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Problems and the solutions that bilingual children face

Graduation Thesis

Presented to

the Faculty of the Department of

English Language and Literature

Notre Dame Seishin University

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirement for the Degree

Bachelor of Arts

by

Rise Komori

2015

ContentsAbstract 4

Chapter One: Introduction

1.1Introduction 51.2What is bilingual? 5

1.2.1 Introduction 51.2.2 Definitions 61.2.3 Types of bilingual 61.2.4 Summary 8

1.3 How children become bilingual in Japan　 81.3.1 Introduction 81.3.2 Cases of bilingual children　　　　　　　　 8

1.4 Problems that bilingual children often face　　　　　　　　 9

1.4.1 Introduction 91.4.2 Loss of self 91.4.3 Discrimination 101.4.4 Identity 101.4.5 Summary 11

1.5 What are some solutions to these problems for bilinguals? 11

1.5.1 Introduction 111.5.2 Take it natural for difference 111.5.3 See the world 121.5.4 Think about Japan 121.5.5 Summary 13

1.6 Research Questions 131.7 Conclusion 14

Chapter Two: The Experiment2.1 Introduction 152.2 The questionnaire 15

2.2.1 Introduction to the questionnaire 2.2.2 Method 152.2.3 Results 162.2.4 Other ideas 29

2

2.3 Summary 30Chapter Three: Discussion

3.1 Introduction 313.2 Summary of the results 31 3.3 Discussion of the results 31

3.3.1 Which is the most notable problem for bilingual children?32

3.3.2 Which is the good solution? 323.4 Research questions 323.5 Implications 343.6 Limitations of the Experiments 343.7 Further research 343.8 Conclusion 35

References 36Appendices 37

3

Abstract

Many sports players or companies are going overseas recently,

and now business is also crossing borders. The word “globalization” or

“borderless” appeared about 20 years ago. Nowadays we have to

think at a global scale.Nowadays, there are many bilinguals in the world and are often

seen on media. Many people long to be like them, and want to be a

bilingual. However, often people pick up only the positive side of

being bi-lingual, but how many people know their real, and problems

they have? Attitude toward bilingual changed among people in the

world. However Japan is still hardly changed and some people don’t

know even the word “bilingual”. This thesis discuss the results of a

questionnaire to find out bilingual children’s problems and solutions. In Chapter One, we look at definition or types of bilinguals and

cases to be bilinguals. We found that Japan is island country and

largely a monolingual nation so being bilingual is a little bit difficult

and the types are only four. In Chapter Two, we look at the results of a questionnaire. It was

given to non-bilinguals who are studying linguistic or English literature

and bilinguals to compare their ideas and find problems being bi-

cultural. In Chapter Three, we discuss the results of the questionnaire in

detail. There are common ideas and also different ideas. Bilinguals

have some ideas we don’t realize and non-bilinguals are also have

various ideas.

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Chapter 1: Introduction1.1 Introduction

Nowadays bilinguals are often seen on media. In the world, it is

not rare to be a bilingual as about two-thirds of the world’s children

grow up in bilingual environments, and one in three of the world’s

population uses two or more languages for work, family life, and

leisure. There are a lot of web pages about “How to bring up bilingual

children”, if we search the word “bilingual”. In the past, people didn’t have a positive image of bilinguals

because of compulsory immigrant or domination, but now many

people want to be bilingual, and many companies demand the

linguistic ability of bi-linguals for globalization. Nowadays many bilingual people are seen on somewhere and

look like they are happy and don’t have any troubles. Therefore,

people only see the positive side of bilingual but actually they have

some problems.

1.2 What is bilingual? 1.2.1 Introduction

Bilingual means people who can use two languages without any

troubles in daily life. However, it’s difficult to define definitely because

there are a lot of languages, surroundings, sense of values. In the

past, people didn’t have a positive image of bilinguals because a lot

1

of bilinguals are immigrants. The globalization has gradually

advanced, and the new image of bilinguals has expanded.

1.2.2 Definitions

Many researchers try to define the term bilingual, however it’s

very difficult to define clearly. Bloomfield (1935) said that bilinguals

are “people who can use two languages like native speaker”, and

Diebold (1964) showed that bilinguals are “people who start to learn

second language”. These ideas are poles apart and there are a lot of

definitions between these two. The problem is how to define “native

speaker”. There are a lot of differences even in the same language by

people and Mohanty (1994) says that social-communicative

dimension is needed to bilingual’s definition and don’t think about

only linguistic ability. Social-communicative dimension is whether

people using each language to carry out in daily life. Therefore, Baker

(2006) points out “defining exactly who is or is not bilingual is

essentially elusive and ultimately impossible”.There is quite a wide range of what people call ‘bilingual’ and

therefore it’s difficult to define, so many researchers define in each

study they do if they need.

