What is bilingual education?

What is bilingual education?

Jan Dormer
Malang, East Java

Apparently, misconceptions abound as to the nature and purpose
of bilingual education. In a recent The Jakarta Post's article
(Foreign Teachers not Qualified, May 21), Alex Tubagus decried
the use of English in National Plus Schools, asking, "Why must
students leave behind their mother-tongue to (apparently) study
in English?"

Parents, teachers, and even bilingual school administrators
seem to sometimes also lack an understanding of what it is that
bilingual education is trying to accomplish, and whether or not
it is good for Indonesian children, and for Indonesia. Some
people appear to think that bilingual education is simply tossing
English into the curriculum randomly, hoping that a bilingual
child will emerge.

"Bilingual education," more often referred to as "language
immersion" or "dual language" education in countries where the
language to be learned is a foreign language, is essentially
learning academic content in two languages. If these two
languages are Indonesian and English, for example, perhaps half
of the school subjects would be taught in English and half in
Indonesian. This is a "50/50" school model.

In non-English speaking majority countries such as Indonesia,
a school may choose to begin in grade one with 80 percent of
instruction in English and 20 percent in Indonesian. This helps
children learn English quickly, and assures their ability to
learn academic subjects in English by the time those academic
subjects are laden with complex ideas and vocabulary -- at about
grade four.

Such early immersion bilingual education models usually begin
reversing the balance of the instructional language in junior
high and high school, often finishing with 80 percent
instructional time being spent in the first language (e.g.
Indonesian), and only 20 percent being spent in English.

Some schools even eliminate instruction in the foreign
language altogether at the high school level, except for English
class, as their intent is to prepare students well for local
college entrance exams. Thus, the whole of 12 grades of school
instruction is usually a "50/50" language balance, or even a
greater percentage in the native language. Whatever the bilingual
educational model chosen -- early or late immersion, "50/50"
throughout or a shifting language balance -- the goal is always
the same: To produce students who are highly proficient in two
languages.

Jim Cummins, a leading writer in bilingual education, has
stated time and again in his writings over three decades that the
first language -- the native language -- must be highly valued.
He and others consistently argue that effective bilingual
education never replaces the first language with another.
Instead, the goal is additive bilingualism -- simply providing
the student with an additional linguistic communication code.

Still, it is legitimate to ask, "Is bilingual education good
for Indonesian children?" Indonesian educators are much better
prepared to answer this question than I. Still, it can be helpful
to look at bilingual schools in other countries, and the results
they have experienced. Parents and educators in non-English
speaking countries rightfully ask questions such as, "Will
learning English through bilingual education diminish our
students' abilities to speak and use their first language?" and
"Will learning English diminish students' value of their own
culture and language?"

Research in bilingual education in international contexts is
still relatively new, and definitive answers to those questions
are not yet readily apparent. However, the news from some initial
projects is encouraging. For example, Mike Bostwick, the director
of a bilingual school in Japan (using an "80/20" early immersion
model) has found children in that school to be more proficient in
Japanese language by high school age than children who studied in
Japanese only schools.

This is in addition, of course, to their being highly
proficient in English. This supports various other studies
showing that children in bilingual education tend to acquire
higher levels of both languages than children experiencing
monolingual education. This is probably due to the greater
emphasis on language in the school, and the fact that language
concepts transfer from one language to another.

What about culture? Do children in bilingual education value
their own culture less than children who have studied only in the
local language? According to Bostwick, no. He has found that
Japanese children in his school actually place a higher value on
their own culture than do monolingual Japanese students.

It is true that Tubagus has some genuine cause for concern.
Bilingual education is great when done well, but can be highly
damaging when done poorly. In worst case scenarios, students can
be hindered in their acquisition of academic content because of
their poor command of the language of instruction. Teachers may
need to take valuable classroom time for translation, lessening
the amount of time available for instruction.

Tubagus points out one such problem in Indonesia: Poorly
trained native speakers. While local native speakers can be a
great asset for Indonesian bilingual schools, they do need
training and qualification -- as do Indonesian teachers -- in
teaching English and bilingual education.

A final caution is that languages should be learned for the
right reasons. Will facility in English enable Indonesian
students to compete more successfully in the job market and
partake more fully in international resources? If so, knowing
English is a good thing.

The writer is a doctoral candidate in Teacher Development at
the University of Toronto. She currently lives in Malang, where
she is completing her dissertation research and can be reached at
jandormer@mailblocks.com.