Attitudes Toward Bilingual Education System

Abstract

Bilingual education refers to the use of a second or foreign language in university level for the teaching of content subjects. It aims to improve students’ learning and acquiring of the English language during the process of subject courses study, and make them competent for international communication in their academic field. It has been widely practiced worldwide since 1960 with highly development in Canada, USA, and Japan, etc. A questionnaire-based survey is conducted to get the current status of bilingual teaching in higher education institute. Survey is carried out among the students of the different University. The data presented in the pie charts are analyzed in the descriptive and contextual methods. Results showed some positive aspects of bilingual teaching, such as high enthusiasm from the students and high satisfaction rate to the course components. However, some problems related to bilingual teaching were also revealed such as poor English proficiency of the students themselves, lack of language environment and lack of good textbooks for bilingual education, etc. Recommendations were provided for references of bilingual education at the university level in Bangladesh.

Introduction

Since World War II, English has moved with surprising speed into almost all nations and almost all settings, too. Language planners increasingly include, English at last implicitly, in their decisions are not isolated from the international context. In this situation, this paper is trying to expose what should be the real scenario of national education policy by investigating the attitude of the youth of the University.

The Research Hypothesis:

 The research hypothesis of this paper is the bilingual education system at the University level on the basis of the student’s attitudes whether higher education needs bilingualism or not. To improve the effectiveness of bilingual education in higher education, measures should be taken from both teaching side and learning side by surveying the percentage of the students’ attitudes.

Defining Bilingualism:

It is easy to find definitions of bilingualism that reflect widely divergent response to the questions of degree. In 1933,for example, Bloomfield observed that bilingualism resulted from the addition of the perfectly learned foreign language to one’s own, undiminished native tongue; he did rather confuse the issue, however, by admitting that the definition of “perfection” was a relative one With this admission, Bloomfield did not remove the question of degree, but he did employ that any division between monolinguals and bilingualism  should occur nearer to the Steiner end of the continuum than to the c’cst la vic one. Others have been purposely vaguer; weinreich(1953) simply defined bilingualism as the alternate  use of two languages; in the same year, Haugen suggested that bilingualism began with ability to produce complete and meaningful utterances in the second  language learning, This suggests that even members of the c’cst La vie are bilingual. Generally speaking, earlier definitions tended to restrict bilingualism to equal mastery of two languages, while latter ones allowed much greater variation in competence. But since this relaxation proves in practice to is an unsatisfactory as an argument from perfection-at last for the purpose of defining bilingualism in any generally applicable fashion-most modern treatment acknowledges that any meaningful discussion must be attempted within a specific context and for specific purpose. Further complicating this matter of degree, this question of where bilingualism starts, is the fact that any line drawn must cross not just one general language dimension, but many more specific threads of ability. Consider first that there are four basic language skills like listening, speaking, reading and writing. Consider further the possible subdivisions: speaking skill, for example, includes that what may be quite divergent levels of expression in vocabulary, grammar and accent. In general, given both the basic skill and their subdivision of language that could be assessed in order to determine bilingual proficiency. It may be, as weinreich observed, that a rough gauge of relative proficiency may be easily accomplished, that in many cases we can with some certainly say which language is dominant. But these matters are not always simple, and a rough reckoning may be quite inadequate if we wish, say to compare groups of bilingual individuals or if we wish to study the relationship between bilingualism and other personality traits.

Theoretical Perspectives of Bilingualism:

Most contemporary theories of second –language acquisition reject a simplistic behaviorist approach-which has, besides, been shown as woefully inadequate for understanding mother –tongue learning –and endorse a cognitive conception rules are formulated and tested. Learning occurs in a series of non-random stages, each of which is characterized by a sort of inter-language. It can easily be seen here that the analysis of errors made at different points in the progression is very important, since they can reveal a misapplied rule. If someone says “sheep’s’’for example, it is clear that the “s-from-the plural” rule has been learned but over generalized (this sort of error is also common of course in children working out the refinements of the mother tongue).Theories within social psychology have paid particular attention to the motivational  features already noted in passing ,and makes a good deal of sense A If we agree that language is  a social activity and if we accept  that almost everyone is cognitively capable of learning second (and subsequent)varieties,  then it follows that the force of the situation and the attitudes it provokes in potential learners are central. A distinction first made in the 1960s was that between instrumental and integrative motivation for second -language learning. The former refers to a desire to learn for utilitarian purposes, the letter to language learning as part of a wish to know more about, to interact with and perhaps ultimately to immerse oneself in another culture. Perhaps, however, a well-fleshed instrumental attitude must include at last some integrative motivation; one can also imagine a development of the former in to the letter. In any event, a well-known framework for second-language learning is that of Gender (Gender and Lambert,1972),who attempts to link the social context, and the cultural beliefs within it, to individual learner capacities-including of course, motivational levels-and the formal/informal setting in which the language is to be learned. Throughout, he stresses the influence of integrative motivation upon positive outcomes. Clement’s model aims to embed individual motivations still more deeply in the social setting. In particular, he notes that a tension  exists between an integrative motivation and fear of assimilation; hence his model has particular relevance for those language learners who are also minority group-members, and those first languages is threatened by the forces of those speaking second. Hence language learning is seen, above all as an intergroup process. Much more consideration is thus given to assimilative tendencies and apprehensions, to the preservation of ethnic group boundaries and identities. A “general theory” of second language learning has been proposed by Spolsky (1989).It aims to synthesize earlier and more particularized efforts and indeed, also touches an important ways upon first language acquisition. Spolsky’ approach has five pivotal features: it attempts to bring all aspects of language learning under one roof .It aims for precision and clearity so that the board coverage dose not blur details of varying context, goals and outcomes; it assumes that as pest of learning are interactive… although they need not operative in all contexts. They are interpenetrating. It argues that all language learning must be seen within a social setting.

Myths about Bilingualism:

• “Learning two languages confuse a child and lower his intelligence”

 Old, poorly designed studies done primarily in the United States claimed to show that bilinguals had lower intelligence than monolinguals. Newer research has revealed several   flaws in these studies. The most obvious flaw is that the bilingual children were recent immigrants, with poorer knowledge of English and more stressful life situation than their monolingual counterparts. Newer studies with more careful controls have shown that bilinguals are better at some specific tasks, such as language games, but that otherwise the differences between bilinguals and monolinguals are negligible.

• “A child should learn one language properly first; then you can start teaching the others

     As in the myth above this is an old belief based or flawed. Children who learn two languages in a loving, supportive environment teach them both well. Children who learn two languages in a stressful environment may have language development problems-but so will children learning only one language in that same sort of environment.

• “A child who learn two language won’t feel at home in either of them .She’ll always feel  caught between two cultures”

     Relatives, friends and strangers will often caution about the “identity problems” children may develop if their parents insist on maintaining a bilingual home. The children they believe will grow up without strongly identifying with either of the languages and therefore, the groups that speak them. Adults who have themselves grown up bilingual, however, generally report when asked that they never had problems knowing what groups they were a part of. Some even find this concern to be rather bizarre. Children who feel accepted by both their cultures will identify with both. Unfortunately it happens that two cultures have such unfriendly relations that a child who should belong to both is instead shunned by both. This is not however a specifically bilingual issue.

• “Bilinguals have to translate from their worker to their stronger language” 

     The overwhelming majority of bilinguals can think in either of their two language .They do not ,as some monolinguals assume, think in one language only and immediately translate  into the other  language when necessary.

