Any role for foreign languages in promoting children's critical thinking? The case of stereotyping

Although well-documented in assorted research areas, early-years stereotyping has not garnered comparable attention. Under the assumption that stereotyping can be prejudicial to the development of children's critical thinking abilities, this paper reports on a study that examined how the pedagogical intervention of awakening to languages may develop children's critical thinking and instill a sense of cultural relativism that encourages them to challenge stereotypes from an early age. Based on a mixed-methods research design, a psychometric test was specifically developed to tap changes in participants' stereotyping behavior added to a follow-up interview to formulate a detailed picture of their questionnaire responses. Both the quantitative and qualitative results confirmed the hypothesized attitudinal change in the participants, turning cultural absolutes within their and across other cultures into cultural variations. In view of these findings, it follows that awakening children to languages have a transformative value of enhancing their cognitive capacity towards viewing the world critically.