Bilingual Competence Research Articles

Literacy for All? Using multilingual reading stories for literacy development in a Grade One classroom in the Western Cape

This paper reports on a literacy pilot project which investigated the use of multilingual reading books and the pedagogical strategies that were employed by one bilingual teacher and her assistant to teach literacy in a linguistically diverse Grade 1 classroom in a primary school in the Western Cape, South Africa. Data were collected by means of classroom observations and semi-structured interviews to understand the teacher’s literacy instruction, reflecting her understanding of the multilingual pedagogical approach as a means of fostering learners’ biliteracy skills. Through the lens of the social constructivist theory and the notion of biliteracy, this paper argues that bilingual competence does not necessarily translate to biliteracy if the teaching approaches and learning materials are not systematically and adequately used to support learners’ listening, oral, reading and writing skills in different languages in an integrated and holistic manner in multilingual classrooms. It concludes that, despite the progressive South African Language-in-Education Policy which supports additive multilingualism, classroom practices continue to reinforce monolingualism in English, which deprives the majority of learners of meaningful access to literacy in different languages as they do not exploit the socio-cultural and cognitive capital embedded in the learners’ home languages for additive bilingual and biliteracy competence.

The impact of bilingual competence on resilience and cultural identity of multicultural children

The impact of bilingual competence on resilience and cultural identity of multicultural children

The Effect of Four Different Approaches to Parent-Child Reading on Young Chinese Children’s Reading

Forty families with four- to five-year-old Chinese children were chosen as experiment participants and equally divided into four groups for an eight-week parent-child reading experiment in different reading modes. (1) Groups A, B, and C read one of three kinds of Chinese-English audio bilingual picture books respectively: touch reading books, electronic books, and printed books + CDs, 30 minutes per day with their parents in the approach of Early Synchronous Bilingual Reading (ESBR). After the eight-week experiment, children participants cultivated good habits of and interest in reading and their reading comprehension, retelling and expression competence were improved significantly. Performance of each group in weekly reading time and frequency, proportion of recognized Chinese and English words was A>B>C>>D and differed significantly ( p <0.01). The results show that reading bilingualism synchronously is effective and economical, and it not only enhanced children’s bilingual competence, but broadened their multicultural international horizon and developed their creative thinking and leadership. (2) Group D kept their original family reading mode and did not progress significantly in reading habits and test indicators ( p -value=0.5-1). (3) Determinants of reading effect are parents’ awareness and choice of reading material, mode, frequency and time. The experiment results suggest that parents can choose bilingual picture books, cultivate their preschool children’s reading habits, and develop their children’s bilingual reading, listening, and speaking competence through interactive parent-child reading. Keywords: Audio bilingual picture books; early parent-child reading; approach of ESBR; comparative experiment

Syntactic Complexity at the Intermediate Level in EFL Writing by Early Balanced Bilinguals

Syntactic Complexity at the Intermediate Level in EFL Writing by Early Balanced Bilinguals

Multidisciplinary perspectives towards the education of young low-income immigrant children

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the issues surrounding low-income immigrants in the U.S. and the ways they shape the educational experiences of their young children. Using a multidisciplinary lens including sociology, family studies, education, and mental health, the authors analyse multiple perspectives towards the educational experiences of children in low-income immigrant families. After providing a sample case study focusing on the educational experiences of Burmese refugee parents with early elementary education (Grades K through 3) in the Midwestern United States, the authors frame desirable responses from policy and practice that would best support the educational experiences of young children in low-income immigrant families including (a) understanding cultural strengths, (b) creating a positive and inclusive classroom environment, (c) supporting bilingual and bicultural competencies, (d) providing immigrant families with leadership opportunities, (e) teacher professional development on mental health and poverty, and (f) building integrated supports for the family.

Code-Switching as a Communicative Resource Within Routine, Bilingual Family Interactions for a Child on the Autism Spectrum

In today's global society, bilingualism is increasingly regarded as an asset. Bilingual competencies have been associated, for example, with cognitive benefits, increased ethnolinguistic pride, and access to more expansive sociocultural experiences. Currently, there is a convergence of research findings showing that bilingual children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) perform comparably to monolingual children with ASD across measures of social-interactional, linguistic, and cognitive performance. In other words, bilingualism has not been shown to put children with ASD at a disadvantage. We have not yet, however, begun to examine bilingualism as a benefit for children with ASD. We currently have no information on how bilingual abilities are displayed by children with ASD and how the children draw on those competencies to navigate the demands of bilingual social interactions. This study is a conversation analysis (CA) of the code-switching behaviors of a bilingual child on the autism spectrum as he engaged in routine interactions with family members. The findings reveal that code-switching was used by this child strategically and systematically as a unique pragmatic resource.

