Since the Ministry of Education decided to gradually popularize foreign language classes in primary schools from the autumn of 20001,China has become an unparalleled country in foreign language teaching, with more than 200 million primary and secondary school students learning foreign languages alone. However, due to our lack of in-depth research on foreign language teaching, some specious "hot" phenomena have emerged, and blind pursuit of bilingual teaching is one of them. For example, some schools are attracting many parents and students by "implementing bilingual teaching"; Some researchers intend to make a comparative study of English and Chinese to promote bilingual teaching; Some schools are also conducting bilingual teaching experiments. But what exactly is bilingual teaching? Can bilingual teaching improve the quality of foreign language teaching? Is there a condition for bilingual teaching in primary and secondary schools in China? Such problems are rarely discussed. This paper will express the author's views on the characteristics, conditions and applications of bilingual teaching, hoping to attract the attention of colleagues and make our foreign language teaching less detours.
First, the definition of bilingual teaching
Bilingual teaching originated from bilingualism. Bilingualism refers to the phenomenon that an individual or a language group uses two languages. There are many kinds of bilingualism. For example, compatriots of ethnic minorities in China can speak their own mother tongue and Chinese, and children of foreign origin can speak both parents' mother tongues. From the linguistic point of view, the cause of bilingualism is mainly contact, that is, frequent communication between people who speak different languages leads to language interaction. Bilingual phenomenon is bound to happen in an environment where you can often contact bilingualism, which is mainly formed by history. For example, Quebec, Canada uses English and French, and British and American overseas Chinese families use Chinese and English.
Bilingualism naturally produces bilinguals, that is, people or language groups who can speak two languages. Like Belgians who speak French and Flemish. In addition, in-depth and lasting foreign language education can also make people master a foreign language and become bilinguals. However, the phenomenon of bilingual teaching in in-depth and lasting foreign language education is not much.
Bilingual education refers to teaching in two languages in a country or region. One of these two languages is the students' mother tongue/mother tongue, and the other is the common language (second language) in the region where the students live or the target language (foreign language) that the students study. Bilingual education is implemented through bilingual teaching. Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics interprets bilingual education as "teaching in a second language or a foreign language at school". It can be seen that, just as sometimes foreign language teaching also refers to foreign language education, bilingual teaching is a means to implement bilingual education, which also refers to bilingual education. Bilingual teaching involves students' second/foreign language and mother tongue/mother tongue. On the application level, the second language/foreign language is the weak language of students, and the mother tongue/mother tongue is the strong language; Bilingual education focuses on "protecting the strong and helping the weak". According to this feature, we might as well divide bilingual education into two categories: A and B.
Class A bilingual education is bilingual education that implements the language policy of a country or region. Students in these countries or regions speak two languages: one is their mother tongue, and the other is the lingua franca of mainstream society. In order to maintain the harmonious relationship between the ethnic groups to which students belong and the mainstream society, to inherit and develop national culture, to maintain the cultural diversity of countries or regions, to avoid the disappearance of the culture of vulnerable groups, and to ensure equal opportunities for the educated, countries or regions implement bilingual teaching in all or some schools, that is, both languages are used as teaching languages and learning subjects for learning different subjects. However, not all courses are bilingual, but some courses are taught in one language and some courses are taught in another language. Two languages as teaching subjects, mainly study literature, culture or Chinese (because students already know two languages). For example, some state governments in the United States implement bilingual education programs for non-English-speaking students in public primary and secondary schools: on the one hand, they offer English classes and mother tongue classes; On the one hand, different subjects are taught in English and mother tongue respectively. Therefore, the main purpose of Class A bilingual education is to "protect the strong", that is, to protect students' mother tongue from being squeezed out by the common language of the mainstream society (students' second language). The implementation of Class A bilingual education can also take another form, that is, teaching in one language in some schools and teaching in another language in other schools. For example, in Singapore, some schools teach in English, while others teach in Chinese. Although one school is not bilingual, as far as the whole country is concerned, bilingual education is implemented. No matter which form is adopted, the language teachers who implement Class A bilingual teaching are generally native speakers, and the teachers of other courses are generally bilingual. If a language is used for teaching, teachers' teaching, students' textbooks and homework should all use this language.
