Members: Maroof Mahmood

Class: MS (semester:1st )
Department: English
Subject: Bilingualism
Assignment: Language Skills and
Bilingualism
 Language Skills and Bilingualism
A person acquires more than one language either by choice or due to the situations which is
regarded as bilingualism. Thus, bilingualism can be classified into two terms, which are: Elective
bilingualism and circumstantial bilingualism. According to Bloomfield, a person is considered to
be bilingual only if one has native-like control of the two languages. However, people who are
bilingual are not always competent equally in the two language. Moreover, language skills are
based on language ability and is referred as ‘Bilingual Ability’ in this chapter.

Bilingual Ability
Every language has four basic mechanisms namely, Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening.
These four are regarded as language ability and are classified into two dimensions which are as
follows:
 Receptive Skills: Listening and Reading
 Productive Skills: Speaking and Writing
Though, bilinguals are not always competent in all of four abilities at a single time. Furthermore,
these skills can be further divided into sub categories like vocabulary and level of fluency etc.
Moreover, according to Skutnabb-Kangas there is a Fifth Language Competence present. This
refers to the language which is present inside the mind of every individual and is widely known
as the inner voice.

Balanced Bilinguals
The term balanced bilingualism means that a bilingual will have equal competency in the two
languages. However, it has been observed many bilinguals do not have equal competency as one
language is used at school or work place while the other language is used for domestic use. In the
view of many, bilinguals are two monolinguals in one single person which is unfair as a bilingual
uses the two languages in different context with different communicators.

The Holistic View of Bilingualism

According to Francois Grosjean, the comparison of a bilingual’s dual language proficiency with
the proficiency of a monolingual is not fair because a monolingual will have a stronger command
over the language than a bilingual. He also emphasized that the evaluation of bilingual
competency should not be based upon traditional language testing system because bilinguals tend
to use the languages in particular domain rather than in all.

Semi-lingual Bilingualism
Semi-lingual bilingualism refers to the use of minimum vocabulary and incorrect grammar when
communicating in the languages. the user will not be able to produce new sentences nor will
have fluency. Though, this idea of semi-lingualism has six main issues which are as follows:
 The word semi-lingual is considered to point out the deficiency or incompetency.
  The term semi-lingualism is more political in nature than linguistic based
 Bilingual people tend to use language in different situation thus semi-lingualism cannot
classify it.
 Language tests would not be able to evaluate the competency of language of the two
languages
 Semi-lingualism does not vividly states the speaking objectives
 Lastly, it is essential to understand that the comparison of monolinguals with bilinguals
is unfair.

Global Language Proficiency

While analyzing the sub skills of language, Hernandez Chavez and Oller’s argued that there
exists a one single element which coexists with other factors that allows to measure the smaller
language skills. Oller’s was of the view that the tests of language are more academic in nature
and these tests judge the academic language competence. On the contrary, Skutnabb-Kangas and
Toukoma proclaimed the difference present between surface fluency and academic proficiency
of language. Both presented that the surface fluency means the ability to communicate in simple
situations like general shopping etc while the academic is more complex in nature.

Language targets and context

The bilinguals use languages in relation to their needs. A person will use one language in one
context and situation while the other language in accordance to the requirement. This use of
language can be studied through the Dell Hymes SPEAKING MODEL.

Conclusion
The chapter discussed the various categories bilingualism and suggests that bilinguals always use
the two language in relation to their situation, context and people around them and it is ever
changing in nature.