Current Issues in Bilingualism: an Update of Directions in Research

Abstract

This survey is primarily an update of the review published inARAL I, (Kaplan 1981:2-24). The research on various aspects of bilingualism during the last five years shows three main characteristics. First, there is questioning of some basic concepts which are still considered, as it were, sacrosanct by researchers for the description and analysis of bilingualism--individual and societal--and for actual fieldwork (cf., section 2 below). In such questioning--however mute at present--several theoretical and methodological sacred cows are under attack. Second, one notices a shift in the areas of research towards experimentation, with more precise methodology and techniques, to answer questions concerning the bilingual's brain (cf., sections 5 and 6). Third, there are insightful breakthroughs in crosscultural and cross-linguistic research with serious applied orientation (cf., sections 10 and 11) and, equally important, there is concern for a social commitment in such research. True, in this intense research activity there are very few questions asked which may be considered as breaking new ground. However, the newness lies in the answers which are provided to old questions. In these answers, we notice many fresh insights gained through a wealth of cross-cultural data, through the results obtained from longitudinal studies (e.g., Hakuta and Diaz in press, Rosier and Holm 1980), through the experiments conducted with highly refined and sophisticated tools and techniques of data collection and data analysis, and through increasing understanding of the bilinguals' and monolinguals' neuropsychological processes.