Post 109: Different Programs of ESL and Bilingual Education

Post 109: Different Programs of ESL and Bilingual Education

Bilingual education is a term that refers to the teaching of academic content in two languages, in a native and second language. Varying amounts of each language are used depending on the outcome goal of the model.

Transitional Bilingual Programs--A student is temporarily in a bilingual program where content area curriculum is first taught in the students' L1 until the students' L2 (English) is proficient enough for him/her to learn academic content in English. In this case, a transitional Bilingual program serves as a remedial program, as a 'fix' to improve student English proficiency. Students in this remedial program feel like outcasts because they are not learning with their monolingual classmates in their grade. This is known as Subtractive Bilingualism where the goal is for the Language Minority Student to lose their L1 in favor of English. 

Submersion model--This is the traditional 'sink' or 'swim' model where the NNS simply learns the monolingual content area without any ESL or Bilingual ED support. When NNS experiences the submersion technique, his L1 is lost and he acquires L2.This is also a Substractive Bilingual method since the goal is for the Language Minority Student to completely lose their L1 in favor of their L2. The goal of the Submersion model is for the Language Minority Student to assimilate to North American society and forget about his/her ancestral language and customs. Submersion model is illegal but schools with very few NNS may use the Submersion model due to lack of funds, lack of students or simply being unaware that the Submersion Model is illegal. Since the first language is lost, this is considered a Subtractive Bilingual Model leading to negative cognitive effects and low grades if students do not get ESL or L1 support.

ESL content or shelter classes. may be self contained, or students may attend ESL content classes part of the school day and participate in monolingual English instruction classes (mainstream classes) the remainder of the day. ESL Content classes or sheltered classes are considered remedial class so that an ESL teacher can make academic content 'comprehensible input' for ESL students without watering down the curriculum.

ESL Pullout--Students are pulled out of the regular mainstream class during part of the school day and take ESL classes to improve their English. ESL pullout is the most expensive of all program models in bilingual ESL education because it requires higher extra resource teachers who are trained in second language acquisition. In the United States, ESL pullout is the most implemented and least effective model. Problems with this model are lost time and students access to the full curriculum, lack of curriculum articulation with grade level mainstream classroom teachers, and no access to primaryu language schooling to keep up with grade level academic work while learning English. The social assumption is that the language the student speaks is a problem to the mediated, and students often feel they are stigmatized by attending what is perceived as a remedial class. (Ovando, 29) 

Structured English Immersion (SEI) is a technique for rapidly teaching English to ELL.  The Structured English Immersion program was modeled after Canada's successful French Immersion programs where English speaking students are immersed in the French language all day long and learn content area material in the French language. This model was the one English Only Proponents wanted the most. This approach was used to force minority speakers to lose their L1 and to adopt English. More recently, SEI has been defined as a methodology in which English language learners (ELLs) learn English through structured and sequential lessons. Specially developed for ELLs, these lessons are based, to a large degree, on the mainstream curricula. (Haver, Johanna J., Structured English Immersion, Corwin Press, 2002. In the SEI classroom, ESL teachers teach ELL academic content in English only with no L1 support for English Language Learners. Just like the Submersion method, the Structured English Immersion method is also a Substractive Bilingual model since there is no L1 support and the ELL is forced to assimilate to English. Some ELL are even punished if they speak their L1 in class or at the school leading to alienation, low self esteem and low grades and a high dropout rate.

Two Way Bilingual or Dual Language Model of Bilingual Immersion

In this model, Language Minority Students are grouped together with Anglophones, English speaking students in one classroom. Fifty percent of the students are LMS whose L1 is Spanish and who want to learn English and the other half of the class are English NS who want to learn Spanish.  The Spanish students teach the English NS Spanish, while the English L1 students teach the Spanish L1 students English. It is a mutual exchange of culture, customs and language.  English NS get immersed in Spanish while Spanish L1 get language maintenance and heritage maintenance as both learn content area curriculum in a 90/10. Ninety percent of the day the students learn all in Spanish. And 10% of the day, the students learn content area in English. The ESL teacher teaching the English portion of the day works together with the Spanish teacher as they team teach so they don't repeat material the other had already taught. This is the most successful model for bilingual education because the culture of the Language Minority Students are highly valued as the English L1 students eagerly want to learn about Spanish culture and language so they too can become bilingual. This is what you call an Additive Bilingual Model where the ELL culture and language is preserved and used as a resource for class curriculum. Both groups work hard and have high grades and in this model, being bilingual becomes an asset.

"The immersion model was originally developed in Canada in the 1960s to get able majority language students to receive their schooling in both French and English for K-12. The term early total immersion is used to refer to the initial immersion experience in which 90% of the school day is in the minority language the language less supported by the broader society for kindergarten and first grade. Following the introduction of literacy and math in the minority language in grades K-12, the majority language is introduced into the curriculum in grade 2 or 3, and time spent using the majority language gradually increases until the curriculum is taught equally in both languages by grade 4 or 5. This model called the 90/10 model in the United States is becoming increasingly popular for two-way programs especially California and Texas. For English speakers, this is a bilingual immersion program emphasizing the minority language first, and for the language minority students is a bilingual maintenance model emphasizing their primary language first for literacy and academic development. Both groups say together in this model throughout the school day and serve as peer tutors for each other. In research studies on this model in both Canada and the United States, academic achievement is very high for all of students participating in the program when compared to comparable groups receiving schooling only through English. (Ovando, 34)"

Ovando, Carlos. J. Bilingual and ESL Classrooms. Teaching in Multicultural Contexts. Sixth Edition Rowman and Littlefield Publishers