2. What is bilingual education?
Bilingual education is a program of instruction
that uses the student's language as a tool of
instruction while they begin learning English,
his/her second language. The program is meant
to help the student for three or four years until it
is determined that he/she can successfully
handle academic work entirely in English.
3. What is bilingual education?
(cont.)In addition to teaching students subject matter
in Spanish, the program provides English as a
Second Language (ESL) teaching methods.
Successful bilingual programs provide instruction
that instills, confidence, self-assurance, and
positive identity with their cultural heritage. They
learn about the history and culture of their
ancestors, as well as that of the United States.
4. Main Objective
The main objective of bilingual education is to
help English Language Learner students
achieve success, both in their current
academic placement and in the future.
5. What are the goals of bilingual
education?
Learning English is one of the primary goals of bilingual
education.
The other goals of bilingual education are to:
• insure access to comprehensible instruction in the native
language
• provide access to content area instruction in the native
language
• teach English using English as a Second Language
instruction
• establish a warm and welcoming climate that supports
cognitive growth of language minority students
6. Who is served?
Students who are limited-English proficient (LEP).
The LEP students may be from various language
groups. In Texas, approximately 98% of the LEP
population is Spanish-speaking.
If at least twenty students from the same language
group are enrolled in a grade level. Texas law
requires that the school district provide a formal
language program of instruction which uses both
languages of instruction.
7. How is eligibility determined?
Federal guidelines require that school
districts have procedures in place that help
them identify students who can benefit
from a bilingual program.
When a student enrolls in a Texas public
school parents are asked to identify:
• which language the child learned first
• which language is most often spoken at
home
8. (cont.)Parents that answer both questions
by naming a language other than
English are identified for further testing.
Students are first given a test in English.
How is eligibility determined?
9. How is eligibility determined?
Students who have difficulty in understanding
and speaking English are identified and placed
in a special program.
• ESL
• Bilingual
The ultimate decision for program placement
lies with the parents. Under no circumstances
should a district place a child in either bilingual
or an ESL program if the parent does not
provide authorization.
10. How is it determined when a student is
ready to exit the bilingual program?
• Development of student's oral language
level of proficiency skills.
• Scores on English achievement test (40% in
both English language arts and reading is
required)
11. Why do we need bilingual
education?
• High failure rates for Hispanics during the
1950's and 1960's, the dropout rates
ranged from 60-70%. The "sink or swim"
approach may have worked for a few, but
not for all Hispanics.
• Students who are ready to read can do so
in their strong primary language, Spanish.
12. Why do we need bilingual
education?
(cont.)
• Students do not have to sit in class waiting to
learn English well to begin learning content
area instruction (math, social studies,
science). They are presented in Spanish
while they are gradually introduced to English
using ESL techniques.
• Many of the reading skills learned in the
native language will transfer to the second
language.
13. Will being in bilingual classes retard
students' academic progress?
Research has shown that it takes four to
seven years for students to acquire
cognitive academic language proficiency
in the second language. It is important to
recognize that not all students have had the
same background experiences.
14. Research on Academic
Achievement
• Concepts and skills that students learn in one
language transfer to another (Ramirez, 1992, study
founded by Federal Government). English
immersion and early exit programs are inefficient
to ELL’s
• ELL’s immersed in the English mainstream showed
decreases in reading and math achievement by
Grade 5 (Collier and Thomas 2002).
• Strong primary language development helps
students learn English (Collier 1987).
15. Research on Academic
Achievement
(cont.)
• School related task require a fairly
sophisticated grasp of language (Collier
and Thomas 1987).
• Students who are highly proficient in two
languages appear to have academic
advantages over monolingual students
(Cummings 2000)
• Supporting primary language promotes
self-esteem (Baker 1988 and Miller 1990)
16. What is the program of
instruction?
The implementation of the program of
instruction addresses three specific areas of
student needs:
• how it will teach English as a second language
to the student
• how it will teach the content area subject matter
(science, math, social studies)
• how the student will be helped so that he/she
does not fall behind his/her assigned grade
level.
18. Bilingual Education Models
L1 Support
No L1 Support
Segregated Mixed
Dual Language
or Two-Way
Late Transitional or
Developmental (K-6)
Early Transitional (k-2)
ESL Pull-Out
ESL Self-Contained
Submersion “sink or
swim”
Structured Immersion
19. Transitional Bilingual
Education
Transitional bilingual education uses students'
native languages in teaching subject areas, and
students use progressively more English to transit
into the mainstream education curriculum. The first
language can be helpful in providing background
knowledge, and literacy transfers across languages.
The main emphasis of transitional bilingual
education programs is to enable limited English
proficient students to become competent in all areas
of English through the development of literacy and
academic skills in their native language.
