Today we live in a world where a matric certificate is no longer enough to achieve success. We live in a society where cultural and ethnic diversity are more frequent than ever before. One thing that has become increasingly relevant in today’s society is Bilingualism. In Africa we are fortunate to have many languages surrounding us, however, in the educational system we need to involve bilingualism so that all individuals can benefit from education. In this essay the discussion of whether bilingualism is beneficial or not in an educational system will be discussed. Harley (2008) describes Bilingualism as a speaker whom is proficient in two languages. It is not necessary for the individual to be fluent in both languages but they should be competent …show more content…
However, the way in which the author explained bilingualism and how individuals in different situations use this ability added to the understanding of what occurs when one is in the situation to learn a L2 and what occurs to ones L1 while in this environment, this presented a very interesting and fascinating argument which added to the understanding and knowledge of bilingualism. The evidence the author provided with the different tests that were explained in depth backed this up. On this point, everything that the author stated had a study to prove its validity and reliability; this is important as it allows for the reader to be reassured that what they are reading is in fact true. Baker explored many areas of bilingualism in education and even though there was excessive information it helped with the comprehension of the topic that he wrote about. The experiments that the author used were highly beneficial as they added to the comprehension of the article. These experiments were explained in terms that were comprehendible as well as acted as examples to each statement that the author …show more content…
The scores received by all the children on all measures were used to calculate an average of the three groups, which contained 17 children each, that were tested (Stevens, 2005). The three groups consisted of the experimental French kindergarten group and the two control groups, English kindergarten and no kindergarten (Stevens, 2005). From each of the results there were 3 main trends that were recognized when comparing the results (Stevens, 2005). The Effect of Pre-School Bilingual Experience, the two controlled groups were combined to create the ‘monolingual group’, these children’s pre-school language experience had been in a single language and their performance was compared to the performance of the experimental group which were the ‘bilingual group’ therefore these children’s pre-school experience involved exposure to a second language (Stevens, 2005). The results showed that the bilingual group scored higher on the four of the tests that were done (Stevens, 2005). No difference was present in the two tests that consisted of recognition of the beginning word sounds and blending sounds (Stevens, 2005). The second result on the Effect of Beginning Grade One in a Second Language, each of the three groups had ten children beginning grade one in English and seven beginning grade one in French (Stevens, 2005). Children in the English grade one
Opinion Editorial By Hassan Abdi In the article written by Richard Rodriguez, Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood, he conveys an opinion that Bilingual education doesn’t work. He conveys it through his personal experience. Published by the Phi Beta Kappa to the American Society in 1981, the audience and his message are a broad and important now as it was thirty five years ago. As the amount of children that don’t speak English as their first language continue to rise, bilingual education has become a polarizing topic like most things, and for me, I am neutral on the topic. A form of bilingual education has failed me, but, for most students it benefits in the long term, and it 's not right to dispel one side of the topic to push your own
This essay will demonstrate the research that is implemented on children with bilingual ability; discussing three main issues in bilingualism which is: the maintaining children’s first language, social and cognitive benefits, also why bilingualism should be in cooperated into school programming/curriculum.
I feel that although it was a difficult move, I am happy that my parents decided to move me to a Bilingual Program. Now, I could ask my teachers questions in Spanish about the words or things I didn’t understand. This helped me get more knowledge in English and to have a better vocabulary. I am proud to be bilingual for many reasons. However, in this paper, I will only explain three of the reasons.
Nagy (2013) makes an attempt, through a case study and the use of previous studies, to test the theories of prominent researchers on the field such as Francois Grosjean (2011), Ellen Bilyastok (2010) and Jurgen Meisel (1994). Nagy (2013) notes in her case study that bilingual development is depending on environmental influence just as much as on the child’s individual aptitude and general intelligence.
This exploration of the educational issue of bilingual education will focus on these four questions.
