this complicated term means?”

“Of course,” Ellen responded. “Those in the community define phonological awareness

as an individual’s ability to work with sounds when speaking a language. For example, to read an

alphabetic script, preschoolers must be aware of sublexical sound segments, such as rhyme, to

decode printed language.”

“Fascinating,” Carol exclaimed. “How would this impact our view of bilingual children’s

literacy development?”

“Well, there’s always been the question of whether bilingual children have advanced

phonological awareness due to broader oral experience,” said Ellen. “However, results remain

unclear as bilingualism sometimes proved to be an advantage and other times a disadvantage.”

“Can you tell us what’s responsible for these ambiguous results?” Carol curiously asked.

“At this time, I cannot,” Ellen answered. “When studying this topic, there are many

outside influences to consider.”

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“To add to Ellen’s point about external factors, exposure to the language is crucial for

young dual learners’ language and literacy development,” said an upstart young woman sitting

closest to Carol. “And that’s why bilinguals’ home environment plays a big role in language

acquisition. My study, to reaffirm Carol’s findings, discovered that socioeconomic status is

directly related to a child’s literacy development. Because socioeconomic status contributes to

engagement with reading activities, learning activities, and parents’ literacy habits, children in

low-income households are more likely to be exposed to poor language quality and vice versa.

As a result, socioeconomic status and its role in exposing bilinguals to languages is a reliable

predictor of their literacy development.”

“Neelima Wagley, everyone, a member of the Brain Development Laboratory at

Vanderbilt,” Carol announced, flustered by the abrupt change in who was talking as she shuffled

through her papers. “And Neelima, according to my notes, some of your data differed from my

journal’s findings. Could you tell us more about this?”

Neelima quickly shot a triumphant look at the rest of the experts, whose faces flushed

with embarrassment, before readopting her professional attitude. “Absolutely,” she said

excitedly. “Most of this community’s research was based on the assumption that bilinguals have

two separate language systems. This means a bilingual’s progress in one language is independent

of their progress in the other. However, my findings suggest differently.”

Pausing for breath, Neelima was interrupted by Ellen “You can’t possibly believe that

theory of interdependence within two languages, Neelima.”

“I do, Ellen,” responded Neelima. “I found that Spanish reading comprehension

supported English reading comprehension, and vice versa, therefore disproving the notion of

independent language systems.”

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Gasps of shock radiated through the crowd at this newfound information. John himself

was shocked but for different reasons than those around him. For as long as he could remember,

John’s parents constantly reminded him that his hard work in one language would translate into

progress in the other. Because John saw no evidence of this throughout elementary school, he

treated their advice as outlandish. However, as time passed, he began to think differently after

noticing patterns in sentence and word structures across languages.

Whispers of conversation still radiated throughout the lecture hall as John returned back

to the present. Even from the back of the lecture hall, he could see the experts’ astonishment at

this statement. However, before any of them could respond to their findings being disproved,

Virginia spoke up.

“This statement seems presumptuous,” Virginia calmly said. “While I didn't intend for

my research to address this question, I found that bilinguals, like monolinguals, learn two

languages in ways similar to children who are only learning one. However, my data provides no

definitive answer at this time.”

Before either side from two quickly forming divisions could argue on their behalf, the

last remaining expert inserted themself into the debate. “I believe neither answer does this

question justice,” said a timid woman with black hair and glasses. “My findings suggest that both

independence and interdependence exist in language development.”

“What makes you say that Satomi Mishina-Mori?” Carol prompted.

“While most of my data showed no strong interaction between two grammars, one

participant exhibited some signs of transfer from English to Japanese. Results suggesting

interdependence have occurred in many researchers’ findings. Isn’t that right, Ellen?”
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Taken aback, Ellen regained her composure before responding. “Yes. Although not

definitive, my team found that children in schools with truly bilingual curricula may be able to

transfer decontextualized knowledge skills between two languages.”

Quickly gaining confidence, Satomi then turned to Carol. “Furthermore, because you

cited my work, Carol, I decided to read the entirety of your academic journal. In it, I seem to

remember you citing Ellen’s work when claiming that some literacy skills may not be as

independent as previously thought. What do you have to say about this?”

Carol quickly collected her thoughts before answering. “As all researchers are aware, our

findings are never concrete because there’s always data that goes against our general claims. In

my writing, I responded to Ellen’s findings that aligned with the theory that some literacy-related

skills could transfer across languages.”