The influence of classroom input and community exposure on the learning of variable grammar

As pointed out by Carroll (Carroll), our team has investigated the influence of input on the spoken French competence of older Ontario bilinguals. Our research has examined the learning of invariant and variable aspects of French grammar. We focus here on the learning of variation, since it is an under-researched topic not covered by Carroll. Our research examines adolescent speakers of Ontario French from French-medium schools (e.g., Mougeon &amp; Beniak, 1991), same-age immersion students (e.g., Mougeon, Nadasdi &amp; Rehner, 2010) and advanced learners from a bilingual university (e.g., Mougeon &amp; Rehner, 2015). Two key dimensions of input are teacher classroom speech and frequency of use of French in the community for the Franco-Ontarian students and amount of extra-curricular interactions with Francophones for the FSL students. Having collected corpora from these student groups, we compared the output of learners with primarily classroom-based input with that of learners with broader ranging (extra-) curricular input. The availability of teacher in-class recordings for these learner groups has been crucial in identifying additional factors influencing these students’ output.

Timespacing competence: multilingual children's linguistic worlds

ABSTRACTDrawing on Kramsch's conceptualization of the multilingual subject and the symbolic self, in this paper, we explore how multilingual children re-signify three intertwined myths about the bilingual student, linguistic diversity and language competence, when, in the researcher-generated activity My linguistic world 2014, they are invited to map and talk about their lived experiences as multiple language users seen in the light of place and movement. By demythifying themselves and their linguistic worlds, the children also raise important questions about the notion of linguistic competence. By perceiving competences from a subjective child perspective, we learn how children do what we call timespacing competence. On that basis, we suggest paying attention to how children themselves timespace competence by focusing (more consistently) on the subjective, social, spatial and temporal dimensions of (knowing) language.

What is India speaking? Exploring the “Hinglish” invasion

Language competition models help understand language shift dynamics, and have effectively captured how English has outcompeted various local languages, such as Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, and Mandarin in Singapore. India, with a 125 million English speakers boasts the second largest number of English speakers in the world, after the United States. The 1961–2001 Indian censuses report a sharp increase in Hindi/English Bilinguals, suggesting that English is on the rise in India. To the contrary, we claim supported by field evidence, that these statistics are inaccurate, ignoring an emerging class who do not have full bilingual competence and switch between Hindi and English, communicating via a code popularly known as “Hinglish”. Since current language competition models occlude hybrid practices and detailed local ecological factors, they are inappropriate to capture the current language dynamics in India. Expanding predator–prey and sociolinguistic theories, we draw on local Indian ecological factors to develop a novel three-species model of interaction between Monolingual Hindi speakers, Hindi/English Bilinguals and Hinglish speakers, and explore the long time dynamics it predicts. The model also exhibits Turing instability, which is the first pattern formation result in language dynamics. These results challenge traditional assumptions of English encroachment in India. More broadly, the three-species model introduced here is a first step towards modeling the dynamics of hybrid language scenarios in other settings across the world.

Understanding bilingual education: an overview of key notions in the literature and the implications for Chinese university EFL education

This article starts with a review of definitions of bilingualism. It then discusses the definition of bilingual education with its focus on the analysis of bilingual competence. It is subsequently suggested that a theoretical hard nut to be cracked in today’s bilingual research is to establish the scope of discussion of bilingualism models meeting the specific needs in a specific context instead of simple acceptance of the current EFL teaching models learned from other countries or regions.

The Predictors of Education Support Service Uses among Adolescents in Multi-cultural Families

