Background

International awarding bodies are delivering programmes of learning and assessments worldwide in a wide range of subjects through the medium of English. These assessments are taken in a variety of multilingual and educational contexts by many candidates whose first language is not necessarily English and increasingly in bilingual education contexts.

This international context poses a potential threat to and an opportunity for language development. On the one hand, the international quest for English-medium education can cause anxieties about content achievement through the second language (English) as well as maintenance of the first language. On the other hand, bilingual education, in which two languages are used as the media of instruction for non-language content subjects, is a fast-developing practice that could be the future direction of language learning in schools (Mehisto, Marsh & Frigols, 2008).

In order to explore this concern and this opportunity, and to better understand and support bilingualism and bilingual education, Cambridge International Examinations (Cambridge) has undertaken a programme of research designed to reveal the hidden richness of bilingualism in schools as well as emerging practices of bilingual education.

Theoretical framework

The theory underpinning the research is grounded in an alternative view of bilingualism - as championed by Orfelia Garcia, known as dynamic bilingualism.

In recent years there has been a conceptual transition in the way the term bilingualism has been defined. This has entailed a shift away from traditional conceptions of bilingualism that treat languages as separate entities learnt in a linear order (reported in the literature in terms of dichotomies: e.g. Compound and Coordinate bilingualism; Additive and Subtractive bilingualism) towards an alternative view of bilingualism as general and holistic which go beyond the notion of two separate autonomous languages. 

Garcia (2009a; 2009b) argues that conventional notions of bilingualism are no longer applicable to the linguistic heterogeneity (and complexity) of the 21st century. Instead, she proposes that two other theoretical frameworks be added - a recursive one and a dynamic bilingual one - in order to “recognize recursive and dynamic bilingualism as important goals for bilingual education in the twenty-first century.” (Garcia, 2009b, p.385).

Recursive and dynamic bilingualism

Recursive bilingualism develops in cases in which the language practices of a community have been suppressed or lost (as a result, for example, of oppressive policies and practices). In an attempt to revitalise their mother tongue, recursive bilinguals tend to oscillate between language learning and language loss as they seek to recover their ancestral language practice.

Garcia also contends that bilingualism is dynamic (2011, p.143) and not merely additive as suggested by Lambert (1974). Moreover, dynamic bilingualism goes beyond the conception that two languages are interdependent (Cummins, 1981). From a dynamic bilingual perspective languages are not seen as autonomous systems (Cummins, 2009) rather “the language practices of bilinguals are complex and interrelated; they do not emerge in a linear way or function separately since there is only one linguistic system.” (Garcia & Wei, 2014, p.14)

Research questions

• What models of bilingual education are used in Cambridge schools (where Cambridge programmes and qualifications are known to be taught and delivered) and what are schools’ reasons for adopting these models?
• What languages of instruction are used in Cambridge schools?
• What are the patterns of language use in bilingual and multilingual Cambridge schools?
• Which ages do bilingual programmes start and end, and why?
• Which pedagogic methods for bilingual education are seen as most effective? 
• Which schools and how many schools have bilingual streams within a school?  
• What criteria are used to allocate learners to a bilingual stream?
• How are bilingual programmes meeting the needs of a national and international curriculum?

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