1.2.3 Types of bilingual

2

There are a lot of different types of bilinguals and there are a lot

of ways to classify bilinguals who can be divided into some group and

their language skill.

A. Balanced bilinguals/ dominant bilinguals/ semi-linguals or

double limited bilinguals

This type of bilingual is classified with the ability of two

languages’ of equal ability. It’s difficult to use two languages in the

same field and have the balanced language skill so balanced

bilinguals are quite rare and dominant bilingual (who have one

stronger language) is more natural. On the other hand semi-linguals

or double limited bilinguals don’t have the same ability in both

languages.They can’t use both languages correctly and difficult to

think and express their emotions.

B. simultaneous bilinguals/ consecutive bilinguals

The second type of bilingual is classified with the timing of

language acquisition. After birth, those who live with two languages

are simultaneous bilinguals, and people who have time difference for

L1 acquisition and L2 are consecutive bilinguals. They acquire L2 after

they mastered or started L1.

C. additive bilinguals/ subtractive bilinguals

If the two languages have high status in society, economics,

politics and have profit, it’s additive bilingual. On the other hand, one

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of the language don’t have valorization, displacing mother language

is subtractive bilingual.

D. elite bilinguals/ folk bilinguals

Elite bilinguals are those who learned two languages by their own

will or from their families’. Folk bilinguals are people who have to

learn two languages to live. They didn’t have choice. In the olded

days the number of folk bilinguals was bigger than elite bilinguals

overwhelmingly because of immigration or colonization.

1.2.4 Summary

There are a lot of bilinguals and it’s difficult to define clearly

what theya re but we can divide them into some groups by their

backgrounds, like linguistic skill or surroundings.

1.3 How children become bilingual in Japan 1.3.1　Introduction

Many Japanese long to be bilingual although, Japan is considered

monolingual nation and an island country, so being bilingual is a little

bit difficult and the type is limited. For example, some have foreign

parents or have experience to live in abroad due to a parent’s job.

1.3.2 Cases of bilingual children

Japanese bilinguals are classified into four groups. (Higa, 1980)

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A. Japanese - grown up in JapanB. Japanese - grown up abroadC. Foreigner - grown up in JapanD. Foreigner - grown up abroad

Type A are Japanese who learned L2 in Japan, and use two

languages for their job, or in daily life. However, they use Japanese

mainly and L2 ability is not high. Type B are Japanese who grew up

abroad and became bilingual. They are called returnee child, and

Japanese ability is lower. Type C are foreigner brought up in Japan and

are living or making permanent home in Japan and are called Nisei.

Type D are foreigners brought up abroad and learned Japanese after

they came to Japan. In the 1990s, over 10,000 children came back to

Japan every year.

1.4 Problems that bilingual children often face

1.4.1 Introduction

What problems do bilingual children have? People usually look

at bilinguals’ positive side, however they face some problems. Here

are some example problems below.

1.4.2 Loss of self

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Bilinguals control two languages, and may have international

way of thinking and personality. However, in Japan they can’t keep

their other alive and assimilate with Japanese. Japanese society some

people don’t like foreign things or differences and turn to a factional

sense. Returnee students tend to have a relatively strong self-

assertiveness, so trouble can happen (Matsubara,1986) . When

bilingual children use different ideas or communication style,

Japanese children refuse these ideas. Therefore, the returnees can’t

express their own opinions and can’t assimilate, or deculturate easily.

Actually. 81% of elementary and junior high schools’ returnee

students in Hanshin area answered that they don’t want to keep the

language skill alive (Kawano, 1987) which suggest their will to

assimilate.

1.4.3 Discrimination

There was a survey of bilingual children who have Japanese

and foreign parent which asked whether they have some trouble with

Japanese society (Yamamoto,1985) . The subjects were the parents of

55 families’ in Japan and the question was “Have your children

experienced any trouble with Japanese children because of their looks

or language?” 35% of the parents answered “Yes”, 51% of the

parents answered “No”, and 14% of the parents didn’t answer. There

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are differences of how they feel about the problem, so it’s difficult to

say objectively but many of parents answered yes said they felt

alienated.

