Bilingualism and Cognitive Development: Three Perspectives and Methodological Implications.

The relationship between bilingualism and cognitive development is explored as an exemplary area in which the disciplinary concerns of cognitive psychology, social psychology, and sociology occur together. A historical review of research shows that many of the apparently contradictory findings about the effects of bilingualism on mental development have stemmed from a failure to distinguish between levels of bilingualism as defined by the three different research orientations. The literature within each of the disciplines is discussed and the implications for a more rigorous definition of bilingualism are outlined, based on research undertaken in a bilingual education program in New Haven, Connecticut. Sixty-nine references are listed. (Author/MSE)