Category: Bilingualism

Preliminary Description

The problem of language and methods of teaching languages can be considered one of the burning issues of contemporary society. Sometimes, children encounter difficulties in learning due to socioeconomic or sociopolitical situation in the country.

However, more often children are treated differently at educational establishments because of their origin, native language, and language acquisition skills. In this respect, it is necessary to explore the current situation with treatment of bilingual children and their neighboring hostile representatives of monolingual community.

Means and methods of education and teaching bilingual children in different countries should be approached and analyzed. Bilingualism on a national level and bilingualism in terms of ethnic minorities facing discrimination should be treated differently in various cases. For instance, Romaine (1995) emphasizes the importance of cultural background in the process of language acquisition compared to mere language acquisition when no cultural criteria are addressed (p. 242).

The more children experience difficulties while learning cultural features of the language, the more hostile their monolingual classmates and neighbors become. In other words, the problem of discrimination of ethnic minorities in the sphere of education where children face linguistic insecurity while all students are taught in accordance with the concepts of prescriptivism should be solved.

When a problem exists, it should be solved in a corresponding manner taking into account the interests, beliefs, and values of all parties concerned. So, it is necessary to take into account the political powers and their vision of the situation in the educational sector, historic background and necessity of implementing changes, and social situation in the country regarding the demographic situation including migration policies and density of population in certain areas.

Introduction

A general overview of bilingualism

Though there are many people in the world who are bilingual, they all have different reasons for that. Some people acquire a second language due to their religious beliefs whereas others may seek for a diploma in another language than the native one hence being educated in their second language (Romaine, 1995, pp. 30-33). In this respect, every individual can encounter necessity of acquiring a second language.

There are countries that have two or more national languages in order to provide their citizens with freedom in terms of the language to speak. Different measures are taken by the global community to protect certain minorities from discrimination and hostility. As a rule, these minorities are divided in accordance with their cultural, lingual, or racial differences with the majority of the same community. In other words, people have to adjust to the situation in order to enjoy equal rights with the majority population of the country or region.

The problem of bilingualism in education

Some children are treated as linguistically unsecured layers of society when they have to speak some other language than their native one. There are many reasons for children to acquire other languages. One of the reasons for children to acquire a second language concerns the migration tendencies and educational institutions that sometimes fail to adjust the learning environment to the needs of all minorities.

As reported by Swann (as cited in Fitzgibbons, 1996, p. 5), linguistic rights should be guaranteed to representatives of various minorities regardless of their status and native language. Students should be treated in accordance with their needs and legal rights concerning the language to speak and the language to acquire knowledge.

Sociolinguistics and Children

Features of language used with children

Children have to be taught in order acquire certain skills and knowledge. When the community fails to provide children with appropriate educational methods applied to children from different social and cultural layers, children start experiencing difficulties in terms of social skills used while communicating with other representatives of the international community. Language skills and an ability to shape the ideas using a second language mean a lot, especially for children.

So, children that speak a different language are often treated inappropriately and tutors use the wrong language with them concerning intonation and other features of the language usually used while talking to children. The more children are treated like adults, the more aggressive they may become towards those who treat them like that. In other words, children have to be treated respectively even finding themselves in an alien community with another language.

It is clear that some practices when language minorities faced discrimination “conjoined with nationalism and racism” (Dalby in Fitzgibbons, 1996, p. 10) can be observed in the contemporary community though with less activity. While adults can be treated in accordance with the rules and habits typical of some social layer, children are treated regardless of any rules by their peers and adults of monolingual society.

As reported by Dalby (in Fitzgibbons, 1996, p. 12), bilingualism can be regarded as a way of speaking to a certain group of people who do not belong to the native community. Thus, people have to learn different languages if they want others to understand them. However, this can be more difficult for children who are brought to another community and forced to acquire a second language for ordinary life.

Bilingual children in society

Some children have absolutely unique skills that provide them with a great variety of talents applicable to different sectors of human activity. While second language acquisition can be a real challenge for one child, another will not treat it as a problem because he/she is able to overcome all difficulties and feel the linguistic security as opposed to linguistic insecurity (Swann in Fitzgibbons, 1996, p. 4).

Though many children need the second language as a method to communicate with other representatives of the local community, they may experience problems due to the lack of support and encouragement from behalf of tutors and absence of additional guidelines to follow in the process of second language acquisition.

As reported by Sebba (in in Fitzgibbons, 1996), there are many consequences of language contacts such as vocabulary and grammar borrowing, code switching, language convergence, pidginization, creolization, and language mixing (pp. 110-113).

As you can see, children can become active participants of language contacts process and contribute greatly to the hybridization of languages. Moreover, children can change languages after acquiring components of second language and adjusting its structure to the native one, habits of pronunciation, and other peculiar features that are usually used while mixing languages.

Bilingual children are likely to benefit from knowing more than one language but usually they are not treated equally to monolingual native speakers. In this respect, education can be one of the most productive ways of challenging the discrimination issues in society, especially when addressing children’s needs and interests.

Education for bilingual children

Some children encounter difficulties due to their monolingual origin after being moved from their habitual environment of their mother tongue to the rather hostile environment of educational institution where the majority of children speak another language.

As suggested in examples given in the study by Romaine (1995), children can be left in the monolingual majority of the class without any hints on how to act (245). These children encounter difficulties as a result of the immigration tendencies and absence of special conditions or additional tutorials for students that do not have extremely good knowledge of the second language.

A good example of transitional bilingualism aimed at assimilation of language minorities is “the provision made in the United States under the Bilingual Education Act for the education of children who have limited proficiency in English” (Romaine, 1995, p. 245). The more countries do to enable people enjoy equal rights, the less difficulties people experience in alien countries after having moved.

As reported by Dalby (in Fitzgibbons, 1996), “education is extremely effective and powerful in advancing use of the majority language as against those of minorities” (p.22). This means that children are forced to acquire the language of majority to be treated in accordance with the same rules and traditions applicable to the monolingual majority.

In other words, children are taught following the prescriptive doctrine and forced to acquire cultural features along with the linguistic ones. Educators use a great number of various mechanisms aimed at cultural and linguistic assimilation and language change provoked by the contact (Thomason in Fitzgibbons, 1996, pp. 84-96). So, children are doomed to overcome a number of measures approached to them to teach a second language.

Conclusion

Summary of discussion

Bilingualism can be considered one of the consequences of the globalization. However, the contact of different languages does not always result in bilingualism or multilingualism. More often, the bilingualism is the result of needs and interests of a person.

For instance, when children encounter necessity of acquiring second language, they can be encouraged and supported by the community members whereas more children are treated negatively due to tendencies in treating second language students all over the world. These tendencies should be explored in the further research as well as other interesting facts concerning the second language acquisition and methods of encouraging second language learners in different countries.

Recommendations for further research

Though this research can be considered rather effective, it is possible to include more evidence such as surveys by students of different age groups that encounter necessity of acquiring second language in order to be full-fledged members of the society they live in.

Moreover, some research on complexity of languages can be conducted in order to explore the attempts of people to acquire languages of different language groups. It would be interesting to learn the statistics of people that have to acquire different languages than their mother tongue for different reasons such as migration, job opportunities, economic and political conditions in the country and the world, and others.

Though some children are forced to acquire second language, some students willingly apply for the second language courses due to the necessity of applying language skills in the process of educating. In this respect, it is necessary to cover the sector of education and number of students who are not native speakers.

Reference List

Romaine, S. (1995). Bilingualism. 2^nd ed. Malden, Massachusetts: Wiley-Blackwell.

Fitzgibbons, N. (Ed.). (1996). Sociolinguistic. Montreal: University of Concordia.

Introduction

Bilingualism became one of the brightest phenomena of the intercultural communications defined as “communication of the people representing different cultures “. According to of some researchers, there are more bilingual people in the world, than monolingual. It is known, that by the present moment children’s Bilingualism covers almost half of children on our planet. They assume that this tendency will grow further. The degree of development of speech inevitably affects feeling of the child when skill to state the ideas and to understand speech of associates influences their place and a role in a society (a circle of friends and estimations at school, an opportunity to become the leader in a group, etc.). The level of use of language depends on a variety, depth and correctness of speech impressions which the child receives since the early childhood. Therefore so important to give the kid high-grade language development at that age when bases of the person are formed, the intelligence wakes up (Adler, 1995).

Main body

According to the standard representations, Bilingualism is a free possession of two languages simultaneously. It is considered by the classical U.Vajnraha’s definition where he approves, that Bilingualism is a possession of two languages and their alternate use depending on conditions of speech dialogue.

As in the work by Kit Yuen Quan “The Girl Who Wouldn’t Sing” the author describes a difficult situation of a Chinese girl who appeared in America and wanted to find her own place in the society. It appeared that language is one of the most important factors for this. So, the girl tries to communicate with different groups of people and tries herself in different types of communications. She starts to learn her native Chinese background and finds that she is not ready to reply the question if she wants to identify herself as an American or Chinese. To my mind, this is the problem of rather sociological character than of the linguistic one.

