Topic > Research Paper on the Benefits of Bilingual Education as an Educational Approach

Technological advances, increased mobility and globalization have facilitated the development of multiculturalism around the world, but some deeply rooted cultures persist to this day. Indeed, many countries have retained one official language, but their inhabitants may have several first languages, or what are commonly called mother tongues. However, people are expected to strive to become global citizens and acquire highly developed cultural intelligence. Indeed, cultural intelligence has been shown to facilitate the integration of people of different cultural backgrounds, enabling them to effectively engage in global economic, social and political activities. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay. However, many schools continue to reinforce the culture of the official language by insisting that students be taught in one language, which is advertised not only to facilitate assimilation of different people but also to foment uniformity among them. Therefore, a widespread belief is that when children at school are multilingual rather than monolingual, particularly in the language of instruction, they may suffer from language and mental development disorders, which would result in poor academic performance. The following discussion supports bilingual education as an educational approach that would actually improve academic achievement. Therefore, the beneficial effects of knowing both the mother tongue and the official language among school-going children will need to be discussed, with the expectation that misconceptions regarding the harmful effects of using more than one language of instruction in school are overcome. dissipated.The world's dominant cultures such as English, French, German, and Chinese, among others, have dominated the languages ​​of instruction in educational institutions in their countries and in the countries they colonized. For example, the United Kingdom and all other countries once colonized by the English, including countries such as the United States, Australia and numerous African countries, use English as their official language and therefore as the language of instruction in their schools and universities . Therefore, students in schools in these countries not only receive lessons in English, but are also required to take tests and exams in English and even use English in the workplace once they graduate. The idea behind monolingual culture is that it facilitated the development of cultural uniformity by eradicating ethnicity, which in turn helped colonial masters better govern their colonies. Indeed, in countries where cultural diversity was significant, students were educated in their native language in the early stages of primary school and were gradually weaned towards English, the official language. However, as time passes, children in these countries are taught English at the beginning of schooling, with their indigenous languages ​​relegated to the home and interaction outside of school. Indeed, the transitional bilingual education model has been anchored in this concept. The justification for adopting English in school was that there were some subjects such as mathematics and science that could not be taught effectively in any other language. However, with the advancement in understanding the learning processes, bilingual education has gained acceptance as a facilitator of the learning process in children and can indeed aid in the learning and understanding of mathematical and scientific concepts. Therefore, the fact that a child is born and raised in one should not be seen negativelylanguage would be disadvantaged at school if the use of the mother tongue was perpetuated throughout the learning process together with the official language. In fact, this is a dominant belief among immigrants who may be unfamiliar with the benefits of bilingual education. Interlanguage transfer theory has helped design school programs that help students reap the benefits of knowing two languages ​​with the effect of improving learning outcomes. Specifically, the theory suggests that when learning two languages, the transfer of language skills occurs simultaneously rather than sequentially and remains a continuous process throughout the learning experience. Therefore, when children who are proficient in a birth language are experiencing learning in a second language while learning the second language, the learning process is enriched, facilitating the learning of new concepts along with when both languages ​​are used for teaching. For example, a Spanish-speaking student taking classes in English while learning parallel content, using both languages ​​at the same time can make it easier to understand the content. Indeed, this conceptualization has led to the development of bilingual education programs that have proven to be more effective in improving the learning process than programs that teach the second language first and then use this language to learn new content. Two operational bilingual education models currently in use include two-way bilingual education programs also known as dual language immersion bilingual education programs and bilingual education programs. The two-way bilingual education program begins with using more of the most familiar language during instruction while developing proficiency in another language. However, over time, as proficiency in the second language develops, instruction progresses toward using both languages ​​equally. However, the bilingual program uses two different languages ​​for instruction in different aspects of the educational process, which allows for the use of two different learning approaches. Bilingual education offers more benefits than monolingual education. For example, bilingual children had higher cognitive abilities and higher academic achievement than those of monolingual children. Indeed, Lauchlan, Parisi, and Fadda (2013) were able to demonstrate that bilingual Scottish children performed significantly better than Sardinian bilingual children because the Scottish children received a formal bilingual language while the Sardinian children used one at home. . Additionally, bilingual education has helped children develop language skills faster as well. Furthermore, bilingual education not only helped children retain their diverse cultural identities, but also helped them better understand the cultures of others, a pertinent requirement for the development of cultural intelligence and appreciation of multiculturalism. Bilingual education has involved parents more in their children's learning process. . Indeed, parental involvement in the learning process has been pertinent because it motivates children to pursue higher levels of education. Indeed, for young children, parental involvement has helped children in the learning process at home as well as helping teachers and schools address the learning challenges experienced by their children. The effectiveness of bilingual education programs has been challenged by the great linguistic diversity of students without a corresponding number of teachers.