The effect of Bilingualism on Language Development: An Evidence from Kalhori Kurdish and Persian Bilingual Children

The issue with bilingualism is the level of fluency and fluency of bilingual speakers in the non-dominant language. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of bilingualism on the language development of Kurdish (Kalhori dialect) and Persian bilingual students in the first to third grades of elementary school. Given the importance of language development and the phenomenon of bilingualism, research on the factors affecting language development, especially in bilingual children, can help us understand the nature of language, how it is learned, the learning process and its function. On the other hand, due to the multilingual nature of Iran and the fact that most people in different cities speak two or more languages, the importance of the research topic is doubled. In this regard, in the city of Kermanshah, most people are able to speak both Kalhori Kurdish and Persian. Some children in this area learn both Kurdish and Persian at an early age, and others learn Persian from the educational environment after entering school. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of bilingualism on the language development of Kurdish and Persian language students in the first to third grades of elementary school. Few studies have been conducted on the effect of bilingualism on language development, each of which shows different perspectives. Researchers have reached conflicting conclusions about the effect of bilingualism on children's cognitive development and academic achievement. Some studies suggest that learning a second or more languages ​​at the same time may be accompanied by a delay in one language for some time. However, other research has shown that these results are temporary and that bilinguals eventually learn both languages.