In case of Richard Rodriguez (“Aria, A Memoir if a Bilingual Childhood”)we can see the opposite situation. Richard’s parents are not able to help their child and that is why it causes a lot of problems inside of the family. The parents try to speak English to their son but it is rather embarrassing for him. His noisy home is very different from the atmosphere that he can observe outside (Rodriguez, 2004). Here, in my opinion, it is possible to see the sociological and psycholinguistic problems. I think that Richard is ashamed of his origin and this thing makes the bilingual development process very difficult.

From the positions psycholinguistics, Bilingualism is an ability to use two language systems for communication. Bilingualism positively affects the development of memory, skill to understand, analyze and discuss the phenomenon of language, ingenuity, and speed of reaction, mathematical skills and logic. It is high-grade developing bilinguals, as a rule, well study and it is better than others acquire abstract sciences, the literature and other foreign languages. The the child is younger, the they are more at it than chances to know the second language in the greatest possible volume and with a natural pronunciation. It is possible to tell unequivocally: children have conclusive advantage in studying foreign language before adults. Memory of the child is more susceptible, unlike the adult it is not constrained by complexes, is not afraid to make a mistake, to not recollect in time the necessary word.

The child-bilinguals, in difference from monolinguals, are interested in the linguistic phenomena as their language experience is much wider. Interest to semantics of words, to that the same concept can be expressed both in English and in their native language is early shown. It promotes development of translational skills, and also interest to motivation of names. Deducing own ethymology of words, children actively use knowledge of two languages. Bilingualism develops spontaneously if parents do not plan in advance languages of communication with the child, mix them, do not supervise speech of the child, do not pay attention to its lacks. Sometimes spontaneous Bilingualism develops in the event that in the street children talk in language, other, than houses, or “house” and “street” languages mix up without any attention to such speech development from parents. In case of spontaneous development of bilingualism in speech of the child there are too many mistakes. If parents meaningly approach to the formation of Bilingualism the child, they in advance think over, by what principle, in what volume and during what time dialogue in each language will be spent (Challener, 1997).

At studying a phenomenon the scientists consider a degree of mastering a language, for example, E.M.Vereschagin allocates three levels of Bilingualism (Cahan, 1996):

1. receptive – understanding of speech products;
2. reproductive – skill to reproduce the heard;
3. productive – skill not only to understand and reproduce, but also to build the integral intelligent statements.

All children-bilinguals pass these stages of Bilingualism development. Undoubtedly, for formation the simultaneous Bilingualism the beginning of the communications conterminous on time with the child in both languages, i.e. from first month of their life is ideal. Than after the second language is entered into dialogue with the child, especially obviously first language dominates over the second. After three years already probably special training of the child to the second language in the game form, by means of books, audio records and videofilms. Occurrence during this period of new toys can be connected with studied language.

If both languages are acquired during the communications as it occurs at their simultaneous development, instead of at special training, Bilingualism is formed as natural. The child concerns to each of two languages as to means of the communications, they are ready to communicate in any of them, expresses the ideas and feelings. Gradually the child gets used to that one of languages is not native for them and their parents (Adler, 1995).

At special training the child concerns to the second language as to a subject of studying, to the new game, a new kind of activity, they do not consider it as one of means of the communications. It is an attribute artificial Bilingualism. However at creation of special conditions, active connection of communication with the carrier of the second language for a long time, the second language too can become for the child to one of means of the communications.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it should be said that Bilingualism is a very complicated phenomena and demands great attempts of psycholinguistic thinking.

Besides Bilingualism is closely connected with the problem of intercultural relations. It is very important for every bilingual person to connect two cultures inside. Only then the process of qualitative Bilingualism is possible.

Works cited

Adler Bill (1995) Growing Up Asian American, Perennial Currents.

Challener Danie (1997) Stories of Resilience in Childhood: The Narratives of Maya Angelou, Maxine Hong Kingston, Richard Rodriguez, John Edgar Wideman, and Tobias Wolff (Children of Poverty) Routledge; 1 edition.

Cahan Susan (1996) Contemporary Art and Multicultural Education, Routledge; 1 edition.

Kit Yuen Quan “The Girl Who Wouldn’t Sing”.

Richard Rodriguez Aria:A Memoir Of A Bilingual Childhood.

Rodriguez Richard (2004) Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, Dial Press Trade.

Language is the influential aspect which determines the peculiarities of the people’s interactions in society. It is possible to discuss the usage of language for communication from psychological, linguistic, and sociolinguistic perspectives because language plays an enormous role in the formation of human identity.

The peculiar features of the social development influence the progress of the situation when today many people are considered as bilingual or multilingual.

Economical, political, cultural and social shifts to the development of international economy and integration caused the fact that the notions of bilingualism and multilingualism which are closely connected with the phenomenon of globalization became important aspects of a modern society.

To understand the peculiarities of this tendency, it is necessary to examine the definitions of bilingualism and multilingualism and determine the features in which these notions are similar or different.

The issue of defining such notions as bilingualism and multilingualism is widely discussed by many researchers nowadays. The main difference of their approaches is in the consideration of these notions as similar or different in relation to their major characteristics.

In her work, Pavlenko accentuates the fact that traditionally bilingualism and multilingualism are discussed as the same notions that is why she uses use the term ‘bilingualism’ in order to study the aspects of bi- and multilingualism with paying attention only to the number of languages used by a speaker (Pavlenko, 2006).

According to this idea, bilingualism should be defined as the phenomenon when people use two languages to realize their social interactions, and multilingualism is the phenomenon when people use more than two languages to complete their social needs (Altarriba & Heredia, 2008).

However, to discuss the aspects of bilingualism and multilingualism, it is necessary to focus on the factor of the social motivation and psychological peculiarities of the ability to use two or more languages for interactions. To discuss the notions as the same, it is necessary to state that bi/multilingualism is a complex phenomenon which is influenced by social and psychological factors and also affects the structure of the languages used.

This phenomenon is connected with the notion of codes. Thus, bilingualism is a result of “psycholinguistic functioning of the mind when having two codes” (Ceroz & Gorter, 2011, p. 357).

Nevertheless, it is also possible to notice that multilingualism is a result of using more than two language codes. The usage of two or more codes results in developing code-mixing and code-switching during the communication process (Ceroz & Gorter, 2011).

The peculiar features of code-mixing and code-switching are widely discussed by those researchers who support the opinion that bilingualism and multilingualism cannot be considered as the same notions. The base for their arguments is two views known as the ‘fractional’ view and ‘holistic’ view (Perani & Abutalebi, 2005).

According to the first perspective, a bilingual is a person who interacts as two monolinguals depending on definite circumstances (Altarriba & Heredia, 2008). The ‘holistic’ view is more general and states that the languages used are interdependent and influence each other. Thus, the person who uses them should be considered as a unique personality following definite sociolinguistic peculiarities.

Focusing on these two views, sociolinguists and psychologists accentuate that code- switching as the selection of definite linguistic elements in languages to use is more typical for bilinguals and code-mixing is more typical for multilingual persons who combine the elements of many languages in one speech to complete the conversation goal (Myers-Scotton, 2006).

Moreover, it is significant to pay attention to such points as the types of bi/multilingualism and their differences. Researchers define circumstantial bilingualism as the person’s usage of two languages according to the situation of communication and other socio-environmental factors which influenced the necessity to learn the second language (De Bot, Lowie, & Verspoor, 2008).

Circumstantial multilingualism can develop on the base of previous bilingualism under the definite living circumstances. That is why it is almost impossible to determine any strict differences in these types.

Sequential bilingualism is based on the fact bilinguals develop some proficiency in their native language and then learn the second language. Thus, their knowledge about the native language can influence their acquiring the second language. The next stage after acquiring the second language can be multilingualism when a person studies languages sequentially.

Thus, there are no obvious differences in sequential bilingualism and sequential multilingualism. The only fact which can influence the peculiarities of multilingual persons’ interactions is the ability to learn languages more effectively with using the knowledge about the first two or more languages (Wei & Moyer, 2008).

Passive bi/multilingualism is characterized by a person’s knowing two or more languages, but active usage in communication of only one of them (Paradis & Navarro, 2003). Thus, the peculiarities of circumstantial, sequential, and passive bi/multilingualism cannot be considered as decisive for determining the differences in using the notions.

Those researchers who develop the idea that bilingualism and multilingualism are similar notions accentuate the fact of ‘soft boundaries’ between languages which are typical both for bilinguals and multilingual persons (Ceroz & Gorter, 2011).

Nevertheless, the other linguists argue that because of predominantly circumstantial character of bilingualism, ‘soft boundaries’ between languages are more typical for the multilingual practice (Myers-Scotton, 2006).

To determine the differences and similarities in the notions of bilingualism and multilingualism, it is possible to provide the general definition which is based on the opinion that a multilingual person differs from a bilingual only in the number of languages he knows. Moreover, multilingualism can also include the concept of bilingualism as the certain type of the phenomenon.

However, according to the ‘holistic’ view with focusing on such aspects as code-mixing and ‘soft boundaries’ between languages, it is possible to define a multilingual person as a man who uses more than two languages for realizing everyday social interactions.

