This document summarizes a presentation on bilingualism and language learning in Australian schools. It discusses the benefits of bilingualism, issues with subtractive bilingualism, and findings from research on children's experiences as bilingual learners. Globalization has led to the dominance of English, threatening minority languages. However, being bilingual builds cultural and linguistic capital. Research highlighted that children view their home language as part of their identity and culture, and view learning additional languages as learning new cultures.

1. Bilingualism and languages
learning in Australian
schools:
A bilingual approach to exploring
issues and implications in TESOL
Dr Criss Jones Díaz
University of Western Sydney
Saturday, 17h March: UTS, Sydney
TESOL
The role of L1 and L2 in learning.

2. Overview
The global cultural, social and economic
context of languages.
Globalisation of English
Benefits of being bilingual
Languages as cultural and social capital
Subtractive bilingualism and its impact on
bilingual children
Findings from research (Jones Diaz, 2007)
investigating
– Children’s experiences of and perspective in being
bilingual and learning languages
– Dispositions of learning

3. Globalisation of English
What is globalisation?
The globalising of cultural, social and economic
systems for the benefit of trade, commerce
consumerism
The global articulation of technology, free trade,
open markets, consumerism
Profit making agendas
Communication and information technologies
Power relations that exist between nation states
in our society are directly linked to modes of
production, trade, commerce and media that
operate at global levels (Tierney 2004, Robinson & Jones
Díaz 2006)

4. English as a global
language
Constituted in modes of production
are communication and media
technologies
These technologies are dominated by
the English language
English has generated most of its
power within the last 50 years (Christie,
1997; Pennycook 1998)

5. English as a global language
English is the 2nd most widely spoken language in
the world
5 4% of the world’s population speak English (Nettle
& Romaine, 2000)
English has not become a powerful language
because of inherent linguistic / grammatical
features. Or because of the numbers that speak it
Its dominance is due to the political, economic and
military might of the nation states that adopt it as
their official language (Crystal, 1997)
Its popularity is due to the social, cultural and
economic power yielded through its use

6. English as a global language
Anglo-phone countries, i.e. U.S & Britain are able to dominate
global communication technologies, finance, trade and means of
production and they have ‘considerable power relative to those that
do not control these resources’ (Singh, 2002, p. 17).
- ‘Different languages have different political rights, which are
not depending on an inherent linguistic trait but on the social
structures and power relations that exist between speakers of
the different languages’ (Skuttnabb-Kangas 1988, pg, 41)
As a consequence -
English-only policies in education have emerged in the US, Britain
and Australia (Crystal, 2000; Gutierréz, Baquedano-Lopez & Asato,
2000).
Examples:
- Dismantling of Indigenous language programs in the Northern
Territory and Bilingual Programs in California in 1991.
- Legislation in California in 1998 led to dismantling of bilingual
programs in schools.
- Limited funding allocations to CL schools and programs
- No mandatory policy of languages support in prior-to-school
settings

7. Impact of globalisation on
Indigenous and minority languages
Within a context of globalising English, language still remains a
significant marker of identity (Robinson & Jones Díaz, 2006)
Questions of identity are linked to how we understand ourselves
and others.
This has political, social and cultural consequences
There are more bilinguals in the world then monolinguals.
- Monolinguals represents a small but powerful minority
- They can function at all levels of society through the medium of
their home language and have never been forced to learn
another language
Disappearance of languages remain a serious threat to the diversity
of cultures and identities.
Of the 5,000 – 6,000 languages spoken in the world, half these
languages will be extinct by the next century (Nettle & Romaine,
2000).
Language loss/language shift
- Sudden: Environmental disaster or genocide
- Gradual: Intergenerational loss or subtractive bilingualism

8. Being bilingual builds cultural
and linguistic capital
Bilingual children have diverse linguistic and cultural
knowledge, skills, resources & potential
Cultural & linguistic capital (Bourdieu, 1990, 1991)
Human resources that have value within a social context (field)
- Human activity is understood as exchanges that occur within an
social and cultural practices which can yield or not yield
material and symbolic ‘profits’ (Bourdieu, 1990, 1991; Olneck,
2000).
Cognitive, social & linguistic gains from being bilingual are
linked to
self esteem & cultural identity
socio cultural knowledge
cognitive and linguistic advantage
cultural diversity & difference

