ANSWERS OF BILINGUALISM QUESTIONS

Qualifying Exam of Bilingualism (ENG 805)

Presenter: Aldi Alexander Vinchristo

(NIM: 202000330002)
 Question No. 1
 Why is it difficult to measure bilingual proficiency?
Explain the reasons using some of the theories in
bilingualism.
 One of the difficulties in measuring bilingualism is that the
number of contacts a child has with each of his two
languages will vary greatly if the level of proficiency in
bilingualism is assessed or measured. (Pena, 2013).
 Basically, there are several different theories about
measuring bilingual proficiency which will be
discussed below.
Some Theories to Measure Bilingual Proficience
I will discuss six theories drawn from Hamers and Blanc (2004, pp. 33 -43) as
shown in the following Table 1. The measurement of bilinguality (Hamers and
Blanc, 2004:33-43).
Table 1. The measurement of bilinguality
(Continued)
 Further Explanation
 I will discuss the theory of language biographies that is based on age and
context of language acquisition.
 Brown (1973) described the stages of language development based on MLU, where
MLU is calculated using the formula: MLU = (Total number of morphemes) divided
by (Total number of utterances). The five stages of language development are shown
in Table 2.

Table 2 The Stages of Brown’s Morphological Language Development

Brown’s Stage MLU Range Approximate Age (In Months)

I 1.0 – 2.0 12 – 26
II 2.0 – 2.5 27 – 30
III 2.5 – 3.0 31 – 34
IV 3.0 – 3.75 35 – 40
V 3.75 – 4.5 41 – 46
V+ 4.5+ 47+
Source: Brown (1973) and Center for Speech and Language Pathology (2021)
 Further Explanation
 In the context of acquiring Indonesian, Raja (2005: 1-13) tries to synthesize
the morphological development of Indonesian children aged between 1 year
6 months (18 months) and 3 years 10 months. (46 months) at the time their
linguistic data were collected. In the original study, each child was observed
and their naturally occurring speech recorded.
 Raja (2005: 6) found that the disappearance of the child's idiosyncratic Proto
Bound Morpheme (PBM) can be explained by relating it to the emergence of
separate lexical items in the child's language. In other words, the loss of
affixes from the child's language is caused by the lexicalization of every
meaning previously expressed by the child through morphemes.
 Raja (2005:10) found that the six most productive affixes {-nya}, {di-}, {-in},
{R}, {-an}, and {n-} can reflect the informal spoken variety of Indonesian. It
seems that at the age of 2 years 6 months (approximately 30 months),
Indonesian children have mastered the six most productive affixes .
 Question No. 2
 Give evidence on the teaching or learning of English that adopt some bilingual
theories (Mention the teaching / learning techniques and explain the bilingual theories).
 I will discuss six theories drawn from Pananaki (2015: 15-24) as shown in the following Table 3.
Theories of Bilingual Education (Pananaki, 2015:15-24)
 Table 3. Theories of Bilingual Education (Pananaki, 2015:15-24)

• .
 Further Explanation
 Pananaki (2015) conducted a study entitled: Bilingual Theories and the Swedish Bilingual Profile
reflected in the Classroom.
 This study is about A Comparative Case-Study in two Swedish Bilingual Schools.
 The purpose of this study is to identify how Bilingual theories are reflected into everyday classrooms
through teachers’ methods.
 The findings of this study are:
 1. The teacher emphasizes that mastery of two languages does not have a negative impact on
educational attainment instead students gain various benefits.
 2. Bilingual classes consist of students with various linguistic abilities. Teachers face challenges in
terms of language because many students cannot cope with both languages.
 As a conclusion, this study examined a wide range of theories regarding bilingualism and second
language acquisition. These theories are related to the contextual background of Sweden such as the
linguistic hierarchy in the Swedish society, the aims of Sweden in terms of bilingual education, the
types of schools and programs that provide this kind of education along with respective laws regarding
languages and teacher training.

