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all language learners is assessed and understood, and the abilities of monolinguals are used to define the native-like competence
that is widely cited as the ultimate goal for all language learners. Moreover, language learning standards and curricula to guide
language teaching and learning in school, as well as frameworks and strategies for assessing language learner outcomes in school,
have all been shaped in significant ways by a monolingual bias. In this article, I critically examine assumptions underlying the
monolingual bias and review findings from research on preschool and early-school-age learners who acquire language under diverse
circumstances. Explanations that go beyond the monolingual bias are proposed for findings of differences between children who
learn language under diverse circumstances and monolingual children. I argue that current research supports the view that there
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