The main peculiarities of multilingual persons is the effective usage of more than two languages as the combination of codes (code-mixing) in order to achieve the goal of communication in spite of environmental factors.

Multilingual persons differ from bilinguals in such aspects as the intensity of interdependence of the languages used, forming a unique personality from the psychological and sociolinguistic perspectives, and the usage of two or more languages and their combinations depending on their effectiveness according to the communicative goal.

References

Altarriba, J. & Heredia, R. R. (2008). An introduction to bilingualism: Principles and Processes. USA: Psychology Press.

Ceroz, J. & Gorter, D. (2011). Focus on multilingualism: A study of trilingual writing. The Modern Language Journal, 95(iii), 356-369.

De Bot, K., Lowie, W., & Verspoor, M. (2007). A dynamic systems theory approach to second language acquisition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 10, 7–21.

Myers-Scotton, C. (2006). Multiple voices. USA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Paradis, M. & Navarro, S. (2003). Subject realization and crosslinguistic interference in the bilingual acquisition of Spanish and English: What is the role of the input? Journal of Child Language, 30, 371–393.

Pavlenko, A. (2006). Bilingual minds. USA: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

Perani, D. & Abutalebi, J. (2005). Neural basis of first and second language processing. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 15, 202–206.

Wei, L. & Moyer, M. G. (2008). The Blackwell guide to research methods in bilingualism and multilingualism. USA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Argument in support of bilingual education programs

More than three decades after its inception, bilingual education is still entangled in myriad controversies. Although the initial structure of bilingual education program has been changed severally, the debate about whether bilingual education should or should not be practiced is not likely to die away in the near future.

Most importantly, these conflicting parties have been unable to agree on whether bilingual education yields any considerable value for L2 English speakers. On one hand, the intransigent proponents of bilingual education argue that, the program provides a common ground upon which non-English speaking children can compete favorably with their English speaking counterparts in technical subjects such as science and mathematics.

Contrastingly, opponents argue that bilingual education system impede the acquisition and development of English language among L2 speakers; thus, delaying their assimilation into the American society. Furthermore, this debate has also attracted the attention of multiculturalists who perceive bilingualism as an effective method of preserving immigrants’ language and cultural identities.

Conversely, this perception has also been criticized in that, immigrants already in the United States should not retain their language, but should be assimilated into American society through exclusive English language teaching. Nonetheless, in spite of the inconclusive research findings about accrued benefits of bilingual education, this essay will explore these controversial presuppositions, with an aim of proving the worthiness of bilingual education.

To begin with, opponents of bilingual education argue that various people have succeeded without bilingual education (Duignan). The latter author underscores that, although the above claim have taken place under some special circumstances, the individuals owe their success to other second language inputs.

This implies that, whereas these individuals’ may not have been subjected to bilingual education per se, they experienced de facto bilingual programs. According to Cummins (255), proponents of this claim often cite Richard Rodriguez (1982) and Fernando de la Pena (1991) to support their argument against bilingual education. Rodriquez claimed that he succeeded to attain high level of English proficiency even though he never received bilingual education (Duignan).

However, Cummins (256) argues that Rodriquez claim is not entirely truthful because he had two crucial advantages that led to his success in English language proficiency. For instance, Rodriquez was not an immigrant and he grew alongside other English speaking peers in Sacramento, California. This interaction exposed him to informal English language inputs.

Apparently most immigrants’ children do not have this advantage as most of them rarely use English outside their school setting (Duignan). Moreover, Rodriguez had access to numerous English books, which further improved his English language skills. Therefore, his success should not be adopted to eradicate the essentiality of bilingual education.

On the same note, de la Pena allege that having immigrated into United States at the age nine, he succeeded to attain superior competency in English language without undergoing through the bilingual education system (Cummins 257). This occurred in spite of the fact that he did not have prior encounter with English language prior to immigrating to the United States.

However, his case is weakened by the fact that, back in Mexico he was in fifth grade, thus had a good grasp of Spanish language and advanced subject matter.
Correspondingly, opponents of bilingual education base their argument on the fact the system has attracted augmented negative public opinion.

However, Cummins (262) accentuate that this negativity is as a result of biased questionnaires that are adopted during those surveys. The latter author highlight that these questionnaires are often subjective and most questions are confusing to the respondents. For instance, questions are constructed in a manner that portrays mother tongue education as a great hindrance to the pursuance of higher education, and that it reduces employability of such students (Duignan).

On the other hand, Cummins (261) accentuates that if the questionnaires were not biased most parents would support bilingual education. According to Cummins (262), prior research has positively indicated that most respondents concur that L1 provides a solid foundation for L2 acquisition. Furthermore, most respondents support the notion that bilingualism yields both economic and psycho-cognitive benefits (Garcia 128).

The above analysis implies that the number of those against bilingual education is much less than what is often depicted in the public opinion surveys. Apparently, most opponents are frustrated with some specific practices of bilingual education, but not the entire system (Cummins 262). Most importantly, some opponents could be opposed to some regulations associated with bilingual education, thus their opinion would be different if those regulations were to be modified (Duignan).

Furthermore, research has indicated that most academic publications supported bilingual education except for some newspapers and magazines articles, which have often expressed a negative opinion. Needless to say, the fact that some people hold a negative perception about bilingual education is fallacious and should not be adopted to downplay the essential benefits of bilingual education.

In his article, Garcia (pp. 126-129) supports bilingual education due to the numerous benefits associated with the program. The latter author underscore that opponents of bilingual education in California blame the program for poor academic achievements, yet international and national researches have indicated that bilingualism attract myriad psycho-cognitive advantages.

In addition, Garcia (127) cites previous studies conducted among Hispanic descent students, which showed that bilingual children who interacted with bilingual programs showed greater potential in academics than monolinguals who attended English only programs. Most importantly, the latter group was shown to have faired poorly on standardized tests, portrayed a poor school attendance trend and their drop out rate is slightly higher than those attending bilingual education programs.

Furthermore, Garcia (128) cites several other studies that have portrayed that first language is an essential tool in promoting academic excellence among children and adults with inadequate formal education background. As a matter of fact, first language accelerates the acquisition of second language and promotes its’ usage in academic activities (Garcia 126). Thus, bilingual education programs should be given the precedence it deserves due to the numerous societal benefits attached to its’ practice.

Similarly, the practice of bilingual education has often been criticized due of insufficient studies to support its’ effectiveness. Conversely, although some studies have supplied negative results about the effectiveness of bilingual education, most of these conclusions are not entirely against bilingual education, rather researchers are concerned with scanty bilingual education efficacy studies (Duignan).

However, this allegation against bilingual education is not convincing and more often than not the problem is mainly on semantics than the actual practice of bilingual education. Cummins (265) underscores that the concept of bilingual education is rather dynamic and the controversies could because the parties are discussing different forms of bilingualism.

Nonetheless for the purpose of this paper, bilingual education is regarded as the transitional bilingual education whereby an L2 English learner receives academic instruction in his/her L1 in the lower grades in preparation for complete immersion in English instruction classes in latter grades. The idea behind this argument is that learning in L1 will enable the learner to achieve competency in English language based on literacy transfer concept.

Moreover, although some studies have often quoted the immersion programs in Texas, McAllen and El Paso as superior than bilingual education, Garcia(127) accentuates that the cited studies are actually bilingual education, but with a different practical approach.

On the same note, the latter author also underscores that the sample size for the above studies was extremely small and was carried out within a very short time frame, thus their results are anecdotal. On this note, the fact that a vast number of researches support bilingual education efficacy is evident that children exposed to these programs are more successful that those in all-English programs. Perhaps, these criticisms should be directed at the programs design than on the entire system.

To quote my own personal experience, bilingual education programs have enabled me to attain high level of French and English fluency although none of these languages is my native language.

This situation would not have been possible if I was immersed in English only or French only programs thus bilingual education has brought immense benefits to me; such that, I am able to utilize these languages in the classroom and they might come in handy in my afterschool life. The fact that globalization is opening new opportunities designate that bilinguals will have a greater advantage over monolinguals, who are immersed in English only programs.

Thus, the opponents should be perceived as individuals’ who are only concerned with instant results. This is based on the fact that, they cite that bilingual education delays assimilation of students into the American society. Although bilingual education process might be perceived as long and daunting, the end results justify the means. Hence, there is no reason to deny immigrants students a program that is beneficial to their lives both in the present and in future.

In a nutshell, in spite of inconclusive studies on bilingual education efficacy its’ significance cannot be overemphasized. On this note, obtainable studies indicate that bilingual education has performed exceptionally well and that with proper program improvement strategies, it has the potentiality of yielding even better results.

Although the author does not deny the fact that some elements of bilingual education might be wanting, the biggest problem is not about the practice of bilingualism, but on the availability of books to facilitate the adaptation of L1 and L2 within the bilingual education programs. As indicated above, Richard Rodriguez success was due to his exposure to vast English literature books, which enhanced his English language proficiency in the absence of bilingual education instruction.

