Author: hiro

Topic: Bilingualism 

Overview

In this model, we will learn the benefits of bilingualism while explaining how bilingual brain structures differ from the monolingual brains. Why is it important to learn about bilingualism? We will explore how bilingualism can affect your brain structures and how bilingualism can enhance your ability, but bilingualism is not just obtaining a second language, but also it can provide a variety of benefits. In today’s society considering how the world becomes more diverse, being able to speak multiple languages can surely broaden your horizons. We will examine the brain structures of bilingualism as well as the different types of bilingualism. We will also provide some useful applications to achieve bilingualism. 

Objectives

By the end of this module you will be able to:

• Identify three general concepts of bilingualism 

• Understand cognitive reserve

• Understand the benefits of bilingualism on cognitive reserve

• Explore useful language learning applications

Read/Watch 

https://youtu.be/MMmOLN5zBLY?si=XTrtBZ6p133GpjGk -The benefits of a bilingual brain (5mins) – A video of explaining three general types of bilingualism.

https://youtu.be/nzHY-muy2Mw?si=9LRMaec7y73oXK-L – Why being bilingual is good for your brain? (5min) – A video on a relationship between cognitive reserve and bilingualism. 

https://youtu.be/xLqWGVbPYuA?si=_mv0HPZ2Eu-HLeyj – What is cognitive reserve? – a video explaining what cognitive reserve is. 

Three types of bilingual 

Compound bilinguals:

When a toddler and their family relocate to a new environment, they develop two sets of linguistic codes that are connected to a single, cohesive body of knowledge. A person who possesses this linguistic structure is considered compound bilingual (Postan, 2020).

 Coordinate bilingual: 

The adoption of English in the classroom combined with the continued use of your mother tongue at home and in the community would be the typical manifestation. The primary attribute of coordinate bilinguals is the distinction between the context, intent, and mode of usage of each language (Postan, 2020).

Subordinate bilingual:

The parents in our immigrant household could serve as an example of the final type of bilingualism. People who learn the second language by filtering their primary language are classified as subordinate bilingual.

Cognitive reserve 

What is cognitive reserve? According to Harvard medical school, differences between individuals in susceptibility to age-related brain changes. There seems to be an interesting correlation between bilingualism and cognitive reserve. Speaking a second language can help preserve cognitive reserve, which can help delay the onset of dementia and lessen the effects of healthy aging. The key component of events that support cognitive reserve is their effort or stimulation. When two languages are activated simultaneously, bilinguals are constantly working to resolve competition between them which can enhance the ability of cognitive reserve (Bialystok, 2021).

Application 

There are many applications that can help you to become bilingual. My personal recommendations are: Duolingo, HelloTalk, and YouTube. 

Duolingo:

Duolingo can be a great language learning tool. The simple game-like format allows you to continue learning languages and have fun. I think Duolingo is a great starter language learning tool. As you can see from the picture, it allows you to practice not just Speaking, but also Listening, Reading, and Writing. 

HelloTalk:

HelloTalk doesn’t directly teach you languages. However, you can easily connect to people who speak the language you are learning. It’s basically a language exchange application. It’s similar to twitter where you can post and interact with people around the world. It also has a functionality where people can correct your spellings and grammar. 

Youtube:

I think YouTube is the best learning tool in general. Duolingo doesn’t provide the depth of understanding the grammar and provides only a limited amount of vocabulary. As your language fluency develops, grammar, and vocabulary get more complex. Youtube allows you to focus on very specific topic as well, so as mentioned above how Duolingo can be a great starter language learning tool, I think YouTube can give you a lot of different and focused information regardless of the level of your language fluency.

A discussion of how each member has contributed to the project 

Unfortunately, our group broke down due to a lack of communication which led to my individual work. However, this was a great opportunity to cover and demonstrate what we have learned throughout this semester.

Identify which media you created and with which tools.

I wanted to put infographics to illustrate bilingualism, but it was extremely hard to minimize the visuals and words to explain bilingualism. I chose some interesting videos on bilingualism on the beneficial aspect of cognitive reserve as well as core concepts of bilingualism. As we focused on learning methods in this course, I wanted to introduce some helpful applications to enhance reader’s learning and achieve goals. 

Identify the principles, theories and techniques that we studied this term that you followed in your lesson 

In this module, I didn’t want to just focus on cognitive reserve since it becomes more like a research paper. I wanted to cover how bilingualism can benefit people as well as identifying the different types of bilingualism. I attempted to use infographics, but I figured that it is very difficult and perhaps would end up confusing readers. I prioritized the Extraneous cognitive load so that readers don’t overload the information and focus on the information that I just want to provide. 

I tried to use two ways to manage intrinsic load to enhance Germane load by explaining simple differences between bilingualism and complex concepts of cognitive reserve. Thus, following simple to complex methods can increase the effect of Germane cognitive load. 

Discussion 

1. Are there any other learning applications that helped you learn a secondary language or any type of learning in general?
2. If you are bilingual, which category are you? Compound, Coordinate, or Subordinate bilingual. Tell us how you obtained a second language. 
3. What are some of the advantages of being able to speak multiple languages?
4. Any takeaway from bilingualism?

