Policies of Bilingualism in Other Countries

Prepared by: Veny Mae S. Maglana

 Language policy and planning decisions arise in response to sociopolitical needs.
 Language planning decisions typically attempt to meet the needs of the population by
reducing linguistic diversity, as in instances where a single language is declared a national
language in a multilingual country (such as Bahasa Indonesia in Indonesia) or where a single
variety of a language is declared "standard" to promote linguistic unity in a country where
divergent dialects exist.
 For example, although many dialects of Chinese exist, the promotion of a single variety as the
national language contributes to a sense of national unity.(Robinson, 1988)
Policies of Bilingualism in Malaysia
Bahasa Malaysia is the language of communication and fulfills the function of trade
The impact of British rule and influence of the English language in Malaysia began with the
acquisition of Penang Island in 1786
English is widely used in business sector
Bahasa Malaysia is the national and official language and also the medium of instruction in
most public schools.
Linguistic Situation
English is the second most language (Asmah, 1982) and serves as a tool of getting
technological information .
It is a compulsory subject and taught as a subject.
Chinese and Tamil schools use Mandarin and Tamil as the mediums of instructions
respectively.
Bilingual Education
Bilingualism is a language policy which is implicitly sanctioned (Asmah, 1982).
Bilingual education is mirrored in the Malaysian constitution which says that Bahasa Malaysia
is a national and official language and no one is to prevent anybody from speaking and teaching
other languages.
The main emphasis in the Malaysian education system is more on the acquisition of Bahasa
Malaysia and English as the languages of education.
The acquisition of the mother tongue of the people is more geared toward maintenance of
native languages and cultural heritage.
The mainstream schools (Malay medium) provide language instruction in Bahasa Malaysia.
English is a compulsory subject and is introduced in the first grade.
It is also used as a medium of instruction in the teaching of Maths and Science effective
January 2003.
As for students whose mother tongue is not Bahasa Malaysia , they can opt to take Pupils’
Own Language, Mandarin or Tamil.
In the Chinese and Tamil medium schools, the language of instruction is either Mandarin or
Tamil.
Bahasa Malaysia and English are the compulsory subjects that students must learn and are
introduced in the third grade.
Implications on Malaysia
 Linguistic perception – the perception of Malaysian society towards the use of particular
language other than mother tongue is mixed
 Availability of teachers – shortage of language teachers who can speak fluent English and
Bahasa Malaysia
 Availability of materials- shortage of materials in the area of science and technology materials
 Availability of funds- allocation of funds are not equal

Policies of Bilingualism in Singapore

Singapore is a multilingual island nation
Has four official language. The languages are English, Malay (national language), Chinese
and Tamil. The purposes of these languages is to serve pragmatic roles (Pakir,1994)
English is the medium of all content-area
English – neutral language,to promote unity, lingua franca,MOI
Bilingualism – started in 1956
Linguistic situation
 Education in Singapore is built on the five pillars of literacy, numeracy, bilingualism, physical
education, and moral education (Parkir,1999).
 Standard English taught in school (Singapore Colloquial English, Standard Singapore
English) are used in larger society.
 Assumptions underlying Singapore’s policy (Dixon,2005):
◦ Beginning a second language early leads to higher proficiency
◦ Home language development is not academically helpful to development of English
language skills
 ◦ More time devoted to learning a language will result in greater proficiency in the
language ◦ Learning to read both an alphabetic and a logographic writing system is more
difficult than learning to read in two alphabetic languages
◦ Ability to learn more than one language is related to general education achievement ◦
Maintaining the ethnic language will protect ethnic identity, a sense of “rootedness” and
cultural values
Bilingual Education
 Reasons for bilingual education - English language would bring Singapore the international
trade,investment and access to Western science and technology (Dixon, 2005)
 Tertiary institutions adapted English as MOI. New Education system. Enable above average
and average pupils to be proficient in English and least literate in Malay, Chinese & Tamil(1980)
 In 1987 , English-for-all-year. National stream of education introduced. Primary One pupils
taught in English as first language and mother tongues as L2  Emphasis on both English and
Mandarin – Targeting a wider market
 Pakir (1998) and Gopinathan (1980) point out that there had been not only rising literacy rate
in Singapore but biliteracy among the major ethnicities with the trend more evident
Implications on Singapore
 Over westernization
 Risk of losing set of core values and absorbing other elements (de-asianization)
 Formation of Singlish result in shortcoming especially in education, where Eng. skills are
relevant for academic achievement.
 Argument of policy-makers, no single ethnic group is advantaged or disadvantaged in terms
of access to an economy that is largely based on English.
 Parliamentary business and government websites is overwhelmingly carried out in English
 “The Speak Good English Movement”, being an ongoing campaign, has not succeeded in
replacing Singlish with good English