Similarly, the current bilingual education systems can borrow a leaf from Richard Rodriguez case and ensure that students have unlimited access to books in order to cultivate a reading culture that would enhance the students success in attaining English language proficiency. As a matter of fact, learners can utilize these books to enhance their literacy levels of both L1 and L2.

Against this backdrop, bilingual education practices should be allowed to continue owing to the numerous benefits outlined above. Furthermore, the shortcomings of this program should be identified and dealt with conclusively in order to pave way for better bilingual systems.

Works Cited

Cummins, Jim. “Bilingual Education in the United States: Power, Pedagogy, and Possibility”. Review of Education, Pedagogy & Cultural Studies, 20. 3, 1998, 255- 270. Print.

Duignan, Peter, J. Bilingual Education: A Critique, 1998. Web.

Garcia, Ofelia. “Bilingual Education Is Beneficial.” In Williams, Mary E. ed. Are Multicultural Approaches Good For Education? Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2000. pp. 126-129. Print.

Introduction

Richard Rodriguez wrote an article under the title of “Bilingual Education: Outdated and Unrealistic” in which he criticizes bilingual education. He considers bilingual education a form of separation in the society. He also sees it as a negative result of “the civil rights movement of the 1960s”. In his opinion, all U.S. residents must learn and speak one language only which is English. And that’s because (in his opinion) it is the language of the United States.

The author claims that English is the only language that can ensure better chances in life and also better jobs. He totally disagrees with any form of “Bilingualism” in life (Rodriguez 457-60). Those opinions don’t fit with the laws and the values of the United States of America. Also, bilingual education can be useful in many fields in life. Studies have proved that bilingual education enhances mental abilities and improves the skills of students in schools.

U.S. Residents Have the Legal Right to Learn and Speak Any

Language They Want

“The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States has guaranteed freedom of religion and required that Congress shall pass no law abridging the freedom of speech” (Reyhner). Fighting bilingual education is a serious violation to the freedom of speech. In most cases, the language is a part of any culture in the world, and preventing bilingual education can have a negative effect on many cultures in the United States.

Thus, the United States will become a country with only one language and one culture. In the federal Constitution, there is no specific official language, and that makes it legal for everyone to learn and speak any language he/she wants. European colonists who arrived to America never focused on deciding an official language. Forcing American citizens to use one language is a new way of slavery. The reasons that made English the mainstream language in the United States were the “forces of the marketplace and mass communication” (Reyhner).

The Language Diversity Inside One Country Is Beneficial

Many “multi-national corporations” inside the United States demand employees who have the ability to speak more than one language. And this means that Bilingual education is a priority for getting better chances in employment (Reyhner).

Interestingly, there are some countries in the world that have multiple major languages, but they have no problems about that. Switzerland is an example. Switzerland’s major languages are German, French and Italian (Reyhner).

Bilingual Education Enhances Mental Abilities and Improves Students’ Skills

According to many researches, it was found that people who study with bilingual education programs show better mental abilities than people who study with “monolingual” education programs. The results can be noticed with children and older people. Bilingual education enhances mental abilities in many ways. Some of those ways are:

1. “Bilingualism Enhances Attention”: A research done by Dr. Ellen Bialystok from York University in Canada proved that fact. The participants in this research were a group of older people. Some of them were bilingual students and some others were monolingual students. The research team assigned some mental tasks to the participants. The participants performed these tasks during the “Simon Task”. The Simon Task is “an experimental procedure that deliberately distracts the test takers. The Simon Task measures reaction time and cognitive processing that decline with age” (Desaulniers). It was found that bilingual participants were more able to focus on tasks and ignore distractions than monolingual participants (Desaulniers).
2. “Bilingualism Builds Cognitive Reserve”: With aging, 2 mental abilities become weaker, attention and memory. Bilingual education protects the human brain through aging. Bilingual education creates something called “cognitive reserve”. Cognitive reserve is “the ability of the brain to be more flexible than normal because the demands made on it at an early age (through bilingualism) have enhanced its ability to rewire and compensate for aging and dysfunctional neurons” (Desaulniers). If any organ in the human body (including brain) gets used to perform more unusual tasks, its abilities will be improved. And this means that bilingual education programs are more beneficial for the human brain than monolingual education programs because they give the brain more mental tasks to perform (Desaulniers).

Foreign-speaking students who are registered in bilingual education programs do better in school than their counterparts who are registered in monolingual education programs. In 2000, there was a study that examined the performance of 952 students in various schools in Date County, Florida. Some of those students were registered in bilingual education programs and some others were registered in monolingual education programs. It was found that students in bilingual education got higher marks in “English literacy”. The difference started to appear by 2^nd grade, but it became notable by the 5^th grade (National Association for Bilingual Education).

Conclusion

Richard Rodriguez’s opinions about bilingual education clash with the American values that ensure the diversity in society. Bilingual education is a right, not just a demand. Bilingual education offers better chances for people in life. It maintains the mental abilities through all age levels. Bilingual education improves the performance of students in schools and that can bring more positive results in the future.

Works Cited

Desaulniers, Mary. “Why Bilingualism Slows Aging: Delays Dementia, Enhances Attention, Builds Cognitive Reserve.” Suite. 2009. Web.

National Association for Bilingual Education. “Does Bilingual Education Really Work?” National Association for Bilingual Education. 2004. Web.

Reyhner, Jon. “Linguicism in America.” Teaching Indigenous Languages. 2007. Northern Arizona University. Web.

Rodriguez, Richard. “Bilingual Education: Outdated and Unrealistic.” Connections: A Multicultural Reader for Writers. 2nd ed. Ed. Judith A. Stanford. Mountain View: Mayfield Publishing, 1993. 457-60.

Singapore’s independence was announced by the first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew who was a national figure and the founder of the People’s Action Party. He was among the party that negotiated the independence of Singapore from the British in 1956 -1958. He made achievements as a national leader by influencing Singapore, through his restrictive rule, to become a center of international trade. He also led Singapore into the Federation of Malaysia in 1963 although the country withdrew from the federation in 1965 for Malay fear of domination of China. The historic presence of China has played an important economic role in Singapore. The historic record of presence of Chinese in Singapore dates back to around 14^th Century and after much influx of the Chinese nationals in Singapore, there was formation of Chinese schools and temples. The population of Chinese latter exceeded that of Malays. The population of Singapore as at 2000 consisted of 76.8% of Chinese (Global Oneness, n.d.). The government of Singapore made it compulsory for all primary schools to have the second language as a requirement in 1960, and this was extended to secondary schools in 1966. English was seen as a tool to empower Singapore to have a niche in the international market in addition to enhancing social cohesion and integration. Singapore wanted to gain advantage of internationalizing their trade through letting their children learn English (Dixon, 1991), but again did not adopt the Latin model of bilinguism where two Latin oriented languages like English and Spanish or German and Italian would be learnt, because this would risk loosing their mother tongue and hence their culture. Singapore had, in 1995, an education reform plan that would see their economy become more reliable in science & technology and hence the country would be competitive on the international platform. This was after they had separated with Malaysia to gain sovereignty. In addition to offering free primary education, the four streams of education, namely English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil would be treated equally. According to Chiang (1998), further issues embedded in the education reform was the putting more emphasis on mathematics, science and other technical subjects, in addition to elevating Malay as the National Language. Efforts of construction of schools saw 83 new schools constructed by 1965. More enrolment was recorded (522, 611) in 1968 as compared to the figure recorded for 1958 (315, 000). Two sessions (morning and evening classes) were introduced following the number of students, who could not fully be accommodated by the schools. The free education was adjusted to 10 years by the ministry of education according to Chiang, (1998). Following the governments campaign, the people changed their attitudes towards secondary education. The number of enrolment to secondary school increased to 114, 736 in 1965 from 48, 723 in 1959 and further to 161, 371 in 1972.

The government increased budgetary allocation to the education and primary education received 59% of the budget allocation, whereas 27% and 14% of the budget allocation went to secondary school and higher education respectively. Budgetary allocations for education have had an increasing tendency from $112, 806,000 in 1965-which represented 28.8% of the total national budget to $ 135, 051,000 in 1967 representing 22.8 % of the total national budget. The number of teachers swore up with the setting in of challenges following increased enrolment. For example, the number swore to 19,216 in 1968 from 16, 989 in 1965.

Singapore has used a number of currencies. The “Orchid” notes were the first banknotes to be printed in the current currency, the Singapore dollar, in 1967. This currency was introduced by the Board of Commissioners of Currency after the independence of the country was achieved. Before the introduction of this currency, Singapore had used the Malaysian dollar along with the federation formed by thirteen Malayan states. However, a conflict between federal government established by United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and the state government formed by the People’s Action Party (PAP) led to the termination of Singapore’s part in the federation.

