Why Do Bilingual Children "Mix" Their Languages and What Can You Do to Help?

As a teacher with ESL children in your classroom, you might hear them "mix" their languages, say for example, using Spanish words while speaking English. While this may concern you, rest assured that it is not a cause for concern. In his book Bilingual Life and Reality, Francois Grosjean states, "It is important to view within and between-language mechanisms (over generalizations, simplifications, interferences, and so on) as strategies employed by children in their effort to use their weaker language" (p. 193). Far from being a cause for concern, it is evidence that the child is in fact learning and using strategies that enable them to use their "weaker" language. The child is not mixing because of laziness or lack of care.
Here's what you can do to help! Grosjean states, "Further language input and feedback from listeners, as well as occasional breakdowns in communication, will gradually help the child home in on the new language" (193). So, as the teacher, if you hear your kids "mixing", follow Grosjean's advice:

• Continue providing appropriate input to the child, giving them opportunities to hear the target language in context
• Give feedback, helping to find a needed work or giving an example of appropriate sentence structure

Lastly, Grosjean says, "...as soon as they have picked up enough of the second language, they will increasingly speak just that language and will then call on the other language mainly for communicative reasons, primarily when the situation is appropriate and they are in a bilingual mode" (p. 198).

Be patient with your students, give them lots of rich, appropriate input, and gentle feedback. Language acquisition is a process.