TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE..……………………………………………………

2.0 CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF METHODOLOGY …………………………….…....3-

3.0 CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF CONTENT…………………………………..……..6-

11

4.0 CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS…………………………………..………

12

5.0 REFERENCES…………………………………...…………..…………..……13-14
1.0 SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE

The article that I had chosen is a journal article about bilingual education. It
was written by Parilah Mohd Shah and Fauziah Ahmad from Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia (UKM). This article is a comparison of how the implementation of bilingual
education in Malaysia and the United States. These two countries were used for this
comparison because both countries consists of multiracial and multi-ethnic citizens
who were mostly bilinguals. Furthermore, these two countries also emphasized on
the importance of the English language in the education system. However, the
position of the English language is much higher in the United States as compared to
its position in Malaysia. This is because the education system in Malaysia focusses
more on the maintenance of the mother tongue and the national language of the
country which is Bahasa Melayu..

Besides that, this article also analyses the comparison of the two countries in
terms of the their language history, types of bilingual programs, challenges and
implementation of the bilingual programs and the general solution in solving the
problems on bilingual education. There are four problems of bilingual education that
the researchers found similar within these two countries. The problems are linguistic
perception by the citizens, the shortage of qualified teachers, lack of materials and
the allocation of funds. Furthermore, the researcher also stated that both countries
“accept constructive criticisms on their existing bilingual education programs” and
“evaluation of this nature could ensure the best bilingual education for all” (Parilah &
Fauziah Ahmad 2007).
2.0 CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF METHODOLOGY

The research design used by the researchers in this study was qualitative
method. This paper intends to examine the problems and major challenges
encountered by Malaysia and United States in the provision and implementation of
bilingual education. In a comparative manner, it analysed the language history and
profile, the rationale and bilingual programs, the challenges faced in the
implementation and also the general solutions to overcome the problems faced by
both countries.

This critical analysis of methodology will discuss on the strengths of the

research methodology used by the researchers. Besides that, it also includes the
shortcomings found in the study and some suggested recommendations for future
research.

2.1 STRENGTHS

One of the strengths of this study is the comparative manner in examine the
bilingual education in both countries. Comparative research is understood as “the
contrast among different macro-level units such as world regions and language
areas (Esser & Vliegenthart 2018). It is the study of two or more groups or countries
by comparing them to specific aspects. When a study was conducted in a
comparative manner, we will be able to see the differences in terms of the situation
in two different settings. From this paper, it is clear that the problems faced are
different for both due to the different linguistic history and profile. The variety of
languages spoken in United States is bigger than in Malaysia and this differences
had led to different challenges faced by both countries in implementing this bilingual
education. Furthermore, it allows us to understand better in more detail regarding the
problems of each country including the appropriate solutions that is suitable. Thus,
this method allows greater insight on bilingual education in Malaysia and United
States.

Besides that, this study was carried out in a simple manner and did not
involve in complex research procedure. As this study used comparative research
method, it focusses on the similarities and differences in which these cases or
groups are typically drawn from a known or predetermined set. Thus, this simplifies
some steps in the research process because variables are not manipulated and no
application of treatments on the study (Anon. n.d.). In this research article, it was
done by using data collected from various existing sources about bilingual education
and the solutions provided was simply suggestions. The linguistic history of both
countries and the rationales of bilingual education were obtained from existing
information available from different sources. Thus, this proves the statement that it
reduces the procedural effort of obtaining data and research can be completed faster
as compared to most experimental studies.

2.2 SHORTCOMINGS

Despite being a simple research procedure and uses the existing sources in
analysing data, this study also have its shortcomings. One of it is the issue of
reliability and validity. Reliability is the consistency of the results from an instrument
on repeated measurements (Bryman 2012) whereas validity refers to the “evidence
base that can be provided about appropriateness of the inferences, uses, and
consequences that come from assessment” (McMillan 2001). In other words,
reliability refers to consistency and validity refers to accuracy of the data. When a
research was done in a comparative manner, the accuracy and existing sources of
the data may need to carefully evaluated and verified to ensure that the findings are
reliable and acceptable to be used. This is because an error in the information will
result in the wrong generalisation of the research.

