CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Introduction

In today’s world, bilingualism is more the norm than the exception, (Lessow-

Hurley, 2000). In a general term, bilingualism refers to the ability to use two languages

in everyday life. In fact, bilingualism is common and is on the rise in many parts of the

world, with perhaps one in three people being bilingual or multilingual (Wei, 2000)). It is

also evident that contact between two languages is typical in regions of many

continents, including Europe (Switzerland, Belgium), Asia (India, Philippines), Africa

(Senegal, South Africa), and North America (Canada). Governments around the world

are now developing bilingual and/or multilingual educational policies, not only as a

response to their nations’ innate linguistic heterogeneity, but also as a means of coping

with a world whose borders are increasingly disappearing. However, as children become

older, they become more aware of the language spoken in the community where they

live, and are likely to use this language at school. This is known as the majority language,

while other languages that are not as widely spoken are known as minority languages.

Even if initially learned in preschool, minority languages are much more likely than

majority languages to be lost as development continues (De Houwer, 2007). In addition

other studies report that bilingualism has a negative impact on language development and

is associated with delays in lexical acquisition (Pearson, et al. 1993; Umbel & Oller,

1995) and a smaller vocabulary than that of monolingual children (Verhallen &

Schoonen, 1993; Vermeer, 1992). Bilingual children score on par with their monolingual

counterparts on tests of verbal ability by middle school, and well-controlled studies

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provide no evidence for lower intellectual abilities of bilingual children compared to

monolinguals (Baker & Jones, 1998; Cook, 1997; Hakuta, 1986).

Furthermore, bilingual countries like the Philippines tried to show that

bilingualism or the use of two languages like the Filipino and English as media of

instruction in secondary school enhances the learners’ language proficiency or the ability

of students to use the English language to make and communicate meaning in spoken and

written contexts while completing their program of study, which allows them to

effectively communicate in various contexts and give them an edge to enter the

university (Valerio, 2015).

According to Koo (2008), English remains to be the powerful language in the

country and has an impact on education and economic advancement. However, if the

English language was the most powerful, why does the data show that the use of mother

tongue language as a supplement to English is useful? In fact Filipino learners use their

mother tongue language instead of English language to comprehend some concepts

better. This means that learners who have limited proficiency in English can learn and

acquire information by using their native language. This promotes that students can

understand a context through its translation in their first language rather than to learn the

language to understand a context. They get to use the language that they are more

comfortable with and if it happens that their first language is not English. There would be

less exposure to the English Language, that on the other hand can weaken the English

Language Proficiency. As a result, the decline of English Language Proficiency is a

simple implication that one of the factors that decreases the Filipino’s English language

proficiency is the native language of bilingual students.

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It was therefore evident that as future educators majoring in English, the

researchers should utilize the opportunity and their responsibility to fill the gap within the

impact of bilingualism towards the English language proficiency of the students. It is in

order to raise a solution that would help the curriculum.

Alongside with the justification of the evaluation of Impact of Bilingualism in the

English Language Proficiency, a further personal motivation for the study were the

researchers as Bilingual Students who experience the gap firsthand.

This study had two purposes: to examine the possible impacts of bilingualism

towards the English language proficiency of the learners from Bachelor of Secondary

Education major in English and to find the significant relationship of the demographic

profile towards the respondents English Language Proficiency.

Statement of the Problem

This research aims to address the implications of bilingualism towards English

language proficiency of the respondents.Specifically, it seeks to answer the following;

1. How may the respondents’ demographic profile be described in terms of;

1.1 Address of the respondents; and,

1.2 Preferred Language: Filipino or English?

2. How may the respondents be categorized in terms of following types of

Bilingualism;

2.1 Dominant bilinguals;

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2.2 Passive or recessive bilinguals;

2.3 Semilinguals or limited; and,

2.4 Balanced bilinguals?

3.How may the impact of Bilingualism be described in terms of the English Language

Proficiency of the respondents?

4. Is there a significant relationship between the respondent’s Bilingualism to

their English Language Proficiency?

Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework of this paper was composed of the input, process and

output. The input or the selected respondents who were learners from first to fourth year

taking up Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in English. This includes their address,

preferred language, and their type of bilingualism. The inputs were the variables that

were used in the process. The process of this research paper is the data gathering

procedure using descriptive-correlational research design. This identifies the relationship

of variables which were included in the input. Lastly, was the output where researchers

identify the impact of bilingualism in the English language proficiency of the

respondents. Output showed the relationship of the variables and its effect on their

English language proficiency.