9. Being bilingual builds linguistic
capital
s L1 facilitates L2 learning (Cummins, 1984, Skutnabb-
Kangas, 1979, Bialystok,1991).
s Interdependence Hypothesis (Cummins, 1993)
Positive transfer from the 1st language.
Partly dependent upon conceptual development and
proficiency already achieved in the first language
(Baker & Prys Jones 1998).
Visual, linguistic & cognitive strategies are transferred
to 2nd language literacy
s Early literacy development is enhanced by early bilingual
experiences (Manyak, 2006).
s Related to the three cueing systems: semantic,
graphophonic and syntactic.

10. Three forms of cultural and linguistic
capital (Bourdieu, 1990)
Embodied – Modes of interaction and
expression, dialect, accent, body language and
ways of knowing and reasoning. All become
‘embodied’ by the individual.
Objectified – Representational artefacts and
cultural texts. Books, arts, music, drama, media
etc.
Institutionalised – titles, qualifications and
certificates. Authorised by institutions, which
are legitimised by state, corporate and
professional institutions.

11. Metalinguistic awareness
Díaz and Klinger (1991)
Knowing about Meanings can be
language & how translated.
language works. Words can sound &
Awareness of look the same but
other languages. have different
Ability to switch meanings.
from one (Hymophonemic
language to the awareness)
other. Analytical thinking
Awareness of about language
arbitrariness of
labels attached to
concepts

12. Thinking task . . .
Share with the person sitting next
to you different examples of how
your students exchange the various
forms of cultural & linguistic
capital through their home language

13. Subtractive bilingualism in
Australia
Children learn the 2nd language at
the expense of the 1st language
(Cummins, 1991; Wong-Fillmore, 1991)
Factors involved in subtractive bilingualism
– loss of interest in speaking the home language
– proficiency in English increases
– early exposure to English-only prior-to-school
and early years education
– home language is not valued
– misinformation about bilingualism and biliteracy

14. Legitimacy of English at the
expense of other languages
Languages other than English may not
have ‘capital’ in an ‘English only’ setting
Bilingual children have the capital but if
not valued it can be wrong currency
Depends on the exchange rate of the
home language
Not all children enter prior-to-school and
school settings with identical
configurations of capital

15. Legitimacy of English at the
expense of other languages
Distribution of capital is connected to the use of
languages in different types of social contexts/fields
- Bilingual children move across different social
fields/sites, i.e. day care, school, church, community
events, extended family
- Capital must be activated in a social field in order for it to
have value.
Not all social fields give currency to linguistic capital
- Exchange for other forms of cultural/linguistic capital, i.e.
English
Bilingual children ‘cash in’ their home language in
exchange for English.
- Language shift and/or subtractive bilingualism
Monolingual and monocultural pedagogies sustain and
legitimise this process

16. Habitus
(Bourdieu 1990)
Individual’s disposition, practices and behaviours
that make use of capital in any given social field.
Habitus is formed by:
The values and dispositions gained from our
cultural history.
The result of social and cultural conditions within
which they are acquired.
Dispositions that are durable and transposable and
stay with us across contexts.
The ability to respond to cultural norms but are
largely determined & regulated by where we are
located in a culture.

17. Shaping the habitus for
languages learning
Bilingual children’s views of their language shape
a negative or positive habitus towards their home
language
When children are encouraged to speak their
home language this fosters positive experiences
with and dispositions towards the use of their
language
Words used by the children to describe their
feelings about using Spanish (Jones Diaz, 2007)
happy, free, good, normal, fun, great, smart, proud and
confident
weird, crazy and different

18. Children’s experiences of and
perspective in being bilingual and
learning languages
Diego and Ariel compared their learning of Spanish with
learning Japanese and Chinese:
C: Is it a similar kind of feeling, experience?
D: When you’re learning Spanish?
C: Yeah. To learning Spanish, when you are learning
Chinese or Japanese?
D: No because you’re learning a different language.
C: What about, what do you think Ariel?
A: I think Spanish is easier, it’s your culture and you’re
mostly used to it.
D: >>> and you’re learning a whole different culture..
C: >>> So is it a lot harder?
D: >>> and your parents are not gonna speak it and none
of your relatives .