• “Children who grow up bilingual will make great translators when they grow up”

     By no means all bilinguals are good at translating. Nor have any studies shown that growing up bilingual gives one and advantage or disadvantage over those who became bilingual as adults when it comes to translating .There are many others skills involved ,and bilingual a, just like monolinguals, are too different to allow for easy generalization. There is one important exception here, however. The sign language interpreters you may have seen on television or at public events are most often hearing children of Deaf parents, who grew up bilingual.

• “Real Bilinguals never mix their languages. Those who do are confused ‘semi-lingual’.”

     Bilinguals sometimes “mix” their languages, leading monolinguals to wonder if they are really able to tell them apart. Usually, the problem is not genuine confusion –that is, inability to tell the languages apart. Far more common problems are interference, when words or grammar from the one language “leak” into the other language without the speaker being aware of it –analogous to a slip of the tongue – or “code – switching”, when the speaker more or less intentionally switches languages for effect –analogous to mixing jargon of slang in with standard speech. Many, if not most bilingual children will use both languages at once during the early stages of their language development. Semi-lingual’s is far more serious, and relatively rare, situation that occurs when a child in a stressful environment is trying to learn two or more languages with very little input in any of them.

• “Bilinguals have split personalities”

     Some bilinguals do report feeling that they have a different “personality” for each language. However, this may be because they are acting according to different cultural norms when speaking each of their languages. When speaking each of their languages. When speaking English, they assume the cultural role expected of them in English –speaking society. This is different than the cultural role expected of them in German – speaking society, which they assume when speaking German. The change in language cues a change in cultural expectations

• “Bilingualism is charming exception, but monolinguals’ are of course the rule.”

     No accurate survey of the number of bilinguals in the world has ever been taken; for fairly obvious practical reasons, it is likely none ever will be. But it is very reasonable to guess o half the world’s population is bilingual. Most of those who will read this live in countries where monolinguals are the rule, but are seeing a very unrepresentative sample of the world.

• “Very careful; if you don’t follow the rules exactly, your children will never manage to     learn both languages! “

     Some people maintain that “the only way “to raise bilingual children is to follow one specific pattern, usually by speaking both languages in the home. Practical experience, on the other hand, has shown that children learn both languages regardless of the pattern of exposure, as long as that pattern is reasonably consistent (and perhaps even that is not a requirement!).

Bilingual Education:

     In 1996, SIDA commissioned the Centre for Research on Bilingualism at Stockholm University to produce a report on the stat – of – the Art. In bilingual education in developing countries. The brief was to formulate guidelines for future policy thinking in language education on the basis of an extensive review of published reports and evaluation; to develop  a data base of studies; to establish contacts with institutions and organization’s engaged in development work within the field of bilingual education; to produce an annotated bibliography; to write a report in English on factors found to impact upon the success or failure of bilingual and mother tongue programs; and to present  the finding  at a seminar. The Centre appointed Christopher Stroud to be responsible for designing and coordinating the project, as well as for writing up the final report. Three project assistants worked on putting  together a dataset of mother tongue and bilingual programmes from various parts of the world; Margaret Obondo (countries where English is an official language). Cheistina Thornell (countries where French is an official languages) and Birgitta Quick (countries where Portuguese and Spanish are official languages). Kerstin Simberg was the librarian responsible for  compiling the bibliography. In 1997, the team working on the project submitted three reports, Stroud, (1997); Stroud, Obondo, Quick and Thornell (1997); and Simberg (1997). A final report, with the working title an overview and analysis of programmes was prefigured. The first report (Stroud, 1997), Bilingual Education in Developing Countries has been extensively revised and is now part of the present report. The prefigured report comprises chapters 9 and 10 in the current policy text. In other words, the current volume entitled towards a policy for Bilingual education in developing countries subsumes both the report on the theoretical background and the actual discussion and evaluation of existing programs. The data set of programmed in bilingual and mother tongue education that have formed the empirical basis for this works. Written up as Stroud Obondo. Quick and Thornell (1997) is currently undergoing extensive reworking in preparation for its transformation into a web –based database.

Despite the fact this report has been many years in making, its conceptual formulation of the problems and issues embroiling bilingual and mother tongue programmed is still highly current. If anything, there is growing awareness among an increasing number of people working with bilingual and mother tongue education that issues of language and education are fundamentally issues of power and marginalization of minority language speaker in globally transformed economies. Likewise, the nature of the  recommendations, emphasizing equity, social justice, democracy and citizenship, which force us to re-conceptualize solution to educational problems in non- traditional and non- educational terms of power and politics, is also recommendations, emphasizing equity, social justice, democracy and citizenship, which force us to re-conceptualize solution to educational problems in non- traditional and non- educational terms of power and politics, is also gaining a wider acceptance. As evidenced by numerous recent publications (see, for example, the special issue of international journal of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education, Vol.2:3, 1999 on Indigenous Language Maintenance in Latin America).In his excellent review of politics and change in applied linguistics, Ben Rampton (1995) points out that contracted research and development work, of which the present report is as instance, suffer from some fairly obvious generic risks such as (a) limited time. Sponsors often work to tight schedules, which restricts the amount of time an applied linguist has for finding out about the environment they are supposed to research.

     This predisposes the linguist towards choosing to work with models of lan 10 Toward a policy for Bilingual Education in Developing Countries language that might not be the best available or most  appropriate, and it inhabits alternative data interpretations and impedes theoretical generalizations, as well as preventing attention to issue that may arise during  and after the project, Over rapport with sponsors, researchers need to spend time negotiating the conduct of their work with sponsors, and there is a risk that research turns into personal  management, public relations or advertising lack of academic context. The academic community often plays no significant role in the discussion of a project, which may mean less exposure to creative doubt and different theoretical accounts, and easily lead to spurious exploitation of the prestige and credibility normally associated with independent research. (op.cit.:242). Rampton goes on to say that ounterposed to these risks, however, there is often scope for applied linguists to negotiate the terms  and conditions of their work, and this is increased if they  are based in a supportive  institution that allows them time to work, and  think sheltered from market pressures.(Rampton, 1995:242) To some extent, the conditions governing the production of the present report have negotiable… This has allowed  time enough for its production, and permitted academic peer insight and commentary on the issue it raises, thereby offsetting some of the potential disadvantages with contracted research mentioned by Rampton.

     Especially important has been the network of contacts with institutions and departments working with language policy and education in various parts of the world, especially the project for Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA) at the University of Cape Town headed by Dr. Neville Alexander, which have provided valuable insights on this project.