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INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

Bachelor of Secondary
Education Major in
English.

Respondent’s Data gathering using:

demographic profile be Impact of Bilingualism in
Descriptive-Correlational the English language
described in terms of;
Method
proficiency .
Address of the
respondents
Preferred Language
Bilingualism
3.1 Dominant
Bilinguals
3.2 Passive or
Recessive Bilinguals
3.3Semilinguals
or Limited
3.4 Balanced
Bilinguals

Figure 1. Research Paradigm

Significance of the Study

This research is beneficial in a way that everyone who can read this study will be

more informed about the impact of bilingualism in the English language proficiency;

Students may be informed of the impact of bilingualism on their English

language proficiency.

Parents may gain a wider perspective on the impact of bilingualism and its effect

on their children’s English language proficiency.

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Teachers may most likely perceive how their students adapt bilingualism through

the students' English language proficiency. They will most likely see much more of their

students’ response to the class.

Researchers may expand knowledge and understanding of the impact of

bilingualism in English language proficiency.

Policymakers are most likely to see the results of the Policy they implement,

evaluate and judge what to be changed, keep, improve and eliminate in the curriculum for

the development of the language proficiency of the learners.

The research enables the Department of Education to keep moving forward and

guide the decision-making skills in education reform.

Future Researchers may be able utilize this research to get a supporting claim to

their exploration applicable to their study.

Scope and Delimitations of the Study

This covers the impact of bilingualism in the English language proficiency. The

primary respondents of this research study consist of students from Bachelor of

Secondary Education Major in English enrolled in the academic year 2022-2023. The

respondents of the study were limited to 133 students taking Bachelor of Secondary

Education Major in English in Holy Cross College Sta. Rosa, N.E. Inc.

Moreover, this study covers how the demographic profile of the respondents can

be described in terms of; address of the respondents, and preferred language. This study

also focused on how the impact of bilingualism can be described in terms of the English

language proficiency of the respondents. Nevertheless, determining the significant

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relationship only limits the relationship between the address of the bilingual respondents

and the English language proficiency, how bilingual respondents' preferred language

impacts their English Language Proficiency, and the significant implication of types of

bilingualism in their English Language-proficiency.

Hypotheses

H0- There is no significant relationship between the respondents' bilingualism and

their English language proficiency.

Ha-There is a significant relationship between the respondents' bilingualism and

their English language proficiency.

Definition of Terms

Bilingual is a person who can speak two languages equally well (Oxford

Learner’s Dictionary).

Bilingualism is the fact of using or being able to speak two languages

(Cambridge Dictionary).

Balanced bilinguals is a person who has proficiency in two languages such that

his or her skills in each language match those of a native speaker of the same age

(Oxford Learner’s Dictionary).

Cronbach's alpha is a measure of internal consistency, that is, how closely

related a set of items are as a group. It is considered to be a measure of scale reliability. A

“high” value for alpha does not imply that the measure is unidimensional (UCLA

Advanced Research Computing).

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Dominant bilinguals are bilinguals who are more proficient in one language than

the other (Oxford Learner’s Dictionary).

Language Proficiency is the ability to speak in a certain language or the ability to

perform well with different language tasks (A. Leverkuhn, 2022).

Lexical Acquisition deals with how to obtain, with computational methods,

information about the lexical units of a language from texts in this language (Lothar

Lemnitzer, Claudia Kunze, 2005).

Linguistic Heterogeneity means that people can speak at least two languages, the

native language of the speakers and the national language. In this situation the speaker

has a linguistic repertoire when interacting with others ( Retorika: Jurnal Ilmu Bahasa,

2017).

Monolingual means speaking or using only one language (Oxford Learner’s

Dictionary).

Mother Tongue is the language that you first learn to speak when you are a child

(Oxford Learner’s Dictionary).

Multilingual is the ability to use more than two languages for communication, or

(of a thing) written or spoken in more than two different languages (Cambridge

Dictionary).

Passive bilinguals refers to being able to understand a second language without

being able to speak it (Oxford Learner’s Dictionary).

Semilinguals is a phenomenon when people speak several languages at a low

level of development, with evident deficiencies in all languages (Oxford Learner’s

Dictionary).
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CHAPTER 2

Review of Related Literature

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