On Factors In Bilingual Education

By now, many countries and regions, such as America, Canada and Singapore have implemented bilingual education. To meet the demands for bilingual talents, China is also beginning to carry out bilingual education. However, due to lack of experience, some problems have surfaced in China's bilingual practice, such as, lack of relevant laws on bilingual education and suitable bilingual teaching models, shortage of bilingual teachers and so on. One reason for these problems is that bilingual education consists of a series of factors, however, Chinese bilingual undertakers may fail to grasp the factors due to lack of experience. Besides, the lack of some factors like relevant language laws and a favorable bilingual language environment has also given rise to the current problems.This thesis attempts to solve the current problems in China's bilingual education through an overview of overseas and domestic bilingual education and the analysis of surface and deep factors in bilingual education. Through addressing such factors as learners,teachers,language environment,politics,economy and culture, this thesis presents a clear picture of the relationship between each factor and bilingual education. Besides, the problems in China's bilingual education are analyzed, followed by a list of suggestions for reference.Drawing on linguistic theories and research methodologies, plus relevant theories in sociology, economics, and psychology, this thesis probes into both surface and deep factors in bilingual education through the overview and case study of overseas and domestic bilingual education.This research on factors in bilingual education is extensive and novel. The author tries to probe into various factors in an all-round way. Besides, the thesis combines theory and practice, studying the overseas and domestic bilingual practices on the basis of linguistic, economic, sociological, cognitive and psychological theories. Last but not least, the thesis presents a thorough analysis of problems in China's bilingual practice, and puts forward suggestions accordingly for reference. However, due to this or that reason, there is still much research to be done. Issues, such as which factor deserves top priority in what context and how to integrate these factors so as to design and construct a teaching model that suits China well, are to be dealt with in further researches.