Bilingual Education

As a language learner, I have always been interested in language acquisition. But, now, with life experience of living in other countries, professional experience of teaching in bilingual and international schools, and with my own bilingual children, I am interested to know more. In this blog post, I am going to explore websites for five different national or international organizations to get a feel for certain ideas and policies related to bilingual education.
                   
I have chosen three international organizations to look at : GPE (Global Partnership for Education), OECD (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development), UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). I have chosen these three because they are well-founded and do over-arching research globally. Next, I would like to look at the two countries that are closest to me, the United States and France. In looking at the NEA (National Education Association) for the United States and the Ministère de l'Éducation Nationale de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche for France, I hope to see each country's attitudes and policies to bilingual education. I go into this knowing that bilingual education is a huge and often complicated topic. I hope to gain knowledge and to learn new perspectives.

International Perspectives

Global Partnership for Education (GPE)

To give a little background, Global Partnership for Education is a Washington, D.C.-based organization that, for the past fourteen years, "supports 61 developing countries to ensure that every child receives a quality basic education, prioritizing the poorest, most vulnerable and those living fragile and conflict-affected countries." Retrieved from http://www.globalpartnership.org/contact

The first thing I learned upon visiting the GPE website is that February 21st is International Mother Language Day.  I had no idea that this day existed. I think the fact that it does exist shows the importance of the language a child speaks at home--as the language he or she learns first but also in terms of cultural connection to his or her family and their own history. Since I was intrigued by International Mother Language Day, I read two blog posts about children learning in their mother tongue: Children Learn Better in Their Mother Tongue  and Children Learn Better in Their Mother Tongue Part 2.

The first blog post pointed out the difficulties of starting school in a language other than the mother tongue. It said that issues included lack of student enrollment, lack of parent involvement, unengaged children, frustrated teachers and even students dropping out. The author, Ball, (2014) goes on to say "Teaching reading, writing, math and critical thinking in the language that the child speaks and understands is one of the most effective ways to reduce school failure and drop out in the early grades."

The second blog post gave concrete examples of successful cases where students who first learned in their mother tongue then were able to transition smoothly to other languages, such as the country's national language. Examples were given from The Gambia, Haiti, Eritrea and South Sudan. Here is a chart that show the success in The Gambia:

When the pilot was evaluated in 2014 the results were striking. Gambian children who participated in the pilot performed better than other children in not only in the national language but also in English. (Rigaud, 2016)

Students identified as ELINL were primarily taught in their Mother language then had one hour a day of Early Learning In National Languages (ELINL). When compared with the Early Grade Reading Ability (EGRA) program that was already implanted, the education ministry saw the difference and has now put into place a combination of the two programs.

I think this is so interesting and important. I have not imagined bilingual education in these terms. I have to admit that my thoughts had been influenced largely by my experience in a French-English bilingual school in India. The system in this school was to have young children who first entered the school in Pre-K choose between two programs: fifty percent equity between French and English  instruction or a thirty percent English instruction and seventy percent in French. The purpose of this difference was to give those more native speakers of both languages an opportunity of dual-language learning, while others who had never had English before could ease into the fifty-fifty French-English language instruction that began after First grade. Here, in these blog posts, we see an openness. Children are encouragement to learn first in the Mother language and then in another (national) language. I think it is interesting, especially in light of the success the students have achieved.

Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD)

The OECD is an international organization made up of thirty-four member countries. This Paris-based group was established in 1961. Here is their mission:

The mission of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.

The OECD provides a forum in which governments can work together to share experiences and seek solutions to common problems. We work with governments to understand what drives economic, social and environmental change. We measure productivity and global flows of trade and investment. We analyse and compare data to predict future trends. We set international standards on a wide range of things, from agriculture and tax to the safety of chemicals. 

We also look at issues that directly affect everyone’s daily life, like how much people pay in taxes and social security, and how much leisure time they can take. We compare how different countries’ school systems are readying their young people for modern life, and how different countries’ pension systems will look after their citizens in old age.

Drawing on facts and real-life experience, we recommend policies designed to improve the quality of people's lives. We work with business, through the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD (BIAC), and with labour, through the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC). We have active contacts as well with other civil society organisations. The common thread of our work is a shared commitment to market economies backed by democratic institutions and focused on the wellbeing of all citizens. Along the way, we also set out to make life harder for the terrorists, tax dodgers, crooked businessmen and others whose actions undermine a fair and open society. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/about/

Similar to the GPE, the OECD is a multi-national organization researching issues throughout the world it improve people's lives. The OECD publishes hundreds of reports and papers each year and trying to navigate through it can be a bit overwhelming. But, I did limit myself and focused on a few articles that I found interesting and pertinent in my search on policies, attitudes and resources towards bilingual education.