     The problematic nature of the standard language ideology in relation to language acquisition is particularly evident in situations where new, postcolonial varieties of a metropolitan language are used. A number of social and cultural factors specific to developing nations may influence the path of second language acquisition. One such factor is the socio-cultural role that a language plays in society. The conceptions and discourses on language learning and use that associated with the language determines not only what culturally specific elements a learner will use, but also influence the way in which a learner goes about his/her learning, the social strategies s/he employs and the acquisitioned profiles o types of  competences that result. The situation of massive language contact and multilingualism within which learners encounter many ex – colonial language has a number of implications for language learning. First of all, the fact that the speech community is made up primarily of second language speaker of varying degrees of proficiency means that there is no single stable standard that the majority of the speech community will master. Even though the models of language that children are taught in school may aim at standard varieties of the garget language, the model will probably not be significantly represented in the community. In other words, there is little infrastructure 17 Towards a policy for bilingual Education in Developing countries outside the school context of any import that might support the acquisition and use of the norm taught in school. Teachers themselves, often non – native speakers of the ex–colonial language in the majority of cases, may provide inconsistent model of the norm they are sat to teach do not master. In other words, the main language input that learners have access to be complexly structured non native varieties. Muysken (1984:101 )has pointed out how.L2 learning modeled on the speech production of L2 speakers may be norm worldwide… the notion of target language in SLA theory has little to say about this situation, based as it is on the conception of the target language as a standard variety spoken by a majority of native speakers in a monolingual speech community (see Long 1993:206, for further discussion of this point).Depending upon host of social factor, different  situations of language contact give rise to different types of language… Pidgins and Creoles are contact languages that have arisen in situations of minimal contact between target language speakers and learners who do not share a language? Perhaps the most common case of today where minority speakers encounter an ex – colonial language is the school. Platt (1978) uses the creoloid to refer to second language – based varieties that are largely acquire in formal school setting. He defines this as [a] speech variety, which has developed through the educational system such that a non – native or introduced prestige speech variety is taught to speakers of another variety (or other speech varieties) in a situation where the introduced variety comes to be used in everyday situations, to be acquired by some or all of the children before they commence school and to become the virtual native speech variety of some or all speakers. (Platt, 1978:55) Platt (1993) has drawn attention to how the learning conditions of learners who interact daily with a community of second language speakers have some quite specific implications for what type of language is acquired. Referring to the situation in Singapore, he says that [1] earners of English are continually exposed to SgE [Singaporean English, my note]. At the same time they can practice using SgE with other speakers of SgE. This constant exposure and use of SgE has led to a petrified variety. (Platt, 1993: 11) The author is introducing here the idea of the importance of output in the reinforcement and consolidation of non – native norms of language. Fossilization, or petrifaction, in Platt.s idiom, will be the natural result of adopting speech to the non native social networks that the speaker/learner is part of.

     These sorts situation challenge the assumption that all acquisition or contact with a second language involves speakers in an unstoppable progressive movement towards a native or metropolitan competence in the language. The fact that languages in multilingual contexts show a functional division in use also militates against the idea that all contact should involve complete learning of a target language. Many community members will simply not require the target language for the same range of functions and repertoires as a monolingual speaker of the language, and neither will they encounter this in the language they hear about them. This has implications for the notion of target language entertained in SLA theory, where a monolingual norm is considered to be the endpoint of acquisition. In multilingual context, the endpoint of acquisition for the target language must be viewed in relation to the functions of other languages in the multilingual individual’s linguistic repertoire. 18 Towards a policy for Bilingual Education in Developing Countries minimally, when studying acquisition, assessment of learners. Progress should be made keeping in mind to what uses the language will be put. Multilingual situations of language contact commonly produce a rice flora of language contact effect in metropolitan languages. Lexical item are transferred from one language to the other, becoming adapted in the process to a new sound system and grammar; clause or sentence patterns as well as pragmatic and discourse notions may claque across language boundaries. As result of this, there are many stable, recurrent and frequent structures, lexical items and pragmatic processes in ex-colonial languages in the context. As mentioned by Sridhar and Sridhar (1992), some authors do in fact also refer to ex-colonial varieties of metropolitan language as interference varieties. Another concept in SLA theory then that will benefit from rethinking in developing contexts is transfer. Transfer is, of course, to be expected in multilingual s who are proficient in the same language. As Sridhar and Sridhar (1992: 101 )claim , far from impeding intelligibility, transfer acts as the grease to make the wheels of bilingual communities turn smoothly, serving as effective simplification, modes of acculturation, and as markers of membership in the community of speakers of a gives indigenised variety… In other words, the lack of transfer between the languages of many multilingual societies would actually impede idiomatic communication and the sharing of cultural presuppositions. Factors such as the social characteristics, age and gender of the learner are likely to interact ways in the acquisition of an ex-colonial language. Often variation among learners in this respect is manifested in the form of a lacteal or proficiency continuum, similar to post-creole continua such as is found in Jamaica and Guyana. This means that it is frequently possible to distinguish a variety of an ex- colonial language, the so called basilect, comprising features very similar to a creole such as serial verb structures, variable marking of past tense etc. It is also often possible to distinguish a mesolect and an acrolect, is the variety closest to the target norm. Different types of acquisition processes and products correlate with different social conditions and context. For example, for SgE, transfer is found distributed mainly among speakers of basilectal varieties, in informal situations and among speakers with low levels of education. However, not all variation in inter language system is due to transfer. Other L2 strategies such as simplification, blends, hypercorrection and analogies also contribute to the variation in different variables. And Fasold has pointed out that a number of futures found in non-standard lefts in adult speech and that make up variability also occur in the speech of children acquiring the standard language. Chambers (1995) has suggested the idea of vernacular primitive’s linguistic characteristics that are found in many different types of vernacular, Creole and child language. When acquisition of standard languages that do not permit or include such processes and these primitives need to be suppressed. From the brief account of some concepts of language acquisition given here, we begin to see how specific socio-cultural and linguistic contexts may contribute to second language acquisition processes and outcomes. Language acquisition is very much determined by the sociolinguistic heterogeneity and variation in the target language in interaction with the social biographies of the learners. The pre prevalence of different strategies and the importance of contextual framing factors are relative to the social position of the learner and the possibilities offered by the structure of the community. A number of bilingual programmes from around the world provide clear cases of how the school mediates inherited economic and political dependencies. Hidalgo (1994: 186) referring to Mexico says,[b]ilingual education serves as an educational strategy directed toward the linguistic and cultural assimilation of ethnic minorities. Mexico has rich history of bilingual education which is worthy of study as a model of assimilation of language and ethnicity… Cerron – Palomino (1989: 27) on Peru claims that. Bilingualism does not support Quechua or Aymara; on the contrary, it erodes them: this is the natural consequence of struggle between unequally.

The Background Study of English in Bangladesh.

     The importance of English requires no saying. This is the most influential, living and vibrant language spoken by over 350 million people as their native language. It estimated that more than 300 million people use English as second language; about 1000 million around the global have more or less knowledge of English. In Bangladesh English is taught as a compulsory subject in schools, colleges and madras has from the primary to the tertiary level. English is taught as a foreign language in Bangladesh. The chronological history of English in Bangladesh has political as well as social background which influences the learning of English at every level of education.

Colonial Period.

     During the colonial period, language policy in British India in lord Macaulay’s Education Minutes of 1835 which basically aimed at forming “a class of persons Indian in blood and colour but English in taste, in opinions, in moral and in intellect”(Macaulay 1835, cited in Aggarwal II). During the British rule English was the medium of colonial administration, education and commerce. It was the only means of communication between the rulers and the educated class of Indian sub – continent. English retained the position till the partition of India in1947. The establishment of universities in Kolkata and Channai in 1857 and Dhaka in 1921 accelerated the study of English

Pakistan Period.

     During the Pakistan period, English occupied even a greater position government activities, education, trade and commerce etc. English enjoyed the status of a second language and was taught as a functional language in secondary schools and madrashas in the two wings of Pakistan – East and West (Curriculum committee 1962). In the higher secondary and upper levels, English was studied as a compulsory subject. That time it was extensively practiced in army, court and public administration.

Bangladesh Period.

     After independence of Bangladesh, English language suffered a serious negligence for the first few years because of the strong public sentiment in favour of the mother tongue, Bengali. English language teaching and learning condition in our educational institutions suffered badly and English lost its previous dominant status though English was still a compulsory subject from secondary to higher secondary levels.

