Issue of Bilingualism Education

Running head: BILINGUAL EDUCATION
Bilingual education
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

BILINGUAL EDUCATION
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Introduction
The field of educational and knowledge has assumed considerable significance with the
changes in times. Education has always been important for the dissemination of those
information and knowledge which aids in the holistic growth and development of an individual.
They are imbibed with information which allows them to undertake rational thinking ability
while trying to resolve any issues which they might face in their personal lives (Baker 2011).
With the growth in globalization, the educational institutions changed in the respect that the
students no longer had a homogenous ethnic and cultural back ground. Due to rise in migration,
the people moved all around the world in search for better standard of living and higher
educational opportunities. This led to the consequential rise in the aspect of multiculturalism
which means that now people belonging to different cultural and ethnic back grounds started to
intermingle together (Auer and Wei 2008). This, in turn, necessitated the need to establish those
institutions and policies which would take care of multiculturalism in the respect that the
acceptance level of the people to foreign culture is increased significantly (Al-Azami et al.
2010). The purpose of this paper is to understand the issue of bilingualism that a student might
face an educational institution. To this extent, the paper has carried out a primary observation to
this extent and even made reference to a policy document which accounts for the changes in the
teaching strategies of the educators for imbibing multiculturalism in schools and colleges. The
essay concludes with the importance of advocating the teaching of more than one language in a
school setting for the development of the students.
Educational Setting
For the better understanding of the issue of bilingualism within an educational institution,
the researcher has conducted a crucial observation of a school. A primary level educational

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institution was identified within the United Kingdom. The class room which was take in to
consideration was the students who were enrolled in the Key Stage 1. There were forty students
and the average year of the class was five. The main purpose of the observation was to
understand how the students, whose native language was not English, were taught English by
their educators. Thus, in this respect, the various strategies under taken by the educators and the
teachers to this extent have been analyzed. Furthermore, a policy document related to the issue of
promoting multiculturalism and bilingualism in the educational institutions, have also been
examined in the course of the essay. All of these practical observations have been substantiated
by relevant theoretical perspectives so as to collaborate the primary findings with the opinions
and the view points of the literary scholars belonging to this field of study.
Presence of multiculturalism in educational institutions
Before proceeding in the paper, there is first the need to understand the presence of
multiculturalism in the educational institutions around the world. The rise in the migration
activities of the people led to the resettlement of many people in the developed countries of the
world. Individuals of the society are of the idea that they would be able to find better educational
opportunity and a consequent good job opportunity in an advanced and developed country of the
world (Conteh, Martin and Robertson 2007). Thus, with the opening up of the territorial borders
of the globe with the advent of globalization, such a migration occurred.
Within the United Kingdom itself, it can be seen that people belonging to various ethnic
and cultural back ground have come and settled in the country over the previous years (Gregory
2001). They have given birth to the future generation who are now enrolled within the
educational institutions of the country. In the bid to ensure that every student is given an equal

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opportunity to grow and learn, the educators are now trying to devise means and strategies which
would be able to cater to the needs of the migrant population (Kenner et al. 2008).
The field of education is changing in the respect that the concern for dissemination of
knowledge is not the only concern. Although the impartation of knowledge and information is
still the priority of many educator, they also have the significant responsibility of ensuring the
maintenance of the cultural identity of the students (Classic 2001). However, for this, the
languages need to be taught to the students so that they can communicate properly amongst
themselves.
Observations made in the context of the bilingual students
In the educational setting which has been taken in to consideration for the conduction of
primary observation, certain observations were made by the researcher which can be stated as
follows –
1. While entering the school, the name of the school was written in English.
2. The teachers imparted their education and knowledge in the language of English and only
spoke some other language when they were officially required to teach that in a class room
setting.
3. The students were expected to interact with each other in the medium of English.
4. The teachers conducted their monthly meetings with the parents of the students in English and
resolved any doubts they had by speaking in that language.
5. The posters and the presentations which were hung up on the walls of the schools and in the
class rooms, all were in English.