Policies of Bilingualism in Brunei

An Islamic Sultanate on the northern coast of Borneo
Relatively linguistically homogeneous, with the majority of inhabitants having one form of
Malay as a mother tongue. However, the country has long been ethnically plural (Brown 1971).
The standard form, Bahasa Melayu, has been the official language of the country since 1959.
English was first introduced to Bruneian sociolinguistic ecology during the British Residency
Period. It was once governed by the British thus the existence of English Language is passed
down into the society
Linguistic situation
 Brunei Malay, is one of five varieties of Malay in general use in Brunei.
 Apart from the Malay varieties, there are at least eight other Aus- ] tronesian languages
spoken in Brunei (Nothofer 1991).
 Of these, Tutong, Bêlait, Dusun, Bisaya, and Murut are considered to be indigenous to the
country
 Iban, Penan, and Mukah are regarded as immigrant languages. The five indigenous groups,
along with the two Malay-speaking groups,
 the Kedayan and Brunei, are, constitution- ally, classed as "indigenous groups of the Malay
race" (Government of Brunei 1961: 118-120), referred to locally as the seven puakjati
(indigenous groups) of Brunei.
 With the increase in mobility and the general movement of peoples away from the interior to
the coastal towns, the effects of intermarriage, and the influence of the superregional languages
on the states that make up Borneo, new patterns of communication are emerging and an
increasing number of indigenous languages are in danger of being lost.
Bilingual Education
 Dwibahasa Education Policy was introduced in 1985  Edwards (1985: 93) is of the opinion
that most historical changes in language use are due to economic factors such as social access
and material advancement, and that these are of central importance.
 English is greatly emphasised in the education system for those subjects that can be pursued
further in the core English-speaking countries.
 During the first three years of schooling, it is taught only as a subject. After that, for the rest of
the schooling years, it replaces Malay as the language of instruction for Mathematics, Science
and Geography. However, Civics, Brunei History and Religious Knowledge (Islam) continue to
be taught in Malay.
 Perceives itself as part of the global economic and political system and strives to diversify its
economy. Learning and use of English essential for modernization and internationalization.
 Both Malay and English are taught and employed as medium of instruction in the country’s
bilingual education system. Learning Arabic is also being integrated into the education system.
Implications on Brunei
 The actual motivation to shift to the use of a different language can, on the one hand, be due
to economic or pragmatic factors and, on the other, to social psychological factors such as
attitudes and identity. Edwards (1985: 93) is of the opinion that most historical changes in
language use are due to economic factors such as social access and material advancement,
and that these are of central importance.
 With the increase in mobility and the general movement of peoples away from the interior to
the coastal towns, the effects of intermarriage, and the influence of the supraregional languages
on the states that make up Borneo, new patterns of com- munication are emerging and an
increasing number of indigenous languages are in danger of being lost.

Policies of Bilingualism in Thailand

 in the early 90s before the Sarasas Extra Class Program began (in 1992) as a pilot program
in bilingual schooling.
 Since 1992, through bilingual schools, the option of education in two languages has become
available to a much greater number of students and the study of content through English
has become possible without loss of attention to Thai language and culture.
 In 1995, the first bilingual education program was developed in Thailand appearing with the
establishment of the country's first and biggest private bilingual school, Sarasas School,
aiming to fulfill the need of Thai-modern population development
The purpose of bilingual education in Thailand
 whatever model is used – alternative immersion (eg Maths in English, Social Studies in
Thai) or parallel immersion (core subjects in both languages) – is threefold
1. to give greater numbers of Thai children access to learning English through subject
content at school,
2. to give parents who want an enriched English language education for their children the
chance to 3. have it without having to send their children away from home, and 3. to enable
an enriched English language education without loss of Thai language and cultural
development at school.
Linguistic situation
 Despite a century-old narrative as a monolingual country with quaint regional dialects,
Thailand is in fact a country of vast linguistic diversity, where a population of approximately
60 million speak more than 70 languages representing five distinct language families
 Before 1992, Thai parents who wished their children to have a school education where
curriculum content was taught in English had two choices – international schools or
overseas schools.
 not many Thai teachers are able to provide consistently authentic models of English of the
kind required for a bilingual program

Bilingual Education
 The new policy states: “It is the policy of the government to promote bilingual or multilingual
education for the youth of ethnic groups whose mother tongue is different from the national
 language [Thai], as well as those from other countries who enter Thailand seeking
employment.”
 The BEP was initiated in Thailand following the participation of ONFEC officials at the
UNESCO-organised Regional Workshop on Functional Literacy for Indigenous Peoples (26
November–01 December 2001). ONFEC’s principal motivation in adapting the concept of
targeted literacy programmes for marginalised groups, was to improve school
attendance/enrolment and completion rates among Pwo Karen children through bilingual
educational instruction. The programme is currently being implemented in Omkoi district –
Chiang Mai province
Implications on Thailand
 Perhaps the major challenge is that the bilingual approach to education is new to the
country and as such, many officials lack experience of how to implement the programme
efficiently and effectively. Furthermore, most of the literacy programmes currently use the
curriculum and guidelines designed for majority language (Thai) learners and despite efforts
to adapt the curriculum and teaching-learning approaches to suit the needs of ethnic
minorities, the bilingual approach is rarely used in practice.

