ERIC Number: ED264326
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1986
Pages: 272
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: ISBN-0-465-04636-3
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Mirror of Language. The Debate on Bilingualism.
Hakuta, Kenji
This book provides an overview of bilingualism and bilingual education by examining historical and recent literature, presenting firsthand observations, and demonstrating how both popular views and scholarly research actually mirror larger social issues. Following the first chapter, a brief introduction, chapter 2 reviews the historical controversy over the intelligence of bilingual individuals and discusses how the interpretation of facts regarding bilingualism is tempered to a large degree by current social theories. Different disciplinary perspectives on bilingualism among young children are reviewed in chapter 3, which also charts a shift in scholarly focus from an interest in the description of language behaviors toward the postulation of complex structures in the mind. Chapter 4 examines various ways in which the qualities of the bilingual mind have been characterized, while chapter 5 provides a linguistic view of how children learn a second language and considers implications for second-language curriculum. A comparison of second language acquisition in adults with that in children is the topic of chapter 6. Chapter 7 characterizes a number of bilingual communities and explores the influences of social and cultural values in determining under which conditions a community stabilizes into bilingualism and under which conditions one language atrophies and the community moves toward monolingualism. The topic of chapter 8 is how bilingual education emerges as the salient issue when competing languages and values exist in a society. In conclusion, the 9th and final chapter outlines enduring points of tension that will be found in future debates on bilingualism. (GC)
Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Bilingualism, Child Language, Cognitive Processes, Elementary Secondary Education, Intelligence, Language Acquisition, Literature Reviews, Second Language Learning, Social Influences, Sociolinguistics
Basic Books, Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, N.Y. 10022 ($18.95).
Publication Type: Books; Reports - General
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A