Bilingual: Life and Reality - Case Study Example

Student Name: Tutor: Title: A Bilingual Pupil’s Profile Course: A Bilingual Pupil’s Profile Introduction This is a case study of a nine year old Polish girl, Anna, who was born in Poland. Her family moved to England in 2006 where she was admitted in a Catholic primary school. Anna had commenced formal education while in Poland at the age of seven. She had to adjust to the new environment, learn English and a means of learning in the English school and be able to interact with people in her immediate environment effortlessly. The journey of her learning a new language does not roll out smoothly despite her being an English additional language (EAL) pupil back in Poland. The program was at its tender age and there were experienced teachers to guide her through. Anna comes to England when her mastery of English is non-existent and she can barely be refereed as a bilingual. Through the efforts of her teachers and peers a social network is formed at school and back at home that enables her to learn the English language and converse with others with others confidently (Baker, 2011). The process has its own challenges and hiccups but despite everything journey of learning English is steady and self-assuring both to her peers and the teachers. The essay is an analysis of Anna’s experiences as a second language learner within a new environment. Discussion Anna admission into a school in England made he frightened and nervous. She was worried that other children will think she was not clever simply because she could not speak perfect English. It is unfortunate that the family lived in an isolated background hence Anna did not have a chance to interact with other children hence helping her to feel at ease. The time spend at school seemed to be too long to bear since Anna had problems communicating effectively with other children in class or during play time. The isolation in her home denied Anna social networks that would have helped her to cope in the new environment (Bialystok & Majumder, 1998). It was normal for her to feel frightened since she was setting her feet in a new environment and the fear of what will befall her future preoccupied her. Back in Poland she was not a bilingual and the EAL program was in its tender stage and there were enough teachers to provide guidance for the new learners. However, earlier exposure to English somehow prepared Anna for the tough path she had to work in a new environment, in a new school, and in a foreign country. Studies have shown that Bilingual participants are less accurate and slower in a picture-naming task as compared to monolinguals (De Mejía, 2002). Bilinguals at any stage show better executive control as opposed to monolinguals matched in age as well as other background factors. Executive control refers to a set of cognitive skills established on cognitive resources for functions like inhibition, working memory and switching attention (Bialystok, Craik & Luk, 2012). The types of inhibitions differ in their basic domain of influence. Local inhibition mostly affects linguistic performance while global inhibition affects both cognitive and linguistic performance. Executive control is very important to in children since it is crucial to academic achievement and hence academic success is an important determinant of long-term health and wellbeing (García & Baker, 2007). Executive control comes up late in the development stage and weakens early in aging, and aids activities like high level thought, sustained attention, and multi-tasking. In many cases a bilingual possesses an intellectual advantage as compared to monolinguals since his or her thinking is not restricted by language (Peal & Lambert, 1962). People who have knowledge of more than language find it easier to learn new languages as compared to monolinguals (Ruiz, 1984Anna was a monolingual and hence she found it difficult to adapt to English in a new environment. She had been used to Polish and could not speak any other language. Exposure to English as a second language gave her a chance of learning a new language. Additive bilingualism does not apply in Anna’s case. Additive bilingualism is a situation where both languages have high status in the community and family of the child and there is not any danger of one language replacing another. English has no danger of replacing Polish in the case of Anna (Nettle & Romaine, 2000). An incident of subtractive bilingualism cannot happen since Anna’s family has found social networks in England where a Polish community can be formed despite living in an environment where English is the dominant language. The community can form a dense network that will enable Anna and her family to settle well in the society and learn English while keeping a good grasp of her native Polish language (Bialystok, Craik & Luk, 2012). A social network has also been formed within the school community with the help of her teachers. Anna is able to relate closely with her peers and learn a lot from them through observing and also taking part in co-curricular activities outside the class. A team formed to guide her through her tasks and activities is important in providing confidence that will eventually help Anna to gain full understanding of the English language. Anna had commenced her formal education at the age of seven. There was little information available concerning her previous education. It was discovered that Anna had been a confident pupil in her previous school in Poland. The new environment frightened her and made her nervous and unable to interact freely with other children during playtime and class time. Anna was in the initial stages of learning English prior to being admitted and she was the only pupil having English as Additional Language (EAL) at her school (Millroy, 1980). This was very unfortunate for Anna. She had no-one in in the immediate environment who could offer bilingual support and teachers at school did not have recent experience of EAL pupils particularly those that English was new to them. Learners of EAL seem to make the best progress within an entire school setting where pupils are educated using their peers. Pupils with EAL possess very diverse needs with regard to support needed in learning English language. Planning has to consider factors such as previous educational experiences, age, length of time in the country, and skills that the pupil has in other languages. Young people and children learn best when they feel valued and secure. Schools have to emphasize on meaningful assessment of the child’s previous experience and knowledge together with language skills (Vertovec, 2006). It is very important to build on the pupil’s experiences of a language in the wider community as