Bilingualism and Second Language Research

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THE GENERAL SCOPE OF SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING RESEARCH:

School-age children in bilingual education systems and schools in many countries around the world.

Elementary and High school students who are immigrants or children of immigrants or other types ofpopulations who change languages, communities, and countries in search of work or safe places to

live.

Immigrants who can include skilled and unskilled workers, trained and educated professionals, as well

as employees in multinational companies.

Adult learners in adult education, vocational and junior college programs.

Learners who learn another language for the sake of learning it or those who aspire to entering

universities or those who pursue academic degree studies in countries other than their home countries.

College/university students who study English as a foreign language (EFL) primarily (and sometimes

exclusively) in the classroom.

Residents of multilingual countries, regions, and communities, all of whom use English as a lingua

franca in the course of their daily interactions.

BILINGUALISM AND SECOND LANGUAGE RESEARCH:

What does it mean to say somebody is bilingual?

A bilingual person is someone who speaks two languages. A person who speaks more than two languages is

called 'multilingual' (although the term 'bilingualism' can be used for both situations). Multilingualism isn't

unusual; in fact, it's the norm for most of the world's societies. It's possible for a person to know and use three,

four, or even more languages fluently.

How do people become bilingual?

People may become bilingual either by acquiring two languages at the same time in childhood or by learning a

second language sometime after acquiring their first language. Many bilingual people grow up speaking two

languages. Often in America such people are the children of immigrants; these children grow up speaking their

parents' native language in their childhood home while speaking English at school. Many bilinguals, however,

are not immigrants; it is not uncommon for people born in the U.S. to speak English at school or work and

another language at home. Children can also become bilingual if their parents speak more than one language to

them, or if some other significant person in their life (such as a grandparent or caretaker) speaks to them

consistently in another language. Sometimes a child will grow up in a household in which each parent speaks a

different language; in that case, the child may learn to speak to each parent in that parent's language. In short,

a young child who is regularly exposed to two languages from an early age will most likely become a fluent

native speaker of both languages. The exposure must involve interaction; a child growing up in an English-

speaking household who is exposed to Spanish only through Spanish-language television won't become a

Spanish-English bilingual, but a child who is regularly spoken to in both English and Spanish will.


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It is also possible to learn a second language sometime after early childhood, but the older you get, the harder

it is to learn to speak a new language as well as a native speaker. Many linguists believe there is a 'critical

period' (lasting roughly from birth until puberty) during which a child can easily acquire any language that he or

she is regularly exposed to. Under this view, the structure of the brain changes at puberty, and after that it

becomes harder to learn a new language. This means that it is much easier to learn a second language during

childhood than as an adult. In some countries, nearly everybody is bilingual or multilingual. In parts of India, for

example, a small child usually knows several languages. In many European countries, children are encouraged

to learn a second language typically English. In fact, the U.S. is quite unusual among the countries of the

world in that many of its citizens speak only English, and they are rarely encouraged to become fluent in any

other language.

Is it harder for a child to acquire two languages at once?

There is no evidence to suggest that it's any harder for a child to acquire two languages than it is for the child toacquire one language. As long as people are regularly speaking with the child in both languages, the child will

acquire them both easily. A child doesn't have to be exceptional or have any special language ability to become

bilingual; as long as the child is exposed to two languages throughout early childhood, he or she will acquire

them both.

Some people worry that learning more than one language is bad for a child, but nothing could be further from

the truth. In fact, there are a lot of advantages to knowing more than one language. First, many linguists feel

that knowing a second language actually benefits a child's cognitive development. Second, if the child comes

from a family that has recently immigrated to the U.S., the family may speak a language other than English at

home and may still have strong ties to their ethnic roots. In this case, being able to speak the language of thefamily's ethnic heritage may be important for the child's sense of cultural identity. To be unable to speak the

family's language could make a child feel like an outsider within his or her own family; speaking the family's

language gives the child a sense of identity and belonging. Third, in an increasingly global marketplace, it's an

advantage for anyone to know more than one language regardless of whether one's family is new to the U.S.

And finally, for people of any age or profession, knowing a second language encourages cross-cultural

awareness and understanding.

Does bilingualism in America threaten the English language?

English is in no danger of disappearing any time soon; it is firmly established both in America and in countriesthroughout the world. In fact, no language has ever held as strong a position in the world as English does today.

Some people worry when they see Spanish showing up on billboards and pay phones, but in a neighborhood

with a high Spanish speaking population, it makes perfectly good sense for public information and instructions

to be printed in both English and Spanish. This doesn't mean that the English language is in danger. The truth is

that there will probably always be immigrants in the U.S., coming from a wide variety of countries, who cannot

speak English but whose grandchildren and great-grandchildren will end up being native English speakers. The

reason for this is, again, the fact that it is much easier for children to learn another language than it is for

adults. Adults who immigrate to the U.S., especially later in life, may never really become fluent in English. It's

not that they don't want to speak English; it's simply much more difficult for them to learn it well. Their

children, however, will be able to pick up English easily from their friends and the society around them. These


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second- generation immigrants, the children of the adult immigrants, are likely to be bilingual, speaking their

parents' language at home and English at school and in the English-speaking community. When they grow up

and have children of their own, those children the third generation will most likely speak only English,

both at home with their bilingual parents and in the English-speaking community. This three-generation pattern

has been repeating itself for many years, through wave after wave of immigrants. Many adults today who

speak only English can remember grandparents and great-grandparents who spoke very little English, who

instead spoke mostly Polish, Italian, German, or Swedish the language of the country they grew up in.