1.4.4 Identity

Identity is known as big problem for bilinguals but it is hard to

define. Hamers and Blanc (2000) deal with identity from the view

point of bilinguals. They divide identity into four types: “Ethnic

identity,” “Social identity”, “Cultural identity”,”Ethnolinguistic

identity”. Cultural identity can compared one’s ancestors, behavior,

sense of value, language. Hamers and Blanc explain that cultural

identity is built around 6 years old.Ethnic identity decides people’s sense of belonging from common

ancestor or appearance. Ethnic identity occurs when people are

forced to wear a label. For example, Japanese-American children who

are brought up in America are labeled as Asian or Japanese-American

even if they are thinking “I’m American”.

1.4.5 Summary

　　　　We looked some examples of problems. But these problems

are just a part of the problems bilingual children face. In the next

section, we will look at some possible solutions.

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1.5 What are some solutions to these problems for bilinguals? 1.5.1 Introduction

We found that bilinguals have many problems above. So what

should we do to solve these problems and what can we do for

bilinguals?

1.5.2 Take it natural for difference

Japanese people have both favorable and negative opinions

about bilinguals. (Yamamoto, 1991) People long for and show positive

attitude towards bilinguals, but they don’t allow bilinguals’ to have

their own personality. Recently, young Japanese know the advantage

of having the ability to use two languages. However, some people

surprised when children from international marriages use fluent

Japanese- people don’t believe the fact that he/she is Japanese. Japan

is single language and single race country, so they are sensitive for

difference despite the need to accept that for internationalization.

1.5.3 See the world

We don’t have to think Japan as standard. In the world, a lot

of things are happening every day and Japan is just a piece of the

world. To understand other cultures, there are many ways. For

example, study abroad, travel abroad and make friends in abroad.

There is a survey that shows how study abroad changes students’

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intercultural feelings (Ikeda, 2011). This survey observed Japanese

students’ change of intercultural sense and found some profit. People

can get concrete images for foreign countries, notice the diversity,

see Japan from outside or objectively, and find that language is just a

tool and not so important. Don’t think self-centered and understand

world culture, news and of course our own history.

1.5.4 Think about Japan

We also have to deepen our own culture to find the good

points and bad points of our country and to treasure foreign culture.

Only looking at the outside won’t make good solutions. Nowadays,

many Japanese culture have caught the attention if the world, for

example food, architecture, martial arts, and Onsen. However,

modern young people like to take in western culture with a superficial

understanding. We have to think carefully about our identity and then

look at the outside.

1.5.5 Summary

We looked at some solutions about what we can do. We have

to know the world and deepen about our own country. But we are not

sure about what is good solution. We will find that from questionnaire.

1.6 Research Questions

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From the above we have found out what is bilingual and

what problems they have. But we don’t know for sure how actual

bilinguals think and Japanese students think. In this thesis we will

survey what the real problems bilinguals face and find some solutions

about what we should do. Moreover, we should compare the idea of

bilinguals’ and non-bilinguals’ and look at the different points.

These are the research questions for this thesis.

1. What do people think about bilingual children’s problems. and

what does a comaprison of bilingual’s idea and non-bilinguals

reveal?2. What are the solutions and what should the Japanese do?

1.7 Conclusion

In this chapter, we looked at what bilinguals are, the types and

what problems they have and some example solutions. . In Chapter

Two, we will look at the results of a questionnaire about the real

problems bilinguals face and which solution is effective for them.

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Chapter 2: The Experiment

2.1 Introduction In Chapter One, we looked at the definition of bilingual and at

the various types of bilingual and what problems they have. Also we

looked at some example solutions. We could know bilinguals have not

only positive side, but also problems. In this Chapter, we will look at the result of questionnaire to

find out what problems bilinguals actually have and look at ideas

about solutions. Also we will compare the answer of bilinguals and

non-bilinguals to look at the different points.

2.2 The questionnaire 2.2.1 Introduction to the questionnaire

The questionnaire asked what bilinguals think about problems

that bilingual children may face, and what non-bilingual people think

about that. And also asked what people think good solutions in Japan.

From the questionnaire, we can find and compare the difference of

the thinking between bilinguals and non-bilinguals. Finally we can find

solution about the problems.