One article I found that clearly and thoroughly lays out not only the fact that language is often linked to cultural identity,  which reminded me of the two GPE blog posts emphasizing starting education in the Mother language, but also approaches and methods to teaching. We can see it as showing the importance of the culture of the first language. But, also like the GPE blog post that describes the different experiences in The Gambia, Haiti, Eritrea and South Sudan, the OECD article goes on to lay out ways in which it could be implemented.

Key questions: Which innovations can be distinguished in terms of language teaching/learning? How does one best measure (scientifically speaking) the outcomes of this language teaching/learning and circulate the new ideas brought to light? What is the role of ICT?
Here again, the preferred approach should be one embracing the whole of the life cycle and there is as much focus on ―informal‖ as on ―formal‖ learning methods. The aim should be to:

•   Identify language teaching/learning innovations in various contexts (formal or otherwise) and in different countries assess the findings and seek to explain them through analysis of existing policies and practices (in light of recent research findings).
•   Clarify the role that ICT can play in such learning processes, bearing in mind that the mapping is liable to be very complex because it depends on a wide variety of factors (the age of learners, access to resources, economic factors, quality of the products available, market orientations, etc.).
•   Identify those innovative factors which, in the particular framework of language and culture learning can (indeed must) be crossed with thinking about other innovative practices not linked to this specific subject. By way of example: in what way does the ―New Millennium Learner‖ differ from his predecessors in this area? In what way can innovations spotted in other areas be useful in connection with language learning?
  Space could be devoted to case studies which will be looked at from a scientific point of view, thus overturning the paradigm established by previous research related to practice. It is a matter here of bringing in scientific skills to assess existing or emerging (and in any event innovative) practices, instead of seeking to induce or deduce practices on the basis of established theories or laboratory-constructed hypotheses.  (della Chiesa, 2008, p. 11) 

In another publication, "What Works in Migrant Education? A Review of Evidence and Policy Options OECD Education Working Paper No. 22" by Deborah Nusche (policy), we see policy ideas across systems in terms of avoiding segregation, hiring and keeping effective teachers and using resources. We also see school-level policies in terms of parent involvement, prizing diversity and promoting early language learning.  This paper presents concrete examples and concepts that can be useful to school systems.


United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

The UNESCO education sector began after World War II in an effort for European nations affected by the war to peacefully reconstruct their education systems. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/about-us/who-we-are/history/

I found that this video with powerful words and moving images best describes the UNESCO's vision for education:

In the video, there  is are recurring themes that we have seen in GPE and OECD: education in the Mother language and methods, such as use of technology.

I also found a program overview of bilingual education in Thailand (bilingual program). As seen in the two previous websites, the education ministry of Thailand is working on fully integrating all children into the education system. Thailand has an incredibly high rate youth literacy at 98%, which is new information to me. But, there is a small minority of the population excluded because of language barriers. The Thai government has implemented a program:

The programme employs a bilingual approach to classroom instruction. As such, classes from pre-school up to grade 6 are conducted in the local Pwo Karen language in order to enhance children’s capacity to master basic literacy skills and, afterwards (from grade 7), to comprehend class instruction in both the local and Thai language.

Teachers are encouraged to use participatory and child-centred teaching-learning methods such as games, debates, story-telling, and key words in order to develop literacy skills and other life skills among students. Within this context, emphasis is placed on stories and primers. The former involves the use of whole texts (e.g. stories from ‘big books’) to emphasise literacy skills to be learned. The primers, on the other hand, base learning around individual sounds of the language and the letters of the alphabet, improving the learners’ decoding skills.

Lessons learned

• Because language is emotive, particularly among marginalised ethnic minority groups, the success of bilingual educational programmes strongly depends on the active participation of the entire community. As such, the communities should be consulted for their input at every stage of the programme’s development.
• Use of mother tongue as a medium of instruction is crucial for effective learning and acquisition of literacy skills. To this end, bilingual programmes should develop the written form (alphabet/orthography) of minority languages where they do not exist, and strengthen them where they do exist. (Petchargusa, 2012)

Similar to the previous information I have found, children are first taught in their Mother language then transition to learning in both the Mother language and Thai.

Having looked at these three international websites, GPE, OECD and UNESCO, I am overwhelmed with the wealth of information on bilingual education. I am impressed by the large number of countries invested financially and personnel-wise in education research. It shows that internationally, there is an openness to bilingual education, with special attention being paid to Mother languages. This is something new that I learned from all three of these international websites. On a personal note, I am touched that so many governments realize and fight for education for all children all over the world through their policies. It is something I believe in too.

Local Perspectives

Before I continue, I have to explain why I call this part local perspectives even though I will discuss both the United States and France. The reason for this title is that I am American by birth, I was educated in the United States from Kindergarten through to my Master's in French Studies. I consider myself invested in the American education system. However, I live in France. I have lived overseas since 2002 in France but also in a French overseas département and territory as well as in India. My children started their education in the French national education system and I am currently teaching English in this system. I am therefore invested in the French education system as well. It is because the two countries are close to my heart that I consider these my local perspectives.

