Comparative Linguistic Research

Comparative Linguistic Research

Bilingual education and education in the official language (orientation, approaches, challenges)

Document Type : Research Paper

Author
Mohammad Reza yousefzadeh choosari
Department of educational sciences-faculty of humanities-Bu-Ali sina university-Hamedan-Iran
10.22084/rjhll.2026.31904.2415
Abstract
Introduction
Bilingualism or multilingualism and the use of the official language or mother tongue in the teaching-learning process in educational centers and curricula is considered one of the important and fundamental issues. There are many competing and alternative views on the use of the mother tongue or the official language in educational centers and teaching and learning environments, as well as among experts in fields related to education, such as philosophy of education, educational psychology, sociology of education, economics of education, and educational technology. Interestingly, even among experts within a specific discipline, such as educational psychology, there is no single view on this matter. This has led each of the proponents and opponents to present evidence and examples to prove their claim in the field of preference for the mother tongue over the official language or vice versa, relying on theoretical foundations and conducting field and empirical research. The reality is that there is no generalizable and definitive view in this field, and accordingly, this issue has become a challenge in the true sense of the word, that is, a subject for which there is no single answer and depending on the context and situation, different results may be presented. Therefore, this issue, like all challenges, is always of importance and research necessity. Accordingly, in this research, the concept of bilingualism or multilingualism, orientations related to formal education, approaches of the world's educational systems towards multilingualism, methods of teaching and learning in the official language and multilingualism, and the prevailing and common tradition in educational systems are examined.

Methodology
The research approach is philosophical and research method is deductive reasoning. According to this method, the researcher uses a framework and insight or a general theory and tries to answer the details and questions by using the insight gained from the generalities of the subject and analyzing the many and different basic emphasis surrounding the phenomenon. In this method, the results arise from deductive arguments.

Findings
There are different approaches to bilinguals and multi-linguals in different educational systems in macro-policies and in the position of design, implementation and evaluation. For example, in the province of Quebec in Canada, the approach of melting or flow approach is used. Accordingly, in the education of bilinguals, without the slightest attention to the mother tongue, the emphasis is placed on the use of the common official language or the standard language. In this approach, it is assumed that the individual, in unknown conditions and situations and in situations where he feels the need, will make more efforts to face the situation constructively. In some other educational systems, such as Latin America, a slow or gradual or transitional approach is used. In this approach, education begins at the beginning of formal education in the language of the majority of the student group, but it does not remain stable and a specific period of time is set for using the official language, for example, the first two years. After that, the educational system pushes students towards the official and standard language. In this approach, an attempt is made to gradually reduce the resistance of supporters of the mother tongue. In some other educational systems in the world, including some European and Asian countries, including some states in China and Indonesia, and some states in the United States, including Florida, a third approach and orientation called the synthetic approach or the simultaneous approach is used. In this approach, part of the language of instruction is in the mother tongue and part of the education is in the standard and official language. In this approach, the mother tongue and the official language are given equal attention and no language is preferred over the other. Determining the priority and lag between the two languages, or which parts are taught in the mother tongue or which parts are taught in the standard language, or whether a specific subject is taught once in the mother tongue and once in the official language, is one of the main challenges of this approach.
Among the approaches studied, the first approach, the flow approach, is more prevalent and widespread in most educational systems in the world, including Iran. Proponents of this approach believe that immediate exposure to new conditions causes the right and left hemispheres of the brain to be activated simultaneously, and accordingly, while analyzing the new situation, the learner tries to gain a general insight and understanding of that environment and uses all of his potential and actual capacities to adapt to the new conditions. This approach causes the individual to distance himself from previous conditions with conscious effort. In defense of education in the official language, we can cite the clarification and emphasis of the Constitution, the emphasis of the Fundamental Transformation of Education Document on education in the official language, scientific and technological productions and publications in the official language, the use of the official language in the national media and social media, the development of national and international identity, the comparative and competitive nature of the educational system, the centralized orientation of the educational system, the difficulty of using the mother tongue in teaching various subjects, including mathematics, sciences, etc. (due to the lack of appropriate equivalents for the scientific terms of these subjects on the one hand, and on the other hand, the introduction of these terms into the mother tongue and the gradual reduction of the boundaries and boundaries of the mother tongue), the teacher training system based on the official language, the unbalanced growth of the country's provinces in terms of the availability of employment and employment conditions in various fields of industry, services, and agriculture, and consequently migration to other provinces for employment and alienation from their official or native language, standard national exams, including the tests of gifted schools, student Olympiads, employment exams, and the national entrance exam, attention to all talents instead of just paying attention to linguistic talent., the lack of the ability to implement multilingualism, the challenge between native identity and national identity and global identity, and most importantly, we can point to the achievement of superior ranks in the national examination of universities and educational institutions of the country from bilingual regions and examples and lasting figures in various religious, scientific, cultural, social, political, artistic fields, etc.

Discussion and Conclusion
Considering the issues raised, it can be said that despite the existence of conflicting views in the theoretical literature and different research findings, for various reasons, including the emphasis of upstream documents, facilitating and increasing geographical and social mobility, guaranteeing and implementing the curriculum, the ability of learners to change, economic efficiency, common orientations and mechanisms of educational systems dealing with bilingualism in official curricula, and theories of supportive learning, in practice, in most educational systems in the world, including the Iranian educational system, education in the official language is preferred over education in the mother tongue. Of course, this does not mean ignoring or underestimating the mother tongue, nor does it mean ignoring or neglecting it. The activities that have been taken in various educational systems in the form of the third curriculum and in the Iranian educational system in the form of the (school-specific curriculum), designing individual and group optional activities inside and outside the classroom, and including free lessons in the Persian curriculum (let's write) for the elementary school, based on which teachers can design special educational programs based on the region's ecosystem, indicate attention to the mother tongue and literature in the form of semi-formal, informal, and extra curriculum centered on the language and the official curriculum.
Keywords
Multilingualism
official language
challenges
curriculum
Subjects
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