The purpose of this study is to suggest a policy plan for effective bilingual education for children from multicultural families in Korea. This is to allow the children from multicultural families to make the most of their advantages as bilinguals and...
The purpose of this study is to suggest a policy plan for effective bilingual education for children from multicultural families in Korea. This is to allow the children from multicultural families to make the most of their advantages as bilinguals and become the 21C global resources demanded by the society, and furthermore, when they have grown to be adults, provide them with opportunities to choose from a variety of jobs through which not only the individuals but also the nation may see increase in competitiveness.
The children from multicultural families start schooling with relatively poor Korean ability compared to those from normal families due to the influence of their mothers with also poor Korean ability. This may be a cause for drop in the academic level and also cause some impediment in the communication with classmates, and become a hindrance for them to grow up to be effective members of our society. Also, due to the lack of emotional relationship with their mothers of 'different language,‘ these children are at the risk of being in a mentally unstable state. The support policies, however, for the multicultural families emphasizes the support for living expenses or the education of Korean language and culture for the mothers so that the policies for bilingual education for the children are not up to the expectation. In the case of children from multicultural families, the fact that they are from birth in an environment better suited for bicultural and bilingual education so that by taking advantage of it, they may have the potential to become nationally valuable resources in the future society, has been neglected. The recognition that, moreover from the fact that female married immigrants are a major part of our society, their children are the next generation to lead our society abreast with our children, is necessary. Providing them with the right values and preparing a reasonable education system for them to fully show their abilities shall be a cornerstone for a healthy future society.
Accordingly, this study, in accordance with the 21C where the bilingual usage is sharply increased due to frequent contacts among many cultures, considered the policy plan for bilingual education which allows the women in multicultural families opportunities to make use of their mother tongue and their children to learn the languages of their mothers. As the result, the conclusion that for the bilingual education for children from multicultural families, an active cooperative system should be formed in the organic relation between central government, local community, school, and home, unlike the multicultural project led by the government, came about. That is, the government shall draw up an overall multicultural project and take care of financial affairs while the local governments and communities represent the standpoints of the residents and the situations at home to play a bridging role for the government and monitor how the government policies are run. Also, schools shall open and operate actual bilingual programs as the core facility of bilingual education for children from multicultural families with sponsorship of the government and in cooperation with the local governments and communities, and help establishing the environment at home for female married immigrants to raise their children comfortably with their own mother tongue.
And, for increase the work efficiency, each relevant organization needs to construct an information network about local programs and establish a cross-linked system centered around this. Also, operating programs strengthening the specialty of each department rather than competing among departments may increase the consistency of the project.