StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Bilingual Education - Research Paper Example

Summary
This paper "Bilingual Education" briefly explains the history, importance, pros and cons, criticisms and different types of bilingual education available. The call for bilingual education is growing rapidly in the current world because of the importance of it in the present globalized environment…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER91.8% of users find it useful
Bilingual Education
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Bilingual Education"

Bilingual Education The call for bilingual education is growing rapidly in the current world because of the importance of it in the present globalized environment. Since English was an international language, Americans, did not care much about learning another language. But at present English is losing its importance in international arena with the emergence of heavily populated countries like China and India. This paper briefly explains the history, importance, pros and cons, criticisms and different types of bilingual education available. History of bilingual education The history of bilingual education in America was started from the colonial period. “The first Bilingual Education schools opened prior to 1800, were not public, and were chiefly parochial institutions. German, French and Scandinavian immigrants opened bilingual schools” (Bilingual Education). Immigrants started to settle in America from the early part of twentieth century and the debate about bilingual education gained momentum from then onwards. In many of the schools established by the immigrant community, their mother tongue also stated to teach along with English. Importance of bilingual education The New York State Association for Bilingual Education maintains it is important to foster "the awareness and appreciation of biculturalism and bilingualism as an integral part of cultural pluralism in our society" (The Bilingual Education Debate: Part I, 1998).Americans did not bother much about bilingual education till the recent past. But the emergence of heavily populated Asian countries like India and China, and the exhausting of English speaking countries like America and England, forced Americans to think in terms of encouraging bilingual education in schools. Globalization has revolutionized not only the traditional business principles but it forces even the US like countries to implement a second language in their school syllabus. It is difficult for a country to survive in the globalised world by implementing only the strategies suitable for their domestic culture in the school curriculum. Most of the big companies are operating in a multicultural environment at present and it is difficult for the Americans to stay away from encouraging bilingual education in their schools. Moreover many advantages like cognitive development, increased academic abilities and brain development has been associated with learning a foreign language. English is definitely a beautiful world language. “But learning a foreign language exposes young people to new cultures and new horizons and helps them understand English better"(Foreign Languages: An Essential Core Experience) Pros and cons or criticism of bilingual education Children in foreign language programs have tended to demonstrate greater cognitive development, creativity, and divergent thinking than monolingual children” (Foreign Languages: An Essential Core Experience). Many studies proved beyond doubt that people who are competent in more than one language outscore others on tests of verbal and nonverbal intelligence. Many American people witnesses second language mastery as a nuisance. In their opinion, only those people who want to work outside US may benefitted from the second language. Now, many of the Americans started to realize the meaninglessness of the above argument as many Americans forced to work in foreign countries because of Globalization and internationalization of business. Second language learning may contribute immensely to the development of a person’s personality. Many psychologists are of the view that bilingual education may increases cognitive development, creative thinking and also the numerical abilities. Learning another language enhances the academic skills of students by increasing their abilities in reading, writing, and mathematics. “Studies of bilingual children made by child development scholars and linguists consistently show that these children grasp linguistic concepts such as words having several meanings faster and earlier than their monolingual counterparts” (Foreign Languages: An Essential Core Experience) “Brain science has discovered that functional plasticity of the human brain is driven by language, and it is beginning to find out that knowing a foreign language can actually change the brain's anatomy by adding gray matter” (Foreign Languages: An Essential Core Experience ) Gray matter is an important part of central nervous system which helps the sensory activities. Adding more gray matter to the brain of a person means aiding the person more in his sensory activities. When the sensory activities function more, the person’s overall intelligence and analytical abilities will increase rapidly. Thus second language learning indirectly helps a person in developing a sound personality and character. Critics of bilingual education say that many non-native English speakers are graduating from school systems with poor reading skills in both English and their native language. They cite low test scores to support their argument (The Bilingual Education Debate: Part I, 1998) Critics believe that bilingual education actually creates two types of students in the country and also the quality of education will be lowered. Separate classrooms for bilingual education will prevent the overseas students from learning the exact English language skills since the teachers are using simple language and vocabulary in the bilingual classes. Bilingual students will take conscious effort to improve their language if they taught along with the native English speakers and hence their English language skills will be improved. Types of bilingual education Bilingual Education, Submersion, Two-way bilingual education, English as a Second Language (ESL), Immersion etc are major types of bilingual education in America (University of Michigan). Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA) is a prominent approach intended for bilingual students who learns English as a second language. Based largely on findings of studies on cognition, CALLA model integrates academic language development, content area instruction and explicit instruction in learning strategies for both content and language acquisition” (Chamot & O’Malley). It is difficult for non native English speakers to speak or learn English as similar as the native English speakers. Because of this difficulty in learning English, the subjects taught in the classes may not be properly learned by the bilingual students and hence they will lag behind others. CALLA is an instructional model designed for bilingual students to make the learning process much easier. Conclusions Learning in any form will give immense advantages to the students. The importance of bilingual education cannot be underestimated at present because of the immense changes happened in the global political, economical and cultural circles. The prominence of English as an international language is exhausting and hence it is necessary for the Americans to encourage bilingual education in their schools. Works Cited 1. Bilingual Education, 15 November 2010, http://cerdahdz.webs.com/historyofbilingualed.htm 2. Chamot, Anna Uhl & O’Malley, MichaelJ. 1994, Implementing CALLA: Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1994. 15 November 2010, 3. Foreign Languages: An Essential Core Experience, 15 November 2010, 4. The Bilingual Education Debate: Part I, 1998, 15 November 2010, 5. University of Michigan, Bilingual Education, 15 November 2010. Read More

