The Need For Bilingual Mode of Instructional Design for Higher Education: Instructional Strategies

THE NEED FOR A BILINGUAL MODE OF INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN FOR HIGHER EDUCATION In India, English has been in the academic and educational domain for almost two centuries but still English language skills are not effectively used among the educated masses. Especially students from economically and socially backward communities, students who did their schooling in mother tongue and native language struggle to learn and be competent in English in spite of getting systematically exposed to the language for more than a decade. As a result many fail to be globally competent in evading through the opportunities. Their knowledge never gets materialized and their skills never get utilized. This is because the demanding needs of the vast majority of the student community are different from what is being taught to them. They do not serve as a bridge between the educational space and the world of opportunities.  Students who have external sources of learning English get what they need but students whose only way of acquiring English language through classroom scenarios struggle miserably because their needs are not met. In spite of the growing demands for learning English language, the learners approach towards English language learning is not positive. This is mainly because the L2 classrooms are not conducive and inclusive enough to intrinsically motivate students. The traditional influence of completely immersing the students in the target language is still prominent among the teaching community even in the Post Method Era. This alienates the L1 speakers from the L2 classrooms. Vigorous trainings and drillings in the target language yield hardly any practical language skills. As the students do not have any point of reference to rely on they lose track of what they learn.  Usage of learners’ native language or the mother tongue is vehemently condemned and with this as the starting point the learners’ develop a growing anxiety and low self-esteem that prevents them from successfully acquiring the second language. This phenomenon is what Krashen calls as the “additive filter.” The more the additive filter is raised among the learners, less will be their productivity level. This major problem could be avoided to a greater extend if a bilingual mode of instruction is developed for language teaching. As the bilingual instruction makes use of the students’ existing language repertoire, there is an establishment of familiarity. This will first make the students confident and further motivate them to learn the language with purpose. When a bilingual mode of instruction is used the learners will be able to relate the new information to the existing information and expand their knowledge. Providing the relevant instructional material and teaching pedagogy is a very important factor in developing the leaners’ motivation. In spite of the criticism against bilingual teaching, it has still proved to be an effective way to teach second language. Research conducted in Welsh, Canada and other western countries show that bilingual medium of teaching L2 has created a positive impact among learners. After all the ultimate goal is not to make the learners master the language or learn everything about the language but to facilitate them in learning the basic language skills necessary to get through the available opportunities. In a survey conducted among a heterogeneous group of L2 learners at undergraduate level whose native languages were Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Urudu, out of 91 respondents 92% of the native speakers have responded that their mother tongue did not stop them from learning the target language. 78% of leaners recorded that using their mother tongue (L1) has helped them learn the target language comfortably. 81% of the learners have felt that the classroom atmosphere was more conducive for interaction if the instructor is bilingual in the classroom. This survey leads to the hypothesis that bilingual mode of teaching could be an effective pedagogical approach in bringing a better language outcome among the learners. 32% of the L2 learners have pointed out that they are scared to speak in the target language. 20% of the learners have felt that they are not able to express themselves and their knowledge effectively because of the inhibitions. This proves the “additive filter hypothesis”. The aim of this paper is to analyse and find appropriate bilingual instructional strategies for these learners by which their additive filter is lowered and motivational factors are increased in learning and producing better English language skills. Bilingual teaching will happen among the peers even if they are not systematically exposed to it. This could be misleading and it might end up in subtractive bilingualism rather than enriching the language repertoire. An appropriate teaching material will stop this from happening. If teaching is designed rightly then language can be acquired easily. This paper will proceed further in conducting a needs analysis in both inductive and deductive methods. Relevant teaching methodologies and theories, instructional design strategies and motivational theories of learning will be considered and applied in creating and analyzing the survey. Based on the analysis of the datas collected and observations made a sustainable and relevant bilingual instructional strategy will be suggested for the learners that will increase their motivation in acquiring L2  and produce immediate results.

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