In sum, bilingualism isn't a danger either to the English language or to the bilingual speakers themselves. On

the contrary, there are many advantages to bilingualism, both for the individual and for the society as a whole.

English enjoys tremendous dominance in the U.S. and in the world. But if history is any indication, there will

always be people in the U.S. who cannot speak English and they will have grandchildren who do.

The probable reasons that led to bilingual education:

In a world of about 200 countries and 6,000 languages, multilingual nations are the rule not the exception.

Colonization, wars, and migration changed the linguistic landscape. In the 19th century, universal education

turned schools into a tool to impose and spread the use of the languages and language varieties of those with

power. Generally, those who speak a high status language and want to maintain power, promote use of their

language in education. They claim that speakers of languages or language varieties with low social status are

best educated in their (high status) language. They feel that this knowledge will give them a fair chance to

compete in society. (Porter, 1996; Rodriguez, 1982).

For many years nations tended to require education in a language based on national needs. Accordingly, the

official language or the language of power in a nation is often viewed as the natural vehicle for instruction. As

in a multilingual country, there is a selected official language, many of the children of the country are educated

in their second language. A major research conducted by UNESCO revealed that children educated in their

second language experienced difficulties in school and that the home language (L1) is critical because it is the

vehicle through which a child absorbs the cultural environment (UNESCO, 1953, p. 47). As a result of this

study, the second half of the 20th

century witnessed a resurgence of interest in using students mother tongue

for instruction.

Colonization spread the power of the European languages around the world as they became fundamental for

government and education. Upon gaining independence, countries where the colonizers became the majority

(the Americas, Australia, and New Zealand) through massive migration, brutal conquest, and importeddiseases, colonial languages became societal languages. As a result, indigenous people now represent only a

small percentage of such countries population. Economic and political immigration of the past two centuries

complicated the linguistic and demographic composition of these countries.

The European population consisting in a small minority in Africa and Asia, successfully imposed their languages

on governments and business elites. In the process of decolonization, many independent countries replaced

the artificially imposed European languages with traditional languages as the official language. Others, for

commercial or other reasons, actually continued the metropolitan practice of advancing European languages

over local ones. Bilingual education has been used in both settings, that is, where local language dominates

and where colonial languages retain their place. For Example, in countries of West Africa English becomes the


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sole language of instruction after Grade 4. Although 22 out of 34 countries reported using indigenous

languages in education, practices in many African countries show a trend toward the using of colonial

languages as media of instruction (Obondo, 1997, p. 26).

Otherwise may also happen as in Malaysia where the increase in power of indigenous populations promoted

Malay as the predominant language of education. English has relegated to the status of a foreign language.

(compare the conditions in Bangladesh)

India faces the greatest challenge with hundreds of local languages, 15 regional official languages (e.g., Hindi,

Bengali, Tamil etc.), and English, which remains widely used. one aim of Indian education is for children to

become competent in their native languages and in English (Baker & Prys Jones, 1998, p. 464). In realty,

students are taught in their native languages in the early grades. In Hindi-speaking regions Hindi is preferred

whereas in non Hindi areas English is favored.

Even China who eluded European colonization except from Hong Kong and Macao, and continued imposing

Mandarin upon regions of different language groups, nowadays, are changing stance in allowing another

language beside Mandarin as media of instruction.

Shifts in boundaries between countries, economic conditions, and political changes complicate the linguistic

composition in European countries. Bilingual education has emerged to satisfy the educational and identity

needs of these groups. Bilingual programs for majority of the students develop language proficiency in the

language of important minority group.

Benefits of Bilingualism and Theoretical Foundations of Bilingual Education

Bilingual education is grounded in common sense, experience, and research. Common sense says that children

will not learn academic subject material if they can't understand the language of instruction. Experience

documents that students from minority-language backgrounds historically have higher dropout rates and lower

achievement scores. Finally, there is a basis for bilingual education that draws upon research in language

acquisition and education. Research done by Jim Cummins, of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at

the University of Toronto, supports a basic tenet of bilingual education: children's first language skills must

become well developed to ensure that their academic and linguistic performance in the second language is

maximized. Cummins's developmental interdependencetheory suggests that growth in a second language is

dependent upon a well-developed first language, and his thresholds theory suggests that a child must attain a

certain level of proficiency in both the native and second language in order for the beneficial aspects of

bilingualism to accrue. Cummins also introduced the concept of the common underlying proficiency

TABLE 1

model of bilingualism, which explains how concepts learned in one language can be transferred to another.