2.2.2 Method

1) Subjects

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There were 53 subjects. 36 subjects are students who are studying

English and are interested in foreign countries including students of

Notre Dame Seishin University in the department of English language

and literature. 17 subjects are bilinguals who have interest in Japan

and people who have international parents.

2) Test design

The aim of this questionnaire was to find out how much

people know and think about bilingual children’s problems and

compare these ideas them with the bilingual’s and non-bilingual’ idea

and find solutions. The questionnaire asked both subjects what

problems they think bilingual children may face, and they answered

how much they agree about the problems at 5 levels. It also asked

about solutions in the same way, and some other ideas about

problems and solutions. The questionnaire was made by some data

and interview to bilinguals.

3) Procedure

The questionnaire to the both sets of subjects was collected on

online using Google Forms, and analyzed with Excel. We can see

some different points between bilinguals and non-bilinguals with

graph and tables.

2.2.3 Results

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　　　 First, let’s look at all result of the questionnaire for both

bilinguals and non-bilinguals to see which item is important problem

or solution. They

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Table 1: The percentage of non-bilingual people who mentioned the following problems (n=36)

5 (agree) 4 3 2 1 (disagree)

Bullying at school 31% 14% 11% 17% 28%

Religious problems 14% 39% 33% 8% 6%

Difference of sense of values 31% 44% 17% 0% 8%

Imbalance of one of the languages 19% 22% 28% 14% 17%

Pressure as a bilingual ( e.g. Too much expectation from surroundings)

22% 36% 17% 11% 14%

Linguistic problems ( e.g. Can't understand some words) 17% 33% 28% 17% 6%

Culture (e.g. Modesty, Principle and practice) 36% 44% 14% 6% 0%

Prejudice 33% 28% 11% 14% 14%

Difficulty to choose identity 42% 33% 8% 8% 8%

Parents (e.g. Each parent has different identity, and they don't have sympathy, or they quarrel)

33% 42% 11% 8% 6%

Loss of self (e.g. Assimilation, Deculturation) 36% 25% 22% 11% 6%

Stereotype (e.g. You are black, so you must be able to run fast!) 44% 31% 11% 14% 0%

Japanese is closed society, character 36% 25% 33% 6% 0%

Figure 1: Which of the following do you think would be problems that bilingual children may face? (non-bilinguals)

choose their opinion from 5 levels whether they are agree or

disagree. Next, we will look at result of each item to compare their

idea and look at other ideas.

From Table 1 and Figure 1, we can see 44% of non-bilingual student

subjects agree about stereotypes. 42% of the subjects are thinking that

it is difficult to choose their identity is problem. 36% of the subjects

agree about culture, loss of self and Japanese is a closed society,

character. From the above, we can see that non-bilingual people are

thinking stereotyping is the most important problem.

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Table 2: The percentage of bilingual people who mentioned the following problems (n=17)


Bullying at school 12% 29% 24% 12% 24%

Religious problems 6% 6% 53% 18% 18%

Difference of sense of values 24% 41% 29% 6% 0%

Imbalance of one of the languages 35% 29% 12% 18% 6%

Pressure as a bilingual ( e.g. Too much expectation from surroundings) 29% 18% 35% 18% 0%

Linguistic problems ( e.g. Can't understand some words) 29% 24% 24% 12% 12%

Culture (e.g. Modesty, Principle and practice) 38% 19% 25% 6% 13%

Prejudice 29% 12% 41% 0% 18%

Difficulty to choose identity 12% 24% 29% 18% 18%


6% 35% 29% 12% 18%

Loss of self (e.g. Assimilation, Deculturation) 6% 29% 29% 12% 24%

Stereotype (e.g. You are black, so you must be able to run fast!) 29% 29% 24% 6% 12%

Japanese is closed society, character 18% 35% 35% 6% 6%

Figure 2: Which of the following do you think would be problems that bilingual children may face? (bilinguals)

Table 2 and Figure 2 show 38% of bilingual subjects answered they

agree about culture. The next is 35% agree about Imbalance of one of

the languages.. 29% of the subjects agree about Pressure as a

bilingual, Prejudice, and Stereotype. From Figure 1 and 2, bullying at

school get high disagreement from both sets of subjects. From the

above, we can see that bilinguals are thinking culture is the most

important problem.

