The Introduction of Bilingual Education Which Can Improve the Lives of Non-Native Speaking Learners - Essay Example

Imagine a 6-year old from Chile and her family moved to a non-Spanish speaking country. Being an excellent in her elementary school in Chile, her parents were confident that she would also do well in her new school. After a couple of days, it was obvious that the language barrier would be an obstacle in the student’s achievement. The student did not speak or write any other language but Spanish. This is one real scenario encountered by students who did not experience bilingual education. Bilingual education is good to use in the curriculum in elementary schools because it helps them to prepare for viable employment, communicating with others, and educational success. In the traditional curriculum, education has always been conducted in the native language. Due to the growing interaction between nations in trade and commerce, schools have opted to teach in an additional language, mostly in English as it is the most common language used in business, to further enhance the students’ communication skills. Other languages may be French, Spanish and Chinese. This is called bilingual education. “Bilingual education is a form of education in which information is presented to the students in two (or more) languages.” (Bilingual Education) Throughout the world though, there is still an obvious need to promote and practice bilingual education for the benefit of the younger generation. The introduction of bilingual education varies in different countries. In the United States, for example, it started in 1968, at a time when the Civil Rights movement for African Americans was at its peak. (Porter). In Malaysia and Thailand, core subjects were taught in the mother tongue and a second language as early as the mid-1990’s. In Hungary, bilingual education started in the late 1980s. (Duff) Obviously, bilingual education is not new to the educational community. They recognize the importance of a new language and the cultural value of the native dialect. They also know that bilingual education can help the young people become more progressive in the future. In Korea, there are so many students spending their vacations or part of their school year in English native-speaking countries. These individuals spend thousands of money living or studying in countries other than their own to better their English communication skills. Supposedly, wanting to be more competitive in the business world, Korean universities and companies have required adeptness in the English language to get accepted. Unfortunately for the Korean nationals, every lesson from elementary to tertiary education even the English subject has been taught in the national language, Hangeul. As a consequence, the demand for English classes/lessons continues to be high. This kind of situation is not new. There are countries that continue to believe education should be conducted in the local vernacular. The reason is more traditional than practical. They say it is not advisable for the young ones to learn in a language other than their own because this might cause them to forget their native tongue. This line of thinking cannot be faulted. There are indeed children who, being born and growing up in another country, do not speak their parents’ dialect as well as those who were raised in their parents’ motherland. Some of them do not even know how to speak in their parents’ national language. It is only expected that these children’s parents would feel threatened and oppose bilingual education. Even if studying in the mother tongue is sometimes ideal, it may not help the learner achieve his future goals. In China, Mandarin-as-second-language classes were provided in ethnic-minority schools in the early years of elementary school when possible. (Minglang Zhou, Hongkai Sun, 119) Sadly, assessment materials manifest a lack of competency, specifically in English, when these students’ skills are tested. As some countries continue to practice teaching in the mother tongue, families go through many sacrifices in order to catch up with the fast-moving world. A typical scenario would be children being forced to study the other language as hard as they could so as to be more efficient communication-wise. Another situation is where the children spend months in a country that speaks the new language. Such an example of this is Korean students leaving their friends and family to study, mainly, English abroad for English can be as young as a 6 years of age. In 1998, the number of elementary students continued to increase until 2006 and declined only at the advent of online classes and the like. (Number) All this studying sets aside the child’s right to a normal and fun childhood Although there is a need to respect and promote all aspects of one’s culture, this need should work hand in hand in developing a society. As the demands of society continue to make people and companies more aggressive there is a need for an adjustment in the educational system in order for skills to be sufficient and meet those demands. In the long run, an individual with bilingual language skills will have more career opportunities than one who only knows one language. Because of this, nations have pursued bilingual programs, shelling out money to promote and encourage learning in two languages. In China, the thrust to learn English is on a high that the government is funding extensive teacher training programs, parents are sending children as young as two to private language schools and more than 300 million Chinese are studying the language. (Xiao and Whiteley) Similar to South Korea, however, no matter how many hours the Chinese nationals spend in studying English the teaching method and teacher’s skills are the problem. Moreover, where there should be a more open attitude towards change, the educators resent going through additional training to update their language skills. Sometimes development entails opening one’s