•U.S. public schools serve about 5.1 million English language learners (ELLs);
•145 different languages are spoken among our ELL population;
•Spanish is spoken by 80% of the ELL population
U.S. Demographics
1,894,108 Hispanic (44%) 1,676,987 White (39%) 616,050 African American (14%) 127,092 Asian (2.9%) 13,791 Native American (0.3%)
Texas Student Profile Grades PK-12
Spanish 603,299Vietnamese 10,649 Urdu 3,425 Korean 2,841Arabic 2,689
Texas PK-12 English language learners (ELLs)
2004-2005
684,583Total Identified
ELLs)
Number of Limited English Proficient (LEP) Students in Texas
500,000
520,000
540,000
560,000
580,000
600,000
620,000
640,000
660,000
680,000
700,000
2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05
School Year
Nu
mb
er
of
LE
P
Stu
de
nts
Number of LEP Students
Understanding the Bilingual Education Controversy
Let us remember:
Goals of Bilingual Education:• Subject matter knowledge, i.e., the development of
academic skills; • Biliteracy, i.e., the development of literacy both in
English and in the heritage language.• Biculturalism, i.e., the development of bicultural
values by maintaining the native culture and adding a second culture.
Understanding the Bilingual Education Controversy
Good bilingual programs:• Provide background knowledge through the
first language via subject matter teaching in the first language to the point that subsequent subject matter instruction in English is comprehensible;
• Provide literacy in the first language;• Provide comprehensible input in English,
through ESL and sheltered instruction.
1. The United States is a monolingual nation where English is
considered the main and only language of the country. However, English is loosing ground to other
languages now spoken in the United States
Counterevidence:• In spite of massive immigration,
the English has survived without any help from the government, such an official-language legislation.
2. Newcomers to the United States are learning English more slowly
than in previous generations States
Counterevidence:• To the contrary of the
opponent’s views, today’s immigrants appear to be acquiring English more rapidly than ever before.
3. Bilingualism disrupts the unity of the country. Language unity helps us build a national character and identity in the midst of so many diverse elements, including ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity.
Counterevidence:• Bilingualism is a natural gift in a
diverse country such as ours.
4. English has historically been the language of opportunities. By learning English, immigrants and following generations will be empowered.
Counterevidence:• US residents recognize the
importance of English. However, multilingualism is a tremendous resource to the country’s global competitiveness.
5. The best way to learn a language is through “total immersion”. The more contact with the language the faster one learns it .
Counterevidence:• The climate of full cognitive
development is crucial in the development of L2. Input must be comprehensible to promote L2 acquisition. There is no credible evidence to support the claim that the more children are exposed to English, the more English they will learn.
6. Children learning English are retained too long in bilingual classrooms, at the expense of English acquisition it.
Counterevidence:• Truly bilingual programs seek
to cultivate proficiency in both languages, and research has shown that students’ native language can be maintained and developed at no cost to English learn.
7. The earlier in life one learns a language the better.
Counterevidence:• The climate of full cognitive
development is crucial in the development of a second language. Indeed the best age to acquire an L2 is 9-21.
8. Bilingual instruction is far more costly than English language instruction.
Counterevidence:• All programs serving ELL’s cost
little more than regular programs for native speakers. Federal law and court cases require special languages services for language minorities.
9. Disproportionate dropout rates for Hispanic students demonstrate the failure of bilingual education.
Counterevidence:• Latino school dropout is the result a
series of background variables: poverty, racism, shortage of successfully schooled Latino role models, under-empowering school culture: lack of material resources and reading material, lack of qualified bilingual teachers, and administrative support.
10. Public is against bilingual education. In particular language-minority parents do not support bilingual education .
Counterevidence:• Contrary to what is shown by the
opinion polls on bilingual education the public is not against bilingual education. The results of English-only acceptance are due to a bias posed by the poll questions.
11. Many have been successful without bilingual programs.
Counterevidence:• Research on linguistic and
learning issues is advancing demonstrating the linguistic and cognitive advantages of bilingual education, resulting on personal and social advancement.
Further implications
• The public needs to be educated;• School districts must have coherent
guidelines, and personnel must believe in the program model they are expected to implement;
• The country needs to prepare good bilingual teachers;
Further implications
• Well-trained and certified teachers in well-structured and well-supported programs are the best qualified to deal with students with a wide range of language proficiency and academic performance levels;
• The debate must be placed not on battling research finding and competing models of instruction, but on finding ways of better serving language minorities;