Bilingualism and Employability

AYADA Si Mohammed El Amine
Tlemcen University

Abstract:

No one denies the importance of speaking one language or two, and even more in daily life. A big majority of countries around the world include teaching and learning a second language in their education system. The reason why could vary from one country to another. Some languages have been included into the education system because of historical ties such as the case of Algeria . However, more languages are taught and learnt due to reasons other than historical ones. English for example. There are no historical ties between Algeria and any other native English speaking country. Globalization and the new millennium on the other hand, made the English language necessary to be learnt. On an international level, free trade and economic relations between countries obliged people to speak each other’s language to facilitate deals and grow economy. This research paper discusses the following:

– What is bilingualism?

– What languages should be taught?

– How does the economy influence teaching and students choice?

-Does speaking a different language increase your employment chances?

-Does speaking a different language increase students’ employment chances?

Key words: bilingualism, employability, job market, languages, education, Foreign languages….

1-Introduction

Curiosity killed the cat, but never really killed humans. Au contraire it made them go through the path of development and discoveries. The moment our ancestors started thinking out of the box and discovering what is outside their circle and societies, they were astonished with they’ve found. Not only they found new land and different environments but also different ethnicities and races. So a bridge of relations was under construction. The need to understand other people and contact them made it crucial to start learning ways of communication. It started as a simple way of contact for simple matters but once the relationship between people got a little bit complicated and desires needed to be expressed like exchange of goods as an example, people realized that the only way to do that was by learning the other side’s code of communication. William Francis Mackey states that it arises as a result of contact whether it spreads throughout the community or not, and depends on whether the conditions for its developments are right. These conditions are determined by individual and group attitudes towards the two languages involved and bilingualism itself as a concept.⁽¹⁾

A lot of times we refer to the world as the small village or global village, in a metaphoric way to describe the tremendous development in technologies and means of communication that everything now is on the tip of our fingers. Just a few clicks on a digital screen can link you to a conference happening in Hong Kong. In simple words we have the tools to contact any place in the globe for different reasons (education, economy, family and friends etc…Hoffman states regarding this matter that over the years and centuries, communities all over the world establish links with one another, whether friendly, commercially, or belligerent. The result of such communication can be either positive or negative experiences. They always have an influence in some way on the people’s speech behavior. Therefore, eventually they will influence their languages. Sometimes, the result is bilingualism, and sometimes the languages are affected by borrowing or change. With the passage of time, one community may undergo gradual language shift replacing bilingualism with monolinguals, or it may adopt an unused language because of a sudden change in the conditions of life as it has become common in many parts of Africa and Asia.⁽²⁾

So to be linked wherever we want is not an issue anymore, nevertheless the problem remains with the barrier of language, the only tool that can link East with the West. Sure we can make a deal and buy things from a Chinese factory without having to travel to China, but we still need a way to express and provide a detailed description of what exactly we need in a language that both parties understand. With that being said comes the importance of learning a second language, not only to express ourselves but to complete and make a meaning of these tools of communication provided now by technologies.

Nowadays, it doesn’t take us a long time walking down the street to realize and notice these different banners and billboards promoting for different private schools offering a chance to speak and master a second language. What is even more interesting is the success of these types of schools. More and more adherents enroll every day to learn a language or two and importantly to get a diploma that will boost their resumes and chances in scoring a job in the future. After all, CEOs will hire those who have a better knowledge in different languages.

So, has learning a second language shifted from a way of communication and discovering other cultures to mainly economic reasons and seeking employability?

2-What is bilingualism?

Bilingualism usually refers to a person who speaks two languages. This simple definition, mainly found in dictionaries such as Webster; “ having or using two languages especially as spoken with fluency characteristics of a native speaker; a person using two languages especially habitually and with control like that of a native speaker and bilingualism as the constant oral use of two languages.” ⁽³⁾ . However there are at least two distinguished definitions given by linguists. Also there is a huge dilemma on whom to consider a bilingual. Colin Baker asks these questions in order to understand a bilingual, he says “Ask someone if they are bilingual. Is someone bilingual if they are fluent in one language but less than fluent in their other language? Is someone bilingual if they rarely or never use one of their languages?”⁽⁴⁾ These questions sound legit alongside different scenarios faced by Psychologist Francois Grosjean such as:

– No, I’m not bilingual; I’m not fluent in all my languages.

