Literature / 29
survival: the first approach that grew out of contact between the 'host
country' and. Imaigrants needed as labour force was that of assimilation.
The immigrant was made to feel inferior, among other things, because of
his difficulty in mastering what for him was the L2, and so he found it
convenient to try to become part of the mainstream culture. As minority
groups progressively found this impossible, they rediscovered their
identity, and their language and culture were variously revindicated as
equal, beautiful, alternative, different etc. (for a comprehensive study,
see Skutnabb-Kangas, 1983 and 1986; Phillipson and Skutnabb-Kangas,1986).
Differences among successive generations and origins of immigrants, and
In the socio-economic conditions and policies of the host countries
combine Into an extreme variety of situations. Vhile some studies on
bilingualism and education adopt a strictly psychological approach (see
2.2.4) and tend to Isolate the learner and ħls task, a more articulate
approach studies the sociolinguistics of the bilingual situation, and its
Influence on the individual's learning.
It seems to me that what is transferable from studies of situations as
different as those of the linguistic minorities in industrialized
countries, and of the rural majorities in underdeveloped countries, cannot
be a format for a bilingual curriculum or a teaching strategy; but rather
an approach that stresses the complex Interplay of factors, related to
the context (internal and external, Cummins,1984:75), the learner, the two
or more languages and the aims of education.
2.1.4 Bilingual programmes in education
As bilingual situations differ considerably, so do language policies and
educational programmes : these may be submersion, immersion, maintenance
or segregation type of programmes, ( for a definition of these concepts
see Skutnabb-Kangas, 1983, chapter 7) and each is related to the societal