In a school where the linguistic approach is additive bilingualism (see the page on Bilingualism), the importance of mother tongue maintenance will be highly apparent. This page deals with the importance of mother tongue support in a second language immersion environment, like we see here at UWCSEA East, and discusses complexity, ambi-bilingualism and cultural/linguistic identity.
Ceiling of Complexity
In most cases around the world, a second language is learned after the first language is fully or partially acquired. We then may refer to L1 and L2 as first and second languages. A second language is referred to as a language learned after the mother tongue (a person can have two, three or more “second” languages). We can refer to third or fourth languages in terms of the sequence in which they are learned, but for this discussion, all languages acquired after the mother tongue are considered second languages, no matter how numerous they are.
What is the effect of the mother tongue on a second language? As language learning progresses, the forms learned become ever more complex. Simple words, numbers, present and past tenses cannot be compared for complexity or difficulty to subjunctive structures (The teacher required they be on time.), inverted conditional sentences (Had I known you were in hospital, I’d have come to see you.), perfect continuous infinitives (He must have been lying.), or participle clauses (Having arrived in London, we went to our hotel.), just to name a few.
In a situation where a student relocates to a second language immersion environment (moves from Paris to London, for example), the mother tongue may not be supported, therefore not improved in terms of complexity and fluency as the first language. In fact, in many cases, the mother tongue may be abandoned for the sake of the second language; parents often expect children to maintain mother tongue fluency through interaction at home, which severely lacks complexity and academic expression. We often depend on our first language to understand and acquire forms in the second language, for example, we might ask ourselves, “What is the passive voice in MY language?” When the mother tongue has deteriorated or has not been supported, the student may not have this advantage to draw from, making second language acquisition more laborious; fluency and native-like accuracy may even be impossible, robbing the student of the opportunity not only to be fluent in two language, but even in one. This effect is known as semi-bilingualism (see the section on bilingualism). The ceiling of complexity in the second language is dependant on the ceiling of complexity in the mother tongue. This highlights the importance of mother tongue maintenance in second language immersion environments. It aids the student in second language learning by providing an inert language acquisition tool.
Ambi-bilingualism
In the previous paragraph, a situation known as semi-bilingualism was described (from the section on bilingualism). This is something to be avoided in as many cases as possible, as it is perhaps the most important and severe impact that mother tongue loss may have on the linguistic capacity of a student. On the other side of that spectrum is ambi-bilingualism, a situation where a person is able to completely and fluently use two or more languages as entirely separate systems. This is the ultimate goal of additive bilingualism (from Bilingualism) and of many school EAL departments including UWCSEA East EAL. Both scenarios (ambi and semi-bilingualism) may be products of the level of mother tongue maintenance and support.
Identity
Outside the school environment is another aspect of mother tongue maintenance, that may not be as salient, but is equally important – the idea of linguistic and cultural identity. One can imagine how jarring it must be to learn a second language at school in a foreign country and then to go back to one’s home country and relatives only to feel left out of normal conversation and the cultural aspects of life back home. It is common that a student may learn English fluently through an EAL program, only to find that communication at home has become strained and difficult, since the mother tongue has significantly deteriorated over time. This person will feel disconnected from friends, family and the culture of the homeland. In extreme cases, the children (as in immigrant families) find very little communicative ability or even shared cultural experiences with their parents. This can be devastating to the student’s sense of identity in terms of language, family, even nationality. A person’s mother tongue is the vehicle on which is carried their connection to self and to family. Maintaining that mother tongue is of utmost importance, both in and out of the classroom.