Policies of Bilingualism in Japan

 Japan’s government sees new social factors emerging in the twenty-first century: an aging
population, cultural diversification, and the continuing modernist trope of Japan as a
“monolingual” and “monocultural” nation. In national language policy, the Japanese
government adopted a standard language (hyojungo).
 Family Language Policy (hereafter FLP) is generally defined as “the explicit and overt
planning in relation to language use within the home and among family members” (King &
Fogle, 2017: 315). It represents “an integrated overview of research on how languages are
managed, learned and negotiated within families” (King et al., 2008: 907). Lanza (2007)
defined family as a ‘community of practice’ with “its own norms for language use” and which
has its “own ways of speaking, acting and believing”
Linguistic Situation
 Baldauf (2005) defines language in education policy as “the organized, systematic, and
formal efforts to promote the learning of a language”
 in Japan kokusaika is primarily framed as an encounter between Japan and the English-
speaking world The effects of this ‘assimilationist language policy’ are felt even by families
raising their children as Japanese-English bilinguals despite the apparent valorization of
 English. Although English is both politically and socially defined as an essential component
of Japanese education, its recognition as a possible part of Japanese identity is much less
welcome.
 In 1871 English was adopted as an integral part of the national language curriculum. In the
same year universities initiated an entrance exam system that tested English grammar and
advanced translation skills
 In 1922, Nationalist Era, the Japanese government hired linguist Harold Palmer to study
ways to improve English teaching. He conducted research on the state of language
education. His research criticized the grammar-translation methods used in secondary
schools and advocated an oral-aural method instead. Indeed, his methodologies gained
acceptance by junior high school teachers and students’ English proficiency improved
 In the early 1900’s strong anti-Western and anti-English sentiments were the norm in Japan.
Many people advocated changing educational policy to make English an elective subject in
secondary schools. By the 1930’s the pendulum had swung fully to nationalism and English
language instruction was officially ceased
 After Japan’s surrender to the USA in Post-World War II, most Japanese turned their back
on extreme nationalism and welcomed the chance for reform. English language teaching
was again set as a compulsory subject in secondary schools
Bilingual Education
 Monbusho carried out a study of English teaching as part of a larger reform movement in
1984-1985 (Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme)
 There are presently over 4,000 JET participants working in Japan, over 90% of those being
ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) teaching English. The JET home page states that it:
o Iims to promote grass roots internationalisation at the local level by inviting young
overseas graduates to assist in international exchange and foreign language
education in local governments, boards of education and elementary, junior and
senior high schools throughout Japan. It seeks to foster ties between Japanese
citizens (mainly youth) and JET participants at the person-to-person level (JET,
2009).
 Thus English is presented again as an instrument for furthering commercial and national
competitiveness.

Policies of Bilingualism in China

 China formally introduced a policy of “bilingual education” in 2010 for schools in all minority
areas in China, an approach to minority education considered appropriate internationally
when it promotes competency in both the local and the national language
Linguistic Situation
 In 2010, all provincial-level administrations throughout China introduced formal programs for
the implementation of “bilingual education.”
 Model 1” bilingualism, which emphasizes the use of the local or minority language in
classrooms, and “Model 2” bilingualism, which emphasizes the national language, Chinese.
 In early 2015, a report by China’s official news agency, Xinhua, said that Chinese-medium
instruction had already been introduced, not just into secondary schools, as was well-
known, but also into urban primary schools in the TAR: “Different from the model widely
implemented in pastoral regions, elementary schools in each of Tibet’s prefectures (and
municipalities), some junior middle schools, senior middle schools, and Tibet classes in the
interior adopt a teaching model that uses Chinese as the teaching language with Tibetan as
an addition.”
Bilingual Education
 The purpose of bilingual education is effectively improve the ability of ethnic minority
students to adapt to social development and employment.
 Developmental bilingual education, also known as language maintenance bilingual education, strives
to achieve fluent bilingualism and biliteracy as well as academic excellence
 Integrated-enrichment programs, first introduced in Canada, were developed from the concept of
immersion. Two types of integrated-enrichment programs can be differentiated: foreign-language
immersion and native language immersion.
 The purposes of the two kinds of bilingual education are quite different. Linguistically, the former
can be said to develop in minority students a strong competence in the majority language, namely
standard Chinese, while maintaining the mother tongue language and the latter to improve foreign
language competence and particularly the English learning experience of the majority.