 Question No. 3
 In the case of Indonesia, give evidence on how someone’s bilinguality is nurtured
and/or gradually diminished. When explaining the answer to this question, please
mention clearly the languages you are explaining (e.g. local languages, national
language, foreign language).
 I will answer question No. 3 based on the results of other people's research and the
results of my research on students perception from the University of San Pedro
(Bilingual University) in Kupang related to Local and National Languages.
• Pereira (2018) stated that it’s interesting to see the development of the Papiamento
language in the ABC Islands. Dutch has been the island's official language for most
of its history. But a unique Portuguese creole language has developed there known
as Papiamento. Unlike other creole languages, Papiamento has not decreased in use,
and was made the official language on March 7, 2007. Papiamento is influenced by
Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, English, German, French and Italian.
 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC_islands_(Leeward_Antilles).
 Further Explanation
•Ten main achievements for Papiamento during 1976-2018 were:
•(1) Papiamento has orthography since 1976,
•(2) Papiamento was declared the official language of Aruba in 2003,
•(3) The Papiamento Corpus has been expanded to include spelling and grammar
books,
•(4) There is a textbook for Papiamento,
•(5) Papiamento has a lot of literature in the language, especially literature for
children,
•(6) Papiamento is taught as a subject in many secondary schools,
•(7) Elementary school teachers receive in-service training on how to teach about
Papiamento,
•(8) Multilingual Pilot Project Schools have used Papiamento as the main
language of instruction and taught Dutch as a foreign language,
•(9) The government decided that from 2018 the Multilingual School model would
be introduced in all primary schools, and
•(10) Aruba has graduated teachers with Bachelor's and Master's degrees in
Papiamento. (Pereira, 2018: 67).
 Answer to Question No. 3
Based on My Research (Vinchristo, 2021)
In this study, it was found that 19 languages consisting of local languages, Indonesian and
foreign languages are used to communicate between fathers, mothers, students, and family
members and in their activities.

Local Languages:
1. Dawan
2. Manggarai
3. Makasae
4. Lio
5. Bajawa
6. Waimo'a
7. Lembata
8. Nagekeo
9. Tetun
10. Lamaholot
11. Kupang
12. Maumere
13. Sumba

Indonesian Language:
14. Bahasa Indonesia

Foreign Languages:
15. English
16. French
17. Spanish
18. Japanese
19. Portuguese
 Local Languages and Number of Languages
Acquired and Learned by Students
• Ten local languages are used by the students, ordered from most
to least used in brackets (frequency; percentage), are as follows:
(1) Kupang (7; 28%), (2) Dawan (5; 20%), (3) Bajawa (3;
12%), (4) Makasae (2; 8%), (5) Lio (2; 8%), (6) Nagekeo (2;
8%), (7) Manggarai (1; 4%), (8) Waimo’a (1; 4%). (9) Lembata
(1; 4%), and (10) Lamaholot (1; 4%).
• The number of languages that students acquired and learned,
ordered from most to least acquired and studied in brackets
(frequency; percentage), are as follows: (1) two languages (12;
48%), (2) three languages (8; 32%), (3) four languages (3;
12%), (4) five languages (1; 4%), and (5) six languages (1; 4%).
One person with the initial F speaks six languages, namely: (1)
Dawan (Local language), (2) Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia),
(3) English, (4) Spanish, (5) Portuguese, and (6) Japanese.
 The Students’ Languages Profiency
• The majority of students communicate in Indonesian, while local languages are
used only with their grandparents / uncles / aunts, father / mother, and close
relatives. English is rarely used by students to communicate.

• The majority of students have language skills in the “good” categories, for
local languages, Indonesian, and English. The details shown in brackets
(frequency; percentage) of good performance are as follows. The local
languages in good category are: (1) Listening (18; 72%), (2) Speaking (17;
62%), (3) Writing (12; 48%), and (4) Reading (15; 60 %).

• The Indonesian language in good performance are: (1) Listening (15; 60%), (2)
Speaking (15; 60%), (3) Writing (15; 60%), and (4) Reading (15; 60 %).

