Cognitive development and theory of consciousness of bilingual children
Abstract
The article discloses the acute problem of cognitive development and consciousness of children in poly-cultural space. The author raises the problems of the way bilingual children understand their own views and the views of other children. The language role and stages of the initial realization of the views are disclosed. The author presents the debatable points of view on the problem of bilingualism and its role in understanding expressed by the scientists of Germany, Slovakia and Bulgaria. The author performs the comparative analysis of Gipsy, Turkish and Bulgarian children’s language competences development. Bilingual children operate two language systems, native language being more developed than the second one. Lack of knowledge of the second language can cause difficulties in understanding other people’s views. To perform tasks aimed at understanding false statements bilingual children need cognitive skills at a greater scale, while language skills are needed more for working with special questions and for performing the tasks of evidentionalism.
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