Method of Using English as a Medium of Instruction
Wiki (2007) stated that medium of instruction means the language used by teacher to teach. It may or may not be the official language of the territory (e.g. Bahasa Indonesia in Indonesia or English in Indonesia). English has assumed its place as the language of communication in the new linguistic global order. English is used in science, business, technology, and other domains. Nowadays, English is being applied in the curriculum as a medium of instruction in wide variety countries, from pre-school to higher education. There are two popular methods of using English as Medium of Instruction. They are Immersion and Bilingualism. Both of them have their own characteristics which are explained in the sub-variables below.
Bilingual education as stated in www.wikipedia.com can be categorized into several types: transitional bilingual education, two-way or dual language bilingual education, and late-exit or developmental bilingual education.
Immersion
According to Bostwick (2004) language immersion is an approach to foreign language instruction in which the usual curricular activities are conducted in a foreign language. He also states that immersion students acquire the necessary language skills to understand and communicate about the subject matter set out in the school’s program instruction. They follow the same curicula, and in some instances, use the same materials (translated into target language) as those used in the non-immersion schools of their district.
Immersion education, as stated by Miller (1999), has several core characteristics. First, immersion education promotes additive bilingualism with sustained and enriched instruction through the minority language and the majority language. Second, subject area instruction through the minority language occurs for at least 50% of the school day during the elementary school years. Third, teachers are fully proficient in the language they use as the medium of instruction. The last, there is a clear and sustained separation of languages during instructional time.
According to Brondum and Stenson (1998), immersion education can take a number of forms such as full or total immersion, partial immersion, double immersion, and two-way immersion. These vary according to the amount of the second language used per day, when the second language is introduced, whether a third language is used as well, and whether students come from one of two native-language backgrounds.
The first type of immersion is called full or total immersion. Here, almost one hundred percent of the class time is spent in foreign language. In the earlier grade the instruction is 100 percent in English. Then, the amount of immersion instruction drops gradually in the next grade. The aims of this program are to make the students become functionally proficient in the foreign language, master subject material taught in the foreign languages, and to acquire an understanding of and appreciation for other. This type of program is usually sequential, cumulative, continuous, proficiency oriented, and part of integrated grade of school sequence.
The second type is called partial immersion where about half of the class time (usually about 50 percent) is spent learning subject matter in the foreign language. This percentage remains constant throughout elementary school. The subject material is taught in both the first and the second language. It is possible to have two teachers in each class: one teaches in the first language and the other teaches in the second language. The goals are to make the students become functionally proficient in the second language (though to a lesser extent than through total immersion), master subject material taught in the foreign languages, and to acquire an understanding of and appreciation for other cultures.
The third type of immersion is double immersion. It is essentially a full immersion program with instruction in two non-native languages.
The last type of immersion is called two-way immersion. It is also called “dual-“ or “bilingual immersion”. Here, the students consist of two or more different languages. Ideally speaking, half of the class is made up of native speakers of the major language in the area (i.e. English in the U.S.) and the other half is of the target language (i.e. Spanish). The class time is split in a half where the subject material is taught in the major and target languages. Through this way, students will encourage and teach each other, and eventually all become bilingual. The goals of two-way immersion are for both language groups to become bilingual, succeed academically, and develop positive inter-group relations.
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