How education plays an important role in companies

Reliance of professionalism is important both to deliver high outputs and quality output at the work place. Using professionally qualified employees minimizes training time, and also the workers are able to carry out their duties more confidently and professionally, and this leads to increased productivity and quality goods and services. According to the Global Competitiveness Report, reliance on quality higher education and training was important in ensuring that economies moved from simple production process and product value chains to more advanced economies. Educated workers who are able to adapt to the rapidly changing environment are required in the current global economy. Vocational training is important to ensure that workers’ skills were upgraded to the changing needs reflected in the economy (World Economic Forum, 2009). Reliance of academic and job training for efficient management since the understanding of lean production methods and efficiency in production is very important. Companies sometimes are required to invest in employee training so as to make sure that workers get the necessary skills. Although these may be lowly paid, it may result to more labor costs for the company. Again, the time taken for training sometimes need be considered while investing in untrained employees because it may constitute production time also.

Singapore ranked second in the 2008, 2009 Executive Opinion Survey by the World Economic Forum in the Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010. According to this report, Singapore ranked 8^th in the reliance of professional management. The country scored 6.0 points to indicate most professional managers were chosen on merit and qualification. Singapore scoped the first position among nations whose worker productivity was related to pay, indicating that productivity of the worker was determinant to the amount of pay.

Government Expenditure in Education

With the review of how education may help in the production process and in turn the economy as a whole, it would be easier to say that the amount of spending of any government in education is very necessary. The government of Singapore increased budget allocation for the Ministry of Education by a 5.5% increment (or $454.94 million) to reach a projected value of $8.70 billion for the FY2009. The operating expenditure allocation was taken up by 7.1% over the FY2008 revised expenditure. This was due to increased school funding, recruitment of more adjunct teachers and education officers. In addition, there were increased research grants for universities and the IHLs in the FY2009. Lower grant requirement for the development of the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School as well as lower cash flow requirement for existing PRIME projects and provision of Indoor Sports Halls to Schools led to the decrement of projected development expenditure of $686.56 million-representing a decrease of 9.7% from the revised FY2008.

According to the FY2009 projections, 3.6% representing $311.28 of the projected total expenditure would go to ITE (Institute of Technical Education Program) while polytechnics would take 12.3% of the amount, representing 12.3% of the total projected expenditure. The Special Education, Independent Schools, Government-Aided and the General Education Program would take 50% of the projected total expenditure, representing $4.35 billion. The general trend expected in the FY2009 was a decrease in the number of those joining university, those joining high school education and those joining the primary school. The government availed $2.12 billion dollars to universities so as to be able to acquire training for high quality graduate manpower to support the economic needs of Singapore and for their research needs. The number of enrolment to polytechnics where they would gain such skills of industrial and technical importance was projected to be higher in the FY2009. The government availed 4.2% of the total provision, which represented $44.88 million, for the purposes of acquisition of teaching IT and F$E and to be used for redeveloping and upgrading the campus facilities for the polytechnics.

The students who have completed secondary education and joining the ITE program would benefit with $311.28 million representing an increase of 6.5% from the FY2008. The government also increased the operating grant for the ITE program from $283.71 million to $301.18 million and availed $10.10 million for the capital grant.

Different types of schools received different amounts of funds. In the FY2009 projections, Government-Aided, Special Education, and Independent Schools were funded. Independent Schools would receive a total of 232,578,900 while Special Education and Government -Aided schools (combined with Junior Colleges) received a total of 102,914,700 and 870,874,800 from the total expenditure estimates for the whole program. Because the number of pupils in these schools would be expected to differ, the funding for every pupil in these schools would be different. Primary school population would be expected to be 269,000 and secondary school 199,285, while for pre-university would be expected to be 25,691 (Ministry of Education, 2009).

The following is the government expenditure on education (in million SGD) from 2003/2004:

Source: Ministry of Education: Education Statistics Digest

Government Developmental Expenditure on Education and percentage From 1994/1995 to 2005/2006

Totals and % of tot expenditure

• 1994/1995- 832715=5.58%
• 1995/96- 761438=5.1%
• 1996/97-774797=5.2%
• 1997/98-1101979=7.4%
• 1998/99-1685695=11.3%
• 1999/00-1600614=10.7%
• 2000/01-1590611=10.7%
• 2001/02-1472991=9.9%
• 2002/03-1773560=11.9%
• 2003/04-1217643=8.2%
• 2004/05-1239397=8.3%
• 2005/06-866978=5.8%

Total=14918418

GDP as from 1994 and percentage of education expenditure on current market prices GDP from that year

• 1996-35,552-4.7%
• 1997-37,498-4.8%
• 1998-35,115-3.19
• 1999-35,371-2.1%
• 2000-39, 683-2.5%
• 2001-37,088-2.33%
• 2002-37,874-2.6%
• 2003-39,463-2.23%
• 2004-44,487-3.7%
• 2005-47,192-3.8%
• 2006-50,244-5.8%

Constant GDP does not account for inflation and is calculated in terms of that year’s prices whereas nominal GDP is as per the price of the whole of the year. The two may therefore differ because of the impact of inflation in the country during the years analyzed.

Primary Expenditure as a percentage of total education expenditure (1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s till 2005)

The developmental expenditures for education and the Percentages of the Government Development Education Expenditure of the expenditures in the respective years are as follows;

Reference List

Chiang, M. 1998. ‘From Economic Debacle to Economic Miracle’: The History and Development of Technical Education in Singapore. Singapore: Times Edition.

CRN India.com. Singapore Dollar. Web.

Dixon, C. 1991. South East Asia in the World Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Global Oneness. (n.d.) ‘A wisdom archive on Chinese in Singapore-during WWII.’ Web.

Gopinathan, S. 1999. ‘Preparing for the Next Rung: economic restructuring and educational reform in Singapore’. Journal of Education and Work, (12) 3: 295- 308.

Ministry of Education. 2009. Singapore Ministry of Education. Education Statistics Digest. Web.

Sharpe, L. and Gopinathan, S. 2002. ‘After effectiveness: new directions in the Singapore school system?’ Journal of Education Policy, 17 (2):151-166.

World Economic Forum. Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010.

World Economic Forum. Executive Opinion Survey 2008.

Official Language Movement

Bilingual education is a teaching practice where two languages with one being the native language are used in teaching. The main reason for having it is to provide success in school as well as to maintain the culture and heritage of a given community. All people do not know English, to incorporate other people not proficient incorporation of other languages is necessary. Educationally, bilingual education has been supported through various arguments these are common sense, experience, and research. On experience, there is a higher drop out of the level of children with a minority language background and with lower grades.

Finally, research has shown that first language skills should be well developed before a second language to ensure the maximization of the second language (Crawford, 1997). Failure to incorporate English as an academic language has led to problems of bilingual education. Bilingual education, therefore, should not be replaced but repaired, while supporting programs should be such that they improve interactions (Werner, 2007).

Politically

Denial to offer bilingual education is a denial of a basic human and civil right. The right to learn a native language is incorporated as Article 29 of the Convention of Right of a Child in the General assembly of the United Nations in 1989. Article 30 extends this by stating that a child should not be stopped to practice: his or her religious right, ethnic or linguistic minority (Kanellos et al, 1993). In some states like California, waivers were been applied for the student to pass the proposition 227 rules that called for special classes to be introduced for teaching children who are not proficient in English for a year. Those in support of immersion felt that they were only trying to incorporate immigrants into the American culture (Kanellos et al, 1993).

Hispanic American Diversity

Hispanics American’s have their origin from Hispanic countries which are Spanish speaking. They are the biggest group, which are not Native Americans. Among the groups of Hispanic Americans include Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, and Columbian Americans. Mexican Americans are the biggest group of Hispanic Latinos in the United States forming about 10.3% of the whole population.

Mexican Americans are Spanish-speaking citizens. Politically, they were allocated white status and this gave the right to vote and even hold an electro office. However, this might have been constrained by the literacy tests and poll tax which was needed for one to be eligible to be voted. New Mexico is an elite group of Mexican Americans who have been running in state politics in America. However, there have been threats of intimidation to prevent Mexican Americans from voting. Some of them is the threat of violence and literacy requirements in some states.

The fact that Mexican American’s have a lower education makes them not secure jobs in America. In recent times the children and grandchildren of immigrants are sharing almost the same privileges in their careers as the native white people. Socially, immigrants Mexicans have been assimilated into the American culture. Most of them are Roman Catholics, have strong beliefs, and have strong family values and bonds between parents and children. They also observe a strong relationship between members of the immediate and extended family (Kanellos et al, 1993).

Puerto Ricans is the other Hispanic group that is the second-largest among the Hispanic group. It forms about 5.1% of the American population. The majority of them are Spanish speakers while a minority group speaks English. In recent times Puerto Ricans have begun exercising power in many areas such that they have a significant population and have provided a major political front. In places like New York, they have combined forces with other minority groups to form a ‘swing vote’ kind of an alliance.

Puerto Ricans in America usually work in the service and industrial sectors. Men work as Berbers, barmen, and grocers while on the other hand, women mostly work in garment industries. Assimilation has not taken over this group of people since they take pride in their culture. Usage of idiomatic expressions, vocabularies, and social custom within Spanish has well been maintained by Puerto Ricans.

