Theories And Methods of Bilingual Education

1. Theories And Methods of Bilingual Education Jesse Santana Alliant International University PPS - 6010

2. Foundations of Bilingual Education • Bilingual education in the U.S. has taken place on 3 fronts: • Cultural • Legislative • Judicial

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. Organizational Models • Bilingual Education • Umbrella term used to refer to various types of programs and models.

8. Organizational Models • Submersion: 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)

9. Organizational Models • Transitional or Early-Exit Bilingual Education • Main Goal: Mainstream students into English only classrooms.

10. Organizational Models • Dual or Two-Way Immersion

11. Instructional Strategies • Good classroom teaching must be a part of a bilingual classroom in the same way that good teaching is required in any classroom.

12. Instructional Strategies • Language Management: For students who can function at a high level in two languages. • Time • Personnel • Subject • Manner of Delivery

13. Instructional Strategies • Primary-Language Use: Primary language is used to teach academic material.

14. Fallacies about Bilingual Education • 1 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.

15. Fallacies about Bilingual Education • 6 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.