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Norbert Francis
The following review of the research traces the current discussion on models of bilingualism to the contributions of L. Vygotsky and A.R. Luria. The attempt to differentiate among the different components of language ability in child development has from the beginning sparked sharp debate. Bilingualism, as an object of study, offers researchers a privileged viewpoint on the questions in dispute: the distinction between interpersonal conversational discourse and literacy-related academic discourse, the relationship between the development of linguistic knowledge of two languages and general cognitive development, and aspects of development that are universal and those aspects of child bilingual development that show wide variation. The article proposes that a modular approach to studying the different aspects of bilingual development promises to chart a course toward finding a broader common ground around research findings and interpretations that currently appear to be irreconcilable.
