Task 3: Forum

Topic: Bilingualism and its Concepts

Moderator:

Assalamualaikum WBT and good morning to Dr Hamidah Binti and all TESL 2 UKM
members, Welcome to the forum session with Group 6. I'm Kalsum Binti Mohamed. It is my
pleasure to be a moderator for this session on ‘Bilingualism and its concepts’

First of all, may I briefly introduce to you, our panelists from Group 6. 1st panelist is Vilogini
D/O Chandra Segaran, the youngest panel from TESL 2 Sem1 batch, 2nd panelist is
Priyadharishini D/O Ponnaiah, also from TESL 2 Sem 1 batch, our 3rd panelist is Sandra
Anak Balentina Engkasan, she is a TESL student from Sem 3 batch, last but not least our 4th
panelist, the prettiest one, Sashikala D/O Sarangapani, from TESL 2 Sem 1 batch.

If someone asks me “Are you bilingual?” I would probably say ‘Yes’ if bilingual means I can
listen, speak, read and write in two languages like English and Bahasa Malaysia. But if it
means just spoken language, then I am a multilingual person because I can communicate in
more than 4 languages. So, what is the definition of bilingualism? For this, I would like to
throw the question to our 1st panelist, Miss Vilogini.

1st Panelist

Thank you, Miss Moderator for throwing the 1st question to me. Hello, everyone. Based on
the question proposed by Ms Kalsum, What is the definition of bilingualism? The word bi
itself represents which is two. Thus, here it represents 2 languages. To be honest, linguists do
not agree on any single definition of bilingualism. However, according to Mackey (1962),
bilingualism means the ability to use more than one language. This is supported by another
two linguists, they said ‘Bilingualism is the regular use of two languages, and bilinguals are
those people who need and use two languages in their everyday lives’(Hamers & Blanc,
2000) .

For example a Malay girl who can speak Bahasa Melayu and English fluently are considered
as a bilingual because she is able to speak 2 language fluently.

The term “bilingualism” is used in different ways: for some it means an equal ability to
communicate in two languages which means (that person is equally good in both language);

For others it simply means the ability to communicate in two languages with greater skills in
one (can speak in two language but dominant in one). There are more bilingual people in the
world than those who only speak one language (monolingual)

Meanwhile Multilingualismis the ability speak many languages such as English, Bahasa
Melayu, Mandarin, French etc. They are equally good in all these languages.
In short, Bilingualism is the ability to use two languages especially as spoken with the
fluency characteristics of a native speaker and this skills are the ultimate 21st century social
skill, linked to creativity, problem solving, and the ability to effectively communicate.

Moderator

From what Miss Vilogini said, I can proudly say that I am multilingual. Haha. I can speak in
many languages, but not read or write. This brings me back to bilingualism. Are there types
of bilingualism or classification of bilingualism? To find out this, let’s seek an explanation
from our 2nd panelist, Miss Priyadharishini. Can you please explain it?

2nd Panelist

Panel: Thank you for the question Miss Moderator. Hello, everyone. I’m here to explain on types of
bilingual and classifications. There are several types of Bilingual actually.

Moderator: Can you please name a few…

Panel: Sure. According to Wei (2000), there are 8 types of bilingual which are balanced bilingual,
covert bilingual, dominant, early, late, receptive, secondary and incipient bilingual and they’re all
classified in accordance to 3 different streams which are the age, skill and context.

Moderator: Can you please explain further on the types according to the classifications Miss Priya?

Panel: Sure miss moderator. Let me start with classification according to age acquisition, first. Early
and late bilingual comes first to my mind. For early bilingual. That’s someone who acquires both
languages in early childhood. And for late bilingual is someone who acquires languages later than
childhood. For instance, in early bilingual, father uses English and mother uses Malay language to
speak. It also occurs when the same person uses 2 different languages, both parents uses the English
and Malay languages. And this comes under simultaneous bilingual acquisition. Meanwhile, for
sequential acquisition parents speak one language and community speaks another. So L2 is introduced
to a child after learning L1.

Moderator: What about late bilingual then?

Panel: Late bilingual is classified under secondary bilingual acquisition. As a language is learned via
instructions.

Moderator: I see. That’s interesting. Moving on next to the classification according to skill? What
types of bilingual are included Miss Priya?

