5.1. Types of bilingualism

Week 5 Part 1 will help you to

• reflect on the general aims of bilingual education
• become familiar with characteristic features of various types of bilingual education
• compare different forms of bilingual education

To reach these goals you are expected to:

• watch the introductory video lecture which contains an overview of the various types of bilingual education
• read about the aims of bilingual education;
• watch the videos of three cases of strong forms of bilingual education;
• check your knowledge and understanding with an activity after the videos.

 Video

Reading

Aims of bilingual education

Bilingual education is a very ambiguous term which covers many different types of programmes and schools. Generally speaking, the term is mainly used to refer to those schools which teach all, most or at least some of the subjects through two languages and thus  enable learners to achieve very good language proficiency in two languages. These models are also called ‘strong’ forms of bilingual education. On the other hand, there are also ‘weak forms’ of bilingual education which allow learners to use their home language for a limited period of time, but the ultimate objective is to replace their minority language with the dominant language. Traditional foreign language learning in a regular school setting, however, is not seen as part of bilingual education.

General aims of bilingual education

‘Strong’ forms of bilingual education, i.e. immersion bilingual education, heritage language education, two-way schools or Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) have several aims in common:

1)    Bilingualism and biliteracy:

‘Strong’ forms of bilingual education aim to develop the learners’ language competence in both languages by increasing the contact time with the two languages and are therefore seen as an “additive” type of bilingualism. The objective is to reach levels of language achievement in both languages which are comparable to those of monolingual children. This would include the development of oral competence as well as of reading and writing skills.

2)    Content learning:

All forms have in common that the target languages are not taught for their own sake, but that they are gradually acquired by teaching various subjects through both languages, for example, subjects like science or mathematics. In addition to this, the idea is that in the long run the language development in both languages comes at no cost to the learners’ academic achievement.

3)    Bi- and multiculturalism:

‘Strong’ forms aim to strengthen cultural understanding and to foster cultural diversity. Pluralism and cultural enrichment are important objectives, for example, in language heritage programmes. On the other hand, ‘weak’ forms of bilingual education (e.g. submersion) usually attempt to integrate children as quickly as possible into mainstream society. For example, in the context of immigration, the idea is to gradually move children from speaking their home language towards speaking the majority language. This limited and transitional bilingualism often goes hand in hand with a process of assimilation and enculturation into the society of the dominant  language.

Specific aims

Apart from these general objectives shared by ‘strong’ forms of bilingual education, they often differ with respect to other, more specific aims. This is often due to the fact that bilingual education is not just about education or language proficiency in both languages. As Baker (2011: 208) states: “There are sociocultural, political, and economic issues ever present in the debate over the provision of bilingual education, particularly politics”.

Quite often, it is the result of political decisions whether children speaking a minority language are allowed to be taught in their home language or not. If it is the government’s main priority to preserve the unity of a country, it usually attempts to assimilate ethnic minorities or immigrants into mainstream society, which means that no special consideration is shown for linguistic minorities in education. On the other hand, if the government wishes to preserve the linguistic and cultural identity of a minority group or to give equal status to all languages and cultures in the country, it is very likely to promote bilingual education. In this case, the idea is to foster linguistic diversity, for example, by offering maintenance or heritage programmes.

In other cases, there may be a general trend in a society to opt for the teaching of an international language (quite often, English) in order to increase students’ opportunities on the job market.

The following list shows the varying – sometimes even conflicting – purposes bilingual education may have (Ferguson et al. 1977, Baker 2011: 208) which may eventually lead to very different models of bilingual education as a result of different political intentions:

Varying Aims of Bilingual Education

To assimilate individuals or groups into the mainstream of society; to socialize people for full participation in the community. To unify a multilingual society; to bring unity to a multi-ethnic, multi-tribal, or multi-national linguistically diverse state. To enable people to communicate with the outside world. To provide language skills which are marketable, aiding employment and status. To preserve ethnic and religious identity. To reconcile and mediate between different linguistic and political communities. To spread the use of a colonial language, socializing an entire population to a colonial existence. To strengthen elite groups and preserve their privileged position in society. To give equal status in law to languages of unequal status in daily life. To deepen an understanding of language and culture. (adapted from Baker, 2001, p. 193)

Based on the varying objectives three general objectives of bilingual programmes can be distinguished:

General Objective	Type of programm	Language goals/outcome	Status of languages	Students
Learning a majority language through Bilingual Education	a)     Submersion	(Limited/ transitional) bilingualism, monolingualism	Minority/majority	Minority
	b)    Two way-immersion	Bilingualism	Minority/majority	Minority/ majority
Learning an indigenous or a minority language through Bilingual Education	Heritage bilingual education	Bilingualism, language maintenance, language revitalization	Minority/majority	Minority
Learning an International Language through Bilingual Education	Foreign language immersion (e.g. at International schools)	Bilingualism	Majority/international	Majority

Sources:

Baker, Colin (⁵2011): Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Elsner, Daniela & Keßler, Jörg-Uwe (2013) (eds.): Bilingual Education in Primary School: Aspects of Immersion, CLIL, and Bilingual Modules. Tübingen: Narr.

Extra, Guus & Gorter, Durk (2001) (eds.): The Other Languages of Europe: Demographic, Sociolinguistic and Educational Perspectives. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Video

Watch the following three videos which all show strong forms of bilingual education and then answer the following questions:

Video No. 1: Learning French in Ontario/Canada (4:07)

Video No. 2: Learning Welsh (2:52)

Video No. 3: Learning Spanish, Chinese and English (4:01)

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Activity

 

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