A Comparative Account Of the Bilingual Education Programs In Malaysia And The United States

Abstract

This paper looks at major challenges encountered in the stipulation and implementationof bilingual education in Malaysia and the United States. It analyses in a comparativemanner the language history and profile; the rationale and types of bilingual programs;the challenges faced in the development and implementation of bilingual programs in theaspects of linguistic perception and resources; and the general solutions to overcome theproblems. With respect to the linguistic situation, English has a strong influence on thesociety in the two countries, with English holding a much higher position in the UnitedStates. Bilingual education in Malaysia is geared more towards the maintenance of themother tongue than the one in the United States. The United States’ bilingual program ismore transitional in nature, although there are some schools that conduct maintenanceprograms. Some of the problems faced by the two countries are linguistic perception,shortage of teachers, lack of materials and the allocation of funds. Both countries embarkon the same solutions to the problems. To improve the linguistic perception, the mediaplays a significant role by holding a system-wide public relation campaign to reducelinguistic competition. Availability of resources is made easily accessible by the twocountries so that there is an increase in number and amount. These two countries acceptconstructive criticisms on their existing bilingual education programs; evaluation of thisnature could ensure the best bilingual education for all.