Bilingual Education: Development and Language

Most parents want their children to learn English and do well in school. The essence of Bilingual Education is to develop academic English and success in school. The initial education a child receives should be taught in that student’s first language. Once the children understand a certain subject instructed in their first language, they would be able to better understand that same subject when taught in the English language. In Bilingual Education programs, the children use the knowledge they acquire in the classes instructed in their first language to better comprehend the English language and the classes instructed in the English language.

Literacy, the ability to read, transfers between languages. Studies have shown that “the reading process is similar in different languages, the reading development process is similar in different languages, and the correlations between literacy development in the first language and the second language are high (Krashen, 1996).” Efficient Bilingual Education programs teach literacy in the first language to better assure literacy in the English language.

Bilingual Education has been attributed to being responsible for dropouts, especially among Hispanic students. This belief rises from the fact that Hispanic students have a large drop out rate, even though they are the ethnic group with the largest numbers involved in Bilingual Education. Yet, in California, only fifteen percent of Hispanics were entirely enrolled in Bilingual Education programs. Furthermore, only one study has been conducted on the impact of Bilingual Education on dropouts, which reported fewer dropouts among Bilingual Education students when compared with others (Curiel, Rosenthal, and Richek, 1986). Hispanic student dropouts usually chose to quit school because of a lack of English comprehension (McMillan, Kaufman and Klein, 1997).

Since these Hispanic students do not fully comprehend English well enough to earn a well-paying job, socioeconomic status also contributes to the issue. Often, Hispanic students have dropped out of school to immediately enter the work field in order to earn money and attempt to advance their class status. Various other studies have proved that other background factors as reason for Hispanic students, as well as other ethnic races, to drop out of school. Bilingual Education programs gives promise to the students by better guaranteeing an English comprehension as well as success in school.

Bibliography

Works Cited

Krashen, Stephen. Under Attack: The Case Against Bilingual Education. Culver City, California. Language Education Associates. 1996.

Krashen, Stephen. Condemned Without a Trial: Bogus Arguments Against Bilingual Education. Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Heinemann. 1999.

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