Diglossia

The term ˜diglossia' was introduced for the first time into the English language by Charles Ferguson (1959). Ferguson's definition of diglossia is as follows:
Diglossia is a relatively stable language situation in which, in addition to the primary dialects of the language, there is a divergent, highly codified superposed variety, the vehicle of a large and respected body of written literature, either of an early period or in another speech community, which is learned largely by formal education and is used for most written and formal spoken purposes but is not used by any sector of community for ordinary conversation. (Ferguson. ˜Diglossia', Word 15: 325-40)
Ferguson found such situations for example in places like Greece, the Arabic - speaking world, German “speaking Switzerland and the island of Haiti. In those societies, you can find mainly two or even more different languages, better to say different language varieties. One is mainly used for formal and public occasions, while the other one is only used as a normal, ˜everyday language'. These two varieties are called ˜High' and ˜Low' variety, or ˜standard' and ˜vernacular'. In Ferguson's definition, the high and low variants are always closely related. Joshua Fishman expanded the definition of diglossia to include the use of unrelated languages as high and low varieties. (H) is usually the written language whereas (L) is the spoken language. In formal situations, (H) is used; in informal situations, (L) is used. There is also a lot of code-switching especially in the Arabic world; according to Andrew Freeman this is "different from Ferguson's description of diglossia which states that the two forms are in complementary distribution." To a certain extent, there is code switching and overlap in all diglossic societies, even German-speaking Switzerland.
Diglossia is the relationship between two or more codified dialects that are used in the same speech community under different circumstances. Diglossia is categorised into two important hallmarks, the (H) high function which is seen as the superior dialect that is based on a grammatical system. It is formalised of rules, hence allowing thoughts and ideas to be expressed logically. However, the (L) function is connected to the standardised language of the speech community. It is used to express ideas and feelings close to one’s thoughts. The (L) variety is the first dialect that is taught to children as the mother tongue language followed by the (H) variety in schools. It is important however, to be able to distinguish between the context in which both the (H) and (L) varieties are used otherwise the individual is seen as a mockery. However, the ability to use both the (H) and (L) varieties in one speech community is acceptable as they can be used to complement each other when used in the right context. An example of the (H) and (L) variety is evident in the Arabic speech community, the Arabs are expected to use the (H) variety for education, politics and religion, as the (L) variety is not accepted in formal domains unless used to explain the ideas or concepts further. Thus, diglossia does play an important role within specific speech communities; however it is evident that trends of diglossia are continuously changing. Over time the change of trends can result in the (H) function of dialect fading due to the increase use of the (L) variety as the standard language. This can be problematic as the (H) variety is connected to religion, literature and education. In addition, the change between the (H) and (L) variety of a language in different domains can result in learning difficulties later on in life.
Basically, a bilingual person is said of that one who knows and uses two languages. More specifically, one who speaks, reads, or understands two languages equally well (Richards et al., 1992). The term bilingualism has been defined from different perspectives. As a matter of fact, disciplines like linguistics, psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics propose, according to their particular domain, a definition for bilingualism. In general terms, the bilingualism is characterized by the alternation of two languages. The problem arises when we want to define the extent of language competence a person must have to be called bilingual.
The most known definitions of bilingualism come from Bloomfield (1933) who states that bilingualism is the “native mastery of two languages”; similarly, Haugen (1969), argues that bilingualism is “the use of complete and meaningful sentences in other languages”; and for Weinreich (1953), bilingualism occurs when “two or more languages… are used alternately by the same persons”. Clearly, those definitions (and others) may be situated along a continuum moving from a ‘radical’ position to a more flexible one. For example, Macnamara (1967) describes a bilingual person like, if besides the skills in his first language, he has skills in one of four modalities of the second language. This definition would cover an ample range of speakers around the world. I mean, most of students with a moderate training within educational contexts, which is the case of my country, could be referred to as bilinguals.
Additionally to the concepts above, we should also recognize some variations of bilingualism, for instance, semilinguism, which refers to the faulty use of at least, one of the two languages; and multi/plurilinguism, when more than two languages come to be in use. In short, establishing a comprehensive definition of bilingualism should imply a definition which considers personal and social factors. On the other hand, within bilingual (and monolingual) communities, it is customary to find different uses and social functions of a language. This phenomenon leads to recognition of what it has been called diglossia. For Ferguson (1972:232) the term refers to “a specific relationship between two or more varieties of the same language in use in a speech community in different functions”. On his side, Bright (1964) provides perhaps, the simplest definition and states that diglossia refers to the sharp differences in form and function between formal and informal style.
From a social standpoint, the bilingualism might slow down the integration into a culture, a social group or a community because some linguistic features of a given language may be interpreted as foreign or distant. For second languages environments, the phenomenon of acculturation (if not culture shock) may be present. World´s views, self-identity, thinking system, behaviour, feelings, language, which are some of the features of the tremendous complexity of culture, may be disrupted by the process of change form one culture to another (Brown, 1994)
Notwithstanding, the social advantages of bilingualism are quite evident. For instance, the easiness to establish a number of diverse relationships to better the understanding and knowledge among peoples is crucial for the current world. When the acquisition of a second language which is prestigious (socially recognized), and when that acquisition is taken as a personal gain, we are talking about an additive bilingualism. Conversely, when the acquisition of a L2 responds to a socio-economical need, and it supposes the separation or gradual loss of the L1, we face what is known as subtractive bilingualism (Moreno F., 2009)
Bilingual education
In some contexts where the teaching (thus learning?) of a language falls into the category of ‘foreign’, that is the TL is taught within instructional setting and with very limited and particular purposes, bilingualism tends to be confused with the bilingual education. Widely defined, the bilingual education is the use of the two languages as instruction means (Brisk, 2005). Some of the proposers of the bilingual education argue that only the dual programs of language that consist of instruction in both languages equally distributed during the day, are accepted like bilingual education. Siguán and Mackey (1986) state that the bilingual education is the system in which two languages are used as the means of instruction , and one of those languages is normally the students´ first language (my translation). The reality is that the bilingual education may occur following particular circumstances like the needs of the students and the availability of resources. However, some programs of education are misleadingly called “bilingual”, since within these programs only the L1 is the means of instruction and the TL is seen like one more subject of the curriculum.
The implementation and execution of programs on bilingual education is, no doubt a complex phenomenon that involves not only linguistic, sociological and psychological factors but also educational and political issues.
Types of bilingual education
It is important to reflect upon the linguistics aims of a given educational system which are for sure the result of the state political decisions. According to those purposes, a system may be interested in having its students fully competent in both languages, or just in one of them leaving the other to a lower level of competence. It is also important to consider the place assigned to the use of the languages within the curriculum. There might be the likelihood of balanced distribution of subjects or that one of the languages receive a special attention whereas the other one be left in a secondary place. Fishman and Lovas (1970, cited by Moreno Fernández, 2009) propose a four-level taxonomy of bilingual education.
Type of bilingual education Main features
Transitory L1 to approach the L2
Mono-literacy L1 for conversations and to teach some subjects
Partial To teach writing and reading in both languages; L1 for particular issues of the minority language, and L2 to teach scientific subjects
Complete L1 and L2 are to be used to teach with no restriction