National Education Association (NEA)

The NEA has existed since 1857 when teachers united to make public education stronger and more accessible. Its mission today is to provide equality for students and equal opportunities for teachers.

NEA also believes every student in America, regardless of family income or place of residence, deserves a quality education. In pursuing its mission, NEA has determined that we will focus the energy and resources of our 3.2 million members on improving the quality of teaching, increasing student achievement and making schools safer, better places to learn. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/home/19583.htm

In doing a search on the website for bilingual education, I mainly came across articles for English Language Learning (ELL). One particular report called "How Educators Can Advocate for English Language Learners -- All In!" was very helpful to get an overview of the challenges and possible solutions to bilingualism in the United States. The report explains the importance of the Mother language and richness that can be offered in diversity. But, it also spoke about policies that have made bilingual education, ELL and teachers' experiences arduous.

For many educators, language rights advocacy is overwhelmingly associated with supporting bilingual education, preserving ELLs’ home language, and validating students’ linguistic assets. Research has proven that dual language programs have the potential to enhance academic achievement, provide a unifying and inclusive educational experience for students, and expand students’ worldviews.v Yet, opponents debate the value of bilingual education and the preservation of students’ home language. 

After California's English-only initiative sought to restrict bilingual programs and make English-only instruction the default, several other states have followed suit with similar laws.vi Research has demonstrated how states with English-only laws have direct impact on ELLs’ access to qualified teachers.vii For instance, both California and Arizona showed a loss of nearly half of the state’s credentialed bilingual teachers following the passage of English-only laws—proving that it’s essential, whenever possible, to advocate for bilingual programs and home-language instruction. (Valenzuela, p. 16) 

It stressed advocacy and proposes clear steps that educators can follow to advocate their students, as well as highlighting certain difficulties

Many educators are underprepared to meet the linguistic and academic needs of ELLS, and many lack the cultural competence to deal with this diverse group of students.

Current school resources are inadequate for educating ELLS. Many students tend to be enrolled in weak ELL program models; the majority receives English as a Second Language classes with little or no support for academic content and a diminishing number receive primary language instruction.

Lack of a standard definition for ELLs has led to inconsistencies in identifying and supporting ELL students. The problematic support for ELLS receive varies widely from school to school and district to district.

A growing number of ELL students are becoming Long Term English Language Learners who are not progressing towards English proficiency but continuing to struggle without the skills they need for academic success.

Ell students' lack of proficiency, or difficulty with, academic English has mistakenly led to low expectations and watered-down curriculum. (Valenzuela,  p.7)

 What I found most interesting in what I read at the NEA website was that bilingual education in the United States is not about dual-language learning but taking a bilingual child and putting them in a mono-language system. Like, the three international websites, I saw a mention of the importance of preserving the Mother language, but here it was not necessarily to be preserved in the classroom. This is something new I learned because I am surprised that bilingualism is not more valued in the United States, or does not seem that way from what I read. But, the website provided a wealth of information on ELL.

 Ministère de L'Éducation Nationale de L'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche (MENESR)

When I went to the French education ministry's website and typed in bilingual education one article came up. It is titled "Propositions pour aider à la mise en place d'un enseignement bilingue dans les établissements français de l'étranger," which translates as "Proposals to help put into place bilingual teaching in overseas French schools." I find this very interesting that there is no proposal to put bilingual education into place within France but only overseas. The article is written more as a guide to offer steps to follow when following a bilingual program in school. It speaks about the benefit of learning two languages in this global society we live in. It mentions the positive side of learning two languages at once

Les deux langues se soutiennent et on voit bien que l’abandon de l’une pourrait freiner le développement de compétences de haut niveau, que l’iceberg pourrait giter. (Inspection générale de l'Education nationale, 2010)                                                                   

The two languages support each other and we can clearly see that to abandon one could stop skills development at higher levels, that the iceberg could tilt. (my translation)

The article suggests methods to approach teaching, such as in the early years focusing a lot on speaking and listening skills. In the school years, it advises a fifty-fifty split of classroom time spent in the Mother language (French) and the target language (often English or another language depending on the country). There is a stress on teacher training and accessibility of all learning materials in the two languages. It is a clearly written and easy to understand for implementation into overseas French schools. As I found it surprising that this is only for overseas French schools while there seems to be no program that could be implemented in France.

