CHILD DEVELOPMENT PEDAGOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Contrary to this definition, which includes ‘perfect bilinguals’ Macnamara (1967a) asserts that a bilingual is a person who has “a minimal competence in only one of the four language skills, listening comprehension, speaking, reading and writing, in a language other than his mother tongue.

Detailed explanation-2: -These expressions and their associated concepts were created by Wallace Lambert, the Canadian researcher who has been given the title of “the father of bilingualism research”. Passive bilingualism-refers to being able to understand a second language without being able to speak it.

Detailed explanation-3: -This theory was developed by Jim Cummins, in the early 1980’s. It stated that the two languages used by an individual, though on the surface apparently separate, function through the same central cognitive system.

Detailed explanation-4: -The definition “bilingual", according to Macnamara (1967), can mean control of one’s native language and minimal control of one the language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) of the second language.

Detailed explanation-5: -A balanced bilingual has similar competencies in both L1 and L2, and a dominant bilingual has a superior competence in one language over the other, more often the L1.