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YES!!!
R. Porter- They should be eliminated
- Education regarding immigrants is misguided
- Current Assumptions: these students cannot learn English quickly enough so their native language must be used in instruction
for a number of years
- Research shows no evidence of bilingual education benefiting ELL students.
-GAO Case
-"Every year since the late 1970s, the school enrollment of limited-English students has increased at a faster
rate than the rest of the school population" (281).
-Schools with LEP students:
Nearly the entirety of immigrant students who come the U.S. cannot speak English. Some of these students did not go
to school in their nation of origin and have no schooling skills. There are few bilingual education teachers available for
these programs
-ALEC Case
-"Both federal and state agencies do give preference to native-language instruction programs over ESL in
funding decisions by a wide margin, even though 'there is no conclusive research that demonstrates the educational superiority
of bilingual education over ESL'" (283).
-There is little to tell us how much programs of this nature will cost or how effective they will be in aiding ELL student
achievement.
-1991-1992 = Estimated $9.9 billion spent in programa. That same year it was projected that $12 billion would be spent
(about a $2 billion increase) in 1993 because of the increase in immigration.
-The issue becomes finding reasons why we do this when there is little telling us that it is beneficial
- El Paso Case 1995
-Iowa's basic skills test, which is written in English, for grades 4 and 5:
Superior performance of immersion program ELL students in all content areas over those in TBE programs. 99 % of immersion
students were mainstreamed by 6th grade while 35% were still in TBE by 7th grade. Good bilingual immersion = successful and
"increased integration of Latino students into the mainstream, with no detrimental effects in any area of achievement
for students who took part in this program" (283).
-Immersion programs
-The study showed that it was not very stressful for students
-Teachers like this better because it generally gets students to speak English more quickly
-In a New York study, all students in immersion programs exited before their counterparts in bilingual programs did.
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NO!!!
R. Rothstein- They should not be eliminated
"teaching immigrants in their native language values their family and community culture and reinforces their sense
of self-worth, thus making their academic success more likely" (290)
-Immersion programs do not benefit immigrants generally until the third generation of a family is being schooled.
-First generation immigrant children spoke the primary language; second generation was bilingual but not fluent
in English; third generation were bilingual and started going to college.
-Students get frustrated or give up; language learning is linked to dropout rates (The New York Jewish student
population in the early 20th century; and now California Latino students)
-Misconception = bilingual education stops assimilation in its tracks
- Children who don't speak English should receive instruction in their native language while they are learning English.
How can they learn content if they have no understanding of the language it is being taught in?
-We just need to make sure the English is being taught too.
- Children might be able to better adapt to an atmosphere that does not clash with the culture of the home.
-We do not want to isolate children from their families.
-Families might want their child to keep their current language in addition to learning English.
- DATA DOES NOT SHOW ANYTHING CONCLUSIVE REGARDING A DOWNSIDE TO BILINGUAL EDUCATION- "It is certain, however, that
the American 'melting pot' has never been endangered by pluralist efforts to preserve native language and cultures" (298).
-Because there are too many factors to consider, studies, regardless of which way they lean, can be unreliable.
-For Bilingual education:
"Calexico, California; Rock Point Arizona; Santa Fe, New Mexico; New Haven, Connecticut" (297)
etc. all demonstrate that immigrant students perform with greater success when the primary language is utilized to aid academic
learning and the gradual learning of English
-Against Bilingual education:
Berkeley, California and Fairfax, Virginia, etc
-Immersion is most successful
-Case studies are unreliable. The experience of students is not universal across the U.S. Immigrant students learn
differently and one case study is not representative of the whole population. There are studies that aid the case for and
against bilingual education.
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