• The English language in good performance are: (1) Listening (13; 52%), (2)
Speaking (13; 52%), (3) Writing (12; 48%), and (4) Reading (15; 60%).
Students' Attitudes Towards Languages Acquisition and
Learning
• The majority of students have positive attitudes towards Indonesian, local, and English
languages. The positive attitudes are calculated from their accumulated answers about agreeing
and strongly agreeing to the 22 statements submitted. If each statement is listed, from the most to
the least, which is stated in brackets (frequency; percentage) is related to the following core
points:
1. Indonesian as a national identity (25; 100%).
2. Indonesian as a unifying tool between languages ​in the archipelago (25; 100%).
3. Local languages ​as cultural properties must be maintained (25; 100%).
4. Pride in using the local language (25; 100%).
5. Responsibility for maintaining local languages (25; 100%).
6. Local languages as a regional pride identity (25; 100%).
7. Local languages as a means of communication to improve kinship in local communities (25:
100%).
8. English as an important language for the future (25; 100%).
9. Mastery of English increases the chances of getting a job (25; 100%).
10. Mastery of English increases the ease of communicating with the international community (25;
100%).
11. It is important to master Indonesian (24; 96%).
12. Indonesian is multifunctional compared to regional languages (24; 96%).
13. It is the obligation of foreign workers working in Indonesia to master Indonesian ( 24; 96%).
14. The obligation to teach Indonesian at all levels of education in Indonesia (24; 96%).
 Students' Attitudes Towards Languages Acquisition and Learning (Continued)

15. Mastery of English facilitates a career abroad (24; 96%).

16. Mastery of English facilitates access global science (24; 96%).
17. Obligation to use Indonesian at formal events in society (23; 92%).
18. It is important to learn local languages since childhood (23; 92%).
19. Mastery of English increases the ease of technology development (23; 92%).
20. Obligation to learn local languages as local content in the national curriculum (21;
84%).
21. Pride in using English (19; 76%).
22. Use of local languages in public spaces as a partner for Indonesian (10; 40%).

• There is only one statement related to the use of local languages in public spaces
which has a low positive attitude, below 50%, that is “Use of local languages in
public places as a partner for Indonesian language (40%)”. This may be related to the
students' insights and do not yet know that the strategy of maintaining local languages
like this has been widely applied in Java.
 Students’ Strategies To Maintain Local Languages
• The majority of students have some strategies for maintaining the local languages. The
frequencies and percentages are calculated from their accumulated answers about agreeing and
strongly agreeing to the 11 statements submitted. If each statement is listed, from the most to the
least, which is stated in brackets (frequency; percentage) is related to the following core points:

1. Use of local languages with family (20; 80%).

2. Attending traditional ceremonies using local languages (20; 80%).
3. Attending religious events using local languages (20; 80%).
4. Forming local language community groups (19; 76%).
5. Attending local language programs on TV, Radio, YouTube, etc. at least one hour per day (18; 72 %).
6. Participating in local language competitions (15; 60%).
7. Making written works using local languages (14; 56%).
8. Learning local languages through video tutorials on the internet (13; 52%).
9. Speaking local languages every day with friends (12 ; 48%).
10. Use of local languages when sending electronic messages to friends (8; 32%).
11. Use of local languages on social media (6; 24%).

• Only three statements received a low approval response below 50%, respectively:
“Speaking local languages every day with friends (48%)”, “Use of local languages
when sending electronic messages to friends (32%)”, and “Use of local languages on
social media (24%)”.
 References
Brown, R. (1973). A First Language: The Early Stages. Harvard University Press Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
Center for Speech and Language Pathology. 2021.
http://www.speechtherapyct.com/whats_new/Early%20Morphological
%20Development.pdf, Accessed on the Internet, March 20, 2021.
Hamers, J. F. & Blanc, M. H. A. (2004). Bilinguality and bilingualism. Cambride, England:
Cambridge University Press.
Pananaki, M. M. (2015). Bilingual theories and the Swedish bilingual profile reflected in the
classroom. [Master thesis, Stockholms Universitet].
Pena, E. D. (2013). Challenges in Assessing Bilingual Populations. Retrieved from
https://academy.pubs.asha.org/2013/11/challenges-in-assessing-bilingual-populations/. 24
August 2021. DOI: 10.1044/CRED-PVD-C13006.

Pereira, J. L. 2018. Valorization of Papiamento in Aruban society and education, in historical,

contemporary and future perspectives. [Doctoral thesis, University of Curacao]
Raja, P. (2005). Early Morphological Development of Indonesian Children. Bahasa dan Seni,
Tahun 33, No. 1, Februari 2005, pp. 1-13.
.
Vinchristo, A. A. (2021). Students’ Attitudes Towards The Language Acquisition and
Learning: A case study.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC_islands_(Leeward_Antilles).