GGGE6403

BILINGUALISM AND LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

 Evaluation

1. Quiz : 15%
2. Online discussion (i-Folio) : 20%
3. Forum : 30%
4. Presentation of framework : 35%
 Fundamental questions

What does it mean to be bilingual?

Are you bilingual ?

 What does “bilingual” mean?

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37 definitions
of “bilingual”

Linguists do not agree on any

single definition of bilingualism.
Definition of the term:

1.The state of a linguistic community in which two languages are

in contact with the result that two codes can be used in the
same interaction (Hamers & Blanc, 2000)
2.The native-like control of two languages (Bloomfield, 1935)
3.The individual’s capacity to speak a second language while
following the concepts and structures of that language rather
than paraphrasing his or her mother tongue (Titone, 1972)
4.The ability to use more than one language (Mackey, 1962)
• Common conception of bilingualism --a person who
speaks and understands two languages
• What about those who know sign languages and
those who can read and write in an L2?

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• Language can be acquired in a variety of modalities:
sound (speech); vision (writing), and visual motion (signs)

A bilingual – a person who

• i) knows more than one language in the same modality (e.g. spoken
Bahasa Malaysia and spoken English)
• ii) knows two languages based on different modalities (e.g. American
Sign language and spoken French)

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What about dialects of the same language?
e.g. spoken Kedahan Malay and Kelantanese Malay? Is the person
bilingual?

Appropriate to name this phenomenon as bidialectism

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Bilingual people …

understand a second language …

read a second language …

write a second language …

speak a second language …

to varying degrees.
 Several types of bilingual
Balanced bilingual = mastery of two languages is roughly equivalent

Covert bilingual = someone who hides knowledge of another language because

of an attitudinal disposition

Dominant bilingual = greater proficiency in one of the two languages

Early bilingual = someone who acquired both languages in childhood

Late bilingual = someone who became bilingual later than childhood

Receptive bilingual = someone who understands but does not speak or write

Secondary bilingual = someone whose second language has been added to a

first via instruction

Incipient bilingual = someone at the early stages of bilingualism

(Wei, 2000)
 Classification of Bilingualism

Classification according to age of acquisition

A.Early bilingual – someone who acquired both languages in

childhood
a) simultaneous bilingual
b) sequential bilingual

B.Late bilingual – later than childhood

a) secondary bilingual – added via instruction
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 1. Simultaneous Acquisition

Simultaneous Acquisition:
• Speakers use one language each when talking to the child
e.g. father – English; mother – Bahasa Malaysia (1P – 1L)

• Same person uses two different languages (1P – 2L) while

speaking to the child e.g. father – English & French; mother –
English & French

• Steinberg (1993) argues: 1P – 1L ( 1 parent - 1 language)

situation allows for faster learning, children will display
mixed vocabulary initially

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 2. Sequential Acquisition

• Parents speak one language and the community another

• An L2 is introduced after L1 has been learned
(somewhat proficient)

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Classification according to skill:

1.Passive/receptive bilingual - understands but does not speak or write, e.g.

second generation of Asian American
2.Incipient bilingual – someone at the early stages of bilingualism
3.Semilingual – neither languages is native-like; both languages necessary to
express thoughts (Klein, 2014)
4.Dominant bilingual – greater proficiency in one of the two languages
5.Balanced bilingual – mastery of two languages is roughly equivalent
6.Equilingual/Ambilingual – passes for native speaker in both languages
(Klein, 2014)

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 Classification according to context

Covert bilingual - someone who hides knowledge of another language

because of an attitudinal disposition
 Discuss:
1.What kind of bilingual are you?
2.In the context of bilingualism in Malaysian
classroom, what is the Ministry’s expectation?

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 Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025:
Six key attributes needed by every student to
be globally competitive

• Bilingual Proficiency: Every child will be, at minimum,

operationally proficient in bahasa Malaysia as the national
language and language of unity, and in English as the
international language of communication. This means that
upon leaving school, the student should be able to work in
both a bahasa Malaysia and English language environment.
The Ministry will also encourage all students to learn an
additional language.
 Demystifying bilingualism

No one has the same level or the

same type of proficiency in two (or
more) languages!
 Demystifying bilingualism

Attitudes about bilingualism have changed and evolved:

In the 19th century people believed that being bilingual was

detrimental to intellectual and spiritual growth.

In the early 20th century some studies indicated that bilingual children
had lower IQs than monolingual children, e.g. Goddard (1917)

Today, some bilingual speakers may be encouraged to suppress their

minority language in favor of the culturally dominant language.
 Demystifying bilingualism

Current research on cognition reveals the advantages of

bilingualism:

 Creative thinking
 Flexible thinking
 Faster learning
 Larger vocabulary
 Greater sensitivity in communication
• Research has found a positive link between proficiency in more
than one language and cognitive and academic skills (Armstrong
& Rogers, 1997; Bialystock & Hakuta, 1994: Cummins, 1992;
Hakuta, 1986).
• Some studies indicate that individuals who learn a second
language are more creative and better at solving complex
problems than those who do not (Bamford & Mizokawa, 1991;
Cummins, 1992).
• Standardized test results show that students who have focused
on foreign language studies routinely achieve among the highest
scores in all subjects tested (The SAT College Board, 2002).
 Pros and Cons of Bilingualism

• Personal and cultural benefits

• Most people consider it an added advantage
• Drawing on your own experience, what do you
think?

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 Arguments against bilingualism

Not against bilingualism per se

Against the early acquisition of L2
i.e. acquiring an L2 at an early age can be harmful:
Linguistically (retarding acquisition of the L1 and L2)
Intellectually (retarding development of thinking &
cognitive abilities such as Math and Reading)

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 Research on Effects of Bilingualism

• Does learning an L2 at a young age have a

negative effect on acquisition of L1 or native
language?

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Smith, Madorah (1939)
•Comparative data on the language of pre-school
children in Iowa & Hawaii
•Iowa kids – White, monolinguals (English)
•Hawaii kids – ethnically diverse, bilinguals (English +
1L)
•Finding: more errors in English speech among the
bilinguals
•Methodological flaws – inadequate matching of
participants in terms of family SES and educational
background

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Bruck et al. (1976)
•Long-term study with native English-speaking
children in a French immersion programme
•Findings: by the fourth (and some fifth) grade their
French skills were as good as the native French-
speaking children
•The immersion group performed better than the
English monolingual control group on creativity tests
•Their mathematics and science scores were also
higher

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Does learning an L2 affect intellectual
development or intelligence?

• Negative findings: Goddard, 1917

• Positive findings: Bain & Yu, 1980

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 Goddard (1917)

• Distributed Binet intelligence test (English version) to 30

Jewish adult immigrants at Ellis Island
• Findings: Word-fluency – less than half could provide 60
English words (average 11-year olds know 200 words)

Steinberg’s counter-arguments: 1) knowledge of language was

not a fair measure of intelligence; and 2) language content of
many intelligence tests was culturally biased

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 Bain & Yu (1980)
• Compared monolingual and bilingual children in different parts
of the world (Canada, France, and Hong Kong)
• Children were raised either monolingually or bilingually under
the guidance of the researchers (to control for extraneous
variables)
• By the time the children were 4, the researchers ran cognitive
performance tests - involved puzzles and verbal instructions
• Findings: bilingual children outperformed the monolingual
children
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 Rethinking bilingualism

Bilingualism is not a state, but a process;

not a goal but a continuum.

BILINGUAL CONTINUUM
----x---------------------------------------x--
incipient balanced