Bilingualism creates cultural experiences as well as open-mindedness and a greater tolerance for people. The most prevalent pro of being bilingual in my opinion is that I have the chance to be a part of two different communities without feeling out of place or excluded. As opposed to monolinguals who will generally be alone during a multicultural event, for example. Not because of their lack of compassion, but because of their lack in speaking the other language. When I speak to someone in their mother language it's an enormous compliment to them since the majority of people don't really care to learn the language of their country. You can't always expect everyone you meet to speak English. The ones who do take the time to learn their dialect, however, fill the natives with
The technique relies on a holistic approach that adopts instructions that allow students to actively participate in the learning process. This is easier for children that feel that the society appreciates their diversity through bilingualism and biliteracy. The society and parents need to encourage children to take up bilingual classes because they offer a lot of benefit to the society through favoring critical thinking, rationality, and sensitivity to other cultures, empathy, and detached or balanced awareness. However, Sonia Nieto mirrors a society that is made to fake being American and become ashamed of their family. It helps appreciate that it is not by choice that anyone speaks any other language as the first language and that the society and community influence the language of choice. Therefore, bilingualism cannot be detached from any community that freely promotes and accommodate the language spoken by the other community. Children and community members learn each other’s language without disregarding each other favoring effective learning that influences bilingualism and biliteracy in the long
When visiting just about any school across America, students who attend come from all over the globe. This raises the question across America about bilingual education. This can create many challenges in and out of the classroom. The classroom should be a safe place for all students regardless of what native language they speak. In the essay Lost in translation written by Eva Hoffman, describes a foreign student who tries hard to fit in. Instead, Eva begins to feel angry, hurt and confused because people laugh at her. In Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education by Elizabeth R. Howard, Julie Sugarman, Donna Christian Center for Applied Linguistics Kathryn J. Lindholm-Leary San José State University David Rogers Dual Language Education of New Mexico. Guiding principles gives great ideas to educators to stop kids from making other students feel the way that Eva felt. After reading several articles about bilingual education, it is evident that all children in school should learn English but never lose their native language. When all the students speak one language, students will be less likely to make fun of each other. A good educator should learn enough foreign languages to aid them in effective communication in their classroom although; if an educator does not speak a foreign language, they should recruit within the classroom students to be peer mentors. However, a teacher should be willing to listen and encourage the students. Above all a good educator should be a good role model to their students by respecting their heritage and their language.
From my experience, bilingual education was a disadvantage during my childhood. At the age of twelve, I was introduced into a bilingual classroom for the first time. The crowded classroom was a combination of seventh and eighth grade Spanish-speaking students, who ranged from the ages of twelve to fifteen. The idea of bilingual education was to help students who weren’t fluent in the English language. The main focus of bilingual education was to teach English and, at the same time, teach a very basic knowledge of the core curriculum subjects: Mathematics, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences. Unfortunately, bilingual education had academic, psychological, and social disadvantages for me.
Being bilingual always made my life differ as if I lived two lives, speaking Spanish at home and English everywhere outside of home. On the daily basis at my house, my family speaks Spanish. When we communicate we speak very fast, at times we can not even understand one another. After this occurs we all burst out in laughter super loud, no boundaries are enforced in our lexicon. The enforcement changes when entering a different discourse community.
...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.
There is a “CORELATION” between the effects of “BILINGUALISM AND THE COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN”. BILINGUALISM is actually the two languages which are spoken in single family or rather it is imposed on children to learn parent’s two different languages. BILINGUALISM has both Positive and Negative effects on the Child’s Linguistic, Cognitive and Educational Development. Before discussing the impacts of bilingualism, another concept that is the concept of SECOND LANGUAGE is necessary to be differentiated from bilingualism. ”SECOND LANGUAGE IS THE LANGUAGE WHICH IS LEARNT AFTER BEEN MASTER ALREADY IN ONE LANGUAGE”.
The development of the brain of a bilingual individual is better than a monolingual individual. Few years ago, researchers from the University of Washington (as cited in Klass, 2011, para 4.) found that the brains of bilingual infants (from families where two languages were spoken) are able to discriminate the different of the phonetic sound of the languages they usually heard when they grew up than monolingual infants in where their brains were adapted to only identify their mother tongue only. Dr. Patricia Kuhl, one of the members of this research team thus believe that bilingual education can shape infants’ brains and keep them ready for future challenges. Concurrently, a renowned psychologist, Dr. Ellen...
Language has pioneered many interracial relationships and historical milestones. Language is a necessity for basic communication and cultural diversity. Being multilingual is a skill proven influential to a successful future. Due to rapid globalization, countries all over the world are stressing the importance of learning a second, or even third, language. With the exception of time and lack of resources, adults have very few widely applicable disadvantages to learning multiple languages. However, language learning as a child presents more complications. Some of those include not having enough funding at the elementary school level to introduce a program for secondary language, academic overload for the youth, stress for both the parent and student parties, and the mixing of languages. Not all of these complications are true in any or all situations, however, and the absence of them provides multitudes of opportunity for future career and academic success. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the parents or the education legislation to decide whether they encourage the learning of a secondary language at the young age necessary for retention. “The general consensus is that it takes between five to seven years for an individual to achieve advanced fluency,” therefore the younger a child begins to learn, the more likely they are to benefit to the maximum potential (Robertson). Keeping the language learning in high school or beginning the process earlier is a greatly controversial discussion that is important to address because of the topic’s already lengthy suspension.
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.