FAMILY LANGUAGE SUPPORT TO CHILDREN ACQUIRE ENGLISH

AS A SECOND/FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN A BILINGUAL SITUATION

Introduction: English as a Global Language and Its Influence in

Arising the Bilingualism

By the end of the twentieth century English was already well on its

way to becoming a language that is used world-widely for communication

in many fields such as economics, education, employment, travel and

tourism, information exchange and even in popular culture like pop music

and movies. According to "The Sociopolitics of English Language

Teaching" by Joan Kelly Hall and William G. Eggington, "Individuals who

speak English gain a concrete economic advantage. English provides

increased educational and employment opportunities” (Andrew

Abrahamson, www.eslteachersboard.com).

The increasing function of English as a global language has made

people in the countries where English is not the native language try their

best to acquire English in order to become the member of a global world.

This goes the same with the people with different native language than

English to enter the country where English is the native language. Their

awareness of English importance has passed through to their children.

People nowadays are alert enough to equip their children with proper

English so they are ready for the globalization.

While they are trying to catch up with English, they also need to

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maintain the use of their mother tongue as a bond to their origins and as

their communication tool to the native communities. These circumstances

have created the idea of raising children in a bilingual situation of using

both their mother tongue and English in their communication. This paper is

an attempt to contribute some general ideas on the establishment of that

kind of bilingualism within families.

Language Learning and Language Acquisition

Language can only be properly understood as a reflection of human

thought processes. Language learning is conditioned by the way in which

the mind observes, organizes and stores information (Hutchinson and

Waters, 1987: 39). Language learning is seen as conscious process. Yet,

in the early years of children lives, this process happens unconsciously

which is termed as acquisition. Therefore, in this section we don’t

emphasize to this distinction, using the two terms interchangeably. This

reflects our views that for the second language learner both parts

processes are likely to play useful part (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987:

49).

From the earlier age to the critical age, within which children are

limited in acquisition resulted in the natural growth, children acquire

language. Based on the phenomenal language acquisition processes in

childhood, possible question seem to come “Are the children having

acquired their first language still able to acquire second or third

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language?“. There are several theories, which attempt to reveal these

acquisition processes in children’s early years. One of the theories that

many experts rely on is the Identity Hypothesis theory. Klein in Hutabarat

(2006: 49) states that this hypothesis was first introduced by Wode and it

basically underlines that the acquisition of the first and second language

go through the same processes, based on the same regularities.

Referring to the discussion above, we can say that learning English

as the second/foreign language for children is possible to be done within

the same time they are acquiring their first language/mother tongue as

long as they are exposed to both languages equally. This is the condition

which we call as bilingualism. The miraculous sub-conscious language

acquisition in childhood gives more benefits in term of their effortless

means to fluency. Yet, we still have to agree on several things to make

this bilingual process to succeed.

First Important Step: Setting up the Definition of Bilingualism

The word “bilingualism“ has different meanings for different families.

As language proficiency can be evaluated in terms of listening, speaking,

reading and writing, for some families, having the ability to listen in two

languages, in this case English and the mother tongue, but speak in just

one may constitute bilingualism, while other parents expect their kids not

only to be bilingual, but also literate in both languages.

Referring to what Marsha Rosenberg (1996) states in her journal

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there are two terms of bilingualism. The term balanced bilingualism is

used to describe individuals who possess about the same fluency in two

languages while the term semilingualism refers to those who have

deficiencies in both languages compared with monolinguals. These

deficiencies could be in reduced vocabulary, incorrect grammatical

patterns, difficulty in thinking or expressing emotions in one of the

languages, etc. Few people are truly balanced bilinguals in both

languages in all situations. One language is usually dominant. This

dominance may be different for listening and speaking or for reading and

writing and usually changes over time.

It is very important for the parents to clarify their own definition of

bilingualism in order to establish the most proper strategy in raising their

children to acquire the languages.

Family Roles in Language Acquisition

Before we go further, we have to be aware of the distinction

between English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign

Language (EFL). Paul (2003:1) states “ESL refers to the learning of

English by immigrants to a country where English is the native language.

EFL refers to the learning of English by students in a country where

English is not the native language.” ESL learners generally have much

more exposure to English and have more chances to use English

compared to the EFL learners.

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 Conceptually, to start learning English as a Second/Foreign

Language as young children is very advantageous. Recent researches on

the field of educational psychology and language teaching revealed that

the younger somebody learns a language the better his acquisition will be.

Krashen and Terrel (1988: 45) as stated in Pardede’s journal (2008):

“those who start second language as children will usually reach higher

level of competence than those who start as adults (i.e. after age 15)”.

Pardede also quotes Brown (1987: 42) as he emphasizes that a person

who has not reached the critical period can acquire language more easily;

and beyond this time language is increasingly difficult to master.

As a conclusion of those statements, family plays a very important

role in a child’s language development because they are the first party that

touches the children lives at the very early years so they can give early

intervention to the language acquisition. Families also have great

quantities of time to share together, from birth until the child leaves home

which influences the children’s capabilities in many areas including their

language skills. When the parents decide to bring English, besides their

own mother tongue, into their communication they need to realize that it is

their role that makes the acquisition happens in the first place. Therefore

the family members need to work hand in hand in making the English-and-

mother-tongue bilinguals succeed because bilingualism isn’t something

that simply happens. It takes some careful planning and thorough

application.

