Post 117: What are the goals of Bilingual Education? What is it?

Post 117: What are the goals of Bilingual Education? What is Bilingual Education?

The U.S. Congress in P.L. 95-561, which is known as the Bilingual Act, defines the term program of bilingual education as follows:

A program of instruction, designed for children of limited English proficiency in elementary or secondary schools, in which, with respect to the years of study to which the program is applicable . . . there is instruction given in, and study of, English, and, to the extent necessary to allow a child to achieve competence in the English language, the native language of the child of limited English proficiency, and such instruction is given with appreciation for the cultural heritage of such children, and of other children in American society, and with respect to elementary and secondary school instruction, such instruction shall, to the extent necessary, be in all courses or subjects of study which will allow a child to progress effectively through the educational system.

The basic definition of bilingual education generally agreed upon by both scholars and laypersons, is the “use of two languages as media of instruction.” In other words, there is agreement regarding what the process of bilingual education is, but confusion arises when the philosophy and goals of bilingual education are discussed.

Are the goals of Bilingual Education to teach English or maintain the heritage language of Language Minority Students? Or both? Is the goal to mainstream the student to English as soon as possible or the maintenance of the students' first language and culture?

Ovando believes that language and culture are interrelated and that a bilingual program cannot have one without the other.  There is confusion among educators which is more important, language learning or culture maintenance.

Blanco (1977) notes that the consensus of experts in the field of bilingual education is that its primary goals are in the area of cognitive and affective development rather than linguistic and cultural realms. From this, one could surmise that the primary goal of bilingual education is not necessarily to teach English or a second language, but to teach children concepts, knowledge, and skills through the language they know best and reinforce this information through the second language. Anderson and Boyer (1970, pp. 43–44) emphasize this strategy in their definition of bilingual education:

[Bilingual education is a] new way of conceiving the entire range of education especially for the non-English child just entering school. Bilingual learning necessitates rethinking the entire curriculum in terms of a child's best instruments for learning, of his readiness for learning various subjects, and his own identity and potential for growth and development.

Many educators believe that students should learn content area in their native language while they are becoming proficient in English so that the students do not fall behind their English speaking classmates. Then, as the students' proficiency in English increases, then gradually more and more academic content is taught in English until the students catch up to their English speaking peers. This was the rough idea behind Bilingual Education. It was to give students time to learn English while still learning academic content in math, history, etc.. in their native language until they know enough English to learn that same academic content in English. In this model of Bilingual Ed, students maintain their native language and at the same time learn English.

Other educators feel that if teachers teach academic content in the students' native tongue, this would delay his English acquisition and put them behind their English speaking peers. Such educators feel immigrant students or emergent bilinguals should just be immersed in a totally English Only environment or where only English is taught in ESL Content classes to accelerate a students' entry into the American mainstream class. These English Only educators are afraid that if students spend too much time in first language cultural maintenance, they lose time in learning about American culture and American values. This brings me to my next blog post about the battle between English Only proponents of Bilingual Ed who feel no first language instruction is necessary at all and those who believe students need first language cultural maintenance and enrichment to build emergent bilingual students confidence and give them a sense of belonging in American society. I will talk about this conflict in my next blog posts by going over in a little more detail the legislative history of Bilingual Education and ESL in this country.

What is your position on Bilingual Education? Should Bilingual Ed be English Only? or should Bilingual Ed also include the maintenance of the immigrant students' L1 and culture?

Marlarz, Lynn. Bilingual Education: Effective Programming for Language Minority Students.

Ovando, Carlos. Bilingual and ESL Classrooms. Teaching in Multicultural Context. 6th Edition