     In 1974, an Education Commission was formed which made some recommendations with regard to language teaching. Through the report recognized the importance of English for higher studies, it did not put forward and recommendation for the teaching of English at the tertiary level. Later, in 1976, Ministry of Education set up an ‘English language teaching taskforce’ to evaluate the state of English in Bangladesh and made recommendations for improving the conditions of classroom teaching. They mainly stressed importance on making English compulsory from either class III or class IV. Following those recommendations, the government formed the national curriculum committee in 1976 to design syllabi for all subjects at different levels.

     A baseline investigation was carried out by the national curriculum and textbook Board in 1990 in connection with a British Government ‘Overseas Development Administration’ (ODA) project for the improvement of English language teaching at secondary level.

       Then a decision was taken in 1990 to introduce English as a compulsory subject from class I. It was implemented in 1992. After 1993, English education has been reintroduced in the B.A, B.S.S., B.Com and B.S.C. course as a compulsory subject for hundred marks.

      In 1997, another commission headed by Prof. Shamsul Haque was formed which suggested that English should be taught compulsory form class III. The last education Commission formed in 2003 came up with some more recommendations for the improvement of English language teaching and learning. But all these suggestions mostly remain unimplemented and lack coordination. In 1995, a study conducted by the University Grants Commission (UGC) identified two major problems in the development of English language teaching both of which were concerned with teachers. Since 2001, a totally new approach to language learning and teaching has been introduced at the secondary level in Bangladesh. The University Grants Commission, the supervisory authority of both public and private universities in its latest annual report published in January 2007, found that the quality of teaching in universities cannot improve if the quality of teachers and the “education in primary and secondary schools have improved. Nothing could be truer. The primary and secondary education is also multi-faceted way. There are public and private schools, both Bengali and English medium, mixed with the madrasas. There are colleges and universities in the public and private sectors. The public sector universities are of recent origin, whereas in the private schools existed in the past hundred years. The high school graduates can also go to institutions higher technical and vocational education, as medical schools, engineering colleges and technical schools.

University in Independent Bangladesh

     When Bangladesh emerged as an independent nation in 1971, the country has four public universities (Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chittagong and Jahangir Nagar) and two specialized universities (Bangladesh University of Science and Technology-Buet and BangladeshAgriculturalUniversity, BAU). Today, Bangladesh has 25 public universities, where students study 12,41,352 scheduled at different levels from undergraduate to graduate. This includes studying in 1175 schools affiliated (8,55,744) at the NationalUniversity. (UGC. 2006. P 130). There are also 51 professional schools (medicine, dentistry, law, polytechnics, etc), where 82,000 students study. (GOB, Statistical Pocket Book. 2006)
To enter a university or college must complete 12 years of high school. Admission to all public universities is very competitive and the entry relating to applicants for entry is 1:65. Often students do not get the object of your choice. The curriculum of public universities, distribute in the basic sciences, humanities, engineering, agriculture and social sciences. The medium of instruction is often in bilingual in Bengali and English. Education in public universities of Bangladesh is highly subsidized. The entire development budget and about 90 percent of the regular budget of the public universities in the government is treasury. Recurrent average costs at public universities are Taka 37,000 per student per year and the total collection of the taxes and duties per student per year is less than Taka 1000 (UGC 2006, p. 131). However budgetary allocation for public universities is quite inadequate. All public universities that operate on its own campus, built on land allocated by the government, public services are heavily subsidized and the salaries of staff and teachers are relatively low. No tax is charged and the wages paid To all types of employees are taxes free.

Situation of Higher Education in Bangladesh

     Universities in Bangladesh represent about 75 academic bodies out of a total of about 104 institutions represent the conventional higher education institution (HEI) in Bangladesh. Segmented by management and financial structure, these include 29 public universities, 56 private universities, 1 international university, 31 specialized collages, and 2 special universities. There are specialized universities in both categories offering courses principally in technological studies, medical studies, business studies and Islamic studies. There are two private universities dedicated solely to female students. The number of universities is growing mostly in and around the capital city of Dhaka. There are about 1500 colleges organized under the umbrella of National University- one of the largest in the world. The Open University offers distance learning courses. There also is a parallel religious education system.

     University Grants Commission of Bangladesh (UGC) serves as the regulatory body of all the public (government funded) and private universities of Bangladesh. The Private University Act of 1992 paved the way for vigorous sprouting of private universities.80% of its universities is in their infancy. The country has a rigorous shortage in higher education capacity. The country is yet to have any research and education network (REN) or digital library consortium (DLC).

• Higher education in Bangladesh can be classified into the following systems:

     a) System of universities, both public and private. You could graduate from college with a master’s degree, while most schools still lack adequate funding, academic and administrative facilities.

    b) The university system – both public and private. With the establishment of Dhaka University in 1921, a new chapter has opened in the history of higher education in Bangladesh. Today, twenty-five of them in Bangladesh are the number of students in these universities was 12,41,352 in December 2006. Private universities have been established recently and there are 56 of them. They are often employment-based courses where students are enrolled 1,24,267. The system of public university in this part of the continent of origin is in 1921. In world rankings, none of the universities in Bangladesh could find a place for himself. From Spain Webometrics Ranking of World Universities published its report in January 2008 brought the Bangladesh University of Science and Technology in the position of the 3969th in 4000 ranked the universities.

    c) The system of madrasha education is growing at a rapid pace and the delivery of courses most of which are useless to the modern day and economic development activities.

• The joints of the higher education policy

     The objectives, priorities and strategies in higher education and strategies to achieve results in the context of the 21st. Market century of globalization, knowledge economy and national aspirations and values must be clearly defined and articulated. This is not a matter of shooting and requires a mechanism for participation of key stakeholders to continue to focus on policies, priorities and implementation.

     The structure and content of higher education programs and teaching-learning practices balance between special and general education, liberal arts, the complementarily of public and private providers of higher education, and linkages between education, secondary and higher should be important elements of the policy review.

     Management of the governance and funding of higher education Policy development for higher education should be totally depoliticized. We must focus on the objectives of excessive maintenance of quality standards and protect academic freedom in higher education.

     Until recently UGC is an organization that has been unable to perform his task as one’s own body because of its supervision of politicization. It must become an effective and truly independent body would be able to open political discourse.

    The quality standards and performance criteria of the institutions, specialized areas of study and research, teachers and student performance and the mechanisms for the implementation of standards and criteria must be established. We must also recognize that quality assurance in higher education is only possible through greater self-regulation, peer review and internal accountability and transparency in decision making.

     Less than two percent of the education budget is allocated to higher education in Bangladesh. This should be increased. Spending on higher education should be conceived as an investment in human capital development rather than spending. Such an increase in compensation cannot provide a continuous supply of adequate human resources to Bangladesh, a country competitive. Bangladesh is situated between two titans of the new 21st century–China and India. Its geopolitical position of Bangladesh is facing challenges and opportunities, if proved capable of accepting the challenges and opportunities. Developing a higher education system that meets the quality standards of the 21st century is the desired channel for the potential development of our young and prosperous nation.

Research Questions

1) What types of attitudes (positive/negative) of the students towards the bilinguals Education system?

2) Does higher education need bilingualism?

Objectives of the study

 1) To sketch out a picture of the student’s attitudes towards the system at the university level in Bangladesh with a focus on the problems that they face.

