Abstract:
Bilingualism refers to the ability to speak two languages fluently.
Multilingualism is then the mastery of more than two languages on a high
level of proficiency. International surveys indicate that there are many more
bilinguals and multilinguals in the world's population than there are
monolinguals. In many parts of the world, children are educated through the
medium of a second or foreign language. Moreover, for many people,
bilingualism or multilingualism constitutes the normal every day experience.
English, specifically, is crucial in today's world. English has become the
world’s second language. It is claimed that the world today suffers from
English fever that English is necessary if one wants to communicate with the
rest of world, in business or during holidays, and this causes the increasing
demand for learning English. This research was undertaken to study the
current practice of bilingual education implemented in Government schools
in Jaffna. This study examined current situation of bilingual education in
two National schools in Jaffna. The study of bilingual education progress
included interviews with students, parents and teachers, observation of
classrooms and questionnaires for teachers and students. Socio-cultural
factors prone to influence bilingual learning progress in Jaffna were their
social status, economic status, parent’s attitude, and language preference of
language use, cultural aspects of Tamil society and perceptions of bilingual
education from different communities. We have described a bilingual
research which took place in the national schools, Jaffna Hindu College and
Vembadi Girls’ High School. Subjects of this research were students,
teachers and parents. Factors of influence taken into consideration were
social status, economic status, parent’s attitude, language preference of
language use, cultural aspects of Tamil society perceptions of bilingual
education from different communities. Responses from teacher, parents and
children describe the current scenario of bilingual practice in these two
schools