– I don’t consider myself bilingual since I don’t know how to write my other language.

– I didn’t grow up with two languages, so I’m not bilingual.

– I have an accent in Spanish so I can’t be considered bilingual.⁽⁵⁾

So, how do we know and consider someone a bilingual? If we have the answer to these questions then our problem can be solved, however linguists have different views on defining and who to consider a bilingual. John Macnamara for instance, thinks that a bilingual is anyone who possesses a minimal competence in only one of the four language skills, listening comprehension, speaking, reading and writing, in a language other than his mother tongue. ⁽⁶⁾

According to Macnamara, to be considered a second language (SL) speaker you don’t have to master any of the four language skills. The word master would be misused if we look at the word minimal. One has to only engulf one of the four skills mentioned above. In other words, it takes you a few vocabulary skills to be considered a SL speaker, but everyone knows that this statement is impossible. Speaking a second language lies beyond knowing a few terms or saying a certain number of sentences. It is about knowing and mastering the logic of this code called language. Sometimes it can pass that to something larger. You don’t only have to master the logic of it but also understand the culture and background of the society speaking that language. If we go by Macnamara’s definition we’ll find that most Arab kids are bilingual at a very young age, because a big majority of them know the Latin alphabet in their early childhood. Another linguist who supports this theory or definition is Haugen. He states “…at the point where the speaker of one language can produce complete, meaningful utterances in the other language” ⁽⁷⁾ meaning when a person starts making meaningful sentences then the SL bilingualism starts. This definition is less tolerant but still general, if we consider making sentences we need at least two skills together, vocabulary and grammatical skill. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that this SL speaker can write what he just said and we also don’t know what Haugen means by «making meaningful sentences” because they could be made either in a written form or an oral form.

Taking an opposite side now and more strict definitions and consideration to whom to call a bilingual we find Leonard Bloomfield. He considers a bilingual every person who has a perfect control of the second language just like he does with his native language. Therefore he says “In the extreme cases of foreign-language learning the speaker becomes so proficient as to be indistinguishable from the native speaker round him … In the cases where this perfect foreign-language learning is not accompanied by loss of the native language, it results in bilingualism, native-like control of two languages” ⁽⁸⁾. It is clear that Bloomfield set a strict condition to be considered a bilingual, complete mastering and control of the second language just like their native speakers would do. Another linguist following the same path and making a conditional consideration to bilinguals is David Crystal. He says “the definitions of bilingualism reflect assumptions about the degree of proficiency that people must achieve before they are qualified as bilinguals whether comparable to monolingual native speaker or something less than this. So, the perfection of bilingualism of an individual is not decided by the number of fields that the individual is able to use, but rather how perfect the result is when he/she uses the two languages in any field.”⁽⁹⁾

These definitions show that there are certain unresolved paradoxes in determining what is what, where the limits are and what to consider right or wrong? Therefore Byram and Brumfit consider it difficult to define who is bilingual, since the definitions of bilingualism are almost as many as the researchers who have studied bilingualism. Each researcher uses a definition that suits their field of studies.⁽¹⁰⁾

3-What languages should be taught?

Learning a second language has become an important phenomenon. Countries all over the world include in their education systems that at least one foreign language is mandatory to be taught and learnt. They provide all kinds of human and financial support to make it succeed. What languages to be taught and included in the education system can differ from one country to another, but they usually come down to three main factors:

3-1- Historical factor:

In the 15^th Century, a man called Christopher Columbus set on a voyage to discover a safe route that would keep him safe from the Muslim domination of the trade routes through the Middle East which made travel to India and China difficult. Believing a route sailing west across the Atlantic would be quicker and safer, Columbus devised a plan to sail west to reach the East. He estimated the earth to be a sphere approximately 63% its actual size and the distance between the Canary Islands and Japan to be about 2,300 miles.⁽¹¹⁾But he breached new horizons discovering a new world. This hunger to discover and conquer new lands was expanded by the dawn of the 17^th Century by the industrial revolution. Stephen Ocheni and Basil C. Nwankwo state in their research on colonialism, that “ Industrial revolution ushered in a new process of production in place of the earlier slave-based economy. The industrial revolution was a revolutionary trend in the history of mankind. The problem of how to lubricate machineries came up with the emergence of the industrial revolution. The slave trade and slavery have by this time fulfilled their basic function of providing the primitive capital. The quest for the investment of the accumulated capital and the need for raw materials led to the colonization of Africa.”⁽¹²⁾ Another researcher, Juan Carlos Ocana Aybar, includes many factors and causes to colonialism saying that; “The colonial and imperialist expansion undertaken by the industrial powers from 1870-1914 was motivated by several factors:

1-Economic factors (raw materials, new markets to sell and buy, valve for population pressure in the metropolis)

2-Political factors (national prestige, lobby groups interested in colonization, action of highly influential politicians)

3-Geostrategic factors (geographic privileged enclaves)

4-Cultural and scientific factors (thirst for knowledge, extension of Western culture and ).⁽¹³⁾

Language being one of the cultural features that distinguishes a society was imposed on the new lands as a new way of communication with the invaders, also to facilitate every human contact and labor work and impose their political domination. Khosravi Shakib did research on this particular matter and said “Colonialists apply this lingual improvement and power not only for the language itself but for the more powerful aim of strengthening their political base and their colonialism on other lingual minority groups”⁽¹⁴⁾. Nowadays we have what we call colonial language and colonial language speakers. After the independence most of these languages stayed as a direct result of colonialism, not only that, but some of them had become a second language to a lot of these countries and others became a first language for other countries.

3-2- Globalization:

By the end of WW2, two poles emerged as leading powers of the world, yet another type of war started between these two to set their beliefs, values and have a one pole leadership of the world. It was a new era. It was the Cold War, which ultimately ended with the collapse of the USSR, and the USA emerged as a leading power. As a direct effect of what has been mentioned a new concept was established, globalization.

Explaining what globalization is a bit confusing because there is not a single definition for it. It is known among scholars as the most ambiguous concepts ever made. James Rosenau states that “Globalization is not the same as globalism, which points to aspirations for an end state of affairs wherein values are shared by or pertinent to all the world’s five billion people, their environment, their roles as citizens, consumers or producers
with an interest in collective action designed to solve common problems. Nor is it
universalism—values which embrace all humanity, hypothetically or actually”⁽¹⁵⁾. It seems like the term refers to describe the constant changes across the world in general and small societies in particular. It pushes these small communities to be more open to the world and involved with what is happening and what will happen. Therefore we invented a new description to the world and that is a global village that involves a global society, global economy, global culture and a global language. Nowadays a global language can’t refer to any other language but English, also considered as lingua-franca. People use English around the globe unanimously to communicate no matter what their origin, background and first languages are. A lot of education systems include English as a second language or a third one due to the fact of globalization.

Economical factors:

As mentioned before, one of the other results of globalization is a global economy. Nations opening to each other and blending made trade a lot easier and lucrative. Almost everything that came during the nineties was in favor of closing the gap between nations. Technology development had its portion in this too. The only problem between people was the language barrier that had to be exceeded.

Countries around the world plan their future based on studying multiple factors and indicators. One of the important indicators is the economic one, due to its part in the comfort and well-being of people. In a research done by John Worne (director of strategy, British council) he discusses what languages should be included and considered to be taught in the future based on economic and cultural indicators. Using the same indicators, he thinks that more languages should be added and given more importance in the near future; languages like Arabic, Portuguese and Mandarin Chinese. The research classifies ten languages as UK’s long term language needs based on different indicators.⁽¹⁶⁾ The indicators were introduced as following:

1. Current UK export trade

2. The language needs of UK business

3. UK government trade priorities

4. Emerging high growth markets

5. Diplomatic and security priorities

6. The public’s language interests

7. Outward visitor destinations

8. UK government’s International Education Strategy priorities

9. Levels of English proficiency in other countries

10. The prevalence of different languages on the internet.⁽¹⁷⁾

As you can see, the first four are economically based indicators which show the importance of economy in deciding what languages are to be taught and learnt by the public. Here below is a list of the ten most important languages for the UK’s future, based on the same indicators and as presented by the analysis:

1 – Spanish 2 – Arabic 3 – French 4-Mandarin Chinese 5-German

6-Portuguese 7-Italian 8-Russian 9-Turkish 10-Japanese ⁽¹⁸⁾

5-How does the economy influence teaching and students choice?

