Cognitive Development in Bilingual Children: A Case for Bilingual Instruction in Early Childhood Education

This article overviews the research on the complex relationship between bilingualism and cognitive development and the important implications of this relationship for bilingual education. Recent studies are discussed that examine the cognitive development in bilingual children with regard to metalinguistic awareness, concept formation, and analogical reasoning. A case is made for additive bilingual instruction in early childhood programs as a means of reinforcing the productive and receptive knowledge of the first language during this critical period of linguistic, social, and cognitive development.