 2) To give some suggestions and recommendations to overcome the problems or at least lesson  the gravity of these problems.

Importance of the study

     Research on the Bilingual education system at the university level is a global phenomenon. The present study concentrates on the attitudes of the students towards the bilingual education system. By this study, the policy maker will be benefited. Because it is very much important for study the psycho-socio ideology of the students for the policy maker. It would help to response to think what should be the proper system.

Limitations of the study

     As the present study is confined to the bilingual education system at the university level, it suffers from some limitations and short comings with regards to unavailability of necessary date, information, literature and other relevant materials. Time duration is also the main factors of the limitation of this study.

• The following are some of the limitations of the present study:

a. The subjects involved in this study represent only the students of some university not of the maximum university of Bangladesh.

b. The number of subjects is limited to 50 students and 20 teachers among the four universities.

c. The questionnaire of this study does not describe the Bilingual education system in detail.

Literature Review

     Relevant studies are significant in research works as they give a researcher the background knowledge and information for the research problem. For the present study I have collected information from different books, dissertations, scholarly articles and other sources. The studies which are relevant are presented in this paper.

Objectives of Literature Review

Leedy (1997) highlights the eight specific benefits that can result from literature review efforts:

1. It can reveal investigations similar to your own, and it can show you how other researchers handled methodological and design issues.
2.  It can describe methods of dealing with problem solutions that may be similar to difficulties you are facing.
3.  It can reveal to your sources of data that you may not have known existed.
4. It can introduce you to important research personalities whose work and writings you may not have known.
5. It can help you see your own study in historical and associational perspective and in relation to earlier approaches to the same problem.
6. It can provide you with new ideas and approaches that may not have occurred to you.
7. It can help you evaluate your own research efforts by comparing them with the similar efforts of others.
8.  It can increase your confidence in your selected topic.

     The present researcher has reviewed the relevant literature for other reasons like research methods and techniques, what needs to be done, relationship between ideas and practices, correlations and contradictions between the findings of the present study and those of the reviewing study.

Review of relevant works

     Students of attitudes are interested in how a person’s language variety is socially meaningful to others. They focus on what makes a variety socially diagnostic. It is socially diagnostic if its use leads others to associate the speaker with a particular social group or a set of activities. Many sociolinguists, so far dealt with many facets of Bilingualism….what is mean to an individual to be bilingual and what it means to a community to include bilinguals. All this study about bilingualism overlaps the concept of student’s attitudes towards this policy. This digest reports on a study that examined the impact of participation in a two-way immersion program on the language and achievement outcomes of former program participants and on their current schooling path and college plans. The study explored out5comes for three groups of students:

1)      Hispanic students who began the two-way program as English language learners;

2)      Hispanic students who began the program as English-only or English-dominant speakers; and

3)      European American students who entered the program a monolingual speakers of English.

     Bottom of Form a total of 142 high school students who were enrolled in the study. All students were bilingual at the time of the study but were classified according to whether they had started kindergarten as a native English speaker/ English learner. This is the breakdown of students for this sample: 66% were Hispanic students with Spanish as their native language (Hispanic Spanish speakers) ; 20% were Hispanic students with English as their native or dominant language ( Hispanic English speakers ) ; and 13% were non-Hispanic students with English as their native language ( European American English speakers).

Some examples of related Works

     Easter de Jong’s article ‘Integrated bilingual education : An alternative approach describes the importance of the integration of English language learners with native English speakers for social, academic, and lingual purposes, few models of integrated bilingual education , other than two-way immersion programs, exist. This article describes one district’s effort to design a K-5 late-exit bilingual program with an integration component. The study focused on the experiences of 35 bilingual and standard curriculum teachers who integrated their students of continent area instruction. Analysis of written reflections submitted over 1 school year illustrates the positive influence of integration on social relationships and program status, and highlights teacher collaboration as a condition for success. The study also stresses that issues of language status and unequal student participation must receive explicit attention in integrated classrooms.[Abstract from Bilingual Research Journal online] Deborah J Hasson in a article named ‘Bilingual language use in Hispanic young adults : Did elementary bilingual programs help ?’ Explains the descriptive study of language use examined the extent to which bilingual programs help?’ Explains the descriptive study of language use examined the extent to which bilingual Hispanic young adults used their two languages in varying aspects of their lives and analyzed the extent to which they maintained the use of Spanish in these domains. A convenience sample of 202 undergraduate, Hispanic university students completed the Language and Education Survey (Hassan 2001) Data from the Language Use section of this instrument was the basis for the present study, which compared Hispanic students who were enrolled in bilingualism or English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programs in their elementary schooling with students who experienced an all-English curriculum. The result of this study showed that while there is a definite shift toward English in this sample, there were nevertheless significant differences between the Bilingual/ESOL group and the All-English group in the very specific dimension of language use. The findings raised some critical questions reading how school systems address the particular needs of bilingual students and how this might affect the maintenance of their native language and its use in later life.

     Another study by Janet L Helm Berger focuses on the research literature available in the United States on the evaluation of language policy and planning issues involved in bilingual education programs in Mayan communities in Guatemala. I begin with general comments regarding language policy and planning for bilingual programs for ethnic groups within the borders of nation/states. These ethnic groups strive to maintain their ethnic, collective identities, which include their first language, in the context of social, cultural, historical, economic, and political dimensions of daily living. I then describe the research I located on such programs in Guatemala, making connections as I saw them across the dimensions indicated above. Specific gaps in the published research available are indicated in the conclusion, as are ways that the research impacts bilingual practitioners and researchers in the United States.

     Steven K Lee’s work “The Latino Students’ Attitudes, Perceptions, And Views on Bilingual Education is the reflection of the continuing debate surrounding bilingual education, there has been a renewed interest to examine the perceptions and views on the subjects from various constituents. The purpose of this study was to examine the grow who is the target of the most affected by this controversy- English language learners .The study survey 280 Latino students, all of whom were enrolled in bilingual classes, including Spanish maintenance and sheltered classes, in seven urban middle schools in Southern California, in regard to their attitudes, perceptions and views on bilingual education. The study found that an overwhelming majority (90%) of the students surveyed believed that bilingual education was helpful to their educational experience and 86% supported the offering of bilingual education programs in public schools. Interestingly , however , if given a choice, 53% of the almost three-quarters (71%) of the subjects reported that bilingual education supported their cognitive development for English language learners.[ abstract from Bilingual Research Journal Online]

• Differential outcomes of two bilingual education programs on English language learners:

     By Maria G Lopez and Abbas Taskkori of FloridaInternationalUniversity investigated the effects of two types of bilingual programs (two-way and transitional ) on the academic performance and attitudes of fifth-grade students who entered kindergarten or first grade with different levels of English proficiency. A mixed methods design with both quantitative data analysis indicated no significant differences in standardized measured of English achievement, although significant differences were found in other measures, including measures of oral language acquisition in English, Spanish-reading ability, student’s attitudes, and perceived levels of proficiency in English and Spanish. Qualitative data analysis indicated that the students in two-way bilingual education programs were more likely to express positive attitudes towards bilingualism. Based on the mixed data, it is concluded that despite some similarity in the effects, each of the bilingual programs also has unique effects. Policy decisions should be made on the basis of relative importance, value, and the costs of these unique advantages and disadvantages.