Besides that, a comparative research method cannot determine the exact

problems or solution to the subject matter. Since the information are taken from other
sources, the findings from this study on bilingual education was only reported as
showing a possible cause and possible solutions. This is because the data collected
were not from any surveys, interviews or observations carried out by the researchers
in investigating the major challenges in the implementation of bilingual education.
This may results in the issue of validity of information because what happens in other
peoples’ findings may not be the same with our research due to some factors such
as environments and level of awareness on bilingual education among a particular
population.
2.3 SUGGESTIONS

One of the suggestions for improving this study for future research is to
reduce the scope of research to one country only. Comparative research method is
not a bad method when doing a research but it is not detailed enough. Therefore, by
focussing on one country, the researcher can investigate the major challenges in a
more detail manner. Furthermore, a research on the bilingual education in our
country can benefit a lot in the development of our education system. This is
because challenges and problems in our Malaysian context can be identified and
further actions can be done in handling those challenges in order to ensure that the
implementation of bilingual education is effective in our country.

Apart from that, another suggestion would be to carry out the research using
true experimental method. In order to find out an effective and proven solution to the
challenges faced in bilingual education, experimental research method can be done
by examining the extend of the possible solutions suggested. By doing so, the
research procedure will include the use of instruments such as interviews,
questionnaires and more in finding out the effectiveness of those solutions.
Therefore, true experimental method can deal with the issue of reliability and validity
because the data and information collected are from the researchers themselves and
not from other existing sources that may cause scepticism in the data analysis.
3.0 CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF CONTENT

Bilingual education generally signifies education that involves the use of two
distinct languages for general teaching (Parilah & Fauziah Ahmad 2007). On the
other hand, Chan and Ain Nadzimah (2015) defined bilingual education as “an
educational programme in which both a native language and a second language are
taught as subjects” and both languages could be used as the medium of instruction
during the teaching and learning process. Bilingual education usually occurs in a
country where the people are mostly bilinguals. A bilingual person refers to the ability
to communicate and understand two languages. In the Malaysian context, most of
the citizens can communicate more than two languages which are their mother
tongue, Bahasa Melayu, and English.

This critical analysis of content discusses on the strengths of bilingual

education in Malaysia and United States, its shortcomings and also suggestions for
improving the bilingual education.

3.1 STRENGTHS

Bilingual education is important in the Malaysian context as it is one of the

six key attributes and the second shift in the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-
2025. To be globally competitive, every pupils need to have bilingual proficiency and
they need to be proficient in Bahasa Melayu and the English language (Ministry of
Education Malaysia 2013). Thus, we can see that the national education is the
catalyst to the emphasis on the importance of bilingualism among the pupils. On the
other hand, in the United States, the introduction of bilingual education is quite
different than in Malaysia. There, bilingual education was introduced because a lot of
the minority pupils, particularly the Hispanics, were not doing well in their academics.
As a result, bilingual education is implemented in the United States to ensure that
these minorities are able to overcome their inability in using English for a period of
time until they are proficient enough in the target language and ready to be in the
mainstream classrooms which uses English as the medium of classroom instructions
(Parilah & Fauziah Ahmad 2007).
One of the strengths is the sense of integration and equality that exist in a
bilingual education. Integration can be defined as “the process by which immigrants
become accepted into society, both as individuals and as groups” (Penninx 2003).
On the other hand, equality means equity in education and often viewed as
equivalence or sameness (Masters 2018). In bilingualism education, both these key
terms are significant as it has a huge impact on the education of the immigrants and
other pupils of the minority language.

In bilingualism education, the use of two languages especially the inculcation

of the mother tongue language creates this sense of integration among these pupils
of minority language. It creates a connection with their peers as well as the society
when they are able to learn together and communicate freely without the language
barrier. In Malaysia, the education system emphasis more on the acquisition of two
main languages; Bahasa Malaysia and English. Bahasa Malaysia is not much of an
issue among the pupils because they hear it everyday and it is the national language
of the country. It is different for English class as pupils considered it as a foreign
language except those who are brought up in an English speaking environment.

Pupils tend to lose their interest and focus in the class due to failure of the
two-way communication between the teacher and the pupils. Thus, bilingual
education plays its role here in ensuring that pupils are not left out in the learning of
English. The use of Bahasa Malaysia or the indigenous’ mother tongue ensures
familiarity and meaning making in the learning of English. Polio and Duff (1990)
stated that native language can be considered to be used when communication
breakdown occurs. Furthermore, they also stresses that it should be one of the
teaching activities as it takes away the main purpose of teaching the Target
Language (Nurulhayati & Airil 2011). Native language can be used but it should not
exceed the percentage of Target Language usage in the classroom instruction. As
long as pupils understood the meanings being conveyed, it is enough to make the
pupils maintain their interest in the lesson.

