Literature Review 3 pages

Literature Review

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The purpose of this literature review is to look at the progress of the implementation of bilingual education in preschool in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Arabic is the primary language in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia however, it has dialects. Citizens of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia utilize two standard dialects of Arabic languages in their day-to-day communication. The two styles consist of Najdi Spoken Arabic and standard Arabic. The Arabic language is viewed as a cultural and religious pride of the Arabic community. The language holds the traditions and prestige of the Arab community. Standard Arabic is acquired through learning and used in the education sector. Mixed reactions have been experienced in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia following the idea to introduce bilingual education programs in schools.

Bilingual education involves the continuous acquisition of knowledge in more than one language. Individuals who are bilingual can read, speak and write in either two or more language. Bilingual education assists students to be at par with other students from other countries who have embraced the same path. The Kingdom came to a consensus after realizing the importance of bilingual education for its students. Bilingual education starts right from kindergarten throughout to high school.Those students who embrace bilingual education puts them at a competitive advantage compared to those who do not engage in bilingual programs.They have easy access to more than two cultures which is beneficial in the current world. Students who embrace bilingual education from a young age get to know and be familiar with other cultures.

Bilingual education gives students a sense of ethnic identification as they can relate with the origin of their mother tongue.They get to increase their knowledge regarding how they view their language and its characteristics compared to other languages together with its features. Bilingual education exposes students to different worldviews that help them progress with the fast changing world. Those who have bilingual education have an economic advantage because emerging trends in the current global demand individuals who are all rounded (García,2011).Bilinguals can work anywhere in the world due to multiculturalism that has contributed to the migration of people from their home countries.

Arabisation in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a major challenge experienced in the learning process of bilingual education.Arabisation focuses on the introduction of standard Arabic in the various activities carried out by its citizens. Arabisation tends to portray the Arabic language as a symbol of cultural freedom. Most of the times Arabisation leads to alienation of those who embrace Arabic language only making them unable to adapt to other cultural changes. An effective bilingual education process involves the combined effort of the children, parents, and teachers. The learning of other languages is strongly opposed by some individuals as it is seen to be a religious and cultural barrier. Various religious groups in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia strongly support Arabisation, which on the other hand is firmly opposed by those in power. This struggle between the two groups puts children and teachers as well as parents in a disadvantaged position.

Those opposed to the bilingual education argue that different languages represent different religions, religious values, and virtues. They view foreign languages as threats that can easily erode the Saudi values and beliefs. Private schools have better learning facilities such language laboratories and audiovisuals as compared to government schools, which is a challenge. These learning services are meant to assist students to learn the words better making the learning process more productive. The constant argument that learning another language might affect the fluency of the mother tongue is an issue that teachers and parents have experienced (Cummins, 2016).Most parents and teachers are afraid of embracing bilingualism due to this issue. In cases where proficiency of the mother language gets interfered with, children may have development problems. Most suggest that the bilingual programs need implementation when kids are old enough and sufficiently fluent in their first language to avoid such challenges.

Research, however, shows that beginning bilingual education at childhood level is the best rather than beginning it at adulthood. It is attributed to the fact that younger children have a better capacity of understanding the languages as compared to adults. Studies carried out to measure the advantages of learning more than two languages in students showed that those who did not learn other languages had excellent comprehensive and communication skills. However, they scored the same as those who embraced bilingual education in their final year of study (Husain, 2002). This problem is relatively manageable and can be corrected as the student progresses. Studies carried out to compare the preschool programs types by languages revealed that children who are bilingual have certain academic and language benefits as compared to those who only know one language.

Parents and teachers ought to encourage their kids on the advantages of having bilingual knowledge in the current competitive world. They should start at an early stage when they are young as young brains are best placed to understand new languages. Both parties should prioritize the process of learning the languages and ignore those who discourage bilingual education. They should ensure there are adequate learning resources to broaden their knowledge of the languages.Being bilingual at a young age eases communication with the rest of the world (Zakharia, 2016).Those who have knowledge of international languages are in a better position than those who only know one language.

References

Cummins, J. (2016). Reflections on Cummins (1980), “The Cross‐Lingual Dimensions of Language Proficiency: Implications for Bilingual Education and the Optimal Age Issue.”. TESOL Quarterly, 50(4), 940-944.

García, O. (2011). Bilingual Education in the 21st Century: a Global Perspective. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

García, O., & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging and Education. In Translanguaging: Language, Bilingualism, and Education (pp. 63-77). Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Husain, M. (2002). Our children and the foreign languages schools. Al-Bayan Magazine, 122, 45–51.

Zakharia, Z. (2016). Bilingual Education Programs in the Middle East and North Africa. In Bilingual and Multilingual Education (pp. 1-13). Springer International Publishing.