mind to changes that would eventually prove to be beneficial. A good example of this is in education. As a learner, it is more effective if change starts at an early age as the mind and body are still pliable. Research has shown that “children do better in terms of ultimate attainment.” (Dekeyser, 335) This is why bilingual education is encouraged at an early level, that is, elementary. Indeed, there might still be adjustments needed in order to make bilingual education a more effective avenue of learning for children. Nevertheless, in a world where there is continual advancement, bilingual education can be a solution to equipping children with much needed skills early so as to survive the new future. Language is a very important part of one’s individuality. At times, it is the mother tongue which distinguishes one nationality from another. A person’s native vernacular is also part of the custom and tradition of a country. Because of this, the introduction of bilingual education has come to face opposition. In the United States, conservative groups have frequently attacked bilingual education claiming multicultural education as divisive to national unity. (Campbell, 1) Former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew who made the country speak strictly in English for 19 years yet eventually had the country’s children educated in both English and Chinese from 1984 admits that it was a mistake to try and master two languages simultaneously. (Bilingual) A study on bilingual education finds that opposition is more where people have negative attitudes toward minority groups and immigrants and among those who do not like the government spending on education of a foreign language. (Sears & Huddy) Despite the idea that bilingual education would help improve the lives of non-native speaking learners, it has been met with much opposition. Opponents of bilingual education state that this kind of system does little in improving the quality of learning of students. In America, for example, non-native speakers in bilingual classes still get low scores on test and do poorly in other assessment materials. (Cromwell) In the Philippines, graduates with bilingual education still have a difficult time getting employment. They also still lack the confidence to communicate with native speakers despite their bilingual education. Most Filipinos also do not speak English well despite being the second language taught in schools. In America, the opposition to bilingual education comes from mostly Latin communities who fear that their children will not be able to speak English fluently. Since there are many immigrant families in the United States hoping to better their lives through their children, having the young ones study under a bilingual education program will only cause a delay in the younger generations’ improvement. Instead of being articulate in the English language through continuous practice and assessment, their effort will be divided between studying English and in their native language. Political opponents think bilingual education is not effective and creates social problems. (Frerking) As what has been happening in immigrant communities in America, opponents of bilingual education are being called racist and selfish. There are two assumptions made by supporters of bilingual education. One is that Americans do not want non-native speakers to improve their communication skills in English. The other is that Americans do not want to respect the other language to be used in bilingual education, in effect, dismissing the immigrant’s heritage as insignificant. Regardless, bilingual education has sometimes been the cause of misunderstandings and at times heated arguments between school administrators and parents. It has been said that English is the universal language. It is the medium where several nationalities can strike a balance in communication. It is not a wonder therefore that non-English speaking countries want to incorporate bilingual education as early as elementary school. Starting young would enable the individual to absorb the language easier, when his mind is still like a sponge. In the future, they would have a better chance of gaining employment and be an asset to the company and, consequently, the society. Work Cited “Bilingual Education.” University of Michigan. n.d. Web. 25 November 2011. “Bilingual Education Was Wrong, Lee Kuan Yew Says.” The Chosunilbo. 20 November 2009. Web. 3 December 2011. Campbell, D.E. “Bilingual Education Attacked.” Education. com. n.d. Web. 3 December 2011. Cromwell, S., “The Bilingual Education Debate: Part 1.” EducationWorld. 1998. Web. 26 November 2011 DeKeyser, R., “Implicit and Explicit Learning.” The handbook of second language acquisition. Ed. Catherine Doughty, Michael H. Long. Massachusetts, USA: Blackwell Publishing, 2003. 313-348. Print. Duff, Patricia A. “The impact of bilingual education on Hungarians’ identities and sociolinguistic practices.” Sociolinguistics symposium. Meertans.knaw.nl. 3 April 2008. Web. 3 December 2011. Frerking, Beth. “Immigrant parents join campaign against bilingual education.” The Center for Research on Parallel Computation at Rice University. 16 November 1997. Web. 3 December 2011. “Number of Young Students Going Abroad Declines Slightly.” Fullbright U.S. Education Center. 6 November 2009. Web. 25 November 2011. Minglang Zhou, Hongkai Sun. Language Policy in the People’s Republic of China: Theory and Practice since 1948. Massachusetts, USA: Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2004. Print. Porter, R. “Twisted Tongues: The failure of bilingual education.” www.gwu.edu. 1998. Web. 25 November 2011. Sears, David & Huddy, Leonie. “Qualified Public Support for Bilingual Education: Some Policy Implications.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 508.1. March 1990: 119-134. Sage Journals Online. Web. 3 December 2011. Xiao Xiangyi and Whiteley, Patrick. “Lingua franca.” China Daily. 25 February 2011. Web. 2 December 2011. Read More