What is bilingualism?

In the 1930s Bloomfield (1933) described bilingualism as full fluency in two languages. By the end of the 1980s, however, the definition had been broadened to include people who were competent in at least two languages, ‘to the extent required by his or her needs and those of the environment’ (Grosjean, 1989: 6). In Aiming High: Raising the Achievement of Minority Ethnic Pupils (DfES, 2003a: 28) the definition for bilingualism is given as:

Bilingual here is taken to mean all pupils who use or have access to more than one language at home or at school pupils who are living in and learning in English and one or more other languages. It does not necessarily imply full fluency in both languages.

Other authors, including Brisk (1998) and Wrigley (2000) appear to agree with the same definition. In England, the term, ‘English as an additional language’ is frequently used in place of ‘bilingualism’. Throughout the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice (DfES, 2001a), for instance, the former term is the only one to be mentioned. It must be emphasized at this point that learners with English as an additional language will not be identified as having special educational needs because of this factor. Evidence provided will also indicate that government initiatives, influenced by recent research findings, are trying to ensure that bilingual education models, rather than English-only instruction, are incorporated into mainstream schools to ensure that bilingual learners receive quality education immediately they start school in England (DfES, 2001a; DfES, 2003a).