Speaking more than one language makes children intelligent. Researchers from the University of Strathclyde found bilingual children excelling in problem-solving skills and creative thinking.
Dr Fraser Lauchlan and his colleagues' findings come as a contradiction to the previous belief that bilingualism can have a negative impact on children.
"Bilingualism is now largely seen as being beneficial to children but there remains a view that it can be confusing, and so potentially detrimental to them," Lauchlan said.
The study included 121 children, with an average age of nine, in Scotland and Sardinia. Among the total participants, 62 were bilingual- English or Italian/ Gaelic or Sardinian. Children participated in a series of tests - reproducing patterns of colored blocks, repeating orally a series of numbers, providing clear definitions of words and arithmetic problems solved mentally.
The results showed the bilingual children outperforming children who speak only one language. Among the bilingual group also the Gaelic-speaking children were found more successful than Sardinian speaking children.
"Our study has found that it can have demonstrable benefits, not only in language but in arithmetic, problem solving and enabling children to think creatively. We also assessed the children's vocabulary, not so much for their knowledge of words as their understanding of them. Again, there was a marked difference in the level of detail and richness in description from the bilingual pupils," Lauchlan explained.
The mental alertness used to switch from one language to another may be the main factor leading to this occurrence, researchers said. The mental alertness may be helping to develop skills beneficial to other types of thinking.
"We also found they had an aptitude for selective attention- the ability to identify and focus on information which is important, while filtering out what is not- which could come from the 'code-switching' of thinking in two different languages," he concluded.
The findings of the study have been published in the International Journal of Bilingualism.
