In the CLAL, in conjunction with the VCLA, several
research projects are underway that study various aspects
of the development of bilingualism/ multilingualism in
the young child. One set of studies involves longitudinal
case studies of several young children acquiring English
for the first time at three years of age through immersion
in local nursery schools, such as the Cornell Early
Childhood Center, as well as others. Results show that
children learning a second language in an immersion
setting show an overall success rate of grammatical
knowledge similar to English monolinguals. Initial deficit
in vocabulary (word learning) was followed by a fast
pace of development, ultimately reaching the monolingual
mean. Children’s pragmatic competence