Panel: For this, there are 4 types of bilingual included miss moderator. Which are the receptive,
incipient, dominant and balanced bilingual.

Moderator: Could you please briefly explain on them Miss Priya?

Panel: Receptive bilingual is someone who understand a language but does not speak or write. It
could be L1 or L2. For incipient, its someone who’s at the early stages of bilingualism.

Thirdly, is the dominant bilingual. An individual that has greater proficiency in either one of
languages he or she knows. For instance, what’s your L1 and L2 and which language are you more
proficient in madam moderator?

Moderator: My L1 is Malay and L2 is English. And to be honest, I’m more proficient in Malay
language as that’s my mother tongue.

Panel: So, yes. You’re a dominant bilingual in Malay language. And for the last not the least balanced
bilingual is where an individuals mastery of two languages is roughly equivalent. Example, an
individual who speaks, reads, writes and understands L1, probably English, can also be the same over
L2, Malay.

Moderator: I see. What about covert bilingual then?

Panel: An individual is most likely to be a covert bilingual if he or she hides their knowledge of
another language because of an attitudinal disposition. For instance, Becca is a Chinese girl and her
L1 is Chinese language but she learned Tamil language from her babysitter, so her L2 is Tamil. She
can most likely speak and read Tamil but she doesn’t show it to the others due to her personal space.
And these types of individuals are most likely to hide their knowledge on their second language
actually. And this bilingual falls in the classification according to context.
Moderator

Thank you Miss Priya for explaining it. We have listened to definition of bilingualism from
our 1st panel and explanation about types and classification of bilingualism from our 2 nd
panel. Now, I would like to post the next question to our 3 rd panelist, Miss Sandra. Can you
tell us about bilingualism in the Malaysian context?

3rd Panelist

Moderator

Thank you Miss Sandra for the explanation Hope all the audiences are aware of bilingualism
in the Malaysian context now.However, I am pretty sure we are all eager to know the pros
and contra in bilingualism. To explain this, I would like to ask our 4th panelist, Miss
Sashikala. What are the pro and contra in bilingualism?

4th Panelist

Thank you Ms Moderator. The ability to speak more than one language certainly has
its perks. Our native language shapes the ways in which we see the world, drawing the
boundary between what we can name, and what is beyond our experience. Logically, the
more words we know, the more things we know about the world. Now think about a child
that grows up speaking two or more different languages, the world of meanings available to
this child will be much wider than one experienced by other children. The research area of
linguistics and psychology has yet to recognize the full impact of bilingualism on the lives of
such speakers, but what we know so far seems to suggest that speaking more than one
language can bring substantial cognitive benefits. 

Research has shown that the brains of children who grew up speaking two different
languages develop better cognitive functions. The brain of a bilingual speaker quickly gets
used to managing two languages at the same time. This helps to develop skills for functions
ranging from inhibition,working memory and switching attention.

Other than that, it enables one to work in another country, for example, interact with
people while travelling, or consume foreign media.Once a child learns more than one
language, it's fairly common for him or her to pick up another one with ease. They can
easily learn new words,spotting rhymes between words, have good listening skills, word
categorization and imporved communication skills.
 On the other hand, are there any disadvantages to bilingualism? Yes, it was once
considered harmful to one’s verbal development. So that leads to a study which pointed out
that since in the brain of a bilingual person there are two languages that are constantly
active, it might lead to verbal skills of a bilingual person to be generally weak.

Another study showed how bilinguals know fewer words of any semantic category
in comparison to people that speak fluently only one language as in their vocabularies
seemed to be somewhat smaller than those of monolingual speakers.

If you're worried that your children might encounter communication problem if you
choose to speak a different language at home or move to a different location, I would advise
them not to worry since their brains are under development and will quickly adjust to the
new linguistic environment.

To conclude, bilingualism is something that will help one to lead richer lives and
develop understanding towards different cultures. So all in all no there aren’t any serious
disadvantages I would say.

Moderator

Finally, we have come to the end of our forum for today where we have shared information
on Bilingualism and its concepts which we don’t even know before. For the last word from
me, I would like to thank all of you for listening and also to our panels. A billion thank I
dedicate to everyone for cheering up this forum.

Thank you for your attention.

Assalamu’alaikum WBT and see you again in any other session.