{"id":353,"date":"2019-08-17T05:26:43","date_gmt":"2019-08-17T09:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/bilingualism-matters\/?page_id=353"},"modified":"2026-08-05T07:04:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T11:04:46","slug":"bilingualism-matters","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/lamclab\/bilingualism-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Bilingualism Matters @ Laurier"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"353\" class=\"elementor elementor-353\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-73a8d61e e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"73a8d61e\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7f7376b elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"7f7376b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-479\" style=\"width: 711px; height: 428px;\" src=\"http:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/bilingualism-matters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2019\/08\/bm-colour-2.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">On October 11, 2019, Bilingualism Matters @ Laurier, under the direction of<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wlu.ca\/academics\/faculties\/faculty-of-arts\/faculty-profiles\/john-w-schwieter\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Dr. John W. Schwieter (opens in a new tab)\">Dr. John W. Schwieter<\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">, joined the Bilingualism Matters network, becoming their<strong> first site <\/strong>launched in Canada. The unique context of Canada and Waterloo Region (where 1 in 4 residents speaks a mother tongue other than English or French) is the perfect home for work in the area of bilingualism and language learning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We are a research-based information and service centre for bilingualism and language learning which operates out of the<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/lamclab\/language-acquisition-multilingualism-and-cognition-laboratory\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Language Acquisition, Multilingualism, and Cognition Laboratory (opens in a new tab)\">Language Acquisition, Multilingualism, and Cognition Laboratory<\/a> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">at Wilfrid Laurier University.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Our <strong>objective<\/strong> is to generate high-quality research and mobilize knowledge to the academic and non-academic communities. Through<\/span> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/lamclab\/research\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" ongoing research (opens in a new tab)\">ongoing research<\/a> <\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">and<\/span> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/lamclab\/events\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"public outreach activities (opens in a new tab)\">public outreach activities<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">, we aim to:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">raise the awareness and profile of bilingualism and language learning in our local community and larger society<\/span><\/li>\n\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">empower bilingual families, children, and adults<\/span><\/li>\n\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">influence the work and attitudes of professionals regarding bilingualism<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color: #330072; font-size: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Our Partners <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Across Waterloo Region, Bilingualism Matters @ Laurier works with parents, students, educators, health professionals, policy makers, and employers to <strong>create impact <\/strong>in people\u2019s daily lives and inform decisions on bilingualism and language learning. Our founding <strong>community partners<\/strong> include: the City of Waterloo, the City of Kitchener, Waterloo Region District School Board, and the Region of Waterloo. Our founding <strong>academic partners<\/strong> include the University of Edinburgh\/Bilingualism Matters Headquarters, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Wilfrid Laurier University. Other initial <strong>funding <\/strong>has been generously awarded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color: #330072; font-size: 30px;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>About the Bilingualism Matters Network <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The international research network<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bilingualism-matters.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bilingualism Matters<\/a> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">was founded in 2008 by<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lel.ed.ac.uk\/~antonell\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Prof. Antonella Sorace<\/a> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">at the University of Edinburgh. This growing network studies bilingualism and language learning and communicates these findings to enable people to make informed decisions based on scientific evidence.<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bilingualism-matters.org\/network\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Research sites<\/a> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">run by international teams of researchers are located at nearly 30 universities across the world. Bilingualism Matters @ Laurier is the <strong>first launched in Canada. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Research has shown that bilingualism is beneficial for children\u2019s development and their future. Children exposed to different languages become more aware of different cultures, other people and other points of view. But they also tend to be better than monolinguals at multitasking and focusing attention. They are often more precocious readers and generally find it easier to learn additional languages. Bilingualism gives children much more than two languages!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Other studies also suggest that learning another language may have benefits later on in life, delaying the onset of symptoms related to dementia, and slowing cognitive aging. The good news is that these benefits seem to exist even when people start learning a second language later in life. So it is never too late!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u00a0<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On October 11, 2019, Bilingualism Matters @ Laurier, under the direction of Dr. John W. Schwieter, joined the Bilingualism Matters network, becoming their first site launched in Canada. The unique context of Canada and Waterloo Region (where 1 in 4 residents speaks a mother tongue other than English or French) is the perfect home for &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/lamclab\/bilingualism-matters\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Bilingualism Matters @ Laurier&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-353","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/lamclab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/lamclab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/lamclab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/lamclab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/lamclab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/lamclab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2043,"href":"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/lamclab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/353\/revisions\/2043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/specialprojects.wlu.ca\/lamclab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}