To do 

1. Watch the video of The benefits of bilingual brain
2. Watch the video of Why being bilingual is good for your brain 
3. Watch the video of What is cognitive reserve?
4. Tell us what learning applications were helpful and why
5. Explore Duolingo or HelloTalk if you are interested in learning a language
6. Add any comments on what has been discussed

Bibliography 

Bialystok, Ellen. (2021). Bilingualism: pathway to cognitive reserve. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2021.02.003

Postan, Liraz. (2020). Bilingualism: two types of bilingualism. Getblend. https://www.getblend.com/blog/types-of-bilingualism/#:~:text=Coordinate%20Bilingualism%3A%20Also%20known%20in,this%20separation%20after%20mastering%20both

As a Japanese person, I have been. Exposed with video gaming since the gaming industry is famous. I can’t recall the name of the video game, but when I was a child, the Nintendo DS was a popular thing and there was a game that asked you to spell the words in English. When I think about it back then, that was the starting point of my English learning journey. In modern society, video gaming is viewed as a negative consequence of developed technology. However, I do think video gaming is an interesting entertainment and video gaming can be a great tool for learning. 

I have used duolingo as well. Duolingo allows you to learn languages and record the process of it. I think duolingo is a great language learning tool since it forces you to use four major components: Listening Speaking Writing and Reading. 

It was very interesting to learn the difference between active and passive learning and how they are used in many different ways. Almost all the courses at UVIC require active and passive learning such as discussion, quizzes, and weekly readings for active learning whereas passive learning encourages listening and paying attention to detail. 

I think courses in general require a lot of active learning since you get to have discussions, practice what you have learned throughout the course. When I learned how to ride a motorcycle, it was more about passive learning because you have to pay attention to very little detail. It can be life or death situation, so it required to be more careful. It’s really interesting how active and passive learning are applied in a different learning environment 

Considering how chatGTP is extremely popular, I haven’t used chat GTP before. However, it’s very interesting after finding out how ChatGTP works. ChatGPT analyzes language input from humans and generates natural text responses as if it understands the language, allowing users to catch up in natural conversation as if they are talking to a human. This advanced AI technology has the ability to provide instant feedback, adapt to individual learning styles, and offer personalized suggestions and resources to each student’s needs. This allows students to enhance their learning in real time. I think from now on, I will be using ChatGTP as a learning tool since it’s available 24/7, with quick results and natural responses. ChatGTP has a variety of language options as well which allow more diversity. I haven’t used any AI applications so its was very interesting how AI can enhance not only the learning methods but also quick information accessibility in general. I think ChapGTP has become way too convenient that users might depend on it and not think on their own, such as plagiarism. I think if ChatGTP is approached in an appropriate way, ChatGTP can be used as a great learning tool. Data Visualization was very interesting and especially nowadays, the importance of information being misrepresented needs to go more noticed. As mentioned in the module 5, unbiased date is vital to truthfully spread the information as misunderstanding might occur. However, we see the normalization of how date is biased and manipulated on a daily basis. 

It was my first time taking a video of me and captioning the video. I did not know how to caption the video so it was very new and interesting to learn a too that I never used. I tried to captio every sentence of what I said so it’s easy to follow with my video and captions and I tried to consider minimizing the information and explain what i really wanted to say about motorcycles. I separated it into three parts: Difficulty, Danger, and how exciting motorcycles are. I purposefully didn’t use any images since it’s based on image principle, images can be distracting to the presentation. I was unsure how to cut the caption and move to the next caption. It was very interning and nervous to take a video to my presentation so it wasn’t as easy as everyone else. Next time I will consider how present with captions more clearly and visible. 

This is my storyboard

This is my script

Today I would like to talk about motorcycles. I recently bought a 600cc motorcycle with 600cc. I am a very beginner of riding motorcycles and I practiced on a smaller bike which was 250cc, so it was a very big jump to 250 to 600 and I dropped it a few times already. I wanna explain how difficult it is to ride a motorbike, how dangerous it can be and how fun it can be as well. First of all, motorcycles are very dangerous since they don’t have seatbelts. they are exposed to everything while driving 70km. Motorcycles are smaller than cars so people often don’t see them as well. Motorcycles are pretty heavy depending on what cc are you riding. Even 300cc bikes can be more than 300 pounds and 600cc can be 400 pounds so one you lose and control and drop you can’t really lift your bike on your own. Motorcycles were a bit challenging to learn. You have to use two hands and two feet and if you have to consistently use them. Especially when you try to do an emergency stop, you have to use your hands and feet in order very quickly. The clutch can be difficult as well. If you don’t know how to release the clutch, the bike can stall and you don’t want that to happen in the traffic. aBut motorcycles can be very thrilling and fun. Personally I can’t wait until spring to summer since they are the best season to ride a motorcycle. 

Module2 : Design Principles for Effective and Accessible Multimedia

Kat Holmes introduced three principles 1. Recognize exclusion 2. Solve for one, extend to many 3. Learn from diversity. As I was learning accessibility and equity, I could relate to my personal experiences. I did talk about how I struggle with the language barrier in module 1, and captions help me learn very effectively. Reasoning how people use captions vary significantly. For example, some people watch Japanese cartoon in Japanese with English captions although they have an optio to use dubbed versions in their language. The reason for this is because some people enjoy the Japanese voice acting, so captioning can be used not only to increase the learning methods, but also to increase the entertainment. 

I have been using Canva for almost two years and I find it extremely useful. Canva can be used in very different ways such as presentations, posters, and social media posts. Canva has many formats so that we don’t even have to create from scratch.

Canva allows people to make graphics as good as graphic designers as well. I have created an infographic about overcoming addictions. I don’t have a particular reason why I chose this topic, but I thought it would be interesting to make an infographic about addictions as it is a serious topic nowadays. I am currently taking a sociology class, so I thought addictions are something sociology can relate to.  

For my infographic, I tried to minimize the words and emphasize the important messages. It was extremely  easy  to make an infographic since Canva provides aesthetic templates and a variety of images. 

WAVE was very interesting how it tells you about the small details. I didn’t have enough sub-headings to organize what it is talking about. In addition to subheadings, spacing was poorly done as well which makes readers difficult to follow the topic. Overall, WAVE is a great tool to help web content more accessible.