Table 3: The percentage of non-bilingual people who mentioned the following solutions (n=36)


Travel to many countries 50% 28% 19% 3% 0%

Study abroad 56% 28% 11% 6% 0%

Try to talk to many kinds of people 75% 19% 6% 0% 0%

Join foreign country's festivals or events etc. 42% 25% 28% 6% 0%

Have interest in news from abroad 67% 28% 6% 0% 0%

Make friends from foreign countries 86% 0% 14% 0% 0%

Don't expect too much of bilinguals 31% 28% 36% 6% 0%

Understand bilingualism 69% 14% 14% 3% 0%

Japanese should deepen their understanding of their own culture 69% 19% 11% 0% 0%

Try not to judge people by appearance 75% 19% 3% 3% 0%

Understand how Japan or Japanese are seen abroad 56% 31% 14% 0% 0%

Figure 3: Which of the following do you think are good solution in Japan? What should Japanese do? (non-bilinguals)

From Table 3 and Figure 3, we can see 86% of non-bilingual student

subjects are thinking making friends from foreign countries is a good

solution, and 75% of the subjects agree about trying to talk to many

kinds of people and try not to judge people by appearance. 69% agree

about understand bilingualism and Japanese should deepen their

understanding of their own culture. From the above, we can see non-

bilingual people are thinking that making friends from foreign countries

is the best solution.

Table 4: The percentage of bilingual people who mentioned the following solutions (n=17)


Travel to many countries 47% 24% 18% 12% 0%

Study abroad 35% 24% 41% 0% 0%

Try to talk to many kinds of people 65% 29% 0% 6% 0%

Join foreign country's festivals or events etc. 44% 31% 19% 6% 0%

Have interest in news from abroad 59% 24% 12% 6% 0%

Make friends from foreign countries 77% 24% 0% 0% 0%

Don't expect too much of bilinguals 35% 24% 24% 18% 0%

Understand bilingualism 29% 41% 24% 6% 0%

Japanese should deepen their understanding of their own culture

24% 53% 18% 0% 6%

Try not to judge people by appearance 71% 24% 6% 0% 0%

Understand how Japan or Japanese are seen abroad 41% 41% 6% 6% 6%

Figure 4: Which of the following do you think are good solution in Japan? What should Japanese do? (bilinguals)

From Table 4 and Figure 4, we can see 77% of the bilingual subjects

agree about making friends from foreign countries, and 71% of the

subjects agree about trying not to judge people by appearance. 65%

of the subjects agree about trying to talk to many kinds of people.

From the above, we can find that bilinguals are thinking making

friends from foreign countries is the best solution.

Table 5: The percentage of people who agree about the following problems

non-bilinguals bilinguals

Bullying at school 31% 12%

Religious problems 14% 6%

Difference of sense of values 31% 24%

Imbalance of one of the languages 19% 35%

Pressure as a bilingual ( e.g. Too much expectation from surroundings) 22% 29%

Linguistic problems ( e.g. Can't understand some words) 17% 29%

Culture (e.g. Modesty, Principle and practice) 36% 38%

Prejudice 33% 29%

Difficulty to choose identity 42% 12%


33% 6%

Loss of self (e.g. Assimilation, Deculturation) 36% 6%

Stereotype (e.g. You are black, so you must be able to run fast!) 44% 29%

Japanese is closed society, character 36% 18%

From Table 5, we can find some difference and common

understanding between bilinguals and non-bilinguals about problems.

The importance of culture have high agreement from both sets of

subjects, however, difficulty to choose identity and loss of self have a

30% of difference between bilinguals and non-bilinguals.

Table 6: The percentage of people who agree about the following solutions

non-bilingual bilingual

Travel to many countries 50% 47%

Study abroad 56% 35%

Try to talk to many kinds of people 75% 65%

Join foreign country's festivals or events etc. 42% 44%

Have interest in news from abroad 67% 59%

Make friends from foreign countries 86% 77%

Don't expect too much of bilinguals 31% 35%

Understand bilingualism 69% 29%

Japanese should deepen their understanding of their own culture 69% 24%

Try not to judge people by appearance 75% 71%

Understand how Japan or Japanese are seen abroad 56% 41%

From Table 6, we can find some difference and common

understanding between bilinguals and non-bilinguals about solutions.

Try to talk to many kinds of people, Make friends from foreign

countries and Try not to judge people by appearance have high

agreement from both sides of subjects, however, Japanese should

deepen their understanding of their own culture have 45% of

difference and Understand bilingualism have 40 % of difference

between bilinguals and non-bilinguals.