• Elena Sandoval-Lucero’s ‘Recruiting Para educators into bilingual teaching roles:

     The importance of support, Supervision, And self-efficacy’ describes the mixed methods study examined the self-efficacy beliefs of Para educators who become bilingual teachers and Para educators who did not to explore the possibility that self-efficacy’ describes the mixed methods study examined the self-efficacy beliefs of Para educators who become bilingual teachers and Para educators who did not to explore the possibility that self-efficacy plays a role in Para educators’ career decisions. Data were collected through three sources: a survey, career goal statements, and interviews. Fourteen participants were included in the study. There were qualitative differences and significant quantitative differences between the two groups. Those who became bilingual teachers described work environments and duties that promoted the development of their teacher efficacy. Those who remained in the Para educator roles described very different work environments. The study highlights the importance of clearly defining para educator’s role and responsibilities in ways that utilize their skills, abilities, and interests and promote their career development.

• An article named ‘Making meaning matter :

     A look at instructional practice in additive and subtractive contexts’ examined the implications of additive and subtractive conceptions for the education of English language learner (ELL) students. To understand how competing theories regarding the education of ELL students materialize into action, the researcher examines select fin dings from one district’s implementation of Proposition 227. Focusing on the cases of two teachers, the researcher examines the connections between teachers’ theories about their students and the role in the policy to practice connection. This article provides an opportunity for school leaders to consider the implications of subtractive and additive approaches in the educational achievement of ELL students. One program model that has shown positive outcomes for Hispanic students is two-way immersion (Lindhoolm-Leary, 2001), also known as two-way bilingual or dual language education. Two-way programs integrate native English speakers and English language learners in the same classroom and provide content instruction in both English and the native language of the English language learners. These programs aim to provide high quality educational experiences for all students and promote higher levels of academic achieve A total of 142 high school students who were enrolled in two-way immersion programs when they were in elementary school participated in the study. All students were bilingual at the time of the study but were classified according to whether they had started kindergarten as a native English speaker or a native Spanish speaker/English learner. This is the breakdown of students for this sample: 66% were Hispanic students with Spanish as their native language (Hispanic Spanish speakers); 20% were Hispanic students with English as their native or dominant language (Hispanic English speakers); and 13% were non-Hispanic students with English as their native language (European American English speakers).All of the students’ attitudes toward the two-way program are very positive. Most believe that learning through two languages mad3e them smarter and helped them do better in school. Hispanic students in particular felt valued in the program, were glad they participated in it, and would recommend it to other students. Although most students were in agreement, Hispanic students agreed more strongly than European American students that the two-way program challenged them to do better in school, gave them more confidence, and gave them a better education. Almost all students felt that being bilingual would help them get a better job. However, students differed in how they rated their use of and proficiency in Spanish. Overall, students reported using Spanish at least weekly. Hispanics was more likely to use it on a daily basis. While one might assume that native Spanish speakers would continue to use more Spanish at home and with their friends, survey results revealed otherwise. Only one fifth of Hispanic Spanish speakers use only Spanish at home, and many use only or mostly English. Similarly, few Hispanic Spanish speakers use only Spanish with their friends: most use both languages, although English dominates. While one fourth of students feel very uncomfortable speaking Spanish in public, most students report feeling comfortable. Twice as many Hispanics European American students feel very comfortable.

     Most students rated their Spanish proficiency in medium range: Hispanic Spanish speakers were slightly more likely to rate themselves in the higher range of proficiency. Most students felt that they were fluent in classroom discourse, although Hispanic Spanish speakers perceived their fluency with peers to be much higher than their fluency in the classroom. European American students were much more likely than Hispanic students to be complimented as well as praised by a teacher or administrator for speaking Spanish.

• “Language is not a unitary skill, but a complex configuration of abilities”

      (Hakuta and Snow 1986). Social communication skills-a.k.a. playground English- should not be confused with academic English, the cognitively demanding language that children need to succeed in school. While playground English tends to de acquired rapidly by most children, academic English is acquired over a period of five to seven years (Cummins 1989)

Research on the effectiveness of bilingual education remains in dispute, because program evaluation studies- featuring appropriate comparison groups and random assignment of subjects or controls for pre-existing differences-are extremely difficult to design. Moreover, there is considerable variation among the pedagogies, schools, students and communities being compared. While numerous studies have documented the benefits of bilingual programs, much of this research has faced methodological criticisms-as noted by an expert panel of the National Research Council (August and Hakuta 1997a).

     Certain critics of bilingual education have interpreted the NRC report to mean that, despite a generation of research, “there is no evidence that there will be long-term advantages or disadvantages to teaching limited-English students in the native language’’ (Glenn1997). The conclusion- widely circulated by the so-called READ Institute- has been rejected by the NRC study directors. To the contrary, they say, the expert panel concluded that “a great deal has been learned from the research that has been conducted on English language learners.” Moreover, there are “empirical results… support[ing] the theory underlying native language instruction.” (August and Hakuta 1997b).According to the panel’s chairman, the “attempt by READ to place its own political spin” on the report hardly advances the cause of objective research (Hakuta 1997).Other critics continue to deny that such empirical support exists. A recent “review of the literature” (Rossel and Baker  1996) reports that bilingual education is inferior to English-only programs of all kinds, including sink-or-swim. Yet these conclusions owe more to the manipulation of program labels than to student performance in the classroom. Critique Rossell and Baker by Cummins (1998) and Krashen (1996) show that, among other distortions, the

researchers rely heavily on studies of French immersion in Canada- bilingual or trilingual approaches that they portray as monolingual “immersion” or “submersion” models. Meanwhile, a meta-analysis of the same body of research reviewed by the critics, but using a more rigorous methodology, found quite different results: a significant edge for bilingual education (Greene 1998).

     The most sophisticated evaluation study to date- a four-year, longitudinal study of 2,000 Spanish-speaking students in five states- found that “late-exit”, developmental bilingual programs proved superior to “early-exit”, transitional bilingual and English-only immersion programs (Ramirez et al. 1991). That is in programs that stressed native-language skills, students’ growth in English reading and mathematics continued to increase long after it had leveled off among their peers in the other programs. While this study has been praised by many, others have rejected the comparison as invalid because all three programs were not tested in the same school districts. Nevertheless, a consensus of applied linguists recognizes that the following propositions have strong empirical support:

• Native-language instruction does not retard the acquisition of English.
• Well-developed skills in the native language are associated with high levels of academic achievement.
• Bilingualism is a valuable skill, for individuals and for the country.

     Bilingualism education was adopted by many local schools districts in the 1960s and 1970s to remedy practices that had denied language minorities to replace the Melting Pot with the Salad Bowl or some other model of ethnic pluralism. There is a long bilingual tradition in the U.S.A, in which minority-language schooling has played a central, albeit largely forgotten, role.

Findings from the survey

• From the students’ point of view:

     Apart from these questions, most of the students responded to the answer positively. In my survey of these universities, I find the influence of family background of the students on their attitudes towards bilingual education system. The students of the rural area mostly choose the bilingual education system rather than the students of urban because of their dependency on mother language.

• The general trend is:

     That bilingual education provides more help both for English proficiency and academic knowledge to the students in engineering and science related departments while less help is reported to the students in arts department. Generally speaking, an improved students´ competence in English could be seen by all students involved. From the close observation to the different University, this paper finds that most of the students responded in a positive way to the bilingual education system, though their syllabus is not so much relevant to the bilingual education system. On the other hand most of them are agreed that the reference books should be translated into bangle to avoid the ambiguity in their learning. Some of the students agree that this system is hampering the status of our mother tongue. And in this case some of the students’ attitudes are positive. They think that bilingual education is enriching our language.