Additionally, it is well known the model of immersion for bilingual education programs. To this regard, we can talk about early immersion when all the early instruction done in a second language, and a late immersion, when the L2 is introduced at the last years of primary instruction.
Considering the relationship between the student´s language and the instruction language may lead to a conflictive model of education. For instance, when the student´s languages and the instruction language do not coincide, and the educative model does not consider this imbalance, the instruction situation may become a full failure. Anyhow, it is important to take into account the linguistic origins and the cultural and linguistic distance of the students. Lewis (1977 cited by Moreno Fernández, 2009) point out four international dimensions for bilingual education:
a. Demographic-linguistic dimension: distribution and effect of the bilingualism within urban and rural areas; sociological status of each language of Multilanguage nations
b. Attitude dimension: linguistic attitudes may be affected by geographical factors, migration, and by political and socio-economic situation of the country.
c. Educational aims dimension: objectives proposed for minority and majority languages.
d. Cultural dimension: level of literacy, mobility and contact among different groups within a territory.
Undoubtedly, the existence of such varied and numerous factors make a bilingual education a complex task to design and to apply. In fact, resources to be invested are likely a question that most country politicians have to think twice before deciding to pursue a bilingual education policy. The training of language teachers to make them specialist on bilingual programs would demand a steady and costly investment, just to mention the very beginning strategy to establish a bilingual education endeavor.

Bilingualism in FL settings
So far I have discussed some major issues regarding bilingualism and bilingual education in regions or territories where two languages meet. This fact implies that there is a social need for the establishing of bilingual programs. However, this is not always the case, I mean, that sometimes the language to be part of the bilingual community has the status of “foreign” not “second language”. Being this the situation, we have to consider that that type of language is seen not as an immediate need, and even the necessary curricular adjustment has not been done yet. Most countries in South America, for instance, have decided to implement bilingual education programs to meet international standards and make those countries “more competitive” in terms of international markets. The first controversial issue has to do with which language has to be learnt. In Colombia, there seems to be a tacit decision that it is English the foreign language, given its commercial and international status (although it is not explicit in official documents, law 115, articles 21, 22 and 23 of Ministry of Education). Nevertheless, those minority languages, especially indigenous languages have also their voices to be heard within the Colombian context. Whatever the case, it is clear that this issue deals with political decisions that not always take social, cultural or linguistic considerations to undertake a project of such an importance.
Another issue which deserves special attention has to do with the evaluation of bilingualism and bilingual education programs. This means that the purposes and objectives of such plans must be particularly clear and attainable so that when times for assessment and evaluation procedures come, the educational institution have the necessary elements of judgment and the required tools. For instance, if those tools are to measure linguistic competence, communicative competence and even pragmatic competence of the language involved.
Finally, what really matters is that within our current world, where distance is dramatically reduced if not eliminated, the introduction of bilingual and multilingual communities have to be an asset for most societies. Nevertheless, the design and implementation of such communities must be a question of informed decisions. It is true that education is also dependent of political determination, but it is not less true that linguistic, cultural, and social factor must be carefully incorporated. This means that language teachers and the scholar´s communities have a major role to play through serious and supported research projects.