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Relao entre bilingualismo e aspectos cognitivos


1. Apresentao A relao entre cognio e aquisio de lnguas sempre foi tema de pesquisas e especulaes. O texto abaixo, intitulado: Why bilinguals are smarter (Porque bilngues so mais espertos), foi extrado do jornal online New York Times (www.nytimes.com), da seo chamada Gray Matter (Massa cinzenta), de maro de 2012. O texto traz informaes sobre como o bilinguismo era visto em algumas perspectivas tericas no sculo passado e como visto hoje, em algumas outras perspectivas e a partir de pesquisas recentes sobre aspectos cognitivos em bilngues e no-bilngues de idades variadas. Convido aqueles que se interessarem pelo assunto, a seguirem o percurso de leitura abaixo para melhor aproveitamento da prtica. 2. Prtica de leitura Para realizar a leitura do texto, leia, previamente as questes abaixo. Durante a leitura, procure localizar as respostas. Tente extrair um sentido que resuma cada pargrafo para voc mesmo e, ao mesmo tempo, v construindo uma compreenso geral sobre o texto como um todo. importante lembrar que voc no deve tentar compreender todas as palavras. Durante a leitura, voc observar que algumas caixas de texto, com glossrio, foram inseridas para auxili-lo(a). As palavras constantes do glossrio esto marcadas no texto com a cor amarela. As caixas aparecem e cobrem conjuntos de 3 pargrafos. Alm disso, talvez seja necessrio usar um dicionrio. Perguntas: a) Nas linhas 5 a 7, em: It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age., o pronome It e os verbos improving (melhorando) e shielding against (protegendo contra) se referem a que, em portugus? b) Nas linhas 8 a 12 e 13 a 19, encontramos duas posies distintas sobre o efeito do bilinguismo na cognio humana. Quais so elas? c) As linhas 20 a 32 discorrem sobre pesquisa realizada pelas psiclogas Ellen Bialystok and Michelle Martin-Rhee com crianas em idade pr-escolar. A pesquisa envolveu a solicitao, s crianas, para desenvolver dois tipos de tarefas distintas. Quais foram as tarefas? Em que meio (e.g.: computador, papel, lousa?) elas foram desenvolvidas? Qual foi o resultado? d) As linhas 34 a 37 discorrem sobre uma funo cerebral chamada: executive function. A que se refere essa funo? e) Sobre o que falam as linhas 65 a 74? f) O que a equipe do neuropsicologista Tamar Gollan, da Universidade da Califrnia, descobriu?

UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE UBERLNDIA INSTITUTO DE LETRAS E LINGUSTICA Gle 115: Leitura Instrumental Em Lngua Inglesa A Distncia I Profa. Dra. Simone Tiemi Hashiguti Atividades complementares

Discuta suas respostas com os colegas no frum correspondente atividade no Moodle.

3. Ps-leitura Depois de ter lido o texto, respondido as questes e discutido com os colegas, importante fazer uma reflexo sobre seu processo de leitura. Assim, reflita sobre as palavras que voc considera que foram mais importantes para sua compreenso, as palavras novas que lhe chamaram a ateno (que tipos de palavras foram? nomes? termos tcnicos? palavras que do coeso ao texto?), o formato do texto, suas expectativas antes de ler o texto e depois, e o formato desta atividade. Tente tirar o mximo dela para aprender mais sobre a lngua inglesa e as estratgias de leitura. Pense tambm sobre o que aprendeu em termos de conhecimento sobre um assunto que pode ser da sua rea de estudos ou no. Se quiser compartilhar essa reflexo com os colegas, faa-o no frum tambm. Compartilhar suas experincias muito relevante para todos e suas contribuies so bem-vindas! Bom estudo!!!! Profa. Simone

UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE UBERLNDIA INSTITUTO DE LETRAS E LINGUSTICA Gle 115: Leitura Instrumental Em Lngua Inglesa A Distncia I Profa. Dra. Simone Tiemi Hashiguti Atividades complementares
Gray Matter

Why Bilinguals Are Smarter

Harriet Russell
By YUDHIJIT BHATTACHARJEE Published: March 17, 2012

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SPEAKING two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world. But in recent years, scientists have begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism are even more fundamental than being able to converse with a wider range of people. Being bilingual, it turns out, makes you smarter. It can have a profound effect on your brain, improving cognitive skills not related to language and even shielding against dementia in old age. This view of bilingualism is remarkably different from the understanding of bilingualism through much of the 20th century. Researchers, educators and policy makers long considered a second language to be an interference, cognitively speaking, that hindered a childs academic and intellectual development. They were not wrong about the interference: there is ample evidence that in a bilinguals brain both language systems are active even when he is using only one language, thus creating situations in which one system obstructs the other. But this interference, researchers are finding

Glossary: To speak/speaking = falar Rather than = ao invs de Have begun = comearam Advantages = vantagens Than being able = do que ser capaz Wider range = gama maior It turns out = resulta Brain = crebro Remarkably = significativamente Researcher = pesquisador Skills = habilidades Long = por muito tempo Cognitively speaking = em termos cognitivos Hindered = prejudicava Both = ambos Thus = assim, dessa forma In which = nas quais Finding out = descobrindo But = mas Mind = mente Workout = exerccio To strengthen = fortalecer

