Contexts of Childhood Bilingualism
The meaning and definition of bilingualism varies tremendously from situation to situation. Some individuals are bilingual because they live in bilingual regions; some become bilingual because their home language is not the some as their school or business language; some become bilingual because colonization has imposed another language (Matlin, 2002; Snow, 1998). Still others become bilingual because they have studied a language in school or because they grew up in homes with two languages.
A distinction has been drawn between simultaneous bilingualism and sequential bilingualism (Bhatia & Ritchie, 1999; Reich, 1986). When children acquire two languages at the same time, their bilingualism is referred to as simultaneous bilingualism. Sequential bilingualism occurs when an individual (child or adult) acquires a second language after already acquiring a native language. This type of bilingualism is also referred to as second-language acquisition.
Most commonly, children learn two languages simultaneously when they are born into a community that is bilingual. In some communities, bilingualism is simply expected (Bialystok,2001). For example, de Houwer (1995) describes the bilingual environment for a child who lives in the Flanders region of Belgium,where