Politically

The Puerto Ricans are not good participants in American politics and have shown no concerns. Some people attributed this to the courting by both parties in the American system. Most Puerto Rican people are Roman Catholics; they practice Catholicism and observe the catholic rituals although there is a small percentage of them who are Protestants. Puerto Rican families also portray their cultural heritage.

Husbands are the head of the families and community leaders while the older male sons are expected to take care of the young ones especially if they are female. Divorce and bearing children out of wedlock are discouraged while education among the young is greatly encouraged. Care is very well taken into consideration for children during their upbringing where boys are encouraged to be aggressive while the girls to be quiet and diffident (Alvarez, 1992)

Cuban American

Are the other group of Hispanics. Just like the other groups, their main language is Spanish in which they integrate it with English. Politically, Cuban Americans support the Republican Party in American elections. Cuban Americans are also notably involved in the elections with a big number of them participating in voting. This may be attributed to the opposition they have on the maxims regime in Cuba that puts Castro in power.

They also have their Cuban American politicians in power, for example, Bob Martinez, the former governor of Miami. The Cuban American community is well assimilated in the American community, which has also earned them significant influence politically. The recent groups that have come to America have not well been assimilated like the previous ones. This may be because they are not as well educated or business-minded as the previous groups.

In America

Cuban’s enjoy a good employment level than the other Hispanic groups where their employment runs in technical and sales or administrative support positions. Cuban Americans also have a reputation for been good entrepreneurs and have established profitable organizations. Most of the Cubans Americans are either Roman Catholics or nonreligious. However, though they are such a big number of them as Catholics there is a small number of them who are Protestants.

Cuban American family set up is such that there is strong parental control over the children. However, many changes have occurred, in the past where there was a need to have a godparent to the children who would act as a quasi-parent, which has tremendously decreased. The women have taken greater authority of the family than before since they have become providers of the family, a situation where freedom of children has experienced an increase (Garza, 1992).

Colombian American

Form the other group of the Hispanic group, just like the other groups they are also predominant speakers of the Spanish language. They speak they’re Spanish faster than the other Spanish speakers and incorporate lyrical intonations. Columbian Americans are such limited to learning the English language and some natives who are less informed perceive rudely, those who speak it. However, people have opted to learn it to get jobs while others have to rely on bilingual teachings for their transactions.

Columbian Americans have a very strong pride in their culture and they see their stay in America as temporary and plan to leave for Columbia in the future where they are going to settle permanently. This may be attributed to the massive discrimination they receive and the increased suspicion due to some of them been involved in drugs. Columbian Americans have found it hard to live due to the development advancement that has occurred, rendering them unemployed. The lack of proficiency in English is also a problem for them as they fail to get jobs. Economically, most Columbians are employed as farmworkers and domestic workers.

Columbian Americans found themselves desiring employment in textile industries in the 1970s since to them these were the most desirable jobs they could get around. However, women had higher chances for thee jobs and though machismo existed they had to work to provide for their families. Columbian Americans are not much involved in American politics since they are convinced that they are not in their permanent residence. Most of them are known not to have the right to vote.

In recent years the Columbian Americans have joined the other Latino groups to elect mayors and councilmen as well as fight discrimination. Most of the Columbian Americans are Roman Catholics; this is attributed to the fact that it was the first denomination to reach their land. However, the introduction of Protestants in the 19^th century also brought about a number of them turning into Protestants.

The Columbian immigrants have the sole concern of keeping their families away from any changes or pressures in American society. Husbands are the wage earners, while wives are keepers of the family and together, they teach the children ways to respect their parents. Columbians like moving in families although most of the time, it is not possible since, they often find American life affecting their family orientation of keeping their families networks intact (Chaney, 1983).

Similarities

There are so many similarities between the above mentioned Hispanic groups. To start with, all of the mentioned communities are Spanish speakers. About 95% of the population are good in Spanish. Religion is also common among these groups of people. Roman Catholicism is the main religion with just a small group of them being Protestants. Their family values are also treasured such as the parent’s relationship to the children and support of the non-working members. Also, a common practice to them is the issue of the extended families where women to these communities are considered subordinates while men are the ones who are the wage providers. This, however, is changing due to increased needs such as that of having to provide for their families.

Differences

There are also a few differences among these communities. These differences are mostly highlighted in their social attitude towards being assimilated in America. Mexican Americans do not have much problem in transforming to the American culture while Columbian Americans are not willing to change their culture to meet that of the Americans since they perceive it as a temporary settlement. Matters of politics are also another discrepancy between the views of these communities. This is marked by the fact that Mexicans and Cubans Americans have recently been active in American politics, while Puerto Rican and Columbia Americans do not actively participate thus, they have lower turnouts on election days.

References

Alvarez, M. (1992). Puerto Rican Children on the Mainland: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. New York: Garland Publishers.

Chaney, E. M. (1983). Colombian Outpost in New York City. New Jersey: New Brunswick.

Crawford, J. (1997). Best Evidence: Research Foundations of the Bilingual Education Act. Washington DC: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education.

Garza, R. (1992). Latino Voices: Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban Perspectives on American Politics. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.

Kanellos, N., Weaver, T., and Fabregat, C. E. (1993). The Handbook of Hispanic Cultures in the United States. Houston: Arte Público Press.

Werner, H. (2007). The Pros and Cons of Bilingual Education. Web.

Introduction

Bilingual education put in simple terms is the use of two languages in institutions of learning.

Understanding the term ‘bilingual education’ as a simple educational process would be a mistake because in reality it denotes a complex phenomenon dependent upon a set of variables, including the learners’ native language and the language of the majority, the linguistic objective of the program and the educational model chosen for creating the bi-linguistic environment.

These factors are crucial in determining the kind of bilingual education to be adopted in a learning setting.

This paper seeks to explore the benefits that accrue from bilingual education system and, in addition, highlights the issues surrounding such education systems.

Objectives of bilingual education

Well formulated bilingual education programs not only recognize and develop knowledge and skills brought to the school by learners, they are also designed to be appropriate for linguistic, cultural, as well as social developmental of the students.

As such, they should possess such characteristics as clear goals for the programmes and high expectations for the learners, a curriculum comparable to contents covered in native-language-only classes, subject matter is instructed through native language, have multicultural instruction that incorporates learner’s original culture, use of appropriately trained instructors, community and administrative support for the programme, parental and family involvement, as well as adequate learning and teaching materials.

Dimensions of bilingualism

Analyzing the phenomenon of bilingualism, theoreticians need to take into consideration several overlapping dimensions of the discussed processes. According to Baker (2001), the levels of the students’ cognitive abilities as such need to be considered while developing the bilingual educational programs (p. 3).

Some bilingual learners can easily speak two languages while others are rather passive, developing a comprehensive understanding of foreign speech, but rarely using it for communication. The next aspect explored by Baker (2001) is the domains in which the language is acquired, including home, school or other spheres which allow various levels of language comprehension.

The context and the balance of the two languages are also the spheres giving rise to experts’ debates. Baker (2001) coined the term of elective bilingualism, which implies individual’s voluntary decision to learn a setting though it is not obligatory. All these aspects need to be taken into account for analyzing various bilingualism models and there appropriateness for particular setting.

Benefits of Bilingual education

Bilingual education is not only justified by research, but also by both common sense and experience of instructors. Vast amount of data from studies in education and language acquisition strongly suggest, for example, that the first language learnt by children is critical in determining their ability to adapt to a second language as the language for academic instruction (Cummins, 1979).

As such, Cummins argues that instructors must work harder to develop children’s skills in their first language in order to enable them to easily adapt to a second language as the instructional language.

The outcomes of the structured English immersion strategy, early and late exit models of bilingual educational programs were investigated in an eight years longitudinal study during 1984-1991. The results of this research have demonstrated the benefits of adopting the bilingual education strategies.

Three varying approaches to instructional learning (structured immersion, early-exit transitional bilingual education and late-exit transitional bilingual education) were compared. The findings of the research have shown that the academic achievements and linguistic competence of students receiving instructions in their native language are equal to those learners who receive instruction in only one language.

The effectiveness of dual immersion bilingual education programs is even more convincing. These models involve classes in which a half of students speak English as their native language while the rest speak another language. The students receive instruction in both languages.

The core objective of these programs is to impart proficiency in both languages. Dual-language programs are equally beneficial for improving the language competence in both native English and Spanish-speaking learners.

She also found that, irrespective of the time spend receiving instructions in English, students in both programs were equally proficient in English. Besides, performance in mathematics was found to have a high correlation with the two languages. This study went a step further to demonstrate that education content available in one language is equally available in the other language.

Additionally, higher dropout rates and lower academic achievements are typical for learners with minority language backgrounds as compared to those who speak the majority language as their native.

In regard to the common sense factor, in the need for the adoption of bilingual education, it almost automatically follows that learners’ lack of understanding of the instructional language in the learning setting will render all objectives of the learning program void.

According to Garcia (2009), with the challenges of a new millennium, the English language as the language of international communication can be used for educating immigrants and supporting them in their adaptation to a new culture and community.

Though various socio-historical positions, dominating theories and geopolitical factors affect the choice of a model for bilingual education, the importance of using native language in education is obvious (p. 5).