다문화가족 청소들은 해마다 증가하고 있지만, 이들의 사회문화적 적응과 교육적 성취를 높이기 위한 교육지원서비스 이용의 예측요인에 대한 연구는 제한적이다. 본 연구의 목적은 갤버그-앤더슨 모형을 바탕으로 다문화가족 청소년들의 교육 지원 서비스 이용을 예측하는 요인이 무엇인지 알아보는데 있다. 이를 위해 본 연구에서는 2012년 전국 다문화가족 실태조사 자료에 포함된 다문화가족 청소년 4,775명을 분석대상으로 하였다. 주요 연구결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 선행요인에서는 나이, 성별, 중도입국여부가 교육지원 서비스 이용과 유의한 관계를 나타내었다. 둘째, 가능요인은 서비스 이용과 유의한 관계를 나타내지 않았다. 셋째, 욕구요인에서는 한국어취약성, 이중언어유능욕구, 본인이 인지한 교육지원 서비스 이용욕구 변수가 다문화가족 청소년의 교육지원서비스 이용을 예측하는 것으로 나타났다. 연구 결과는 갤버그-앤더슨 모형이 한국의 다문화가족 청소년의 교육지원서비스 이용 예측요인을 설명하는 이론적 틀로 적합할 수 있다는 것을 시사한다. 이러한 연구결과를 바탕으로, 다문화가족 청소년의 교육지원서비스 이용에 대한 이론적·실천적 함의를 논의하였다.Although the number of multi-cultural adolescents rapidly increases with years, only few studies have been conducted on the issues and little is known about the predictors of education support service uses among adolescents in multi-cultural families. Given the limitations, this study aims to examine what factors are associated with their education support service uses using the Gelberg-Andersen Model. The current study analyzed 4,775 adolescents who participated in the National Survey on Multi-cultural Families in 2012. Major findings are as follows. First, a few predisposing factors such as age, gender, and immigrant experiences were associated with education support service uses. Second, no enabling factor was associated with service uses. Third, need factors, such as Korean vulnerability, bilingual competence, perceived needs for educational service uses, were associated education service uses. These findings suggests that the Gelberg-Andersen model is an appropriate theoretical framework to explain factors related to education support service uses among adolescents in multi-cultural families. Based on the findings, implications for research and practice were discussed.

The role of bilingual competence in interpreters’ training in multilingual society

The role of bilingual competence in interpreters’ training in multilingual society

The Role of Motivation and Learner Variables in L1 and L2 Vocabulary Development in Japanese Heritage Language Speakers in the United States

AbstractThis study investigates the role of motivation and learner variables in bilingual vocabulary development among first language (L1) Japanese students attending hoshuukoo (i.e., supplementary academic schools for Japanese‐speaking children) in the United States. One hundred sixteen high school students ages 15–18 from eight hoshuukoo completed Japanese and English vocabulary tests and a student characteristics questionnaire. A principal component analysis identified six motivational factors: preference for Japan, Japanese heritage, no choice, career orientation, American identity, and positive perceptions. The students highly rated career orientation, positive perceptions, and Japanese heritage as reasons to learn both languages. Regression analysis revealed negative effects of American identity and career orientation on L1 Japanese vocabulary knowledge and a positive impact of positive perceptions on second language (L2) English proficiency. The students' college plans were highly related to the motivational factor of preference for Japan. In sum, bilingual competence can be related to motivational factors, and individual differences in bilingual proficiency among young learners of Japanese as a heritage language can be, at least partially, accounted for by socio‐psychological factors.

Revisiting the issue of native speakerism: ‘I don't want to speak like a native speaker of English’

This qualitative study of English Korean bilinguals explores the ways in which they legitimize themselves as ‘good’ bilinguals in relation to the discourse of native-speakerism. I first survey the essentialist discourse of native speakerism still prevalent in the field of English language teaching and learning despite the growing criticism; the implication is that the acquisition of ‘native-like’ English competence is the prioritized marker of proficiency for English language learners in both English-as-a-second language (ESL) and English-as-a-foreign language countries. I then analyze ethnographic and qualitative interview data from 20 South Korean bilinguals of English and Korean to examine how they evaluate this problematic preference for native speakerism as well as how they redefine what constitutes ‘good’ bilingual competence in contemporary South Korean society. In opposition to major assumptions in the scholarly literature, the findings suggest that English language learners themselves might not consider the acquisition of ‘native-like’ language competence an ideal goal to achieve. Rather, these bilinguals make a concerted investment in acquiring and displaying socially expected sociolinguistic, metasociolingusitic and discursive competences that are closely associated with ‘good’ and ‘ideal’ bilinguals in a given language community. The article concludes with recommendations for revisiting the issue of native speakerism and ideological presuppositions of ‘native-like’ competence.

Looking beyond the ELT approach in China's higher education from the perspective of bilingual education: immersion, content-based instruction or something else?

This article starts with definitions of bilingualism with a focus on the analysis of bilingual competence. Then the aims and types of bilingual education in developing bilingual competence are introduced with focus on analyses of immersion and content-based instruction. Subsequently, the contextual settings of the study are briefly presented. Finally, the study suggests that modifications must be made to integrate some concepts and features of content-based instruction with those of immersion to meet the needs of English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching for non-English majors in China's higher education. The article concludes with the recommendation that a composite EFL teaching approach should be implemented in China's EFL teaching in higher education.

