Bilingualism and Biculturalism Essay Example for Free

Bilingualism and Biethnicalism EssayRunning Head BILINGUALISM AND BICULTURALISM E. Biculturalism in society Biculturalism usu whollyy exists in a country where dickens different cultures or cultural identities atomic number 18 allowed to freely flourish within the society. It is characterized by widespread occupation of battalion belonging to two diverse cultures. However, admittedly biculturalism can non exist in a country where angiotensin converting enzyme culture is suppressed or discriminated. Bicultural countries have official policies to protect the interest of both cultures. It also facilitates evenhanded status and rights to people belonging to both cultures without any prejudice. These countries also celebrate festivals pertaining to both cultures to preserve integrity of both cultures and foster the spirit of togetherness. E. 1 Biculturalism in Canada Canada follows a policy of official bilingualism as its gives jibe status to both English and French in its parl iament and courts. This was done to preserve the cultural personal identity of French communities in Canada, as support for the French words in Canada had weakened and English had become the preferred language in business and politics, by the end of the nineteenth century.As the years passed by, Francophone communities outside of Quebec begun to realize the extinction of their culture was inevitable, unless French-based teaching was made a top priority. Certain political forces in Quebec had also wanted a separate state during the 1960s. Franco-Albertans living in Quebec called for bilingualism and biculturalism to ensure that Canada stayed united. This led to the proclamation of the Official actors lines hazard of 1969 announcing Canada as a bilingual nation (Albertas Francophone Heritage 3).Today, Franco-Albertans are entitled to exclusive French-only education according to rights guaranteed by Bilingualism and Biculturalism Commission, while French is also instantly used in government offices and hospitals in Alberta. All these arrivements with respect to biculturalism have kept Canada together as one nation and led to the revival of the French culture. E. 2 Biculturalism in Australia Australia was originally inhabited only by several indigenous tribes, until the Europeans settlers started to immigrate there.These relatively new settlers started to control the ethnicity of the immigrants settling down to ensure that Australia had a cultural identity of a British Colony. Until 1973, the governments empowered by the Immigration Restriction Act followed the White Australia policy to keep a check on non-European immigration. The racial injustice perpetrated by the White Australia policy official came to end by passing of the Racial Discrimination Act in 1975. Australia started to rigorously follow a bicultural policy quasi(prenominal) to Canada, opening its doors to several thousands of immigrants from all over the world.The extent of Australias multicul tural policy can be better understood from a 2005 Department of Immigration statistic which reports that forty percent of the contributing workforce in Australia had at least one parent born outside of Australia, while 25 percent of them were not originally born in Australia (Wikiepedia 9). Australian values of mateship centered on equality, loyalty and friendship, have enshrined in its biculturalism policy and given equal rights to all Australian citizens irrespective of their ethnicity.Multiculturalism was initially perceived as the acceptance of people coming from different cultural backgrounds as members of Australian society. However, the significance of biculturalism has now deepened and empowered immigrants in Australia to express their cultural identity, thereby enabling them to experience both Australian culture as well as their primeval culture. E. 3 Biculturalism in the United States America, in spite of being one of most culturally diverse nations in the world and buil t on values of equality, does not officially have a federal multiculturalism policy.That being said, America does acts biculturalism on a social level as immigrants from various countries are freely allowed to practice their religion and exhibit their cultural identity. The Hart-Cellar Act of 1965 nullified quotas based on ones subject area origin. Since then, more twenty twenty-eight million people immigrants have legally been accepted by the United States of America. Bilingualism is also prevalent is certain Southern states that are heavily populated with Spanish-speaking immigrants. F. The relationship of bilingualism to biculturalismBilingualism and biculturalism are concepts that are very closely tied together. Bilingualism not only helps one to connect and effectively clear with the society around him/her, but also enables a person to go for command over his/her native language. Since language is the key to stay in touch with ones ethic or national culture, bilingualism he lps foster biculturalism as well. F. 1. Origin of bilingualism in bicultural societies Canada was one of the pioneers of the New World to officially adopt the policy of bilingualism.In 1867, British North America Act was passed to legalize to conversing in English as well as French in Canadian Parliament as well as Courts of Law, thereby sidewalk the way for a bicultural state. As the worlds political climate began to change during the beginning of the twentieth century, the idea of cultural pluralism started to gain momentum. Biculturalism began in westbound world and paved the way for biculturalism to be adopted as a political policy in many other parts of the world.F. 2. Bilingual education Bilingual education is a method of teaching all subjects to students through a countrys primary language as well as the students native language. There are several types of approaches and programs available to carry out bilingual education. Transitional programs teach all subjects in the stud ents native language and English is taught as a separate subject until bilingual students can study along with other native students in normal classrooms. dual Language programs consist of an equal combination of students who are native English speakers as well students who have another common native language. These methods enable all students in the class to be bilingual and understand subject matter in both languages. Late-exit program is yet another method that is quite similar to transitional programs, but it also teaches all the subjects in English again to reinforce the subject content and achieve effective bilingualism. It is hard to generalize and develop a common plan to educate bilingual students.For instance, in the US, young immigrants are either more educated or less educated native-born American students since immigrants from Asian countries are relatively well-educated compared to their South American counterparts, as a result of to social and economic differences. La nguage maintenance and Language rift Language maintenance is an effort to preserve the linguistic ability of child in his/her native language, while not compromising on discipline the popular secondary language at school. It is can result from a passion for ones culture or a necessity to communicate with elder members in the family.Career prospects due to international acclaim or the availability of media services such as television programs or books in ones native could also cause language maintenance. The avoidance of ones native language is known as language shift. For instance, bilingual children whitethorn stop using their mother tongue owing to a higher degree of English exposure in school. Other factors that influence language shift are fear of ones native language negatively influencing their English language skills or learning abilities.Lack of parental encouragement to maintain ones native language can also lead to language shift. G. Transference Transference occurs when a persons native language negatively influences the way he/she uses another language or vice-versa. This influence can occur in the form of distinctive oral expressions i. e. accent or odd sentence compositions. It is classified into lexical, phonological, semantic, prosodic, tonemic, syntactic and pragmatic transferences.CONCLUSIONThe concepts of bilingualism and biculturalism are two critical aspects that have held together societies comprising of several cultures, languages, races and ethnic backgrounds. Since transference or the deviation from the norms of a language could lead to language shift, proper bilingual education has to be provided to ensure that one is comfortable using both languages. Bilingualism, the conservation of ones native language accompanied by command over a countrys primary language, is necessary to achieve biculturalism in a society as well retaining ones true cultural identity.References A Research Guide for Students. (1998-2006). Retrieved March 20, 2 008. http//www. aresearchguide. com/1steps. html Bilingualism and Biculturalism. Retrieved March 20, 2008, from Albertas Francophone Heritage. http//www. edukits. ca/francophone/en/secondary/infomatics_text_bilingualism. html Chan, K. (1998). Bilingualism and Biculturalism. Retrieved March 20, 2008, from Academia. http//www. geocities. com/goktimus/bilingualism. html Multiculturalism. Retrieved March 20, 2008, from Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia. http//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Multiculturalism.