Every country seeks for a good economy. A good economy means a good infrastructure and a well being of the people. Amongst the infra structure affected by the status of the economy is education. Most countries fund their education systems to ensure a high quality education for their people whom will lead the wheel of development in the future by filling different economical positions. The impact of economy on education and students has also been observed at an early age. Sociologists relate students’ performance by what they call SES (Social economical status). Graetz B states that “While there is disagreement over how best to measure SES, most studies indicate that children from low SES families do not perform as well as they potentially could at school compared to children from high SES families.” ⁽¹⁹⁾ It is clear according to Graetz that the economical status of the family will influence the performance of their children and their future.

These studies and multiple other ones came to conclusion that because of the economical status of the family, children are more likely to exhibit the following patterns in terms of educational outcomes compared to children from high SES families:

1-Have lower levels of literacy numeracy and comprehension

2-Have lower retention rates (children from low SES families are more likely to leave school early).

3-Have lower higher education participation rates (children from low SES families are less likely to attend university).

4-Exhibit higher levels of problematic school behavior (for instance truancy).

5-Are less likely to study specialized math and science subjects.

6-Are more likely to have difficulties with their studies and display negative attitudes to school.

7-Have less successful school-to-labor market transitions

A similar researches were performed by different sociologists such as Edward St John, James R , Looker and Lowe who found that SES can also be categorized into high SES and low SES according to the position of parents’ education, occupation and income. There are differences between high SES student and low SES student. The studies reported that high SES student intends to pursue tertiary education, attends university and pursues post graduate degrees. However, low SES students take different direction. James R stated that students from low SES were less presented in Higher Educational Institutions. They are less confident and have many things to consider especially on the financial aspects in making decision to enter higher educational institutions. Both statuses also affect the student choice of course program in the college or university. High SES students prefer to study engineering and science. While, Davies and Guppy in Leppel found that low SES students tend to choose subjects that can guarantee immediate job prospects upon graduation. ⁽²⁰⁾

6-Does speaking a different language increase students’ employment chances?

Most graduate students after finishing their education will have one ultimate goal and that is to find a job and enter the work force. Some succeed in finding a job right away maybe due to the increasing demand in that field or other factor that differ from one place to another. In a 2015 Canadian study, it showed that “University graduates experienced the highest employment growth of any educational attainment group over the last decade.” ⁽²¹⁾ . While in the neighboring country USA numbers are not the same. According to a survey, the risk of unemployment among recent college graduates depends on their major. The unemployment rate for recent graduates is highest in Architecture (13.9 percent) because of the collapse of the construction and home building industry in the recession. Unemployment rates are generally higher in non-technical majors, such as the Arts (11.1 percent), Humanities and Liberal Arts (9.4 percent), Social Science (8.9 percent)1 and Law and Public Policy (8.1) percent. ⁽²²⁾. These numbers and surveys don’t change the fact that the majority of students fear to face unemployment. As employers seek only for the best to hire, and put different requirements for their future employee. Students rush to boost their resumes alongside their diplomas. One of the major factors that had been decisive in hiring students is their ability to speak a foreign language. “As the number of positions decreases and the number of applicants increases, employers are looking for additional qualifications that will make an applicant stand out from the crowd. Being bilingual is one of those qualifications. In fact, just last year, CNN Money named bilingualism as the hottest skill for job seekers.” ⁽²³⁾.

According to an article published in Language Magazine that “in recent years, there has been much lip service given to the opportunities in business and government services for persons with bilingual skills”. It also states the other facts emphasizing that learning a second language can really be an asset for your future employment. That state that teachers are using the fact that being bilingual is going to help students find a job as a hook to get students to study at least one foreign language. The article includes a survey done by Smart Business magazine which states that major firms and companies spend an average of 1 million Dollars to replace employees who can’t handle overseas assignments because they had difficulty adjusting to the language and culture. ⁽²⁴⁾

Conclusion:

Teaching or learning a language can be a result of many of many factors. One of the main factors is the economical one. We have a lot students focusing in learning a second or a third language for business or employment purposes. This brings an important question to the table. Have Second language and third language teachers succeeded to form students in literature fields? We have a lot of students that study French literature, English literature and many other literatures, but they always end up working as teachers or translators in an international company.

Sure we have writers who succeeded in reaching fame and gained international recognition by writing in a second language not their mother tongues, but most of them were taught by colonial’s teachers where the second language was mandatory. It is almost rare nowadays to see someone breaching success in foreign literature but native speakers.

Therefore can we say that teachers are just teaching a job language? A language that can help you get a job in the future…

---