Now on a roll, Satomi focused her attention on Virginia. “And Ms.Marchman, didn't you

preface your research by saying your findings couldn't provide a definitive answer?”

“Yes, that’s why my academic journal noted my results shouldn’t imply that children’s

learning of words in one language has absolutely no impact on the other,” Virginia begrudgingly

responded.

Satisfied with this answer, Satomi turned back to Carol. “As you can see, Neelima’s

claim isn’t impossible. However, it’s far too early for any researcher to come to any conclusion.

Therefore, more research is necessary before anyone makes a finalized decision.”

After all four experts professed their approval of more research, the debate seemingly

ended in a tie. Pleased with this outcome, Carol allowed the audience to give a round of applause

before switching the subject. Now fully engaged in the event, John hadn’t even realized, but he’d

dismissed all previous preconceptions and earnestly listened to that debate. He then earnestly
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listened to subsequent conversations ranging from concepts of print to information processing

skills. Before he knew it, the panel discussion had come to an end.

“Unfortunately, we've run out of time today,” Carol announced. “Over the last hour,

we’ve gone over how exposure to more vocabulary and better socioeconomic status are positive

factors in bilingual children’s language and literacy development. However, we’ve also discussed

how our research couldn't determine if bilingual children’s progress between two languages is

independent, interdependent, or both. Ultimately, we’d like you, the audience, to fill out a poll

about which option you believe to be the most convincing. You should be able to find this in

your email. We hope you have learned a lot about bilingual children’s language and literacy

development and what it’s like to be a part of this research community. And before you go, let’s

give our five experts one more round of applause!”

Deciding to remain in his seat and fill out the poll before leaving, John took a minute to

think about the question. Before this panel discussion, he had mixed experiences of one language

helping his progress in the other language. However, the fact that the opposite belief was the

basis for members of this research community concerned him. Would he be considered a radical

if he sided with Neelima and her stance on the issue? As this thought almost made him choose

the independent option, one memory crossed John’s mind. He could vividly remember the

numerous times his parents had insisted hard work in one language would translate to the other.

Subsequently, his mind connected the memory of him recognizing structural patterns between

words of different languages with Neelima’s findings that some instances of Spanish reading

comprehension helped bilingual children read in English. Now supported by Neelima’s evidence,

his parents’ claims, and his own experiences, John confidently chose the option of literacy

development in one language being interdependent with literacy in another.

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As he walked out of Campbell Hall to a college campus now blessed with rays of

sunshine, John noticed he had reclaimed his interest in studying linguistics. Maybe he could be

the one to prove the two language systems within bilingual children was interdependent. With

this thought in mind, John headed to the library with a new perspective.
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Work Cited

Bialystok, Ellen. “”Does Bilingualism Matter for Early Literacy?” Bilingualism (Cambridge,

England), vol. 2, no. 1, 1999, pp. 35-44.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/5AAE5A7B1

8CD69FC58BB010AE4CE0A94/S1366728999000139a.pdf/does-bilingualism-matter-for

-early-literacy.pdf

Hammer, Carol. “The Language and Literacy Development of Young Dual Language Learners:

A Critical Review.” Early Childhood Research Quarterly, vol. 29, no. 4, 2017, pp.

716-728.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885200614000611?via%3Dihub

Marchman, Virginia A. “How Vocabulary Size in Two Languages Relates to Efficiency in

Spoken Word Recognition by Young Spanish-English Bilinguals.” Journal of Child

Language, vol. 37, no. 4, 2010, pp. 817-840.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/E141CB1252

9686F94D83450CBCDEC4AB/S0305000909990055a.pdf/how-vocabulary-size-in-two-l

anguages-relates-to-efficiency-in-spoken-word-recognition-by-young-spanish-english-bil

inguals.pdf

Mishina-Mori, Satomi. “Autonomous and Interdependent Development of Two Language

Systems in Japanese/English Simultaneous Bilinguals: Evidence From Question

Formation.” First Language, vol. 25, no. 3, 2005, pp. 291-315.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epdf/10.1177/0142723705052560
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Wagley, Neelimia. “Contributions of Bilingual Home Environment and Language Proficiency on

Children’s Spanish-English Reading Outcomes.” Child Development, vol. 93, no. 4,

2022, pp. 881-899. https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cdev.13748