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This study sought to examine the educational supports that foster the bilingual / bicultural development of Japanese-English bilingual students in three different bilingual education programs. It also investigated the students’ attitudes toward bilingualism and toward the Japanese language, their actual language use, and their language proficiency in both Japanese and English.
Data concerning the students’ attitudes, language proficiencies in both Japanese and English and language use were obtained from observations, interviews, and questionnaires. The participants of this study were 63 Japanese students total in the 4th/5th grade in an English Immersion Program (EIP) in Japan (N=30), a Japanese Bilingual Program(JBP) in California (N=25), and in a Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE) in Massachusetts (N=8). The results of the questionnaire asking about the students’ attitudes toward bilingualism indicate that the students in all three programs had positive attitudes toward bilingualism. The students’ language use in English and Japanese differed significantly among the three programs. The students in the two programs in the US used English much more frequently than did the students in Japan. The students in Japan had very limited opportunities to use English. Consequently the English proficiency of the students in Japan was much lower than that of the students in the US. In contrast, the students in the US have various opportunities to use Japanese in and outside the school. As a result, the Japanese language proficiency of the students in the US has developed even though their Japanese proficiency was lower than that of the students in the EIP in Japan. The results of the Pearson product-moment correlations coefficient indicate that language use and language proficiency in each language were highly correlated, while attitudes toward bilingualism and toward the Japanese language were not correlated with language use and language proficiency. In conclusion, this study demonstrated the importance of a balanced use of the two languages for bilingual development. Family, school, and community support is crucial in order to maintain that balanced use of the two languages. In addition, it is important to clarify that family, school, and community should cooperate with each other to create environments in which bilingual children can develop their bilingual proficiency.
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