Advances in the Study of Bilingualism

Medium of education at primary school
We suggested above that medium of education could have an effect on
proficiency, but it is also possible that it could affect the choice of M L regard-
less of proficiency. As Figure 6.5 shows, the majority of the Welsh-English
participants (72%) had their primary school education in Welsh, whereas the
majority of the Spanish-English group (52%) attended school conducted in
English. The difference in primary school language between the two groups
was statistically significant (χ^2 = 51.03, df = 3, p < 0.0001).

Medium of education at secondary school
Further significant differences can also be seen by comparing the language
used in the secondary education (Figure 6.5; χ^2 = 27.85, df = 4, p < 0.0001).
While 60% of the Spanish-English participants received their education in
English, 28% of the Welsh-English participants reported the same. Overall,
then, it is possible that the higher incidence of English-medium education in
Miami may be related to the more common choice of English as ML in bilin-
gual clauses. Conversely, the high incidence of Welsh-medium education
among our participants in Wales may favour the choice of Welsh as an ML.

National identity
Insofar as there is a connection between language and national identity,
we may expect that individuals’ conception of their own identity might
affect their choice of ML. Thus a Welsh (vs. English) identity might be related
to the choice of a Welsh ML, whereas a Latin American (vs. American) iden-
tity might be related to the choice of Spanish ML and an American identity
might be related to the choice of English ML. Figure 6.7 shows that self-
reported identity is much more uniform in Wales than in Miami. Almost all
of the Welsh-English participants identify themselves as Welsh (90%). Half
of the Spanish-English participants identified as American (28%) or Cuban
(22%) and the remaining Spanish-English participants (50%) fall into other

Factors Influencing Code-Switching 133

19%

60%

19%

0% 2%

43%

28%

24%

1% 0%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Spanish/Welsh English Both Other Not Applicable

Sp-Eng

Wel-Eng

Figure 6.6 Secondary school language for the Spanish-English and Welsh-English corpora