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Bilingual Education

Bilingual Education/ESL

Name Professor Course Date Bilingual Education/ESL Introduction Societies with multilingual insists that foreign language learners should have strict linguistic requirements for their various professional and academic fields.... Even though, foreign languages are encouraged by CLIL education, this information strictly focuses on English instruction....
5 Pages (1250 words) Book Report/Review

Bilingual education benefits everyone

For the student who speaks only a minority language, Bilingual Education is a controversial program that not only enhances their education, but also benefits society as well. ... 2006 Bilingual Education BENEFITS EVERYONEThe 2000 U.... For the student who speaks only a minority language, Bilingual Education is a controversial program that not only enhances their education, but also benefits society as well.... Bilingual Education not only provides the only workable approach to teaching non-English speaking students, it also has advantages....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Bilingual Education in America

This paper 'Bilingual Education in America' revealed the startling figure that 1 out of 5 U.... Bilingual Education is not a recent development in America.... As early as 1839 Ohio enacted a German-English program to teach immigrant students (History of Bilingual Education).... Bilingual Education not only provides the only realistic approach to teaching non-English speaking students, but it also has advantages.... f we are to promote a society that values educated students that are also literate in English, we must recognize the importance of Bilingual Education in reaching that goal....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Method of Bilingual Education

To evaluate early childhood method of Bilingual Education is the interest of this undertaking.... Evaluation will be done through a two-way bilingual immersion program where Parents of the school children will be encouraged participating by active involvement which is using English as medium of home communication. ... his study will make use of the descriptive correlation method of research to answer the following questions: What are the relative strengths and weaknesses identified in the literature with respect to bilingual program models; Which bilingual program model or models are most likely to promote the transition into English classrooms and student achievement; and to what extent do participants in the program experience a positive transition to mainstream classrooms ...
12 Pages (3000 words) Thesis

Bilingual Education and Debate

The literature review "Bilingual Education and Debate" states that since the 1960s, Bilingual Education has become a roaring debate and a major concern for media, educators, parents, and scholars alike.... Despite all the controversy, the concept of Bilingual Education was genuine, even its opponents accept it.... Debates about the advantages and disadvantages of Bilingual Education were initiated from the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Bilingual Education Act (1968) which dominantly shaped Bilingual Education laws (Pandey, 2010)....
8 Pages (2000 words) Literature review

Bilingual Education in Kindergarden

An author of the following writing intends to concern the essence of Bilingual Education in the kindergarten with English as a second language.... In reviewing the literature concerning the essence of Bilingual Education in the kindergarten with English as a second language, it was found that the biggest challenge facing research into the phenomenon is that Bilingual Education consists of more than one language in the UK due to the country's diversity....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Need for Bilingual Education, Benefits of Bilingual Education

The review "Need for Bilingual Education, Benefits of Bilingual Education" states that given the substantial number of non-native English speaking students, it is significant for the decision-makers in the US to look deeper into the issue, and have a well-informed decisive stand on the need for comprehensive support for this training format.... The Bilingual Education program is effective in teaching English to students with limited English proficiency....
6 Pages (1500 words) Literature review

Advantages of Bilingual Education

This paper "Advantages of Bilingual Education" focuses on the prospects of a deeper learning of the studied subjects through the use of both native and second languages.... The notion of Bilingual Education is also based on the belief that teaching immigrants in their native language go beyond the benefits of ESL because it places an importance on the values of their families and communities and provides them with a feeling of self-worth.... While opponents of Bilingual Education contend that achieving excellence in education requires immersion programs for foreign students (Finn, 1995), Dantas-Whitney et al (2009) have recently highlighted the importance of cultural understanding and appreciation as a tool to actually facilitate integration and assimilation of foreign cultures into American society....
5 Pages (1250 words) Research Paper
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us