ren. Gonzalez (1995) found that those children in fact performed above the levels they were assessed at. She subjected 30 6- and 7-year-old Hispanic bilingual children of low socioeconomic status to evaluation of their scores on the IDEA Oral Language Proficiency test, scores in the Test of Nonverbal Intelligence (TONI), and parental evaluations. Gonzalez findings on verbal and nonverbal representational systems echoed those of Genesee et al, (1995). She also concludes that bilingualism has a definitive positive impact on cognitive development.ConclusionsThis evidence overwhelmingly contradicts the social convention of discriminating against bilinguals. They may be of a lower socioeconomic status than others, but on the other hand, they may be more cognitively advanced. So, not only are those who discriminate against bilinguals ignorant, but they may also be less intelligent as those they discriminate against. In this case, the term intelligence is used very loosely, and may apply to many different measures of intelligence, but for the most part, it describes cognitive functioning.From the evidence found in these studies, it is clearly an advantage to be a balanced bilingual. It can positively impact many areas of cognitive development, not just language development. Balanced bilingual children are more cognitively flexible and can easily differentiate between their two languages. They are able to conserve abstractions better and develop faster cognitively than monolinguals. Not only is it impressive wen someone knows another language, but it is also advantageous. These people are more likely to succeed not only because of their abilities, but also because of their potential....
