MULTILINGUALISM IN EARLY CHILDHOOD: INVESTIGATING HOW EXPOSURE TO THREE LANGUAGES FROM INFANCY SHAPES CHILDRENS' SPEAKING SKILLS IN SIALKOT

Abstract

Multilingualism in early childhood has become a developing area in research due to its potential effects on the speaking skills of children. This research explores impact of early exposure to the three languages - Punjabi, Urdu and English - on the speaking skills of young children in the Sialkot. As more children in the different communities of Pakistan grow up with various languages, the aim of this research to understand how exposure to these three languages shapes vocabulary, pronunciation and communication flexibility. A quantitative research design was used, with data collected through structured questionnaires from 25 parents and 25 teachers of multilingual children. The data analyzed using SPSS software. Analyzed data shows that multilingual children have wide range of vocabulary than monolinguals and they have more confidence to communicate with their audiences according to the context. Further, results shows that early multilingual have some issue with code-mixing and language switching but its is not permanent, and they have more verbal expressions and communicative abilities. Most of teachers confidently supported the multilingual children and reported as multilinguals are more confident in group discussions than monolinguals. The research concludes that early multilingualism has positive impact on the development of speaking skills, multilinguals are more fluent, have broader range of vocabulary and better pronunciation than monolinguals. Furthermore, multilinguals can switch their languages

 according to the audience which leads to the adaptability in communication. At last, this research recommends that parents, teachers and education planners should support the use of more than one language in early childhood environments and education.