Bilingualism: a Personal Perspective - Essay Example

Bilingualism provides exposure and access to varied cultures, which makes the bilingual student to gradually imbibe a treasure of literature, history, poetry, and music pertaining to different cultures. In being culturally strong, a bilingual student develops greater tolerance towards different creeds and customs. Eventually, the bilingual student is able to fare better in all aspects of life. The issue of introducing Arabic-English bilingualism for Arab children is considered quite controversial because of which different viewpoints will be presented.

This paper makes its conclusion in favor of bilingualism amongst Arab children because of the several advantages and benefits that it creates for students as well as the entire society (Baker, 2006). Literature on Bilingualism In view of the strong foundation that bilinguals develop, they are better placed in society because of their ability to converse in two languages. Bilingualism is something that is present in most parts of the world where people speak more than a single language. In fact, bilingualism is present in all countries, and in all classes, and is clearly evident among different age groups (Haugen, 1992).

In a world that is becoming increasingly diversified, larger numbers of children are finding themselves in a bilingual and multilingual atmosphere. It has been held by Saunders (1988) that “because of consistent patterns of job changes that require people to move to different regions, parents are becoming increasingly pressurized because of the language demands inflicted on their children” (Saunders, 1988, p.38). According to Hornberger (1998), bilingualism is known to significantly contribute to the understanding of the different concepts of learning and acquirement of knowledge and therefore proves to be helpful for teachers in planning teaching techniques and strategies more efficiently and meaningfully.

For instance, if the investigation of bilingualism amongst young children reveals considerably significant elements about the language phenomenon, such systems prove to be of much help in developing language curricula. Secondly, some of the results achieved from the intended investigations of such concepts can also resolve crucial issues relating to the teaching of English as a foreign language to students whose first language is Arabic. Solutions can be found in the context of the kind of learning systems to be adopted in different age groups among children.