2.2.4 Other ideas

Some people wrote about their ideas about problems and

solutions.

a. Media give people the impression it is a complex idea.

For example, in many hollywood movies, African American people were often

playing the role of servants or other socially low status work.

b. Playing sports with people of foreign countries since sports is an

entertainment for people of various countries and doesn’t have a racial

barrier.

c. As tourists, we see a very limited aspects of a culture.

d. Study abroad or travel abroad is expensive, so it’s difficult for some people.

e. Japan’s lack of tolerance.

f. Teach the world view from early childhood.

g. Franchise for foreigners is a problem.

h. The fact is the problem that these problems become problem.

i.

2.3 Summary

In this chapter, we looked some data and ideas from the

questionnaire, and the difference of opinion between bilinguals and

non-bilinguals. In Chapter Three, we are going to discuss and analyze

the results. Finally, we will think about what is really problem for

bilinguals and find solutions we should do.

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Chapter 3 Discussion3.1 Introduction In Chapter One, we learned what bilinguals are, the types and

cases of bilinguals, and next we looked at some example of problems

that bilingual children may face and some example solutions. In Chapter Two, we looked at some results of the questionnaire

and compared bilinguals’ answer with non-bilinguals’. In this chapter, we are going to discuss the results of the

questionnaire in more detail and find what are the most notable

problems and good solutions.

3.2 Summary of the results

In Chapter Two, we looked at some results of the questionnaire,

and found some differences of opinions about problems and solutions

between bilinguals and non-bilinguals. Also there are also some

common understandings.

3.3 Discussion of the results

We looked at results of the questionnaire in Chapter Two. In this

section we are going to discuss and analyze the results in great detail.

3.3.1 Which is the most notable problem for bilingual

children?

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From the results of questionnaire, bilinguals tend to think that,

Imbalance of one of the languages, linguistic problems, prejudice, or

pressure as a bilingual are problems bilingual children may face. On

the other hand, non-bilinguals are thinking that loss of self,

stereotype or Japanese closed society and character are the main

problem. However, both sets of subjects agreed culture is the

problem. From Table 5, we can see that there are big differences

about difficulty to choose identity, parents and loss of self. About loss

of self, few bilingual subjects agree and many bilinguals disagree.

3.3.2 Which is the good solution?

Both bilinguals and non-bilinguals subjects agree about try to talk

to many kind of people, make friends from foreign countries and try

not to judge people by appearance. However according to Table 6,

there are some different points about understand bilingualism and

Japanese should deepen their understanding of their own culture.

Non-bilinguals agree about these solutions but bilinguals don’t so

much. Some of the bilingual subjects disagree about Japanese should

deepen their understanding of their own culture. Make friends from

foreign countries get high agreement from both subjects. As we can

see from Table 4, when add the answer of level 4 and 5, 100% of

bilingual subjects agree about make friends from foreign countries.

3.4 Research questions

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In this section, we are going to look at the answer of research

questions.

Research question 1: What do people think about bilingual

children’s problems. and what does a comaprison of bilingual’s

idea and non-bilinguals reveal? According to the results, culture like modesty or principle

and practice is the biggest problem for bilingual children. From the

view of bilinguals, Imbalance of one of the language, linguistic

problems, prejudice, or pressure as a bilingual are also problem for

bilingual children. On the other hand, non-bilinguals think that loss

of self, stereotype or Japanese closed society and character are

problem. The first idea is the same but the others have big

difference. Bilinguals mainly think that linguistic problems are

problem for bilingual children but non-bilinguals mainly think Japan

causes that due to the Japanese closed society or stereotype.

There are big differences about difficulty to choose identity,

parents and loss of self,. Only non-bilinguals are thinking these are

problems, as between bilinguals there are more disagreement than

agreement. The importance of bullying at school led to a lot of

disagreement from both set of subjects.

Research Question 2 What are the solutions and what should the

Japanese do?

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From the results of the questionnaire, make friends from

foreign countries is the most effective solution. The second was to

try to talk to many kinds of people and try not to judge people by

appearance are good solutions. Both sets of subjects have the

same opinion for top three. However there are big difference about

understand bilingualism and Japanese should deepen their

understanding of their own culture. Moreover, Japanese should

deepen their understanding of their own culture as there are some

disagreements from bilinguals. Thus to solve bilingual children’s

problems, we have to learn a lot of things from friends from foreign

countries and don’t judge people by appearance and not be afraid

of talking to many kinds of people. We try to have huge connection

around the world.

