BILINGUAL EDUCATION

BILINGUAL EDUCATION

1. History

   • Bilingualism started in experimental classrooms in the 1950 and 1960 with immersion programs
   • Invention of the alphabet
   • Shows that languages of strongest influence are those which support religion, goverment and the professions
   • Prior to the industrial revolution, which fueled need for a literate working force, educations was the domain of the privileged in a classical languages

2. Models of bilingual education

   • Learning a second language
     • L2 can be learned naturalistically or pick up.
     • It can be formally learned through conscious application
     • Most descriptions of L2 learners denote deficit
     • Acronyms used to describe L2 learners of English
   • Bilingual and multilingual education
     • Refers to education in which two languages are used instructionally
     • Bilingual education programs maybe oriented either towards transitions to the second language or towards maintenance of the language
     • Programs may be aimed at
       • Enrichment education
       • For majority language speakers L2 minority
       • maintenance education
       • compensatoy education for minority language speakers in a majority context
       • transitional education for minority language speakers in a majority context
       • Revitalization education in an endangered language
   • STRONG
     • Content based learning
       • 50% curriculum in taught using L2 and 50% curriculum is taught the medium of the L2
     • Bilingual immersion
       • Use of L2 as medium instructions, a parallel to that used in the L1, overt support for the L1, additive bilingualism as program aim, exposure to the L2 being largely confined to the classroom, students entering the diagram with similar, limited levels of L2 profiency
     • Total Immersion
       • Introduce the second language immediately and use it 100% of course work in a specified period of time, there is some evidence to indicate tht student in total immersion programs graduate with slightly better L2 profiencies
     • Two way immersion
       • intgrate a majority and a minority language community, both languages, bicultural context
     • Maintenance
       • Transitional education, works with well defined populations
   • WEAK
     • Submersion
       • It is the opposite of immersion in that it provides no L1 support, children receive minimun pedagogical support
     • Transitional
       • Education treats bilingualism as transient phenomenon, aims to introduce basic literacy and numeracy in the minority L1
     • Language object
       • The L2 is not used as a medium for content learning
   • Miltilingual education
     • Entails the teaching and learning of multiples languages, rserch reports on multilingual programs
       • The introduction and incorporation of languages depend on contextual and linguistics needs and resources

3. CONTEXT

   • Sociocultural
     • Highly variable
     • Depends on family generations and social involvement in multiculturalism
   • Political
     • Lnguage policy
       • Language can be seen as a problem a right or a resource
       • additive bilingualism L2 is added to L1 and is encouraged politically
     • Language planning
       • Status planing, corpus planning
     • Standards
       • Requires a historical quest seeking indexations, regional, dictionaries and published literature and media
   • Psichological
     • Attitute
       • Context and cultural identity matter influences are both intrinsicand extrisic. They need to see L2 as additive intead of substractive.

4. Evaluation

   • Benefits
     • Identity is unaffected, attitude is less stereotypic, incresed earning power and income, develops linguistic and cognitive advantages
   • Assessment
     • What is being bilingual?
       • Bilingual profiency is complex functionally complementary and dynamic
         • Political asesment is done in terms of economic potential
         • Assesment needs to take into account multiple viewpoints mainly social