Week 2 and 3:

Bilingualism, Definitions, forms and Distinctions

Defining Bilingualism

Bilingualism as an individual
characteristic (individual) and
bilingualism in a social group (societal),
community, region or country.
Dimensions of Bilingualism
Valdés and Figueroa (1994) suggest that bilinguals are
classified by:
 Age (simultaneous/sequential/late –).
 Ability (incipient/receptive/productive).
 Balance of two languages.
 Development (ascendant – second language is developing;
recessive – one language is decreasing).
 Contexts where each language is acquired and used (e.g.
home, school).
Later they add a sixth dimension: circumstantial and elective
bilingualism
Understanding the scope of bilingualism

 Thetable suggests avoiding a simple classification

of who is, or is not, bilingual.
Other related terms in Bilingualism

a classic definition of bilingualism such as ‘the native-

like control of two or more languages’ (Bloomfield,
1933) appears too extreme and maximalist (‘native
like’).
On the other hand,
Diebold’s (1964) concept of incipient bilingualism
allows people with minimal competence in a second
language to squeeze into the bilingual category.
Balanced Bilinguals, Someone who
is approximately equally fluent in two languages
across various contexts may be termed an
equilingual or ambilingual.
What is Bilingual education

the term bilingual education is more

accurately used when both languages
are used for daily classroom
instruction and the students become
successfully bilingual and biliterate
Ferguson et al. (1997) suggested 10 varying,
sometimes conflicting, aims of bilingual education
(1) to assimilate
individuals or groups into
the mainstream of society;
(2) to bring unity to
multiethnic or
multilinguistic country;
(3) to enable people
to communicate
outside their country;
(4) to increase language
competencies that are
marketable, for example, to
gain employment;
(5)To preserve
ethnic or religious
identity;
(6) to harmonize
different linguistic
and political
communities;
(7) to spread the
use of a colonial
language;
(8) to strengthen elite
groups and preserve
their privileged position
in society;
(9) to give equal
status or rights to
unequal languages;
and
(10) to deepen an
understanding of
language and
culture.
Baker (2016) adds two aims

1. to preserve an
endangered or
minority language
2. to increase
curriculum
achievement and
school performance.
Forms of Bilingual
education
programs
Developmental Maintenance Language Bilingual Education

Or called as “maintenance,”
“developmental
maintenance,” “indigenous,”
“native,” and “heritage
language” bilingual education
students to become bilingual and biliterate
in the home and majority languages.
In some contexts, includes a desire to
preserve a minority language in its historical
strongholds, especially when that language
and its culture are deemed threatened.

e.g. Maori In NZ, Chinese in Cambodia, Navajo in US.

Immersion Bilingual Education
e.g. in Canada, students whose first
language is English are taught in
French.
student already owns one prestigious
language and acquires another high-
status language in school
Transitional Bilingual
Education
Aim is to transition students
to majority language
Dual Language Bilingual Education
balanced number of
minority language speakers
and majority language
speakers in each class.
language separation in terms of:
time (e.g., alternative days or in
different lessons); curriculum
content (e.g.,Mathematics in
English and Social Studies in
Spanish)and teacher (e.g., one uses
Spanish only and another English
only).
Bilingual and Multilingual Education in Major
International
Languages
The mixture of previous forms of bilingual
education by usually a prestige
institution, aiming at global context and
economic benefits.
Some schools provide instruction in tri- or
multilingual base.
Bilingual Education for Deaf Students
Deaf individuals are bilingual in a sign language
(e.g., American Sign Language) and the written
variety of the language spoken by non-deaf people
(e.g., Standard American English), However, were
mainstreamed with no sign language support and
considered as “remedial” retarded”
Past: focused on oralism (e.g., lip reading,
speaking) with debatable significance for sign
language
bilingual education programs for Deaf
students enable them to be first taught
through sign with varying emphasis on
oracy and/or literacy in the majority
language but with bilingualism as an
outcome
Nover propose signacy, literacy and
oracy (i.e., S-L-O), as the order of
teaching, opposed the traditional one
Bilingual Special Education
A distinction needs to be made between
as having learning problems and bilingual
children with legitimate learning
disabilities (e.g., autism, dyslexia,
cognitive disorders).
Past: Children were separated in a
special classroom.
Children with special needs
should be in an inclusive
classroom according to the
level of the severity of their
disabilities and supports if
needed.
Gifted and Talented Bilingual Education
Anatoliy V. Kharkhurin (2012, 2015)
has proposed a framework for
bilingual creative education which
“constitutes a unified teaching
model” and that includes novelty
(innovation), utility, aesthetics
(creativity) and authenticity.”
Problems and Difficulties
Most problems come
from the implementation
of model in to practices
 School-Level Concepts of
Effectiveness
First, a foundation element is
the recruitment, selection,
and retention of highly
effective staff
Second, an effective bilingual school
is dedicated to:
achieving high standards of literacy,
biliteracy, and multiliteracies
preparing an empowered citizenship
gaining employment all its students
Third, parents, siblings,
and the local community
are typically important in
students’ educational
development.
 Classroom-Level Language
Distribution Concepts
Decisions needed to make for;
 what language(s) will be used each lesson?
Code-switch in either a formally encouraged
manner or serendipitously?
Will there be a difference across grades and
ages in language distribution decisions?
Will more emphasis be given to
the minority or the majority
language in later grades?
What happens if a child enters
the classroom not speaking a
standard variety of either of the
languages
Student-Level Concepts
The optimal balance of
number of students in dual
language classroom
How to make valid and
reliable test or each students
identifying the desired outcomes from
bilingual education; Child ( being
biliterate, bicultural who value linguistic
diversity). Bilingual schools (high prestige
and image to attract future parents).
However, there are also outcomes for
success in the job market and raising
students self-esteem.