• Bangladesh is a bilingual country.

     In this perspective, most of the students’ attitudes are positive towards bilingualism in case of their increasing learning ability. Bilingual education is also necessary in case of higher education. Most of the students are interested about the question no. 2 and 5 from the part -a. And some other students are strongly disagree about the question 9 and 10 from the part-a.

      Student’ attitudes about the question no 2 and 3 from the part –B are positive respectively. Students’ interest about the teacher’s ability is good but their teaching method is not in proper way. And for this in many cases, they think that the status of mother language is hampering. On the other hand, the most of the student don’t think so like that.

• Ø From the teachers view:

     Bangladeshi teachers and other bilingual staff provide good support for pupils and help to make valuable links with families and the wider community. They appreciate this education system though the syllabus is not relevant too much. They also prefer the practice of four skills of English Language. They strongly disagree about the question no. 9 and 10 from part A. They also agree about the question no. 3 and 2 from part –B.

      From the close observation of their survey, it is established that Bangla is our mother tongue. And a child acquires the knowledge of his/her mother tongue by the innateness. So the students should give minimal importance to English as it is a foreign language. On the other should they give more priority to Bangla as it is related to our culture, homeland and our ethnicity?

Suggestion and Conclusion

     To make a proper bilingual education system of our country, we should have knowledge of the bilingual education system in Developing countries. We should go through their limitations. And then, we should take proper step for our country.

     The practical timetabling and subject use of the metropolitan language and vernaculars in developing countries is just one of the many ways that the ideological message of vernaculars as less useful is reproduced. Many factors conspire to heavily tip the scales against employing local indigenous languages in the classroom. There is the paucity of materials in local languages, their lack of availability, and the tendency for teachers guides to be written in the metropolitan language. Taken together with teachers, often, shaky proficiencies in these languages and literacy’s of instruction, as well as the professional image of the teaching cadre as knowledgeable and proficient speakers of metropolitan language, it is hardly surprising that local languages are disfavored. When mother tongues are introduced into formal education, it is in order to teach old, mainstream curricula in new languages of instruction. Furthermore, the most common solution today to incorporating minority languages into the curriculum is to use them only for the first years of a transitional bilingual program. The emphasis on metropolitan languages as languages of instruction at higher levels may negatively influence the attitudes the use of local languages at the lower levels. The fact that the metropolitan language is introduced as a teaching medium in grade 5 or 6 may mean that teaching at the first four years of the primary level becomes geared to managing this transition at the cost of teaching in the local vernacular. Concretely, this may mean that teachers ignore the local language aspects of the curriculum and focus on teaching the metropolitan language, and that subject content teaching becomes yet another forum for second language teaching of vocabulary. Frequently, the national/minority language will not be an examinable subject, due to technical problems in      forming and standardizing these languages for assessment purposes. This further contributes to their perceived lesser important in the school day. Local languages are not used at higher, post primary levels of schooling , will obviously not be cultivate for these uses, which further impedes the development of educated varieties and registers that could be used to generate reading materials and to reinforce pupils’ writing and reading skills. This in turn impacts negatively also on the primary school level ; when there are fewer materials available ,certain subjects will nit be adequately dealt with in the local language.

     Mainstream schools have tended not to concern themselves with whether or not children maintain and develop or literacy in their home languages or achieve age-appropriate competence. Any consideration of bilingual pedagogy will need to take into account that there are many different learners of EAL in the UK, ranging from new arrivals with little previous experience of schooling in their first language, to second or third generation pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds whose dominant language is now English. There will, therefore, be learners who have varying levels of competence in their first language. Children will also use their first language skills for different purposes at different times.

     The vast majority of people in the world is bilingual, or indeed multilingual, and sees the use of more than one language as a normal part of their daily lives. They may use different languages for different purposes and may be literate in one language but not in another. Many children growing up in the UK are already bilingual when they start school and would not be identified as learners of EAL. Others may speak one language at home to parents or grandparents but be learning English at school or in their early years setting. Some parents may be encouraging children to become literate in their heritage language through teaching them at home or through attendance at community schools. Bilingual children and young people are diverse in terms of their backgrounds and experiences—they are not a homogeneous group and each child and family will have a different understanding of their home or community language and how and when it is used. Language use is also constantly changing as children come into contact with other language speakers and cultures (Harris 1997). However, in England we tend to use the term ‘bilingual learner’ to refer to any child who is growing up in a home and community where the use of more than one language is part of their daily lives.

    Increasingly professionals involved in the field of EAL and bilingualism have come to recognise the importance of first language development for children learning EAL. Many children could grow up as bilinguals but in the UK, through a process known as subtractive bilingualism (Lambert 1975), become monolingual as the opportunities to use and develop their knowledge and skills in their first languages decrease. The recognition of the important role of first language development in second language development has led many professionals working with EAL learners to promote the development and maintenance of first languages and to actively support bilingualism

     Because minority languages have been actively barred from anything but a minimum contact with educational institutions, much work remains to be done in order to bring them up to speed, so that they can be used in such contexts. Their vocabulary, registers and stylistic resources often require radical expansion (intellectualization). But it is also often necessary to grant them a more official status and even, perhaps, to unify different varieties under a common orthography. This process of standardization is yet another way in which the varieties spoken by local communities are implicitly signaled as of lesser value. Authors have commented in detail on some of the side-effects of corpus work on minority languages. Hornberger and King (1996) note that one of the problems connected with standardization is that speakers may oppose norms that differ from their own practices, and that they may conceive to be inauthentic. Standardization also often tends to marginalize speakers whose practices of language differ from the chosen norm. Intellectualization allocates new functions to minority languages.

     The Bilingual education in Developing Countries results in the conferring of new forms and uses of the language at the impersonal and societal level, which may give rise to splits and conflicts in the minority group itself. Official language may remove control over the language from its traditional speakers, which may further serve to alienate the community from its linguistic heritage. Finally, all of these techniques remodel the minority language in the image of the dominant language; minority languages come to be inscribed with the social ideologies, class differences and standard/non-standard distinctions common to metropolitan languages. This is tantamount to nothing less than social engineering by means of language policies. What this all means is that seemingly mere technical considerations in adapting languages to school use carry great social and political weight, and impact upon matter of social and individual identity. Not even mundane technologies of linguistic description can be extracted from issues of power and marginalization. Another consequence of the global subordinate of local languages is the lack of an indigenous production of materials. Part of a problem of ensuring an adequate supply ands coverage of local materials has to do with the marginal status of minority languages. This means a low economic yield on teaching materials produced in these languages, which in turn means that publishers have little to gain in producing them commercially. Markets for materials in metropolitan languages, on the other hand, are more succulent, providing a motivation for major international publishing houses to out-compete local publishers in the production of materials in metropolitan languages. This causes a number of p[problems for educationalists few year ago , a Portuguese foundation produced materials in Portuguese as a second language that were designed for use by speakers of Portuguese varieties all over the world. These materials made no pretence to address the specific learning concerns of the millions of culturally and linguistically distinct communities that were supposed to use them. Generally speaking, metropolitan materials produced by Western or Northern publishing conglomerates means that local voices will not be adequately catered for. Materials may encourage and permit diversity in classroom practices, as well as help structure the teachers and classroom interactions. However, when textbooks are not available, an enormous responsibility and pressure is put on the teacher as the sole source of pedagogical innovation and progress (Arthur 1994).Without available minority language materials in all subjects, teacher will need to produce ad hoc translations or adaptations of metropolitan terms and concepts for their different disciplines. The frequency of use of the metropolitan language, and its visibility, is thereby increased in domains that were officially reserved for the transmission of content in minority languages. This contributes to the general message conveyed about these languages that is that they are not adequate for educational use. Inadequate materials also impacts on pupils in the sense that they hinder independent learning. In Botswana schools at secondary level, for example, only 12 % of the pupils time is spend working with textbooks (Arthur 1994).In general without sufficient materials, teachers face great difficulties in adapting the curriculum to local conditions.