Besides its basic effectiveness, there are several other clear benefits derived from the use of an education system that uses two languages. To begin with, it helps learners to preserve their sense of ethnic and cultural identity as well as sense of pride of their native language, in the process allowing them to smoothly integrate in their new society retaining a crucial link to their linguistic as well as cultural heritage.

Also, in the modern world, there are economic benefits that accrue from bilingual fluency and literacy. Bilingual individuals have better chances at securing well-paying jobs in companies and other non-profit organizations with international or global presence.

Program models of bilingual education

The socio-cultural context and the government policy are the influential factors which determine the choice of the strategies for teaching and learning languages. Depending upon the community needs which can change within the course of time, Education Departments try to consider the ethnic diversity of the population and provide all students with equal opportunities for receiving education.

For example, in the UAE the instruction in most schools was in Arabic previously. However, the government has changed the priorities towards bilingual Arabic and English education, taking into account the growing number of international students and immigrants.

Basically, there are six most popular models of bi-lingual education, including the early exit and late-exit models, two-way and one-way bilingual models, the pull-out and pull-in models. Each of them has its advantages and disadvantages in the context of a concrete classroom.

First, the early exit or transitional model places more emphases on development of English in learners as well as their overall academic performance. Instructions in this model are issued to learners in the native language of learners in order to enable them to be at par with their peers in academic terms and simultaneously develop their English literacy. In the United States, enrolment in this program lasts for three years.

The second model is the late-exit bilingual education programs. Its objectives are to develop full bilingualism by encouraging literacy as well as oral fluency in both English and the native language of the student. Academic learning is also emphasized, and because of the wide content required to be learned by students, this program typically takes at least five years.

Dual immersion or two-way bilingual education program is structured such that native English-speaking learners and limited English proficient (LEP) students are placed in one classroom, which encourages collaborative learning efforts form both groups at language acquisition.

The goal for both groups is to meet high academic standards and in equal breadth develop fluency and literacy in both languages. Just like the second model, this type of bilingual education program lasts five or more years. There are two basic forms of this model, including the 90-10 and 50-50 patterns. According to 90-10 model, about 90% of time at primary school is spent on teaching a native language.

This time is gradually increased in the following grades. Devoting 90% of time on native language is explained with compensating for the dominating power of a foreign language outside the classroom setting. As opposed to 90-10, the 50-50 pattern offers instruction in the majority language for both minority students and native speakers for improving the language competence of both groups.

As compared to two-way models, one-way dual language programs have a number of advantages and disadvantages (Lacina et al. 2010-2011).

Thus, the main strengths of this model include the bi-literacy of learners as the main goal of the program, a positive socio-cultural climate and correspondence of the students’ age and the curriculum content. The drawbacks of this model are the difficulties with finding qualified bi-literate teachers and separation of the second-language learners from their peers.

The pull-out model is widely used for the second language users in the United States. The main principle of this model is pulling out the minority students from their classroom for a period of about 30 minutes for language instruction. Though the methodology and content of the pull-out classes can vary in different schools, the goals of enhancing students’ knowledge of the second language is common for most institutions.

As a rule, pull-out teachers conduct lessons with individuals or small groups of learners, aiding students in developing their academic skills and repeating particular program lessons which were not understood by the minority learners due to their language difficulties (Lacina et al. 2010-2011). The pull-out model can be beneficial for certain classrooms though it has a number of drawbacks.

Among the main advantages of this model is the individual approach to every learner, opportunities to group students of different age and language level, diagnosing students’ needs and implementing the strategies for filling the gaps in their knowledge.

The drawbacks for which this model is criticized and can be inappropriate for certain classrooms are the time limits of the push-out lessons, the separation of the second-language learners from their peers, psychological aspect of perceiving the push-out as the remedial instruction, the time required for the collaborative efforts of the language and core curriculum teachers and the expensiveness of the program.

The alternative to the above-mentioned push-out form is the push-in model of bilingual education in which a teacher comes to a general education classroom for conducting lessons and providing support to students have difficulties with perceiving the curriculum information in the majority language.

The goal of this model is improving students’ language competence and enhancing their understanding of the course materials at the same time. The length of the push-in lessons can vary depending upon the needs of a particular classroom.

This collaborative model of co-teaching would be much more effective if the core curriculum and language teachers devote time to discussing the materials and defining their common objectives and strategies. This model is less costly than the push-out lessons and can be used at schools with only a few second language learners (Lacina et al. 2010-2011).

The push-in model has its advantages and disadvantages, which need to be taken into consideration before choosing this model for certain school environment. The main advantages of the push-in model include preventing the risks of making mistakes instead of using the remedial instruction, making the curriculum content appropriate to the students’ age and cognitively challenging to them.

The disadvantages of this model are the additional burden of collaborating and training for the teaching personnel, the lack of opportunities for the second language learners to practice their language skills at class because they can be ashamed of their peers speaking the majority language and the lack of individual instruction for the learners experiencing language difficulties.

Issues surrounding bilingual education

With the loss of some minority languages and the current socio-political situation in the world, the problem of bilingual education and students’ facility in a second language have become important.

The spread of the English language and its official status of the global language used for business, the opportunities of teaching English as a foreign language and promotion of bilingualism for the school curriculum are considered by a great number of governments.

Most issues surrounding bilingual education system revolve around which model of bilingual education is most appropriate to be used. Opponents of bilingual education programmes find significant fault in the way the programmes are structured. For instance, critics argue that learners who do not speak English are entrapped in programmes which, instead of teaching English, endeavour to retain the native language of the students.

In the United States, opponents of bilingual education programmes often equate the case for bilingual education which existed in the country’s schooling system in the 1900s. Then, the immigrant students were prohibited to speak their native language at school.

The preference was given to the English immersion model, while the proponents of bilingualism stated that “students who did not speak English readily learned it and entered the educational mainstream”.

The prejudicial attitude towards immigrants had a significant impact upon the debates concerning the bilingual education models. Since language is the primary identifier of immigrants, there tends to be restrictions imposed on the use of the “foreign” language by the immigrants in their new country.

This is especially so in times of war and to a lesser extend during times of economic hardships. Since language is very closely associated with national identity, immigrants are forced to even abandon their native languages during such times as a proof of their allegiance to their new country.

Yet another major issue surrounding bilingual education has a basis on unrealistic expectation of immediate results. The limitation of some studies is expecting second language learners to go through tasks which would be difficult even for the researchers themselves.

The non-native English-speaking learners are unfairly expected to accomplish this while also learning other demanding academic subjects like science and mathematics. Their second language proficiency is unfairly matched to that of their peers who happen to be native speakers of English.

Conclusion

The discussion above clearly shows that immense opportunities accrue from bilingual education. Both native and non-native English-speaking learners are not only allowed to develop their oral and written skills in English, but they are also enabled to master academic content materials.

Initially showing lower academic achievements, students with bilingual learning background not only compensate for it in the course of time, but even surpass the academic progress of their peers. Moreover, Learners in bilingual education systems have been found to out-perform their peers in monolingual education programmes in both linguistics and general academics at advanced levels of learning.

All-in-all the benefits to bilingual education by far surpass their proven as well as perceived limitations. For this reason, authorities in increasingly multicultural societies (thanks to globalisation) should seriously consider introducing full bilingual education systems or, at least, incorporate major elements of bilingual education systems into the existing monolingual education system.

References

Baker, C. (2001). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism. (4th ed.). Belmont, MA: Multilingual Matters.

Cummins, J. (1979). “Linguistic interdependence and the educational development of bilingual children.” Review of Educational Research 49, 222–251.

Garcia, O. (2009). Bilingual education in the 21st Century. Belmont, MA: Multilingual Matters.

Lacina, J., Levine, L., & Sowa, P. (2010). Learning a second language: Program models in Texas, Florida and the United Arab Emirates. Childhood Education 87(2), 106–112.

Treating bilingual children with language disorders can be more effective with the use of bilingual training programs. According to Before (2010), there are two prominent reasons why working on both languages in the intervention will be more beneficial than sticking to an English-only training program. Firstly, bilingual children and language development have specific cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Thus, in working with children from diverse families, assessment and training programs should consider cultural differences. Furthermore, the author suggests that language development in bilingual children can progress in both types of training programs, but the use of bilingual programs enables the component of supportive context in family support (Bedore, 2010). Therefore, choosing an English-only program for intervention can eliminate the helpful component of family support in a child’s language development, reducing the efficiency of the training for the child’s progress.

Next, in defining the importance of language choice for intervention, cultural responsiveness and parental involvement are acknowledged as primary factors. For example, Nellum Davis and Banks (2012) point to cultural background differences and suggest gathering more information about the child and family. The authors determine that considering cultural and linguistic differences can improve the connection between professionals and families and provide the foundation for successful parental involvement in the intervention (Nellum Davis & Banks, 2012). Furthermore, the cultural considerations can be integrated into home language training programs through physical environment elements and therapy activities (Nellum Davis et al., 2002). In particular, according to Nellum Davis et al. (2002), culture-sharing activities make clients feel empowered in the intervention process. Thus, working on both languages in intervention can be helpful in improving bilingual child’s progress by providing them with more comfortable and encouraging culturally responsive conditions. Moreover, using both languages in intervention enables the valuable component of family support in the language development process.