3.5 Implications

　　　　This study shows that what problems bilingual children have

and what should we do for them because there are a lot of positive

image for bilinguals and many people pick up only positive side.

3.6 Limitations of the Experiments

There are 36 non-bilingual subjects but, only 17 bilingual subjects.

It would have been better to ask more people. If we asked more

people, we would have more opinions.

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3.7 Further research

We asked some types of bilinguals but analyze as the same as

bilingual, so we suggest that we can ask more bilinguals and analyze

by their situation to find problems in each situation. Moreover, we can

find effective solutions from the analysis of each situation.

3.8 Conclusion

We found a lot of opinions from the questionnaire and there are

some differences and common understanding between bilinguals and

non-bilinguals idea. Bilinguals have to cope with many situations and

environments so there are a wide variety of problems and solutions.

So we can’t decide best or worst way. There are a lot of problems for each bilingual, but in any case

considering each bilingual character or situation is important, and

look outside from Japan and have chance to communicate with a lot

of people is needed for Japanese.

33

References

Articles

角野富雄・上野直子 (2003) . 『バイリンガルと言語障害』　学苑社.　

山本雅代 (1996) .　『バイリンガルはどのようにして言語を習得するのか』明石書店.　

山本雅（1991）．『バイリンガル（二言語使用者）-その実像と問題点-』　大修館書店

小池生夫（2004）.『第二言語習得研究の現在』大修館書店．

中島和子（2010）.　『マルチリンガル教育への招待』ひつじ書房.

Baker, C. (1993). Foundation of bilingual education and bilingualism. England: Multilingual Matters.

Websites

James D. Fearon. WHAT IS IDENTITY (AS WE NOW USE THE WORD) ?.1999

https://web.stanford.edu/group/fearon-research/cgi-bin/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/What-is-Identity-as-we-now-use-the-word-.pdf

Islamic Azad University, Science & Research Branch, Who Is a Bilingual? , Spring 2011

http://www.sid.ir/en/VEWSSID/J_pdf/1024220110205.pdf

Asako Hayashi, Japanese English Bilingual Children in Three Different Educational Environments

http://www.lingref.com/isb/4/077ISB4.PDF

35

AppendicesThe questionnaire.

Problems and the solutions that bilingual children faceThank you for answering this questionnaire. My name is Rise Komori. I am studying "Problems and the solutions that bilingual children face" as a graduation thesis. Nowadays many people only see the positive side of being bilingual. However, I think bilingual children have problems, too. I'd like to know what important problem for bilinguals and find solution, and compare bilingual's answer with mono-lingual's.

Are you bilingual?

If you are mono-lingual, please answer only the first language.

My first language*必須

My ability in my first language*必須

1 (weak)

2

3

4

5 (strong)

My second language

My ability in my second language

1 (weak)

2

3

4

5 (strong)

If you are bilingual,My parents are...

Japanese

Japanese and non-Japanese

both non-japanese

Name*必須

Problems

Which of the following do you think would be problems that bilingual children may face?

Bullying at school*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Religious problems*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Difference of sense of values*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Imbalance of one of the languages*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Pressure as a bilingual ( e.g. Too much expectation from surroundings)*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Linguistic problems ( e.g. Can't understand some words)*必須

37

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Culture (e.g. Modesty, Principle and practice)*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Prejudice *必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Difficulty to choose identity*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Parents (e.g. Each parent has different identity, and they don't have sympathy, or they

quarrel)*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Loss of self (e.g. Assimilation, Deculturation)*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

38

2

1 (disagree)

Stereotype (e.g. You are black, so you must be able to run fast!)*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Japanese is closed society, character*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Other ideas or opinions for above problems*必須

Solutions

Which of the following do you think are good solutions in Japan? What should Japanese

do?

Travel to many countries*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Study abroad*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Try to talk to many kinds of people*必須

39

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Join foreign country's festivals or events etc.*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Have interest in news from abroad*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Make friends from foreign countries*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Don't expect too much of bilinguals*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Understand bilingualism*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

40

1 (disagree)

Japanese should deepentheir understanding of their own culture*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Try not to judge people by appearance*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Understand how Japan or Japanese are seen abroad*必須

5 (agree)

4

3

2

1 (disagree)

Other ideas or opinions for above solutions*必須

41

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