Bilingual education also create a sense of equality among the pupils of

limited English proficient (LEP) as in the case of the pupils in the United States.
Unlike in Malaysia, the pupils in the United States are more diverse and multicultural.
Historically, United States has been a nation of immigrants and this explains the
wide diversity in its people.

Therefore, bilingual education is significant in the United States’ education

system. A statement from the U.S. Department of Education stated that over 150
different languages are spoken by students in the United States and they are all
eagerly trying to learn English to enjoy the opportunities of public schools and what
the society have to offer (Parilah & Fauziah Ahmad 2007). Bilingual education
provides an equity in the education opportunities to the LEP pupils as they are
allowed to use their home language as the classroom instruction in the mainstream
education. However, the use of their home language are to a certain degree until it
reaches a certain stage in the bilingual education programmes. There are three main
types of bilingual education in the United States. They are Transitional Bilingual
Education (TBE), two-way bilingual education, and maintenance bilingual education
that helps in ensuring that the language minority pupils are given the equal rights to
the access of education. Without a doubt, the United State’s government really
stressed on the importance of having bilingual education in catering to the needs of
their multicultural citizens.

3.2 SHORTCOMINGS

It is without a doubt that bilingual education is good and had provide sense
of integrity and equality in the education. However, bilingual education also had its
shortcomings especially in its implementation. The shortcomings of bilingual
education will be discussed based on four aspects which is as stated in the article.
The aspects are linguistic perception, availability of teachers, availability of materials
and availability of funds.
 Firstly, linguistic perception by the citizens of both these two countries had
been an obstacle for the smooth implementation of bilingual education. There exists
two groups of people; proponents and opponents which have different views on
bilingual education. Proponents are those who supports the importance of bilingual
education in helping the pupils’ learning while opponents are those who disagree
with it. When people have different views and perspectives, conflict occurs. In
Malaysia, there is a huge dilemma in maintaining the national language, Bahasa
Malaysia and also learning English as an international language. This causes a huge
debate in deciding which language is to be emphasized especially in the teaching of
Science and Mathematics. Unlike in Malaysia, the English native groups feels that
“the other language are a threat” (Parilah & Fauziah Ahmad 2007). In these two
countries, it shows that negative perception towards bilingual education does exist
and becomes an obstacle in the implementation of bilingual education.

The second shortcoming of bilingual education is the lacking of availability of

teachers. The problem arises when teachers who are qualified and trained with the
language program are not enough to teach the pupils. As a result, this leads to other
teachers who are non-optionist to teach the language subjects such as English and
Bahasa Melayu. Teachers who are non-optionist are not equipped with the
necessary skills and teaching strategies that are suitable for teaching language
subjects to the pupils. Thus, this lowers the standard of quality delivery of teaching
and learning process when it was done simply to finish the subject’s syllabus. In the
United States, there is a shortage of bilingual teachers who must at least be bilingual
in the English language and the student’s mother tongue. The huge diversity in
American citizen as compared to Malaysian citizen makes it harder for bilingual
education to be implemented there. This is because teachers there will need to
master more languages in order to teach language minority students who are
different in terms of their mother tongue. Thus, it is important that teachers are well
trained and at least bilingual proficient in order to ensure that the implementation of
bilingual education is effective.
 Thirdly, availability of materials also causes some problems to bilingual
education. The issue is the shortage of language materials in the mother tongue
language. In Malaysia, the materials in Malay are hard to find especially in the area
of science and technology. On the other hand, English materials are plenty but it
lacks the localisation of the content. Most of the English books are rich with the
culture of the westerners and this makes it hard for the pupils especially young
learners to understand and relate with the contents. English textbooks are not
enough for the learners especially when it focusses more on the exam-oriented
content instead for leisure purposes. The materials in United States are even harder
to find especially when the languages has “no written form and not developed by the
community”. Materials is as important as teachers because teachers requires
materials in order to deliver a constructive lesson for the pupils. Many would argue
that teacher can be creative and critical in producing materials that suit the learners.
Thus, teacher plays the important role in ensuring that bilingual education can still
occur using materials that are either adapted or new ones.