well as at home so that their developing application of English together with other languages can support one another (Hollingworth & Mansaray, 2012). Ann had this advantage as an EAL pupil within the school setting. There was careful thought about where Anna would sit in the class and who should be near her. The teachers used her peers to make feel comfortable in class and adapt quickly in the new environment. Anna was placed in groups as well as paired with children who provided a good model of behavior and language. Anna was able to settle in since she was supported in class and outside class. The children paired with her were patient as well as attempted to learn several greetings and world in Polish from her. The environment provided was very suitable for Anna as a new pupil in a new school. The pupils were not very dominant and tried to guide her through activities and tasks. These pupils further offered friendly support outside on the playground (Martin, 2010). This made sure that Anna did not withdraw into a lonely mood that would have impaired her learning. Moreover, Anna was placed in front of the class where she could see and hear easily. The fact that the teachers and pupils cared about her really helped Anna adjust to the new environment where she had the challenge of learning a new language. Digging up information about her background prior to coming to England helped the teachers understand how they could help Anna (Meyerhoff, 2006). There was little help about learning of English in Poland and she came to England once the EAL program kicked off. There were no experienced teachers to impart knowledge and understanding on how to quickly grasp English in a new environment. Furthermore, her parents did not have command of English and this was complicated by the fact that there was a restriction on communication between the school and home at first. The effort by the school to find Polish families who meet over the weekend was an important step in providing Anna and her family with social networks that would help them to settle in England and learn the English language by and by (Baker & Prys, 1998). Anna was so keen on learning English in that she gave it her all. She laid back, listened and watched but rarely spoke. There were bilingual resources within the school that she accessed for her own good. She made use of the bilingual dictionary as well as the internet to study on her own. The class setting provided a good environment for Anna to learn. She was not rushed through the learning process (Grosjean, 2010). She was encouraged to write in her native Polish and eventually in English by a teaching assistant together with her peers. She grasped the classroom chores and her smiles became more natural. Anna was not bombarded by the English vocabulary where she could feel intimidated and disadvantages. Instead her teachers and peers allowed her to learn progressively while providing guidance and assistance whenever necessary. The teacher was afraid because he was only experienced in teaching monolingual English speaking children. Anna case was unique and required a lot of understanding and appreciating every step that Anna made in learning English in a new environment (Holmes, 2008). In Anna’s case language played out as a resource that enabled her to communicate. A supportive environment created by her teachers and peers enabled her to learn progressively without feeling intimidated. Conclusion Anna’s story represents a typical case of the struggles that monolinguals have to go through once they step out of their country into a foreign land where they are compelled to learn a new language. The tender of Anna did not give her any advantage as bilinguals. Advantages of bilinguals in learning a new language only occur at a later age. Nevertheless, Anna could not be considered as a bilingual since the EAL program in her school in Poland had just been introduced and there were no experienced teachers who were versed in English to provide the much needed guidance. Being a multilingual or a bilingual provides one with skills that can help her to new an additional language with ease as compared to monolinguals. The arrangement in class room and the peer support group provided to Anna offered supportive social networks that helped her to eventually adapt to the setting in England and learn English with confidence. The first incidence of living in an isolated place made it difficult for Anna and her family to interact with other people who spoke Polish hence making them feel confident in the new environment. Social networks are important when one is learning a second language. A learner has to stay in touch to close people who will provide moral support to her learning process. The teachers were very understanding in Anna’s case. References Baker, C., 2011, Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism (5th edn), Multilingual Matters, Clevedon. Baker, C., & Prys, J.S., 1998, Encyclopedia of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education, Multilingual Matters, Clevedon. Bialystok, E., Craik, F.I.M., & Luk, G. 2012, Bilingualism: Consequences for mind and brain, Trends Cogn Sci. 16(4): 240-250. Bialystok, E., & Majumder, S. 1998, The relationship between bilingualism and the development of cognitive process in problem-solving, Appl. Psycholinguist, 19: 69-85. De Mejía, A.M., 2002, Power, Prestige, and Bilingualism: International Perspectives on Elite Bilingual Education, Multilingual Matters, Clevedon. García, O. & Baker, C., 2007, Bilingual Education: An Introductory Reader, Multilingual Matters, Clevedon. Grosjean, 2010, Bilingual: life and reality, Harvard University Press, Harvard. Hollingworth, S. & Mansaray, A., 2012, Language diversity and attainment in English secondary schools: a scoping study, Institute for Policy Studies in Education, London metropolitan University. Holmes, J. 2008, Introduction to sociolinguistics, Pearson, Harlow. Martin, P. 2010, They have lost their identity but not gained a British one’: non-traditional multilingual students in higher education in the United Kingdom, Language and Education 24 (1): 9-20. Meyerhoff, M. 2006, Introducing sociolinguistics, Routledge, New York. Millroy, L.A., 1980, Language and social network (Diagram), Blackwell, London. Nettle, D. & Romaine, S. 2000, Vanishing voices: The extinction of the world’s languages, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Peal, E. & Lambert, W.E., 1962, The relationship of bilingual to intelligence, Psychological Monographs, 76 (27): 1-23. Ruiz, R. 1984, Orientations in language planning, NABE Journal 8 (2): 15-34. Vertovec, S. 2006, The emergence of super-diversity in Britain, Centre on migration, policy and society, University of Oxford. Read More