Indigenous Bilingual Education Programs in Australia Essay -- Austral

Introduction Despite Australia’s ever-growing multiculturalism, it has been found that ‘monolingualism is extraordinarily common in Australia throughout the general population and all occupational levels (Bostock, 1973).’ With such an array of cultures present, one would assume that Australian education systems would have endless bilingual programs in place. However, this is not the case. Despite the successes of bilingual education on a global scale, little effort has been made to preserve any Australian languages, meaning that language death has become an everyday factor that Indigenous individuals have to deal with (Wurm, 1991). This paper discusses the concept of bilingual education and its faults in the transition from theory to practice, the political and social reception of bilingual education and the bilingual education programs which have been resurrected internationally and nationally. In examining these areas, hopefully some clarity will be gained as to why bilingua l education programs of Australian languages have been so unsuccessful. Bilingual Education as a Theoretical Concept. ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¬ Bilingual education - in theory - is a concept that would enrich learning, especially under a constructivist teaching method, as well as students, parents and teacher’s lives (Rossi, 1999). In encouraging children to learn under a self-directed method, the enriching nature of ‘learning-to-learn’ allows youths to further the positives of constructivism even further (Rossi, 1999). Consequently, not only do they become independent, confident students, but have bilingual language competence, rather than just language performance. Harris (1978) states that language performance ‘is merely a speaker’s production of the words, sounds and phr... ...iarity with English. Consequently, this displays yet another positive of bilingual education in the family unit, reinforcing that the positives are restricted only to an educational means but stay with them as they continue to grow in society (Jaggs, 1975). International Bilingual Programs Internationally, bilingual programs have proven to be a success in enriching students academic and social lives and their quality of life overall. The bilingual program closest to Australia on a global scale is that of Maori-English bilingual education in New Zealand. Although the Maori language was evidently stronger and had a fair chance of threatening the assimilationist movement of English, the main driving force behind their fight to preserve their language was to fulfil the ‘psychological needs central to the well-being of Maori individuals and groups (Durie, 1997).’