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 In relation to the roles of the family, two types of bilingualism have

been defined (Rosenberg: 1996) which are:

1. Simultaneous learning of two languages, which tends to be affected by

four key factors:

• The parents’ ability in one or more languages. Some parents speak

only one language, the language of the home and are unable to

speak the language of the school and possibly that of the

community.

• The parents’ actual use of language with the child. The parents may

have language ability but have made a decision about which

language they use to speak with the child.

• The language or languages other family members speak with the

child, such as the language spoken between siblings or between

children and grandparents

• The language the child uses in the community.

2. Sequential or successive bilingualism. This happens when a child has

one established language before learning a second language, whether

in preschool or later.

Therefore, to achieve a successful mother-tongue-and-English

acquisition, parents should determine the systems on how they are going

to conduct the bilinguals communicate with them in term of the language

use. When children are learning two languages at the same time parents

need to work out language strategies that emphasizes boundaries

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between the languages. Christina Bosemark, founder of the Multilingual

Children’s Association defines the two most popular methods:

• One Person, One Language (OPOL) is the most common family

language system in use. For instance: the husband speaks Bahasa

Indonesia, while the wife speaks English or vice versa. Each parent or

caregiver consistently speaks only one language to the child.

• Minority Language at Home (ML@H). It simply means that everyone at

home speaks the second language, which is in this case is English and

the first language is used in the community.

In addition, any pattern and such variations that work to families may differ

one another because bilingualism is a flexible and highly personal

success. Choosing and adapting the basic language system that fits the

family’s lifestyle is the wisest thing to do.

Other points of consideration that we must put in our attention in

applying bilingual system for our children are (Rosenberg: 1996):

• Consistency in using each language. It really is the key in early

language learning. Children must be exposed to each language

consistently by not mixing the languages in the same conversation by

the same person. They might experience difficulty separating

vocabulary and grammar into the appropriate language. In this case,

the first language/mother tongue and English need to be used

separately in any conversation to the children.

• Balance exposure between the languages. Rich language experiences

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 in both languages are essential for good bilingual development. When

English as the minority language is not well exposed, parents must

have plan for additional time spent in using it.

• Qualified language interaction by becoming the good listeners and

good language model as well as giving encouragement and approval.

Providing books, music and even videos in both languages is also

important.

• Parents should be aware of individual difference among children. Each

child learns language at his or her own speed.

Living in a country where English is a minority requires extra efforts

from the parents in order to provide an equal and balanced exposure to

their children’s English acquisition. Some difficulties might appear in the

process of acquisition, the children probably speak more of the mother

tongue and parents could encounter this problem by applying these

strategies:

• Be persistent in speaking English consistently yet keep the child’s

enthusiasm. Whenever the child speaks the community language, just

listen and then repeat the sentence in English correctly. This goes the

same whenever he or she makes mistakes. If the child is able to say

particular word, but is struggling to remember it, jog her memory by

providing the first syllable. Avoid translating the words and never

negotiate about using English even though the child begs, whines and

tantrums.

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• Provide interesting English materials such as books, songs, and

games. Make story telling and reading together as a regular habit.

This activity will encourage children to use their English happily by

giving comments and responding to the story. Make good use of

English songs and games. Children memorize the words faster using

songs since melody is a fantastic memory aid. Rhyming words and

interesting games will also make the most of language memory.

• Join an English speaking school. Children of all ages will learn from

each other. Their peers are the best language teachers of all.

• Last but not least, always keep up the enthusiasm by giving positive

feedback for the children to hear.

Conclusion

English as a global language plays important roles in many parts of

life nowadays. More and more people try to acquire English as early as

possible by applying the bilingual system in their family, speaking English

as well as their mother tongue to their children. Acquiring English as a

second/foreign language in bilingual environment is possible to be done

regarding the fact of children’s miraculous language acquisition within their

childhood. Yet, this bilingual system requires thorough considerations,

careful planning and consistent application with strong commitment.

There are several methods of bilingual application and its variations but at

the end whatever method being chosen, it has to consider the

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characteristic and lifestyle of each family itself. Acquiring English from the

early stage is one of the tools to become a citizen of the world who is

ready for the globalization, in term of being able to communicate with a

wider variety of people. It is something precious that parents can offer their

children and it must be planned and presented with care for it to be well

used and appreciated.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Harmer, Jeremy. 2007. The Practice of English Language Teaching.

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 England: Pearson Education Limited.

Hutabarat, Anggiat Mananda. 2006. Language and Brain. Jakarta:

Christian University of Indonesia.

Hutchinson, Tom and Waters, Alan. 1987. English for Specific Purposes.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Paul, David. 2003. Teaching English to Children in Asia. Hongkong:

Longman Asia ELT.

Pardede, Parlindungan and Kurniasih, Eka. 2008. Teaching Language

Through Songs and Rhymes. A paper presented on Seminar and

Workshop Teaching English to Indonesian Young Learners FKIP-

UKI. Jakarta.

Rosenberg, Marsha. Raising Bilingual Children. The Internet TESL

Journal, Vol. II, No. 6, June 1996.

(http://iteslj.org/Articles/Rosenberg-Bilingual.html)

http://www.omniglot.com/language/articles/bilingualkids6.html

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