Cummins is best known for his distinction between basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS) and

cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP). BICS, or everyday conversational skills, are quickly acquired,

whereas CALP, the highly decontextualized, abstract language skills used in classrooms, may take seven years

or more to acquire.


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Stephen Krashen, of the School of Education at the University of Southern California, developed an overall

theory of second language acquisition known as the monitor model. The core of this theory is the distinction

between acquisition and learningacquisition being a subconscious process occurring in authentic

communicative situations and learning being the conscious process of knowing about a language. The monitor

model also includes the natural order hypothesis, the input hypothesis, the monitor hypothesis, and the

affective filter hypothesis. Together, these five hypotheses provide a structure for, and an understanding of

how to best design and implement, educational programs for language-minority students. Krashen put his

theory into practice with the creation of the natural approach and the gradual exit model, which are based on a

second tenet of bilingual educationthe concept of comprehensible input. In other words, language teaching

must be designed so that language can be acquired easily, and this is done by using delivery methods and levels

of language that can be understood by the student.

Research Evidence on the Effectiveness of Bilingual Education

There are numerous studies that document the effectiveness of bilingual education. One of the most notable

was the eight-year (1984-1991) Longitudinal Study of Structured English Immersion Strategy, Early-Exit and

Late-Exit Programs for Language-Minority Children. The findings of this study were later validated by the

National Academy of Sciences. The study compared three different approaches to educating LEP students

where the language of instruction was radically different in grades one and two. One approach was structured

immersion, where almost all instruction was provided in English. A second approach was early-exit transitional

bilingualeducation, in which there is some initial instruction in the child's primary language (thirty to sixty

minutes per day), and all other instruction in English, with the child's primary language used only as a support,

for clarification. However, instruction in the primary language is phased out so that by grade two, virtually all

instruction is in English. The third approach was late-exit transitional bilingual education, where studentsreceived 40 percent of their instruction in the primary language and would continue to do so through sixth

grade, regardless of whether they were reclassified as fluent-English-proficient.

Although the outcomes were not significantly different for the three groups at the end of grade three, by the

sixth grade late-exit transitional bilingual education students were performing higher on mathematics, English

language, and English reading than students in the other two programs. The study concluded that those

students who received more native language instruction for a longer period not only performed better

academically, but also acquired English language skills at the same rate as those students who were taught only

in English. Furthermore, by sixth grade, the late-exit transitional bilingual education students were the only

group catching up academically, in all content areas, to their English-speaking peers; the other two groups were

falling further behind.

Virginia Collier and Wayne Thomas, professors in the Graduate School of Education at George Mason

University, have conducted one of the largest longitudinal studies ever, with more than 700,000 student

records. Their findings document that when students who have had no schooling in their native language are

taught exclusively in English, it takes from seven to ten years to reach the age and grade-level norms of their

native English-speaking peers. Students who have been taught through both their native language and English,

however, reach and surpass the performance of native English-speakers across all subject areas after only four


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to seven years when tested in English. Furthermore, when tested in their native language, these bilingual

education students typically score at or above grade level in all subject areas.

Ninety-eight percent of the children entering kindergarten in California's Calexico School District are LEP. In theearly 1990s, the school district shifted the focus of its instructional program from student limitations to student

strengthsfrom remedial programs emphasizing English language development to enriched programs

emphasizing total academic development; from narrow English-as-a-second-language programs to

comprehensive developmental bilingual education programs that provide dual-language instruction. In Calexico

schools, LEP students receive as much as 80 percent of their early elementary instruction in their native

language. After students achieve full English proficiency, they continue to have opportunities to study in, and

further develop, their Spanish language skills. By the late 1990s, Calexico's dropout rate was half the state

average for Hispanic students, and more than 90 percent of their graduates were continuing on to junior or

four-year colleges and universities.

The evidence on the effectiveness of dual immersion (or two-way) bilingual education programs is even more

compelling. In dual immersion programs, half of the students are native speakers of English and half are native

speakers of another language. Instruction is provided through both languages and the goal of these programs is

for all students to become proficient in both languages. In her research, Kathryn Lindholm-Leary, a professor of

child development in the College of Education at San Jose State University, found that in developing proficiency

in the English language, both English and Spanish speakers benefit equally from dual-language programs.

Whether they spend 10 to 20 percent or 50 percent of their instructional day in English, students in such

programs are equally proficient in English. Mathematics achievement was also found to be highly related across

the two languages, demonstrating that content learned in one language is available in the other language.

Despite limited English instruction and little or no mathematics instruction in English, students receiving 90percent of their instruction in Spanish score at or close to grade level on mathematics achievement tests in

English.

Bilingual education offers great opportunities to both language-majority and language-minority populations. It

is an educational approach that not only allows students to master academic content material, but also

become proficient in two languagesan increasingly valuable skill in the early twenty-first century.

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Bilingualism and Second Language Research