Multi-million pound award aims to create new breakthrough therapies

Researchers have made a major breakthrough in the assessment of language development among bilingual families and in the identification of those children who require extra support to improve their language skills. During a three-year study involving nine UK universities including the University of Birmingham, academics interviewed almost 400 families with two-year-old children learning English and another of 13 common additional languages. They were able to demonstrate for the first time that those learning English and a phonetically or grammatically close language, such as Dutch or German, knew more words in their other language than those learning more distant languages such as Mandarin or Greek. The team used the findings to create and test the first toolkit for health professionals to accurately assess how bilingual children's language skills are developing. Led by the University of Plymouth, Academics at Coventry, East Anglia and Essex were also involved. With figures suggesting that almost 20% of children of school age in the UK are bilingual, its findings could have major implications for young people's personal and professional prospects, as well as national health and education systems. Dr Andrea Krott, of the University of Birmingham's School of Psychology , said: "A large number of children in the UK grow up with two or more languages, but growing up bilingual also usually means these children acquire each language at a slower pace than monolingual peers.