Bilingual education and its effectiveness have been a considerable issue in countries regardless of their level of social and economical development and the aim of its implementation that can be either the multinational structure of society or the colonial background. However, a type, of system implemented, varies according to the government policy and public attitude towards bilingual education (Močinić, 2011, 176). The aim of this paper is to examine the current system of bilingual education in Nigeria and identify the extent of its efficiency, considering the colonial background and a developing country dimensions that create strong premises to the unbalanced bilingual education in the country. If one regards pupils’ monolingualism as the most significant evidence of country’s inability to successfully implement bilingual education, the one must side with Igboanusi (2008, 730), who considers current Nigeria’s system of bilingual education as inefficient. Moreover, the paper will further discuss the beneficialness of the bilingual education system in Nigeria in terms of its sufficiency to achieve the aim of its implementation.
A brief description of the country of Nigeria mainly focused on its population and linguistic indicators follows demonstrating its relevance to the bilingual education issue. Nigeria is a country in West Africa with population of 166.6 million (World Bank, 2012). Being under British dominance since 1800 till 1960, Nigeria adopted English as an official language and Yoruba, Ibo and Hausa remained as major languages.
Currently, Nigeria implements transitional bilingual education, which implies children using their mother tongue in the initial stages of training, i.e. in primary school, whereas the second l...
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...nd introduce a rich field for a further research
Works Cited
Benson, C.J., 2002 Real and Potential Benefits of Bilingual Programmes in Developing Countries, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 5:6, 303-317
Igboanusi, H., 2008 Mother Tongue-Based Bilingual Education in Nigeria: Attitudes and Practice, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 11:6, 721-734
Močinić, A., 2011 Bilingual education, Metodički obzori, 6(13), 175-182
Omoniyi, T., 2003 Local Policies and Global Forces: Multiliteracy and Africa's Indigenous Languages, Language policy 2, no. 2 (2003): 133-152.
Salami, L.O., 2008 It is Still “Double Take”: Mother Tongue Education and Bilingual Classroom Practice in Nigeria, Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 7:2, 91-112
World Bank, 2012. Nigeria overview. http://data.worldbank.org/country/nigeria
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The Civil Rights era fostered a rejuvenation of the movement toward bilingual education. Amid with the desire of the nation to eliminate discrimination, the Bilingual Education Act of 1968 came into being. Certainly this act was at least in part the result of a growing num...
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...n language and the development of literacy. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 13(2), 175-186. doi: 10.1080/13670050903474085
...thousands of years. Generally, bilingual education can mean any use of two languages in school, by teachers, students, or both – for a variety of social and pedagogical purposes. It also refers to the different approaches in the classroom that use the native languages of English language learners (ELLs) for instruction. These approaches include teaching English, fostering academic achievement, acculturating immigrants to a new society, and preserving a minority group’s linguistic and cultural heritage. Building on, rather than just discarding the students’ native-language skills, create a stronger foundation for success in English and academics. Also, if students learn languages at a younger age, it will be easier to remember and learn them, rather than if they were older. It helps to learn another language for students, and can later be useful in the future.
...s Bilingual Education seem impressive on the surface, but in reality, there are many prevalent issues that policymakers have conveniently overlooked which affects other monolingual children who are ‘underrepresented’ and forced into a Bilingual Education. Jill critiqued that the current ‘drip-feed’ system; in which students are exposed to Mother Tongue for only two periods a day is clearly insufficient and students should be offered more languages that are of interest to them. As Jill sips her coffee, she contemplates the future of her children. Will they go through the same experience? Which Mother Tongue must she choose for them? Will this experience be a vicious cycle? Jill vowed to provide the best for her children but as for herself, her adamant refusal to acknowledge Malay as a second language has successfully reverted her back to be the striving monolingual.
BILINGUALISM have both Positive and Negative effects on the Child’s linguistic, Cognitive and Educational Development.
Earlier this year, Singapore’s former Prime Minister, Lee Guan Yew told the press (SinChew Daily, 2013) that he would like to urge all the parents in Singapore to let their children to receive bilingual education as soon as possible as it deliver more pros than cons for the development of the children. Traditionally, bilingual education was perceived by experts as “damaging” to children early language development as it may cause them to confuse between two languages and affect their learning (Chitester, D.J., 2007), but as more recent researchers begin to uncover the advantages of bilingual education (Cognitive Development Lab, 2013 & National Association for Bilingual Education, n.d.), people around the globe are now accepting and encouraging their children to receive bilingual education, picking up additional languages like: Spanish or Mandarin. The bilingual education indeed offers several priceless advantages to everyone like helping in the development of brain, providing wider job opportunities and making more new friend.
“Learning a second language not only has cognitive and academic benefits, it also supports a greater sense of openness to, and appreciation for, other cultures” (Tochen, 2009). For many students in the United States, English is not the primary language spoken at home. There are several options for getting these children to reach proficiency in the English Language. However, there is only one model that preserves the child’s first language, while also gaining literacy in English. This model is Bilingual Education. Bilingual education is not new to the United States. It in fact started in 1968 under title VII. However, there is still a lot for the general public, and parents of language learners, to learn about this form of education. Bilingual
Research also confirms that children learn best in their mother tongue as a prelude to and complement of bilingual and multilingual education. Whether children successfully retain their mother tongue while acquiring additional languages, depends on several interacting factors.
As time goes by and as the global community develops, the world grows more and more international, making second or third language acquisition become necessary to the majority. With the growing importance of multiple language ability, more and more parents think of bilingual or multilingual education, which means acquisitions of two or more languages, for their kids. In fact, we do have many reasons showing why multilingual education is important and beneficial, such as aspects of interpersonal relationship, employment, brain health, and so on.