The second language/foreign language in Class A bilingual education is still the language used in the mainstream society where students live. For example, Chinese is the mainstream language of the Han community in China minority areas, and for minority students, Chinese is their second language. Therefore, this kind of "monolingual teaching" still belongs to bilingual education and should not be regarded as a change in teaching methods.
The implementation of class B bilingual education is to increase students' exposure to the second language/foreign language they have learned, and its purpose is to optimize the learning environment of the target language. The specific way is to teach some or all courses other than the target language in a second language or a foreign language. At present, many schools in China are carrying out bilingual teaching. For example, in order to optimize the English learning environment, some schools teach all or part of non-English courses in English. As for teaching English in English, offering two language courses (such as English and Chinese) in schools is not bilingual education. The characteristic of class B bilingual education is to use the foreign language/second language that students have learned as the teaching language. Teaching language is a professional language used for teaching, which is different from communicative language and a variant of communicative language. Since it is used as a teaching language, all teaching activities can only use this language. If a class uses two languages, or one language is used in teaching materials and another language is used in teaching activities, it cannot be called bilingual education or bilingual teaching. Therefore, from the perspective of teaching language, bilingual teaching is actually compassionate teaching. But macroscopically, this kind of monolingual teaching strengthens students' weak language and expands the contact of students' weak language groups. However, the disadvantaged language groups may be people of foreign nationalities with whom students will associate. For example, students from non-English-speaking countries learn English to communicate with native English speakers in English-speaking countries.
Second, the mode and requirements of bilingual teaching
Bilingual education is both A and B in bilingual teaching. There are three main modes of bilingual teaching.
1. immersion course. This model requires students to learn a second language/foreign language for teaching, and does not use their mother tongue/mother tongue in teaching, even in school, so that students are immersed in the weak language.
2. Transitional bilingual education. This model requires students to teach some or all subjects in their mother tongue/mother tongue when they first enter school; However, after a period of time, they use their foreign language/second language to teach. Therefore, transitional bilingual teaching refers to a period of non-bilingual teaching as a transitional period before the start, in order to avoid many difficulties caused by students' inadaptability to using a second language or foreign language teaching when they enter school, and its purpose is still to gradually transition to immersion teaching.
3. Maintain bilingual education. This model requires students to teach in their mother tongue when they first enter school, and then gradually use foreign language/second language in some subjects, and still teach in their mother tongue in some subjects.
According to the structure of bilingual teaching mode, we can see that a prerequisite for bilingual teaching is that teachers in all disciplines or disciplines that are bilingual teaching should not only have the knowledge, skills and abilities of their own disciplines, but also be proficient in foreign languages or second languages as teaching languages. Teaching language, also known as teacher talk or educational language, has ten characteristics, such as standardization, education, decomposition, generation, lack of information, redundancy, selectivity, control, interest and performance. It can be expressed in ten different forms, such as standard language, simplified language, extended language, repetitive language, evasive language, interrogative language, prompt language, annotation language, silent language and mixed language. Bilingual teaching requires teachers to use these forms flexibly and appropriately in teaching activities. Therefore, it is not necessary for teachers who can understand foreign language textbooks to teach in this foreign language. The ideal bilingual teacher should be an expert in all subjects whose mother tongue is the teaching language, or at least an expert who has mastered the teaching language.
Third, the function and application of bilingual teaching
1. The role of bilingual teaching
(1) front-end function
1) Promote harmony and complementarity among ethnic groups and promote the development of a country or region. The positive role of bilingual education is mainly to integrate mutual understanding and complementarity between different ethnic groups in a country/region. Because there are few countries composed of a single ethnic group, there are many ethnic groups in many areas; Mutual understanding and complementarity between different ethnic groups is a necessary condition for the development of a country or region. This kind of understanding and complementarity is embodied in culture. Language is not only the carrier of culture, but also an important tool for cultural inheritance. Therefore, any country or nation cherishes its own language and regards the use of its own language as a sign of self-esteem. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to develop bilingual education in multi-ethnic countries/regions. For example, bilingual teaching in ethnic primary and secondary schools in ethnic minority areas in China can play its hall function.
