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It has often been claimed that early bilingualism confers some cognitive advantages on children, including enhanced word awareness. Evidence for the hypothesis has been mixed. Some studies have shown enhanced word awareness in bilingual children, while others have not. The present study examined word awareness in 4‐year‐old children, comparing bilinguals and second language learners with monolingual children. The study controlled for many of the methodological problems in previous studies, including the possibility of enhanced word awareness due to early reading. The results suggest that experience with a second language does not promote word awareness at this age.