     There are some problems in Bilingual Education system in the Developing Countries. Although translation cannot be avoided, it does pose a number of problems that need a more focused attention. Translations that have not been thought through from a socio cultural perspective may introduce concepts, types of explanation, and even genres or registers that are non-indigenous to the community.

     This may provide a sound innovative resource for the languages, but it may also contradict indigenous ways of encoding knowledge in language. Translation need to be aware of their possible role in the globalization of Western discourse patterns. More generally, minority speakers may not perceive this type of non-locally developed materials as relevant or meaningful. Another problem is in the way in which translations are technically carried out, for example, in the formation of new words. Principles for terminology development or coinage in local languages may not accord with grassroots usage or that which is already in more general use. Finally, translation may hamper the development of innovative linguistic resources to cope with the expressive demands of subject materials at the community level in the languages concerned.

     The weak position for local languages with their concomitant lack of status also impacts negatively on teacher training. Once they have been recruited, it is not uncommon to find that teachers may be actively discouraged from working in other tongue or bilingual programmers. Or they may discover that their career opportunities are tightly linked to metropolitan language criteria that are quite simply how well they speak, for example, English or Portuguese.

 On a more personal level, they may feel that their ideas and conceptions on what the transmission of knowledge means may conflict with local epistemologies and theories of learning and authority, or with the perspective on knowledge transmission that they have learnt at college. There are a host of social and economic problems that worsen the situation.

• The teaching Role.

     In the classroom, the teacher is the planner and organizer of learning activities. It is beyond doubt that the teacher is the most critical factor for quality in the classroom. A school and classroom may have high material standards and facilities, but if the teacher does not know how to make use of them, they will not contribute to improved learning.

It is made more difficult by having to work in educational establishments ostensibly often geared towards the maintenance and propagation of metropolitan values. This may also bring about role conflicts of various sorts. Given this, it is not uncommon that only the less ambitious teachers get put into bilingual programs. Finally teachers are a socially mobile segment of the population at least in rural areas.

     Many strive in a middle class identity and set of values that is linked to the symbolic capital of mastering a metropolitan language. A strong focus on local language programs may imply a redefinition of their status that they find unacceptable. Komarekark draws attention to the important role that teachers play in developing contexts, by saying that in this country, not the curriculum is the basis of the education system, but the teacher. (Komarek, 1996:20). The teacher makes the curriculum by doing despite this, surprisingly little has been done in many developing contexts to adequately recruit or properly prepare teachers for their difficult role as transmitters of local culture and languages….Frequently, teachers are untrained in methodologies of bilingual teaching, especially in mother tongue teaching, and appropriate techniques of second language teaching. In fact, they may not even be literate in their native languages. Or, even worse, they may not be speakers of the languages.

    We touched on the importance of multilingualism for the everyday constitution and expression of multiple identities. And we underscored how on the individual level, knowledge of multiple languages has been found to be emotionally, socially and cognitively enriching. A perspective on language from the vantage point of poststructuralist theory as one articulation of discourse in the Foucauldian sense of the term, that is, as practices that systematically form the objects of which they speck. (Foucault, 1972: 49). Discourses are network of convention, knowledge and practice that determine how one perceives and behaves in the social world. The ways in which we live that structure our access to them, and the political strengths of the interests that they represent (e.f.  Weedon, 1987). In this concept, language offers a historically specific, socially determined, competing and complementary range of ways of giving meaning to social reality, thereby articulating different lived relations to material life ( Althusser, 1971) . Cameron (1990:90), notes that changes in language use change the repertoire of social meaning and choices available to social actors, remarking at the same time language using is a social practice in its own right.

     Considering the total consequence of bilingual education through the world, some suggestions are applicable to our country. Bilingual education should apply in such a way that it can contribute to the creation of wealth in society, especially among those subordinating groups who are traditionally excluded from official labor markets and sources of income dominated by the metropolitan speaking elites. There is evidence that literacy rates correlate with indices of economic development such as child mortality; vernacular literacy’s counteract this.

     Furthermore, there is now ample evidence that education levels correlate with economic and social benefits. There are numerous studies that show the effects of education for earnings (Liue, 1988; Foukhouser, 1999; Bedi & Gaston, 1998) and some work that more specifically looks at the effects of language education on economy (Rassool, 1999) .

     Bilingualism should also in democracy and regional development. It can play in minimizing ethnic and regional conflicts. It provides discourses of power and authority that would be accessible to more people. Counteract effects of globalization. We noted that the use of multiple languages creates order in society.

• Conclusion

     Bilingual education is highly welcomed by the students. Results showed some positive aspects of Bilingual teaching,  such as high enthusiasm from the students and high satisfaction rate to the teachers. Generally, the students from arts department have better command of English than the students from engineering and science departments. This is probably because the students in arts department are exceptionally talented at language learning. However, the effectiveness of bilingual education is relatively low in the arts related departments compared to that of engineering and science departments. This could possibly explained by the differences in course contents. There is more narrative contents in the arts related courses, which require the course Instructor, not only have solid academic background but also have strong verbal skill to express their ideas clearly and attractively in English. Some problems related to bilingual teaching were also revealed. Among them lack of environment for language practicing and lack of good textbooks are the major external issue while an internal issue of the student themselves was also highlighted, that is less English proficiency of the students, which to some extenthinders the improvement of bilingual education.

     To further improve the effectiveness of bilingual education in higher education institute, measures should be taken from both teaching side and learning side. For the teaching side, course instructor, textbook and teaching methods are the major components. Training for trainer program should be widely practiced to help the teacher in both English proficiency and academic development. Additionally, appropriate textbook is also a key issue deserved more attention along the teaching and learning chain. Furthermore, more efforts should be put on teaching methods of bilingual education so that the bilingual education is in line with international practices and tailored to Chinese students. On the other hand, to the students, a correct attitude toward bilingual education should be formed to have more subjective initiative during the study and be more active in the class. In addition to the above two aspects, government and universities should provide more supports and give priority to bilingual education. Corresponding policies for motivation of the implementation of bilingual education is seen as a crucial component of bilingual education in China. For example, the Chinese Ministry of Education initiated the Demonstration Project for Bilingual Education Course. Development at university level in 2006 and 100 bilingual courses were selected nationwide, which greatly motivated the adaptation and implementation of bilingual education at universities. Education systems all over the world are under pressure to meet the demand for access for all to quality education. Governments in developing countries are facing enormous challenges when they decide to open the school doors to all children. The quality of education and access to schools depend on several factors, and one of the major restrictions is poverty. Many donors, researchers and international organizations have not taken the global economic, social and political realities into account and have been too optimistic as to the results of limited investments in the education sector. Research on the expected returns of education does not give unambiguous answers regarding the relationship between education, poverty, growth and development mainly concluding that, it depends.