Bilingual is the term used to describe a person who can speak two languages, their mother language and a second language (Luchtenberg, 2002). The mother language is the language of their parents, although the situation can exist where the second language is also spoken by a parent. When the mother language is the majority language of the country of residence, the language spoken by those with societal power in the country (Hornberger,1998), the second language will be the language of a different society or country, selected by the learner or the learner's school. If the mother language is instead an indigenous language, a migrant language or other minority language the second language will be the majority language of the country of residence. In the latter situation, the majority language is learnt so that a person can obtain an education and/or employment, access services and interact socially (Davis, 2009).
There are cultural factors involved with majority language and minority language learning and bilingualism. Luchtenberg (2002) states that in Germany there is a “reluctance to refer to migrant students ... as bilinguals and to develop bilingual programmes for them, and yet on the other hand there is wide support for German students in various bilingual programmes” (p. 50) and this view is present in other countries. It is based in the idea of nation, of which language is a part; migrants need to learn the language to be part of the nation, while a bilingual national is a resource for the whole nation. The part which is forgotten is, a bilingual migrant is an equal resource for the nation as a bilingual national.
School aged, minority language students learn the majority language through specialist classes with specialist language teachers or in mainstream classes with bilingual support teachers (Grant & Wong, 2003; Salend & Dorney, 1997). In most educational jurisdictions, majority language learning is not considered part of the school educational achievements of minority language speakers (Grant & Wong, 2003; Luchtenberg, 2002), despite the obvious language needs of those students.
In Australia, English as a Second Language classes provide English language students with language education, recognised educational achievement and additional support when required (Luchtenberg, 2002). Languages Other Than English classes may provided minority language speakers the opportunity (subject to teacher availability) to use their mother language in school , while exposing majority language speakers to different languages (Luchtenberg, 2002). Finally, in senior secondary school a minority language speaker may be able to study their mother language as part of their senior certificate (Mercurio & Scarino, 2005). However, the ideal situation for minority language students is that of a bilingual education, where the languages are given equal right of use and used instructionally in a coordinated manner (Hornberger, 1998).
The availability of bilingual education is limited, as it feared it will result in minority language speakers having limited literacy in the majority language, or even both languages (Molyneux, 2009). Literacy, the ability to read, write, use and understand language in a variety of different contexts (Krause, 2010), is developed in sociocultural settings, which influence the meaning and purpose of words in language and the value of written language (Langer, Bartolome, Vasquez & Lucas, 1990). For people to take meaningful roles in a society, they must be literate in the majority language as well as able to speak that language.
Molyneux (2009) reports on a school in Melbourne, Australia, which provides a two year English-Vietnamese or three year English-Mandarin Chinese bilingual education, for students from Vietnamese or Chinese backgrounds. It was found that in the early primary school years, not all students achieved English language requirements, however this improved over the course of their education. The students understood the importance of learning both languages and valued the linguistic outcomes, however they felt that bilingual education required more work than monolingual education. This shows that bilingual education does not result in limited majority language literacy.
The level of a person's literacy in their mother language effects the learning of literacy in a second language (Davis, 2009; Langer et al, 1990). Spoken language is rich in context and relates to concrete experiences (Davis, 2009), while literacy develops metalinguistic and metacognitive strategies for thinking about language and the meaning of words (Langer et al, 1990). Langer et al (1990) found that in a group of Mexican-American students, it was the meaning construction strategies used in Spanish reading that had the greatest effect on the student's understanding while reading English.
It is not always mother language literacy which has the greatest effect on literacy education.
A recent study by Davis (2009) attempted to ascertain if developing mother language literacy would improve second language literacy acquisition. The students for this study were a group of adult,
Southern Sudanese refugees in Sydney, Australia who had little or no literacy in their mother language, Dinka, and English. The refugees were taught basic Dinka literacy for two months followed by three months of English literacy. The literacy of the refugees in both languages improved, however Davis did not attribute this to Dinka literacy improvement. Instead it was attributed to the environment of care and respect created by the teacher, the relevance of the literacy materials to the refugees and the presence of Dinka-English bilingual teaching staff.
Bilingual special education teachers, special education teachers who can speak the majority and minority language, are able to assist mainstream teachers in education of minority language speaking students. Including these students in mainstream classes is important as “inclusion programs seek to acknowledge, affirm, and address the individual educational needs of students by educating them together in high-quality, age-appropriate learning communities” (Salend & Dorney, 1997, para. 1). Through cooperation with the bilingual special education teacher, the classroom teacher can create meaningful learning experiences for all students and allow for the cultural, educational and linguistic background of the minority language speaker. It is beneficial for the minority language speaker to have opportunities to use their mother language and languid instruction sessions for all students will allow the minority language speaker's peers to understand the difficulties in learning a new language (Salend & Dorney, 1997).
The language, literacy and curricular education of minority language speakers in majority language classrooms can be achieved through the use of an inclusive, caring classroom which provides relevant, engaging content and supports, with the assistance of bilingual special education teachers, the development of the majority language and expression in the minority language. Alternatively, a school with a bilingual education program can support the development of the majority and minority languages as well as literacy and curricular education.
References
Davis, Z. (2009). First language (Dinka) literacy as a foundation for English language, literacy and numeracy. Canberra, Australia:Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. Retrieved from http://www.deewr.gov.au/Skills/Programs/LitandNum/LiteracyNet/Documents/FirstLanguageDinkaLiteracy.pdf
Grant, R. & Wong, S. (2003). Barriers to literacy for language-minority learners: An argument for change in the literacy education profession. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 46(5), 386. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.
Hornberger, N.H. (1998). Language policy, language education, language rights: Indigenous, immigrant, and international perspectives. Language in Society, 27(04), 439-458. doi: 10.1017/S0047404598004011
Krause, K.-L., Bochner, S., Duchesne, S., & McMaugh, A. (2010). Educational psychology: For teaching and learning (3rd ed.). South Melbourne, Australia: Cengage Learning
Langer, J.A., Bartolome, L., Vasquez, O., Lucas, T. (1990). Meaning construction in school literacy tasks: A study of bilingual students. American Educational Research Journal, 27(3), 427. doi: 10.3102/00028312027003427
Luchtenberg, S. (2002). Bilingualism and bilingual education and their relationship to citizenship from a comparative German-Australian perspective. Intercultural Education, 13(1), 49-61. doi: 10.1080/14675980120112931
Mercurio, A., Scarino, A. (2005). Heritage languages at upper secondary level in South Australia: A struggle for legitimacy. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 8(2,3), 145-159. doi: 10.1080/13670050508668603
Molyneux, P. (2009). Education for biliteracy: Maximising the linguistic potential of diverse learners in Australia's primary schools. Australian Journal of Language & Literacy, 32(2), 97-117. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.
Salend, S., & Dorney, J. (1997). The roles of bilingual special educators in creating inclusive classrooms. Remedial & Special Education, 18(1), 54. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.
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