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out, isnt so much a handicap as a blessing in disguise. It forces the brain to resolve internal conflict, giving the mind a workout that strengthens its cognitive muscles. Bilinguals, for instance, seem to be more adept than monolinguals at solving certain kinds of mental puzzles. In a 2004 study by the psychologists Ellen Bialystok and Michelle Martin-Rhee, bilingual and monolingual preschoolers were asked to sort blue circles and red squares presented on a computer screen into two digital bins one marked with a blue square and the other marked with a red circle. In the first task, the children had to sort the shapes by color, placing blue circles in the bin marked with the blue square and red squares in the bin marked with the red circle. Both groups did this with comparable ease. Next, the children were asked to sort by shape, which was more challenging because it required placing the images in a bin marked with a conflicting color. The bilinguals were quicker at performing this task. The collective evidence from a number of such studies suggests that the bilingual experience improves the brains so-called executive function a command system that directs the attention processes that we use for planning, solving problems and performing various other mentally demanding tasks. These processes include ignoring distractions to stay focused, switching attention willfully from one thing to another and holding information in mind like remembering a sequence of directions while driving. Why does the tussle between two simultaneously active language systems improve these aspects of cognition? Until recently, researchers thought the bilingual advantage stemmed primarily from an ability for inhibition that was honed by the exercise of suppressing one language system: this suppression, it was thought, would help train the bilingual mind to ignore distractions in other contexts. But that explanation increasingly appears to be inadequate, since studies have shown that bilinguals perform better than monolinguals even at tasks that do not require inhibition, like threading a line through an ascending series of numbers scattered randomly on a page. The key difference between bilinguals and monolinguals may be more basic: a heightened ability to monitor the environment. Bilinguals have to switch languages quite often you may talk to your father in one language and to your mother in another language, says Albert Costa, a researcher at the University of Pompeu Fabra in Spain. It requires keeping track of changes around you in the same way that we monitor our surroundings when driving. In a study comparing German-Italian bilinguals with Italian monolinguals on monitoring tasks, Mr. Costa and his colleagues found that the bilingual subjects not only performed
Glossary: For instance = por exemplo Puzzle = quebra-cabea Preschooler = crianas em idade pr-escolar Blue circles and red squares = crculos azuis e quadrados vermelhos. To sort = separar Bin = caixa Marked = marcada In the first task = na primeira tarefa Shape = forma By = por Ease = facilidade Next = depois More challenging = mais difcil Quicker = mais rpidos Such = tais To improve = melhorar

Glossary: Tussle = conflito Between = entre Until recently = at recentemente Thought = pensavam Honed = afiada, deixada mais aguda To train = treinar Increasingly = cada vez mais To appear = parecer Since = j que Have shown = tm mostrado Better = melhor Even = at mesmo Key difference = diferena principal May be = pode ser Heightened = elevada Quite often = com mais frequncia Keeping track = manter controle In the same way = da mesma maneira Not only .. but = no apenas.. . mas

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better, but they also did so with less activity in parts of the brain involved in monitoring, indicating that they were more efficient at it. The bilingual experience appears to influence the brain from infancy to old age (and there is reason to believe that it may also apply to those who learn a second language later in life). In a 2009 study led by Agnes Kovacs of the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy, 7-month-old babies exposed to two languages from birth were compared with peers raised with one language. In an initial set of trials, the infants were presented with an audio cue and then shown a puppet on one side of a screen. Both infant groups learned to look at that side of the screen in anticipation of the puppet. But in a later set of trials, when the puppet began appearing on the opposite side of the screen, the babies exposed to a bilingual environment quickly learned to switch their anticipatory gaze in the new direction while the other babies did not. Bilingualisms effects also extend into the twilight years. In a recent study of 44 elderly Spanish-English bilinguals, scientists led by the neuropsychologist Tamar Gollan of the University of California, San Diego, found that individuals with a higher degree of bilingualism measured through a comparative evaluation of proficiency in each language were more resistant than others to the onset of dementia and other symptoms of Alzheimers disease: the higher the degree of bilingualism, the later the age of onset. Nobody ever doubted the power of language. But who would have imagined that the words we hear and the sentences we speak might be leaving such a deep imprint? Yudhijit Bhattacharjee is a staff writer at Science.
Glossary: From infancy to old age = da infncia idade Madura There is reason = h motivo Later = mais tarde 7 month old babies = bebs de sete meses de idade From birth = desde o nascimento Peers = pares Raised = criados Set of trials = conjunto de testes Audio cue = marca de udio Puppet = fantoche Side = lado Anticiparoty gaze = olhar antecipatrio While = enquanto Twilight years = anos mais maduros Elderly = mais velhos Nvel mais alto More = mais Onset = incio The higher .., the later = quanto mais alto..., mais tarde

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-benefits-of-bilingualism.html?src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB. Accessed: April 02, 2012.

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