2) Cultivate high-level foreign language professionals. Bilingual teaching takes a foreign language or a second language as the teaching language, and all or part of the teaching activities are immersed in it, resulting in artificial bilingualism, which improves the target language environment for foreign language/second language learning and is conducive to cultivating senior professional foreign language talents.
(2) Negative function
1) crowded out the use of students' mother tongue and eroded the national pride of the nation to which students belong. In bilingual teaching, from the level of mastering bilingualism, a student's mother tongue is his strong language, and a foreign language/second language is his weak language. Class A bilingual education attaches great importance to protecting students' learning and use of their mother tongue. It provides courses in minority languages for minority students and students who voluntarily study minority languages in primary and secondary schools to choose their majors, thus ensuring the use of minority languages in education and protecting students' strong languages from being excluded and weakened. Accordingly, class B bilingual education takes foreign language/second language as the teaching language, aiming at supporting students' disadvantaged languages. However, if the value of a foreign language is exaggerated too much, students and parents will also psychologically crowd out and erode the value space of their mother tongue, which deviates from the purpose of China's current basic foreign language education. Therefore, the implementation of class B bilingual education should not only help students' weak language, but also protect their strong language.
2) It has a negative impact on students' mastery of their mother tongue. Bilingual teaching can cultivate high-level foreign language talents, which is the need of national development. The high level of this kind of professionals is highlighted in their ability to use foreign languages according to their thinking logic and behavior habits. However, this may have a negative impact on the development of students' mother tongue, that is, some foreign language ideas, customs and vocabulary are improperly introduced into their mother tongue, resulting in confusion and impurity in their mother tongue. In addition, we should also pay attention to the fact that from the linguistic point of view, since the skills of switching between two languages must be studied and mastered separately, the senior foreign language talents trained by bilingual education may be just a rare bilingual, but not necessarily a qualified translator, because he or she may use his or her mother tongue irregularly. Therefore, the negative influence of bilingual teaching in class B on mastering mother tongue/mother tongue exists.
2. The application of bilingual teaching in China
(1) 1862, China opened an English major course in Wentongtang, Shi Jing University. I studied Chinese subjects in the morning and foreign languages in the afternoon. Foreign languages are taught by "foreign teachers" and assisted by teacher China. This is certainly not bilingual teaching. At the beginning of the 20th century, foreign churches set up schools in China, and self-imposed laws were gradually introduced. Some missionary schools have successively implemented bilingual teaching. It seems that it was first implemented in Yali Middle School in Hunan Province, and then several famous missionary universities and their affiliated middle schools and primary schools also implemented bilingual teaching. Among them, bilingual teaching is carried out from primary school to university, and the school with remarkable results is St. John's University and its affiliated middle schools and primary schools. In these schools, only Chinese and China History are taught in Chinese, and all other courses and activities inside and outside the school are in English. However, from the perspective of bilingual teaching mode, it can not be regarded as total immersion. Only a few schools such as Jinling University and its affiliated middle schools have used bilingual teaching outside St. John's and achieved results. Other religious schools and non-religious schools also cite bilingual teaching, but it is generally not standardized and the effect is not obvious. For example, using foreign textbooks, but teaching in Chinese. In fact, from the Revolution of 1911 to the founding of 1949 People's Republic of China (PRC), many scholars and teachers who are proficient in foreign languages have been trained through formal foreign language education. This figure far exceeds the number of foreign language talents trained by bilingual education. Therefore, historically, the tireless machinery and efforts advocated by conventional foreign language education are the only way to master a foreign language.