20. Immersion Bilingual Programs
Immersion education is defined as using the
standard, approved school curriculum taught
in a foreign language to students who share
the same first language. In other words, the
foreign language is used for the instruction of
all subject matter, and not taught as a
separate subject. Teachers use gestures, toys,
and pictures to aid student's development of
language acquisition as they explore content
areas such as math, reading, social studies,
science, and other curriculums. The idea to
use the immersion model for teaching foreign
languages came from Canada's successful
use of the program that started in 1965
(Peterson).
21. Immersion Bilingual Programs
(cont.) They are bilingual programs because of the following
characteristics:
• The teacher is bilingual. Although the lesson is delivered
in a language that is new to the students, students can
expressed themselves and be understood in their own
language.
• The language used for the instruction is carefully modified
and mediated to improve students understanding. All
instruction is supported by use of visuals, media, and
hands on experiences.
• Students usually received language arts instruction in their
primary language.
Immersion programs, like others, work best when
their emphasis is additive.
22. Two-Way Bilingual Immersion
Programs
Two-way bilingual immersion programs (also known
as dual language programs) are unique in bilingual
education in that they foster literacy and native
language ability in two different languages for all
students in the curriculum, regardless of mother
tongue. Two-way immersion programs integrate
language minority and language majority students,
providing instruction in both English and the native
language of the language minority students.
Overriding goals of two-way bilingual immersion
programs are to promote bilingualism and biliteracy,
grade-level academic achievement, and positive
cross-cultural attitudes and behaviors in all
students.
23. Developmental Bilingual
Programs
Developmental Bilingual Education, also known as
"Late Exit" programs, proposes that students stay in
the program throughout elementary school and
continue to receive 40% or more of instruction in the
first language even when they have been tested as
English proficient (Rennie). The programs begin in
elementary school and extend through high school.
From 1994 to 1995, 38.4% of students participated in
state and local bilingual programs versus 29.9%
participated in ESL programs (Summary). Key issues
in this program are the ways that first language can
positively affect acquisition of other languages and
that human rights and culture must be respected.
24. Early exit vs. Late exit
Jim Cummins found in studies that the better
students have mastered the first language, the
better they will understand English (Leung). It was
found that the foundation of the first language
would best prepare students for learning academic
English, a process lasting from five to seven years.
In a 1991 study, 2,000 Spanish students in five
states found that "late exit" bilingual education
programs were superior to "early exit" transitional
programs (Leung). This study shows that the first
language base knowledge is central to the
assimilation of other languages.
25. ESL Pull-Outs
In a pull-out program for ESL, English language
learners (ELLs) are removed from the “regular”
class (in which they receive their daily academic
instruction from a teacher who, probably, speaks
ONLY English) so that they can receive small-group
instruction in English Language Development (ELD)
or ESL for a limited amount of time each day,
somewhere between 30 to 50 minutes. The pull-out
students then return to their “regular” classroom and
continue to “learn” the content areas from the
English-ONLY teacher.
26. ESL Pull-Outs
(cont.) Most of the time, the pull-out program
instructor, an aide or a certified teacher, has
little contact with the “regular” classroom
teacher in terms of instructional
planning. The ESL or ELD instructor,
teacher or aide, implements a program that
may not be in any way, form or shape
connected to the daily content area lessons
that the pull-out ESL students receive in their
“regular” class from their “regular” teacher.
27. Additive versus Subtractive
Bilingualism
A subtractive bilingual is a person who has
replace a first language with a new one: the first
language is undeveloped or lost. Students become
subtractive bilinguals in the absence of formal
schooling in their primary language. Such students
may maintain oral proficiency in their first language,
but they do not enjoy the benefits of language and
literacy development for that language.
An additive bilingual is a person who has learned
a second language in addition to a native language.
Additive bilinguals have an academic advantage
over subtractive bilinguals and monolinguals.
28. The English Plus Movement
The English Plus movement began as a political
move to guarantee freedom from discrimination
based on language. Representative Jose
Serrano, (D-NY) of the 107th Congress,
introduced a nonbinding resolution around
1982(English Plus). Other similar measures have
passed at the state level as well. The policy
emerged to push more investments in language
education for Americans, and also to conserve
bilingual education.
29. The English Plus Movement
(cont.) Proponents of English Plus thought that
this type of education could benefit
employment, create more cultural awareness,
and render psychological benefits to this
country. It was further stated that national
interest might be best served when all
members of society can receive access to
opportunities to learn English. Further,
according to the Constitution, language
assistance must be available to all, including
U.S. citizens of other languages who have not
had the opportunity to learn English (English
Plus).
