Types of Bilingual Education
Colin Baker presents 10 types of bilingual education in chapters 10 and 11 of his book Foundations of Bilingual Education and bilingualism (5th edition). The author begins by explaining how there are various agendas for bilingual education related to sociocultural, political and economic issues that exist within society. We are then introduced with two concepts of bilingual education: transitional seeks assimilation into majority language, culture and identity; maintenance fosters minority language, culture and identity. There are two types of maintenance: static maintenance: maintains minority language skills and Developmental maintenance (also known as enrichment): which develops minority language skills to full proficiency (Baker 2011). The types of bilingual education range from monolingual forms for bilinguals, weak forms for bilinguals and strong forms for bilingualism and biliteracy and its aims in language outcome go from monolingualism up to bilingualism/biliteracy (as seen in the image below). All these programs have different outcomes all over the world. What works here might fail somewhere else or vice-versa which is what usually happens with weak programs. A common type of education that I have seen and heard people relate to the most is Mainstream with foreign language teaching. This type sees foreign language as a subject so it’s taught about 30 minutes a day. It has been proven in Canada that 12 years of this program has not helped English speakers communicate fluently with French-Canadians. And the same happened in other parts of the world. However, it worked in parts of Asia and Africa because of the personal motivation, status of language is high and when economic and vocational circumstances encourage the acquisition of a trading language. Separatist is another weak type because it focuses on the minority language and aims for monolingualism and monoculturalism. We see this type of program in private schools or isolationist religious settings because they pursue an independent existence as a way of protecting the minority language from being over-run by language majority or political, religious or cultural reasons. Studies have proven that Two way/Dual language were effective in promoting high levels of language proficiency, academic achievement and positive attitudes to leaning in students. Their aim in language outcome is bilingualism and biliteracy which is what we want to see in successful bilinguals. Many of these programs have different perspectives of bilingual education. There have been many battles over what types of bilingual programs schools should be offering our children due to the different views. “Some believe passionately that use of any language other than English in the U.S. creates divisiveness; others believe that freedom to speak whatever language one chooses is a fundamental human right. Yet others feel that other languages in education are a luxury that cannot be afforded in difficult economic times” (Roberts 1995). All these views are the right answer to many groups of people but what should we do to create the best possible choices for the future students? How can we do what is right for them if all the parents have different views? Bilingual education is a very complex phenomenon and it becomes more complicated to decode if we see the political views involved. Political issues have brought a negative connotation of bilingualism and this has affected the bilingual programs in schools. “Spanish can be taught as a foreign language and heritage language in dual language bilingual education and as part of global language teaching ‘but it contradicts the US’s ideology of’ one nation, one territory and one language” (Garcia, 2008, p. 218). The US is trying to be more globalized but their idea of “one nation” contradicts globalization processes. We cannot set weak bilingual programs and expect our students to be successful in the global workforce. In some schools, not even the weak programs exist because they want the students to speak English only. By doing this we not only deny the students’ language, but also ‘denounce what they hold most sacred: self-esteem, identity, relationship, roots, religion, and sometimes race’ (McKay, 1988, p213). Roberts explains how Wallace Lambert (1975) identified the additive and subtractive bilingualism. Additive is when students maintain their first language and acquire a second language. Subtractive is when they lose their first language in the process of acquiring their second language. Education is all about enhancing the students’ knowledge and adding to it. The goal is not to take away anything they know in fact we should make their skills stronger and knowing a second language is a huge skill that will help them succeed. “Students who experience additive bilingualism will show cognitive benefits. These might include greater metacognitive ability and greater mental flexibility” (Cummins 1981). If we have strong bilingual programs we will be helping the students and reaching the goal of what education really is. The students need to be prepared for the future and we need them to develop strong skills not to lose them.
Reference:
Baker, C. (2011). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism. N. Hornberger, Types of bilingual education (pp. 206–220). New York: Multilingual Matters.
Roberts, C., A. (1995). Bilingual education program models: a framework for understanding. The Bilingual Research Journal, 19, 369–378.
