Aims of bilingual education<\/strong><\/p>\nBilingual 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 \u00a0enable learners to achieve very good language proficiency in two languages. These models are also called \u2018strong\u2019 forms of bilingual education. On the other hand, there are also \u2018weak forms\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
General aims of bilingual education<\/strong><\/p>\n\u2018Strong\u2019 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:<\/p>\n
1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bilingualism and biliteracy<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\u2018Strong\u2019 forms of bilingual education aim to develop the learners\u2019 language competence in both languages by increasing the contact time with the two languages and are therefore seen as an \u201cadditive\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Content learning<\/strong>:<\/p>\nAll 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\u2019 academic achievement.<\/p>\n
3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bi- and multiculturalism<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\u2018Strong\u2019 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, \u2018weak\u2019 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 \u00a0language.<\/p>\n
Specific aims<\/strong><\/p>\nApart from these general objectives shared by \u2018strong\u2019 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: \u201cThere are sociocultural, political, and economic issues ever present in the debate over the provision of bilingual education, particularly politics\u201d.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019 opportunities on the job market.<\/p>\n
The following list shows the varying \u2013 sometimes even conflicting \u2013 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:<\/p>\n
\n\n\n\nVarying Aims of Bilingual Education<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n\nTo assimilate individuals or groups into the mainstream of society; to socialize people for full participation in the community.<\/li>\n To unify a multilingual society; to bring unity to a multi-ethnic, multi-tribal, or multi-national linguistically diverse state.<\/li>\n To enable people to communicate with the outside world.<\/li>\n To provide language skills which are marketable, aiding employment and status.<\/li>\n To preserve ethnic and religious identity.<\/li>\n To reconcile and mediate between different linguistic and political communities.<\/li>\n To spread the use of a colonial language, socializing an entire population to a colonial existence.<\/li>\n To strengthen elite groups and preserve their privileged position in society.<\/li>\n To give equal status in law to languages of unequal status in daily life.<\/li>\n To deepen an understanding of language and culture. (adapted from Baker, 2001, p. 193)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\nBased on the varying objectives three general objectives of bilingual programmes can be distinguished:<\/p>\n
\n\n\nGeneral Objective<\/em><\/td>\nType of programm<\/em><\/td>\nLanguage goals\/outcome <\/em><\/td>\nStatus of languages<\/em><\/td>\nStudents<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n\nLearning a majority language through Bilingual Education<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\na)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Submersion<\/td>\n (Limited\/ transitional) bilingualism, monolingualism<\/td>\n Minority\/majority<\/td>\n Minority<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \nb)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Two way-immersion<\/td>\n Bilingualism<\/td>\n Minority\/majority<\/td>\n Minority\/ majority<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n\n\nLearning an indigenous or a minority language through Bilingual Education<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\nHeritage bilingual education<\/td>\n Bilingualism, language maintenance, language revitalization<\/td>\n Minority\/majority<\/td>\n Minority<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n\n\nLearning an International Language through Bilingual Education<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\nForeign language immersion (e.g. at International schools)<\/td>\n Bilingualism<\/td>\n Majority\/international<\/td>\n Majority<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\nSources:<\/p>\n
Baker, Colin (5<\/sup>2011): Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism<\/em>. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.<\/p>\nElsner, Daniela & Ke\u00dfler, J\u00f6rg-Uwe (2013) (eds.): Bilingual Education in Primary School: Aspects of Immersion, CLIL, and Bilingual Modules<\/em>. T\u00fcbingen: Narr.<\/p>\nExtra, Guus & Gorter, Durk (2001) (eds.): The Other Languages of Europe: Demographic, Sociolinguistic and Educational Perspectives<\/em>. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.<\/p>\nWatch the following three videos which all show strong forms of bilingual education and then answer the following questions:<\/p>\n
Video No. 1: Learning French in Ontario\/Canada (4:07)<\/p>\n
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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 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":150,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-10","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/multilingual\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/multilingual\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/multilingual\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/multilingual\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/150"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/multilingual\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/multilingual\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":573,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/multilingual\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10\/revisions\/573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/multilingual\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\u00a0Video<\/p>\n