EKA YUSMIYATI

210025301020
A21

Bilingualism and Language Learning

1. In 2006-2013, Indonesia implemented bilingual education program called
RSBI (Rintisan sekolah bertaraf international) or international standard
school. If you would like to classify Indonesian Bilingual Education (BE)
Model into strong form of BE program, which model is more suitable?
heritage, immersion, dual language, or CLIL? Choose one of them and
give strong argument for your choice. What model do you think
appropriate for Indonesian context?

As we know RSBI is an educational program implemented by the

government from 2006 to 2013 which organizes a bilingual education program. In
this regard, the Government realizes the importance of quality education for the
next generation of the Indonesian nation. The implementation of RSBI aims to
produce graduates with national and international quality international quality.
RSBI will help improve the quality of education with the support of improving the
quality of teachers and lecturers as well as improving the curriculum that reflects
the character and noble values of this nation.
In the context of Indonesia, the right Bilingual Education (BE) to be
applied is CLIL or Content and Language Integrated Learning. Content and
Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) refers to a dual focus educational context in
which an additional language is used as a medium in the teaching and learning of
non-language content (Davis Marsh; 1994). It means about integrating Forging
the connection between content and language and enabling effective learning so
that students learn the subject through a second language and learn the language at
the same time. This type of bilingual education program is considered an
approach with an integrated dual-focused concept, where students at the primary,
secondary, or tertiary levels experience the content and teaching-learning process
of content and language through additional languages as learning media.
instruction. CLIL differs from other approaches because of its unified goal of
developing a language learning syllabus, as well as a course curriculum. this is
one of the reasons why CLIL is suitable to be applied in bilingual education
programs.
In addition, CLIL is also considered relevant for use in Indonesia because
of some of its relevance to the Indonesian context because the concept is in
accordance with what is needed in a bilingual education program. Coyle (2007)
argues that CLIL's strength lies in its focus on "integrating content and language
learning in varied, dynamic and relevant learning environments built on 'bottom-
up' initiatives and 'top-down' policies". The CLIL program is considered routinely
implemented both on a national and local scale, such as in certain schools. CLIL
is also used to teach students in the target language and motivate them to engage
with this language. To do this, a teacher must provide activities that motivate
language use and challenge thinking skills. The CLIL program was created with
the aim of not only mastering the language, but also to foster students' awareness
of the multi-cultural culture of foreign communities (mahmud;210).
Understanding of foreign cultures creates feelings of respect for each other. Vice
versa. Our culture can also be recognized by other nations just by learning the
language.
Meanwhile, students can develop communicative skills with people of
different languages. Changes in the school community environment can be seen
by providing students with a more open environment. One unit may produce a
joint educational curriculum that is considered at the international level. The
institutions there will also compete for a place to get a better profile. The target
language is for students to improve their mastery of second and third languages.
This language skill is not just based on speaking skills alone. But other skills are
also emphasized together. Such as reading skills, writing skills and listening skills.
That is why I mentioned that CLIL is appropriate for the Bilingual Education
(BE) model.
2. To what extent do you agree that bilinguals are relatively better at learning
a new language than monolinguals?
From what I know, bilinguals are relatively better at learning new
language things than monolinguals because bilingualism has a concept where
individuals speak two languages. one of the languages is the mother tongue and
the other is acquired through instructions or other processes that lead to its
mastery. Because learning multiple languages is necessary because multilingual
individuals have maintained and acquired at least one language since childhood.
Mastering more than one language will affect interaction, listening, and practicing
in social contexts. In addition, to acquiring second languages through formal
education, some people have the ability to understand a second language.
Meanwhile, monolingual is a person who speaks one dominant language despite
contextual factors that demand switching to an alternative dialect or we can say
simply monolingual is someone who can speak or understand only one language.
First of all, monolingual pre-schoolers have a wider vocabulary in their target
language because they are dominant in their mother tongue. an individual who
does not understand a second language. it makes a bilingual or a person who has
the ability to speak two languages or become bilingualism better than
monolingual.