19. The connection between identity and
habitus is found in systems of
dispositions
For both boys the use of Spanish in their homes
provided them with a sense of cultural history which
gave meaning to their cultural practices
For Diego & Ariel, Japanese and Chinese were not part of
their cultural history, they systems of past dispositions, and
consequently these languages did not have the same
connection or legitimacy
Ariel’s disposition of familiarity, ‘you’re mostly used to
it’.
Connections between cultural history and disposition.
For these boys there was a strong sense of history
constituted in their dispositions of past and familiar
experiences with their experiences of using Spanish at
home

20. The conversation continues …
R: So what do you mean, it’s your culture, it’s easier?
A: You got the knowledge and Spanish is in your >>>
D: >>> you got Spanish in your blood. You got the knowledge.
So it’s easier
R: Oh right. So what do you mean, you got the knowledge?
A: You already know it and you have been raised by >>>
D: >>> by Spanish people, so you’ve heard them talking.
Habitus operates as collective and individual expression of
cultural history.
The individual habitus tends to represent and manifest many
group-specific characteristics and is a variant of a collective
root.
For Diego and Ariel, this variant is found in their individual
and different trajectories in learning to speak Spanish.
Their shared history and similar dispositions suggests a
common ground upon which their close friendship was
based.

21. References
Baker, C., & Prys Jones, S. (Eds.). (1998). Encyclopedia of bilingualism and
bilingual education. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Bialystok, E. (1991) Metalinguistic dimensions of bilingual language proficiency. In
E. Bialystok (Ed.), Language processing in bilingual children (pp.113–140)
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1990) The logic of practice trans. R. Nice, Polity Press: Cambridge
Bourdieu, P. (1991) Outline of a theory of practice trans. R. Nice, Polity Press:
Cambridge
Crystal, D. (2000) English as a global language, Cambridge: CUP
Cummins, J. (1993) Cummins, J. (1993). Bilingualism and second language
learning. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 13, 51–70.
Cummins, J. (1991) Interdependence of first and second language proficiency in
bilingual children, In Bialystok (ed) Language processing in bilingual children,
CUP: Cambridge
Cummins, J. (1984). Wanted: A theoretical framework for relating language
proficiency to academic achievement among bilingual students. In C. Rivera.
(Ed.), Language proficiency and academic achievement. (pp. 2–19).
Multilingual Matters: Clevedon.
Diaz, R. M. & C. Klinger. (1991). Towards an explanatory model of interaction
between bilingualism and cognitive development. In E. Bialystok (Ed.),
329 Language processing in bilingual children. Cambridge (pp. 167–192).
Cambridge University Press.
Gutiérrez, K. D., Baquedano-López, P. & Asato, J. (2000). English for the children:
The new literacy of the old world order. Language policy and educational
reform. Bilingual Research Journal, 24(1 & 2), 87–216.

22. References
Jones Díaz, C. (2007) Intersections between language retention and identities
in young bilingual children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of
Western Sydney
Tierney, W. G. (2004) Globalization and educational reform: The challenges ahead.
Journal of Hispanic Higher Education 3(1) 5-20
Olneck, M. (2000) Can multicultural education change what counts as cultural capital?
American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 37, (2), 317 – 348.
Robinson, K. H. & Jones Diaz, C. (2006 Diversity and difference in early childhood
education: Issues for theory and practice, London: Open University Press
Manyak, P. C. (2006). Fostering biliteracy in a monolingual milieu: Reflections on two
counter-hegemonic English immersion classes. Journal of Early Childhood
Literacy, 6(3), 241-266.
Nettle, D. & Romaine, S. ( 2000) Vanishing voices. The extension of the world’s
languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Pennycook, A. (1998) English and the discourses of colonialism, London: Routledge
Singh, M. G. (2002) The sustainability of the Earlth’s people and their cultures. Risks
and opportunities: the multilingual knowledge economy. Making Meaning in a
World of Change, RMIT, 12 September.
Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (1988). Multilingualism and the education of minority children. In
T. Skutnabb-Kangas & J. Cummins (Eds.), Minority education: From shame to
struggle. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Wong Fillmore, L. (1991) When learning a second language means losing the first.
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 6: 323 - 346