مقايسه ي دانش زبان انگليسي دانش آموزان دو زبانه ي استان خوزستان و دانش آموزان يك-زبانه ي استان فارس در مقطع چهارم متوسطه: رويكردي شناختي

A Comparative Study on Bilingual and Monolingual Iranian EFL studentsʹʹ Knowledge of English (fourth graders) in Fars and Khuzestan provinces: A Cognitive Approach

پژوهش حاضر قصد دارد ضمن ارايه ي شرح مختصري از پديده ي دوزبانگي و رابطه ي آن با رشد شناختي و يادگيري زبان سوم، با روشي مقايسه اي به بررسي ميزان دانش زبان انگليسي دانش آموزان دوزبانه ي استان خوزستان و دانش آموزان يك زبانه ي استان فارس در مقطع چهارم متوسطه بپردازد. درمجموع، از ميان كل جمعيت 67031 دانش آموز مشغول به تحصيل در سال تحصيلي 92-91، 243 دانش آموز يك زبانه در استان فارس و 205 دانش آموز دوزبانه در استان خوزستان انتخاب شده و در اين تحقيق شركت كردند. به منظور ارزيابي دانش زبان انگليسي آزمودني ها، آزمون بسندگي طراحي شده در بين آن ها توزيع شد. پس از تجزيه و تحليل آماري داده هاي جمع آوري شده، نتايج به دست آمده، نشان مي دهد كه در تقابل با پژوهش هاي ديگري كه در اين زمينه انجام شده است، بين دوزبانگي و دانش واژگاني و دستوري زبان انگليسي دانش-آموزان رابطه ي معناداري وجود ندارد. به عبارت ديگر، در اين تحقيق، دانش آموزان يك زبانه در مقايسه با همتايان دو زبانه شان، در ميزان دانش دستوري و واژگاني زبان انگليسي، از وضعيت بهتري برخوردارند. بر اساس يافته هاي اين تحقيق، پيشنهاد مي گردد به منظور تبيين علل و عوامل پنهان دخيل در رشد ضعيف دوزبانه ها، در يادگيري زبان انگليسي در اين جوامع دوزبانه مطالعاتي انجام شود.

1- INTRODUCTION Recent surveys show that there are approximately six thousand languages being used in 193 countries all over the world i.e. the number of languages are thirty times more than the number of nations. Given these figures, it is therefore not surprising that about two-thirds of the worldʹs population grow up in bilingual or even multilingual settings. Consequently, in the history of linguistics, the nature of bilingualism, bilinguals and the acquisition of two languages have been studied and the issues have been highly debated for a long time. The roots of the studies in this field can be traced to activities in multiple disciplines; the most significant disciplines involved being linguistics, psychology, anthropology and sociology. 2-THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Over time, bilingualism has attracted the interest of many scholars for its influence on cognitive growth. A careful look at the literature on the relationship between bilingualism and cognition presents the curious reader with the fact that the literature prior to the 1960s mostly demonstrated that bilingualism was a negative phenomenon and thus had negative consequences on cognitive abilities. However, research conducted after the 1960s, particularly over the past thirty years, was contrary to the findings of previous research and they have mainly indicated the cognitive advantages of bilingualism. During the past decades a growing body of studies have also been conducted in the area of multilingualism and third language (L3) acquisition with the aim of exploring the effect of bilingualism on third language acquisition, most recent studies tend to indicate that both, first and second languages have positive effects on the acquisition of a new or an additional language and to particularly confirm that bilingual learners enjoy some advantages over monolinguals in the process of acquiring a new language. The findings from some studies generally confirm that bilinguals’ prior language experience, cognitive flexibility, enhanced learning strategies and metalinguistic awareness facilitate L3 acquisition and that level of bilingualism is closely related to level of proficiency in the new language. The present research primarily aims to compare the knowledge of English vocabulary and grammar in a sample of monolingual and bilingual high school students (fourth graders) in Fars and Khuzestan provinces in Iran. 3- METHODOLOGY To achieve the objectives of the study, all public high school students (fourth graders) of Fars and Khuzestan provinces in Iran in the 2012-2013 academic year that amounted to 67031 students were identified as the target population of this study. The selected sample comprised of 243 monolingual and 205 bilingual students. In this study, the data was collected using a 40-item test developed for measuring the respondents’ knowledge of English grammar and vocabulary. The English test was directly pilot-tested with a goal of studying its reliability. The test-retest method was used for obtaining evidence for the reliability of this test. The correlation coefficient was calculated and the reliability was found to be 0.86. The data so obtained, was finally analyzed statistically. With the aim of testing the hypotheses and drawing conclusions, descriptive and inferential statistics were employed using central tendency measures (mean and standard deviation) and independent t-tests. 4- DISCUSSION In brief, the first and second hypotheses of the present investigation were concerned with the bilingual students’ better performances on English grammar and vocabulary when compared to monolingual counterparts. However, the results indicated that monolingual students were superior in English grammar and vocabulary as compared to their bilingual peers in terms of test scores. Thus, the two hypotheses were rejected. Hence, the results of the present investigation are in line with early studies such as Saer (1924); Grabo (1931); Barke & Williams (1938) and Carrow (1957) which showed a difference in favor of monolinguals and found that bilinguals were linguistically deficient in comparison to their monolingual counterparts. Nevertheless, the findings related to the research questions in this study are contrary to the outcomes of studies such as Cenoz and Valencia (1994), Thomas (1988), Sanz (2000), Brohy (2001), Cenoz (2003), Keshavarz and Astaneh (2004) and Kassaian and Esmae’li (2011). This body of research is notably among those exploring the positive effects of bilingualism on third language acquisition and confirming the idea that bilingual learners present advantages when learning an additional language in comparison to monolingual learners. In fact, there are multiple variables that may be the true causes for any positive, negative or even neutral results in bilingualism studies. These influential factors can be associated with the process of third or additional language acquisitions. To mention a few, thus, one might propose factors such as contextual setting where these languages are learned in and socio-cultural status of the languages, typological distance, the learner’s level of proficiency, language experience, recency and L2 status. These factors should be taken into account for the analysis of the process of third or additional language acquisition and the interpretation of results as well. 5- CONCLUSION As previously mentioned, contrary to our expectations and in spite of an increasing number of recent studies and researches supporting the positive effects of bilingualism, the findings of this study reveal that the bilingual participants scored lower than monolingual students on the English test. It is interesting to note that the outcomes of such studies can be helpful and open a number of avenues to investigate various aspects of bilingualism, L3 development and to explore what role the linguistic knowledge from previously acquired languages plays in the process of third or additional language acquisition. Additionally, the results of such studies may be utilized as a theoretical component of the project leading to adjustment in educational policy and program development and thus creating educational equality by particularly emphasizing on dual language or bilingual programs throughout the country. Based on these findings, it is suggested that further research be conducted and/or replicated in these bilingual communities to explore the hidden factors associated with lower or weaker performance of bilinguals in learning the English language.