Stereotypes Of Bilingualism In Schools

A true bilingual would be someone who can, in everyday life, effectively speak two languages, an ability which not only assumes the person in question is both perfectly fluent in their two languages and lives in an environment where they would have to (Byers-Heinlein). However, monolingual children usually know more words in one language than a bilingual might in two languages, meaning a bilingual cannot effectively communicate in either of their languages as well as a monolingual would (Byers-Heinlein). Also, one language is often favored over the other by bilinguals, meaning that even if you know two languages, you’ll probably use one much more often and a large amount more capably than the other one (Meisel). Although learning English when

you’re older is still possible, a study with asian immigrants have shown trouble in related linguistic tasks, although they do have some success with with most vocabulary and the order in which the words in their sentences are arranged (Porter). In addition, according to the United States government, there aren’t positive results for native language teaching, in studies which have been going on since the year 1978, with other sources reporting getting similar findings (Porter). Additionally, children with language impairments tend to make some very similar sorts of mistakes and have oddly congruent problems with their speech and writing skills as second-language learners would (Dufresne).

Bilinguals may have difficulty differentiating languages, as it would seem they almost always develop one mental system for use on two languages (Meisel). There is no doubt that to most effectively cause a child to learn two languages, the learner must receive very balanced, equally portioned, and even exposure to both languages, something a parent or teacher has very little control of when the child is not in their direct vicinity, whether it be away from their parents at school or at a friend or relative’s house (Byers-Heinlein). Because of this, bilinguals will have more of a difficult experience speaking in a less favored language due to the languages becoming less used in their frequently inhabited environments (Meisel). Studies show that children learn languages most effectively when they begin at an early, young age, but supporters of bilingual education completely ignore this in favor of the school years where it becomes absolutely necessary (Porter). Furthermore, supporters of bilingual education believe suddenly swapping languages, rather than a gradual change over many years, will effectively teach a child, despite the established fact that the more time spent on a particular activity the more proficient you become at it (Porter).

Children taught in one language for most of the day will be illiterate and inarticulate in another language, although bilingual advocates directly contradict this with their claims that children in their classes will be fluent and will read well (Porter).

Naturally, bilingualism needs to be taught from birth to be most effective, yet schools ignore this (Meisel).Moving right along, our current teaching methods take some amount of inspiration from ancient romans teaching greek in schools, ways that are extremely outdated (Porter). Much research is focused primarily on bilingual learners who have grown up bilingual, and exclude children who had only begun learning their second language in school (Meisel). Usually, the fears of the people directly involved in bilingual education are ignored by researchers of the subject (Meisel). In Byers-Heinlein’s article they state “A one-person-one-language approach is neither necessary nor sufficient for successful bilingual acquisition,” but later proclaims “In situations where each parent spends equal time with a child, one-parent-one-language can be a great way to ensure equal exposure” (Byers-Heinlein). Generally, the teachers who disagree with the current method of bilingual education are often afraid to speak out because they will be labeled racists, haters of foreign languages, and critics of immigrants (Porter). Moreover, despite the various differing opinions present in the communities of bilingual educators, debates on whether to keep it are not tolerated (Porter). Although, the difficulty with which current bilingual education would be changed would provide one of the few legitimate incentives for teachers to advocate their system; they don’t want to put in the effort to do so (Porter). As a matter of fact, ethnic education politics are one of the only reasons that the current methods are not already abandoned (Porter). Finally, “The case for the effectiveness of Transitional Bilingual Education is so weak that

exclusive reliance on this instructional method is clearly not justified” (Porter).

Parents are encouraged to teach their children bilingualism from an early age, thereby negating some of the need for the courses (Byers-Heinlein). In fact, to effectively learn two languages a child must be taught from birth, but they aren’t usually (Meisel). For one thing, a child taught two languages in the same amount of time as a monolingual child will not know as many total words as the monolingual due to the words they will know in both languages (Byers-Heinlein).Oddly enough, educators treat bilingual children the same way they would treat normal children with the exception of spoken language, even though bilingual children have a learning path differing from monolingual children (Dufresne). As an example of this, Some ineffective teaching methods include a one-night-a-week language lesson or having a foreign babysitter or relative visit (Byers-Heinlein). Later on, the way someone learns a new language changes, and the second language lessons often treat the same as a one-language learner rather than treating it as a foreign language. Unsurprisingly, bilingual education has received little positive feedback from such organizations as Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (Porter).For example, some commonly recommended strategies aren’t nearly as effective as prescribed (Byers-Heinlein). Lastly, Porter says “What I learned in one Springfield school has been confirmed by thousands of teachers across the country and by the research reports of the last twenty years” (Porter).