The Bilingual Advantage and the Language Background Bias
The Bilingual Advantage and the Language Background Bias

Summary/Abstract: The idea that bilingualism can give us an advantage in life is of great interest to the scientific community, due to its significant positive implications for healthcare and education. In recent years, several scholars have provided evidence in favour of the so-called bilingual advantage or benefit, which suggests a positive association between bilingualism and cognitive development. In order to understand whether the claim is fully warranted, this paper examines the evidence in support and against the existence of the possible bilingual benefit for individuals. Following a brief discussion on the use of the terms bilingualism and multilingualism in the literature, this paper aims to provide a summary of the possible advantages and disadvantages currently associated with prior language knowledge in the mind, highlighting some of the possible reasons for the different results that have been reported. In addition, this paper proposes that there are inconsistent experimental results due to a language background bias, which refers to the widespread failure to classify prior language background in a consistentand suitable manner in empirical research. The paper ends with some suggestions for future research that can help us move forward and increase our understanding of the bi-/multilingual advantage as a broader phenomenon.

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