How does pragmatic competence develop in bilinguals?

This paper aims to discuss how the emerging new language with its own developing socio-cultural foundation affects the existing L1-governed knowledge and pragmatic competence of adult sequential bilinguals. It is assumed that these bilinguals already have an L1-governed pragmatic competence at place, which will be adjusted to accommodate the socio-cultural requirements of the new language. So there is no separate L2 pragmatic competence. What happens is that the existing L1-governed pragmatic competence becomes bilingual pragmatic competence while changing dynamically under the influence of the new language and its socio-cultural requirements and behaviour patterns blending the emerging features and skills with the existing ones. I will argue that there is a basic difference between the development of pragmatic competence in L1 and the sequential development of bilingual pragmatic competence. While the former is controlled mainly by the socio-cultural environment the latter is mostly motivated by individual will and preference. In the L1 language development and social development go hand in hand as a mostly subconscious, automatic and instinctive process in which individual consciousness and willingness to acquire social skills and knowledge play a relatively limited role. The whole process depends mainly on exposure to and nature of socio-cultural environment. Bilingual pragmatic competence, however, develops differently. When the new language is added gradually the existing L1-governed pragmatic competence is affected (besides exposure to L2 and environment) and motivated by individual control, consciousness and willingness to modify existing skills and behaviour patterns and acquire particular social skills and ignore others. This is not to say that the socio-cultural exposure and environment is not important. It of course is. However, it appears that there is more individual control included in bilingual pragmatic development than is the case in L1 pragmatic development.

Bilingual compound verbs in children’s Panjabi-English codeswitched narratives

Bilingual compound verbs (BCVs) are documented in various languages and are common in codeswitching between English and South Asian languages. It has been suggested that BCVs have no monolingual equivalent, and are generated by a ‘third system’ independent of the two languages. BCVs have also been cited as evidence of language convergence, and as a strategy employed by dominant bilinguals to circumvent lexical gaps in one language. BCVs were common in narratives from four to six-year-old Panjabi-English children in Huddersfield, UK. BCVs are argued to be based on analogy with Panjabi monolingual compound verbs, and to be unrelated to language convergence or language dominance. Instead, BCV use relates to two types of codeswitching in the data: one utilising the simplest structures from both languages, the other drawing more fully on the two languages’ grammatical resources. It is suggested that BCVs enable children with limited overall bilingual competence to ‘do codeswitching’.

Developing the Bilingual Competence in Learning Foreign Languages

The paper considers the problem of bilingualism and its effect on the personality of the speaker. Various types of bilingualism are described along with the factors determining the bilingual competence formation: age, individual experience, socio-cultural conditions of the native and foreign language interaction. The author points out both the positive and negative impact on the native language as the result of the second language learning. The special emphasis is on language interference in the process of learning a foreign language. To make sure the students achieve the adequate degree of its authenticity, and therefore the bilingual competence, the teacher should take into account the specificity of national styles, communicative strategies and speech tactics of both languages. A comparative analysis of linguistic differences of the English and Russian languages is demonstrated on the level of phonetics, vocabulary, grammar and national communicative stylistics. The author maintains that successful inter-language and cross-cultural communication requires the integrative cross-disciplinary approach, consolidation of the linguistic theory and methods of foreign language teaching.

Interdisciplinary and Meta-Disciplinary Integration as a Means of Developing Students’ Communicative Competence

Interdisciplinary and meta-disciplinary integration in education reflects a comprehensive approach to education and training, and makes it possible to single out both the main elements of educational content and subject interrelations, re solving the problem of fragmentation and isolation of different subjects. The paper considers the way of improving students’ bilingual communicative competence by means of implementing interdisciplinary and meta-disciplinary integration in teaching process. By the above competence the authors understand the readiness and ability to perform effective interpersonal, inter-group and inter-cultural communication both in native and foreign languages. The paper describes the meta-disciplinary principle that involves school training of general methods, techniques, schemes and mental work patterns used in working with any materials in any sphere of knowledge, and not lim- ited by specific subjects. The authors recommend the culture dialog as the condition, means and way of personal development in learning native and foreign languages. Bilingual informational, cultural and semantic interrelations, comparison of cultures and languages stimulate students’ cognitive process actualizing their personal experience, facilitating both socio-linguistic and socio-cultural discursive knowledge, providing the effective development of communication skills. The example of meta-disciplinary integration is given demonstrating the students’ communicative competence development in the process of training for the creative part of the unified state examinations in the Russian and English languages.

Bilingual education searching for promising didactic proposals.

Bilingual education searching for promising didactic proposals.