Morel 1

Silvia Morel
Ella Fran V.
UWRT
February 23, 2016
EIP Proposal
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Present your issue/topic, then try to put it in question form.

Pros and Cons of raising Bilingual and Multilingual children. What are the benefits and the
drawbacks of exposing children during their formative years (1-7) to more than one language?
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Why did you choose this subject over others? Why is it compelling to you?

I have greatly benefited from being bilingual and I have noticed a lot of immigrant parents have
a internalized fear that teaching their children their native language will harm them in their life in
the united states and this really bothers me. I want to write a research paper that will counter
most of those fears and rather present its benefits.
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What do you already know about your subject?

I have my own experience to go by and Ive done some research on the brain as well as taken
several child development classes to back up what I want to prove in this essay.
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What more do you need to learn?

I would need to do research on the brain during the formative years as well as on the process of
learning languages in general. And at the risk of not being more biased than I already am I
definitely need to do research on the cons and be as fair as I can in my paper.

Morel 2

To guide your research, write ten questions you want to find answers to.

-What is language?
-What does It mean to be bilingual/multilingual?
-Why is learning more than one language difficult? What would make it easier?
-Why is it easier to learn a language during the formative years?
-How many languages can a childs brain learn?
- What are some impediments of teaching language to children?
-How will learning more than one language impact a childs development/growth/school career?
-What does learning a language involve? Whats the process?
-What are the benefits of being bilingual? Long term? Short term?
-In what ways is the brain of a multilingual person different than a unilingual?
-Would teaching a language from an early age imply mastery of said language by the parent? If
not, what are the options?
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Where do you think you will find answers you seek? Possibilities are articles from
popular journals or web sites, scholarly research or studies, government documents,
individuals who might be good subjects for interview. What questions might be difficult
to find answers for?

I dont have a particular article or study in mind but those dealing with language and the brain
will be go-to. I want to interview a couple of people, some Spanish teachers and some of the

Morel 3

people Ive met that have told me they wish their parents had taught them their language when
they were kids.
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If the results of your initial research are so numerous you need to narrow your subject,
what will you narrow it to?

I honestly dont think I can narrow it more than language during the formative years. I have
narrowed down the time period to introduce the language and have stated that I will be going
over the pros and cons.
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If your preliminary research turns up very little information, how will you broaden
your subject to open up more research findings?

I plan on doing research on the brain, language learning, child development and negative and
positive repercussions of language in children that should give me a pretty ample area of search.
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Think about who your target audience might be. Who is most affected by this issue?
Why should other people care about this issue? Why is your issue important?

My main target audience would be bilingual parents to which this theme would hold most
significance and whom I wish to prove how important it is to allow their children exposure. Not
only because of skill set but in a manner to connect to whichever culture they come from which I
think is very important for identity. But it could also be directed to the public in general, to be
informed of the advantages of starting to learn a language earlier on in life and how beneficial it
will be.