However in another search, I came across an article about the issue of migrants and refugees that have came to many European countries, there is a strong sense of "inclusion." The newly arrived children should be integrated into the classroom and their lack of French language knowledge should not be looked at as a handicap. Teachers and schools will be equipped with extra support teachers to help with the new students. (Peillon, V. & Pau-Langevin, G., 2013)

Here the focus seems to be integration as quickly as possible and not necessarily focusing on preserving the Mother language. I was most interested to learn from this website was the proposal for the implementation of bilingual education in French overseas schools. I found it comprehensive and quite interesting to see how the minister of education laid out this plan.

Between the information found in the NEA website and the French Ministry of Education, we can see how two country's react to different situations in their respective countries. When faced with immigrants, both countries lean towards a full integration into the national language. Both articles offer methods on how to achieve the goals. What we see here, too, a different perspective that was seen in the international websites that I visited. These websites had a dual-language focus and saw more success when young students initially learned in their Mother language then eventually transitioned over to the national language. Perhaps the United States and France could learn lessons from these studies.

What it all means to me

As I said above, I feel invested in both the United States and France. Additionally, having lived overseas in India where both my children started their education in a French overseas school that was fifty-fifty bilingual in French and English, I have seen the bilingual system at work. I am a language learner and a language teacher. I am very interested in the topic of bilingual education. I think the aspect that most surprised me in visiting all of these websites was that Mother language and bilingual education seem more valued in developing countries than in more developed countries, like the United States and France. This statement is a generalization based only on what I have seen in the above websites and I am sure there are many people, studies and other websites that could prove me wrong. I hope so. I think bilingual education is undervalued. Learning two languages at once not only opens possibilities for a child's future, but also changes their way of thinking and how they see the world. It is an open door to two cultures and two ways of thinking.

My own children are in a system where they are eighty percent in French school and twenty percent in an American-based English program. It is a special circumstance in which the French school is fully run by the French National Education Ministry and the American program is private, so it is completely separate from the French system. It is a good alternative for my children who are bilingual and bi-national. In reading these websites, I realize how lucky they are to have this opportunity. They are not forced to give up their Mother Language, which is English. In the future, I would love to see more children have bilingual opportunities. I think in such a global world, the more languages a person speaks, the more opportunities will be available to them. It adds a richness to their lives and to the communities they live in. As a teacher, I will strive to advocate for this goal.


Bibliography

Articles consulted:

Ball, J. (February 21, 2014). Children Learn Better in Their Mother Tongue. Global  
     Partnership for Education Blog. http://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/children-learn-better-their-
     mother-tongue

della Chiesa, B. (October 22, 2008). Towards More Efficient Non-Native Language Learning
     (NNLL) Policies and Practices. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/edu/ceri/41504351.pdf

GPE Secretariat. (February 19, 2016). Early childhood education best starts in the mother tongue.
     Global Partnership for Education Blog.  Retrieved from
     http://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/early-childhood-education-best-starts-mother-tongue

Inspection générale de l'Education nationale. (June 2010). Propositions pour aider à la mise en place
     d'un enseignement bilingue dans les établissements français de l'étranger. Retrieved from
     http://cache.media.education.gouv.fr/file/2010/14/0/2010-077_325140.pdf

Nusche, D. (February 5, 2009). What Works in Migrant Education? A Review of Evidence and 
     Policy Options OECD Working Paper No. 22. Retrieved from  http://www.oecd.org/official
    documents/ publicdisplaydocumentpdf/cote=edu/wkp(2009)1&doclangua ge=en

Peillon, V. & Pau-Langevin, G. (August 29, 2013). L'amélioration de scolarisation des enfants
     allophones. Retrieved from http://www.education.gouv.fr/cid73880/l-amelioration-de-la-
     scolarisation-des-enfants-allophones.html&xtmc=lesmigrants&xtnp=1&xtcr=1#Renforcer_ l'inclusion%20dans%20les%20classes%20ordinaires%20en%20assurant%20une%20prise%20en%20charge%20pédagogique%20adaptée

Petcharugsa, S. Dr.. (February 5, 2012). Bilingual Education Programme. Country Profile:
     Thailand. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/uil/litbase/?menu=4&programme=98

Rigaud, C. (February 18, 2016). Children Learn Better in Their Mother Tongue. Part 2. Global  
     Partnership for Education Blog. http://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/children-learn-better-their-
     mother-tongue-part-2

Valenzuela, A., Lopez, P., Staehr Fenner, D., Snyder, S., Inclan, R., Moreno, W., . . . Flores, L. How
     Educators Can Advocate for English Language Learners -- All In!
     https://www.nea.org/assets/docs/18285_ELL_AdvocacyGuide2015_low-res_updated_6-23.pdf

Websites consulted:

http://www.education.gouv.fr

http://www.globalpartnership.org

http://www.nea.org

http://www.nea.org/home/19583.htm

http://www.oecd.org/education/

http://www.oecd.org/about/

http://en.unesco.org

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/about-us/who-we-are/history/