Lastly, the fourth shortcoming of bilingual education is the shortage of funds.

The allocation are from the higher authority which is the government and it was
found that differences in opinions among the politicians had led to problems related
to the funding of such program. Furthermore, the uneven distribution of fund to the
different language subject also become an issue related to funds. Without any funds,
materials and training programmes for bilingual teachers for the purpose of bilingual
education will not be made available. As a result, bilingual education will not be
carried out successfully. It is true that politics cannot mix with education. The aim of
education is to provide the best learning experience for the students. Unfortunately,
when politic is involve, personal matters involving political parties and personal
benefits had distorted the original aspiration of the country in developing pupils’
learning development. As a matter of fact, the different perspectives of these
politicians had resulted to these four shortcomings of bilingual education.

3.3 SUGGESTIONS
 There some suggested solutions to the problems faced in the
implementation of bilingual education. According to this article, both countries have
similar solution of using the mass media to deal with linguistic perceptions. In this
globalised world, everything was made easy with the use of electronic devices in
searching and accessing any information. Thus, mass media is the suitable solution
in advocating the importance of bilingual education and change the linguistic
perception of the opponents. The issue regarding linguistic perception on bilingual
perception is that people have misconception on its implementation. For example, In
Malaysia, those who supports only the national language feels the need to maintain
the Malay language so that it will not be extinct in the future and the emphasis on
English language will interrupt the maintenance of the national language. Therefore,
through mass media, citizens will be expose with inputs on the benefits and the
implementation on bilingual education so that they will have a better view and
understanding on its importance.

Secondly, the existing language related organisations or society should be

strengthened in terms of their role. In Malaysia, Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka
(Language and Literacy Agency) was created to deal with matters related to the
national language. For example, the production of materials in Bahasa Malaysia and
the creation of scientific terminology can be developed by Dewan Bahasa and
Pustaka to support bilingual education. Therefore, the availability of materials should
not be a problem when the roles of these organisations are being emphasised.
Similarly with the English language, there are organisations such as Malaysian
English Language Teaching Association (MELTA) that helps in the development of
suitable materials and organizing programs for teachers to improve and expand their
knowledge on the teaching of English. However, this involves money and the
shortage of funds had become a huge obstacle for these organisations to play their
roles properly. Therefore, their roles and position should be strengthened in order to
be recognized by the whole citizens and are trusted in being able to implement
bilingual education in the country successfully.
4.0 CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

As an English teacher, this article on the comparison of bilingual education

programs in Malaysia and the United States had benefit me a lot. Bilingual education
had existed in Malaysian education without us realising it. It is unavoidable that
bilingual education is needed in our Malaysian context. This is because the pupils
are of multicultural background and they have different languages that enrich the
culture diversity in Malaysia. Therefore, pupils especially from the indigenous group
in the rural or remote area have a tendency to be left behind in terms of academic
achievement due to language barriers. Thus, there is a need for bilingual teaching in
order for them to understand the lessons well and improve in their academic
performances.

As a conclusion, both Malaysia and United States faces the similar

challenges in the implementation of bilingual education. Both countries have issues
related to linguistic perspectives, shortage of teachers, lack of materials and the
shortage of funds. Besides that, from this research, we can also conclude that
bilingual education does have an impact on the education system as these two
countries constitutes citizens which are multicultural and mostly bilingual. Therefore,
bilingual education is needed by both countries and the challenges should be dealt
with appropriately in order for it to be implemented effectively.
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Anon. n.d. Benefits and limitations of comparative research.

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Bryman, A. 2012. Social research methods (4th ed.). Oxford, England: Oxford
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Chan, S.H. & Ain Nadzimah Abdullah. 2015. Bilingualism in Malaysia: Language
education policy and local needs. Pertanika Journal of Social Science and
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Esser,F. & Vliegenthart, R. 2018. Comparative research methods. In J. Matthes,

(Ed). International Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods.
London: Wiley-Blackwell.

Masters, G. 2018. What is ‘equity’ in education?

https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/columnists/geoff-masters/what-is-
equity-in-education [23 June 2019].

McMillan, J. H. (2001). Essential assessment concepts for teachers and

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