(2) Ethnic middle schools in ethnic minority areas implement bilingual teaching. In such schools, Chinese, as a common language in the mainstream society, tends to crowd out students' mother tongue/mother tongue learning and application. We should ensure that minority students can learn certain subjects in their mother tongue through class A bilingual education. On the other hand, mixed-race children of ethnic minorities and Han nationality or Han nationality students can also master minority languages through class A bilingual education. In addition, because minority students want to learn their own language and Chinese, they naturally have different characteristics from Han students in non-minority areas in the process of learning foreign languages. However, since People's Republic of China (PRC) was founded more than half a century ago, English/foreign language teaching in minority areas is still the same as that in Han schools in terms of syllabus and teaching methods, which is a big problem. We can find a solution by carrying out the experiment of bilingual teaching in class B.
(3) Schools with real conditions can try out Class B bilingual teaching, that is, teaching some subjects and days in the foreign language students have learned. The so-called "qualified" mainly refers to teachers who teach non-foreign language subjects in foreign languages. These teachers must be professional teachers, and their foreign language level can be used not only for free communication, but also for explaining, analyzing and giving examples of the teaching content of their major and carrying out related experiments, practices and extracurricular activities; It is by no means possible to understand English professional books or be qualified for bilingual teaching after passing CET-6. A middle school affiliated to a university in Northeast China once tried English teaching in math class. The experimental teachers have no difficulty in reading English books, and their oral English ability is acceptable. In addition, the text structure of mathematics is not deep, and the experiment will undoubtedly succeed. But the opposite is true. Because it is not difficult to understand math problems in English, but it is very difficult to demonstrate or answer questions in English. Now famous universities such as Peking University and Tsinghua choose foreign textbooks, but it is said that some teachers are still unable to teach freely in foreign languages. Therefore, the conditions of teachers are not easy to solve. If you hire foreign teachers, you must evaluate their professional ability. Don't mistake foreign teachers for bilingual teaching. As a result, schools that can carry out bilingual teaching may be rare.
Bilingual teaching in primary and secondary schools in China-generally only transitional bilingual teaching mode or reserved bilingual teaching mode can be adopted. Because before teaching in a foreign language, students must have a certain degree.
Foreign language ability. Of course, we can also "assemble" the school into a mini mother-tongue society, recruit young students in the sensitive period of language learning, and lock them in the school from the first grade, just like foreign children studying in their own country. After studying from primary school to middle school, they can adopt full immersion bilingual teaching in universities, thus cultivating advanced foreign language talents. However, when Chinese learn a foreign language, they should not only absorb beneficial foreign culture, but also spread China culture. Therefore, even if we can "assemble" them into the above-mentioned micro-foreign society for bilingual teaching, we can't relax the teaching of Chinese and China culture, so as to avoid the second negative effect that bilingual teaching is easy to produce.
(4) General primary and secondary schools, foreign language schools and foreign language characteristic schools should not put forward bilingual teaching plans even if foreign language teachers have good conditions. Because there are many ways to run foreign language education well, it is not necessary to resort to bilingual education. If schools that do not have bilingual teaching conditions are allowed to blindly implement bilingual teaching, schools need to invest a lot of material resources and energy, but they will distract their efforts in foreign language teaching and even take detours. If "bilingual teaching" only caters to parents and students' psychology of learning a foreign language quickly, it will mislead people and even cause professional ethics and ethical problems.
refer to
Hartman, R.R.K and others translated by Huang Changzhu and others: Dictionary of Language and Linguistics, Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House, 198 1 year.
Richards, J. Pratt and H. Weber 1985. Longman dictionary of applied linguistics.
Sidon, zip code 1982. Handbook of English teaching terms and practices. Macmillan publishing co., ltd
Lu Practical: Questioning Bilingual Education, Wen Wei Po, April 30, 2002.
Yang Zhenchang: On the Language of English Teaching, Principles and Models of Stereoscopic Foreign Language Teaching Method, Science Press, 1999.
(Southwest Normal University Zhang Zhengdong's Foreign Language Teaching in Primary and Secondary Schools, No.8, 2002)