MODULE 1: Exploring Bilingual Education

INTRODUCTION: Module 1 consists of a brief introduction to bilingual education. The goal of this module is to briefly describe the definition of bilingual education, its purpose and background.


 

 

EXPLORING BILINGUAL EDUCATION

 

Definition of Bilingual Education 

Cummins defined bilingual education “as the use of two languages of instruction at some point in a students’ school career” (as cited in Creese & Blackledge, 2010, p103). In addition, bilingual education integrates student’s home language and culture background into the curriculum, and uses knowledge in student’s first language as base for new learning in the second language (Bahamonde, 1999).

Purpose of Bilingual Education

The purpose of a bilingual program is to develop both student’s languages and literacy proficiency, leads them in a successful academic achievement, and encourages sociocultural integration (Brisk, 2000; Murphy, 2010). Therefore, the intended outcomes of bilingual education are bilingualism, biliteracy and biculturalism (Baker, 2006).

             Bilingual education has been practiced in a diversity of ways, in numerous countries and for thousand of years (Baker, 2006). According to Freeman, Freeman, and Mercuri (2005),bilingualism and encouragement of linguistic diversity have been present in human societies since ancient times. The historical origins of bilingual education lie well before the 20^th century (Baker, 2006). Freeman et al. (2005) explained that when education became available in the early times of human society, formal schooling was normally provided in more than one language. In fact, in that era of human history, when there was so little reading material, a person to be considered literate should be able to read in more than one language.

In the U.S., teaching in languages other than English is not something new. Since the country was founded, bilingualism and multilingualism has existed. In the 1800s, with the big number of immigrants getting in to the country, more than twelve states offered instruction in different languages (Freeman et al, 2005). Some of the languages taught were German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Polish, Italian, Czech, French, and Spanish (Baker, 2006; Freeman et al., 2005).

A summary of major events affecting the history of the U.S. bilingual education is given in the following video, and time line presented in Module 1: Activities.

The growth of bilingual education has been substantial, since there are currently about 400 dual language programs in the U.S. (CAL, 2011). Nowadays, interest in bilingualism and bilingual education continue growing because the changing demographics, ideologies, ethnicities and cultures in the U.S and the need to compete in a global economy (Baker, 2006; Freeman et al., 2005). Policy makers and educators have recognized how critical it is for Americans to become bilingual and even thought multilingual in the global economy (Freeman et al. 2005). In Module 2 more reasons for learning a second language are given.

References

Bahamonde, C. (1999). Teaching English language learners: A proposal for effective service delivery through collaboration and co-teaching. Journal of Education & Psychological Consultation, 10 (1), 1-23.

Baker, C. (2006). Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism (4^th Ed.). Buffalo: Multilingual Matters

Brisk, M. E. (2000). Quality bilingual education: Defining success. Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory, (1), 1-11.

Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL). (2011). Directory of two-way programs. Retrieved from: http://www.cal.org/twi/directory/state.htm

Creese, A., & Blackledge, A. (2010). Translanguaging in bilingual classroom: A pedagogy for learning and teaching? The Modern Language Journal, 94 (1), 103-115.

Freeman, Y. S., Freeman, D. E., & Mercuri, S. P. (2005). Dual language essentials: For teachers and administrators. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Meyer, M. M., & Fienberg, S. E. (Eds.). (1992). Panel to review evaluation studies of bilingual education: Assessing evaluation studies- The case of bilingual education strategies. Washington: The National Academies Press.

Murphy, A. F. (2010). Bilingual and bicultural: English-language learners and English-proficient students alike can achieve academic success through a dual-language program. Principal Online, 40-47.

Pedalino-Porter, R. (2000). The benefits of English Immersion: A powerful movement in bilingual education, spearheaded in California, advocates the integration of limited-English proficient students into English-instruction classes. Educational Leadership, 52-56.

Wright, W. E. (2010). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research, theory, policy, and practice. Philadelphia: Caslon Publishing.