References

Bedore, L. M. (2010). Choosing the language of intervention for Spanish–English bilingual preschoolers with language impairment. EBP Briefs, 5(1), 1-13.

Nellum Davis, P., & Banks, T. (2012). Intervention for multicultural and international clients with communication disorders. In D. E. Battle (Ed.), Communication disorders in multicultural populations (4^th ed.) (pp. 279-296). Butterworth-Heinemann.

Nellum Davis, P., Gentry, B., & Hubbard-Wiley, P. (2002). Clinical practice issues. In D.E. Battle. Communication disorders in multicultural populations (2^nd ed.) (pp. 461-486). Butterworth-Heinemann.

Introduction

Considering the diversity nature of students in any classroom scenario, it is important for the teaching orientation to adopt a variety of mechanisms, which will ensure there is satisfaction of all learner needs. In addition, because the quest for education goes beyond national borders, it is important for different governments to adopt appropriate teaching mechanisms in their educational curriculums, which are important in ensuring the set curriculum meets both the local and international students’ needs.

On the other hand, it is important for all individuals or governments to note that, most nationalities base their curriculum on the English language; something that is discriminatory to some extent, on students whose primary language is not English.

Considering this, and the fact that any educational curriculum; regardless of the country, aims to achieve equality and prepare learners for future their roles; in a competitive and ever-changing job market, it is important for governments to accept the bilingual education concept. This is because it, integrates the cultural diversity concept, which is essential for survival in any cultural environment (Spring pp. 204-215).

Why Adopt Bilingual Education

Majority of schools, colleges, and higher learning institutions; be they national or international, offer educational curriculums, whose language of presentation is primarily English. Considering this, one question always lacks appropriate answers; do such curriculums encompass the needs of learners whose first tongue is not English?

Although majority of individuals may argue that, some schools have English orientation classes for such students; still another question arises; what is the appropriateness of such orientation programs, considering their straining nature and time needed for such programs? Yes, the argument that majority of bilingual programs lack appropriate measurement criteria, and that most of them have additional costs is right; however, is the cost worth the quantity of knowledge learnt, in case a government integrates such a course in its curriculum?

One main objective, which any educational curriculum should aim to achieve is promotion of learners’ inherent abilities, hence, making it a necessity for such programs to integrate the diversity concept in all their curriculums. From an ethical dimension or humanly arguing, it is utterly wrong for any educator to constrain learners’ inherent abilities, only because an educational curriculum discourages the adoption of bilingual education.

This is because; failure by such curriculums to provide the language diversity concept not only violates learners’ educational rights, but also to a larger extent affects the nature of relationships between different nationalities, societies, and families (Baker pp. 99-112).

Cultural diversity is one of main concepts, which determines the productivity of any society, whereby communication is necessary. Therefore, because language plays a central role in any cultural scenario, it is important for societies to encourage the integration of other languages in their cultural practices. This is because; such integrations are very important and counter-productive not only to the natives of such minority societies, but also to the host communities.

This is due to the fact that, such integrations give such communities opportunities of actively participating in global social-economic activities. On the other hand, it is important to note here that, such integrations are crucial elements for globalization to achieve its goals (Porter, pp. 87-93)

In all spheres of life, it is very important for individuals, governments, and even organizations to respect all individuals’ rights, where learners’ educational rights are not an exception. National identity is one of the primary concepts that any society should embrace; hence, making it necessary for all policy makers to encompass the bilingual concept in any curriculum formulated.

In addition, Mother tongue languages are primary aspects of any cultural identity; hence, discouraging adoption of such a concept to some extent, may contribute to racism; because of the cultural superiority concept within most global societies.

On the other hand, the concept of bilingualism is very important, when it comes to development of ability in learners. This is because; the entire concept gives learners an opportunity of having a deeper comprehending of concepts as they go through all the stages of learning. In addition, the concept is crucial in the language developing process, for it gives them a chance of contrasting what they know and what other language expresses, as concerns the organization of reality.

It is also important to note that, mother tongue forms the basis of any “foreign” language development. This is because; research findings show that, native languages give a foundation for vocabulary formation, owing to the fact that, there exists a great interdependency between an individual’s primary and secondary language (Baker pp. 143-156).

The argument by many antagonist of bilingual education that, adoption of such a system may have negative impacts on the development of primary institutional language is wrong. This is due to the fact that, success of any bilingual education programs depends on the adopted implementation measures, which are primary determinants of the nature of outcomes from such a system.

In addition, such an argument may be wrong primarily because, there is some equivalence in learning of concepts in both languages. That is, concepts in the native languages give learners potentialities of developing academic abilities, which are crucial for second language concept acquisition. On the other hand, it is important to note that, most bilingual education programs run parallel to the normal English learning or such programs are only there to enhance or boost the acquisition of the secondary language.

Practically, it is very hard for any individual to learn new concepts without having to correlate them with previously acquired knowledge in such fields. Hence, in most cases, it is very hard for “foreign” students to learn appropriately in a foreign setting, communication being the primary determinant of any curriculum success (Baker pp. 261-284).

In classroom scenarios, the achievement of learning objectives depends on the level of motivation of students. In addition, student attitudes also play an important role, when it comes to achievement of classroom objectives more so in learning of a secondary language.

Considering these facts, it therefore becomes necessary for government to integrate the bilingual concept in their education curriculum primarily because, mastery of the secondary language depends on learners’ attitudes towards the culture such a language is trying to assimilate them to, as concerns its concepts.

This goes hand in hand with self-esteem development in that, suppressing the expression of their native languages implies that, such learners will have low self-esteem towards learning due to likelihoods of inferiority concept (Corson and Cummings pp. 132-134).

Conclusion

In conclusion, although this form or education receives a lot of antagonism, it is important to note that, adoption of this teaching orientation is not only important to the minority groups within the society but also to the society itself. This is because; such a system guarantees any society’s native citizenry a chance of acquainting themselves into the global markets.

In addition, there is a lot that a native society can learn from such minority groups within its environs (concepts that most individuals more learners will find important in their future, as they endeavor to utilize their expertise in any global market). On the other hand, because the success of such programs depends on the implementation policies, it is very important for governments to reformulate and adopt workable policies, which must go hand in hand with enough funding and support.

Primary mechanisms that governments can use to ensure such programs succeed include adopting such programs using the immersion orientation; where an instructor can use a number of languages in expressing concept whereby, incase this fails, it is important for minority students to have support-learning programs.

Annotated Bibliography

Baker, Colin. Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism (4^th e.d). Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 2006.

This book gives the foundation of most basic concepts associated with bilingual education and the concept of bilingualism. In its chapters, the author has critically analyzed how societies have interpreted this concept, and how such interpretations have affected the acceptance of the concept in such societies. To make the reader fully, understand the concept of bilingualism, the author explores the concept from four main perspectives namely: childhood development and bilingual education, concepts of bilingual education and general effects in a classroom scenario, the ideological perspective, and the political concepts associated with the concept. Through these different interpretations, the author makes the concept clear to the reader hence, posing a challenge to the reader on whether to accept the concept or not.

Corson, David and Cummins, Jim. Bilingual education. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997.

The book explores the interdisciplinary nature of language in relation to education whereby, it presents current research findings on bilingual education; hence, clarifying most issues that individuals associate with bilingual education. To educate the reader on the concept of bilingual education, the authors of the book have explored the concept from a multi-cultural dimension, by comparing the success and failures of this form of education in various countries. In addition to adoption of bilingual education to a classroom of “normal” learners, the author explores the concept from a perspective of learners with disabilities; hence, clearly illustrating the importance of such form of education in all classroom scenarios. On the other hand, the book also has discussed mechanisms, which governments can use for this form of education system to work hence, not only is the book valuable to students, but also its important to other scholars and policy makers.

Rosalie. Forked tongue: the politics of bilingual education. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 1999.

This book offers fist hand information on failures of bilingual education. Through analyzing her personal experience in a school and class that used the bilingual education orientation, the writer presents a strong argument in opposing this form of education, although at some point she supports it. Although to the author, such a system is cumbersome, the book explores ways in which schools can integrate concepts of bilingualism in their daily endeavors, as schools endeavor to embrace the equality concept. In addition, the book discusses the role of politics in either failing or making sure the system succeeds in whichever country the system is operational hence, a good book for both learners and policy makers.

Spring, Joel. The intersection of cultures: multiculturalism education in the United States and the global community (3^rd e.d). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

The books main objective is to provide a guideline to policy makers and schools, on how to implement the bilingual education concept successfully. It achieves this by exploring this concept from a multi-cultural perspective; whereby, the author discusses both the cultural and educational significance of bilingual educations. This books can be an important resource to teachers who teach in schools, which have adopted this form of education primary because, it gives guiding tips on the implementation of this form of education is any multi-cultured classroom.