Theories And Methods of Bilingual Education Jesse SantanaAlliant International University PPS - 6010

Foundations of Bilingual EducationBilingual education in the U.S.

has taken place on 3 fronts: ◦Cultural◦Legislative◦Judicial

Development of Bilingual Education Early Bilingualism: 20 different

languages could be heard in the American Colonies.

Language Restrictionism: Different areas in the country began restricting or even attempted to eradicate immigrant and minority languages.

Development of Bilingual Education Assimilationism: Americanization

changed public attitudes toward learning in other languages.

Rebirth of Bilingual Education: Reborn in the 1960’s in Florida.

Development of Bilingual Education The English-as-Official-Language

Movement (1980’s): Movement to seek establishment of English as the nation’s official language.

Bilingualism in the Modern World: Many countries are officially bilingual.

Educational Issues Involving Bilingual Education Underachievement: Discrepancies in the

achievement of Whites in comparison with ethnic minorities.

Dropouts: Disparity in graduation and dropout rates among various ethnic groups in the United States.

Overachievement: “Model Minority”Placement: Educators have responded

by developing special programs and procedures and by placing students in special classes.

Organizational ModelsBilingual Education

◦Umbrella term used to refer to various types of programs and models.

Organizational ModelsSubmersion: Default model of

educating English learners in the U.S.

English-Language Development (ELD)◦Pull-Out ELD◦ELD Class Period◦Content-Based ELD◦Sheltered Instruction (SDAIE)

Organizational ModelsTransitional or Early-Exit Bilingual

Education◦Main Goal: Mainstream students into

English only classrooms.

Organizational ModelsDual or Two-Way Immersion

Instructional StrategiesGood classroom teaching must

be a part of a bilingual classroom in the same way that good teaching is required in any classroom.

Instructional StrategiesLanguage Management: For

students who can function at a high level in two languages. ◦Time◦Personnel◦Subject◦Manner of Delivery

Instructional StrategiesPrimary-Language Use: Primary

language is used to teach academic material.

Fallacies about Bilingual Education1 English is losing ground to other languages

in the United States.2 Newcomers to the United States are

learning English more slowly now than in previous generations.

3 The best way to learn a language is through “total immersion.”

4 Children learning English are retained too long in bilingual classroom, at the expense of English acquisition.

5 School districts provide bilingual instruction in many different native languages.

Fallacies about Bilingual Education6 Bilingual education mean instruction mainly in

students’ native languages, with little instructions in English.

7 Bilingual education is far more costly than English-language instructions.

8 Disproportions dropout rates for Hispanic students demonstrate the failure of bilingual education.

9 Research is inconclusive on the benefits of bilingual education.

10 Language minority parents do not support bilingual education, because they feel it is more important for their children to learn English than to maintain the native language.