Bilingual Approaches to Language Learning

Bilingual, when used to refer to an individual, means a person who has age-appropriate language skills in two languages, though the nature and extent of skill in each language will vary according to many individual and situational influences. A person with bilingual oral skills in two languages may or may not be biliterate, that is, able to read and write in two languages (Hornberg and Skilton-Sylvester 2000).

WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM BILINGUAL APPROACHES? 1. Bilingual education is not only for recent immigrants; there are particular approach aimed at monolingual students who speak only the majority language and wish to develop the strong proficiency in another language (TESOL 1992). 2. It is potentially appropriate for linguistic majority studentsstudents whose native language is that spoken in the larger national community. 3. Linguistic minority studentsstudents whose native language is not the same as the used in larger national community, e.g., native speakers of Spanish, Chinese, or Navajo in the United States. 4. Bidialectual students (that is, student who regularly use a dialect different from the standard, such as speaker of African-American Vernacular English in U.S. schools.

BILINGUAL APPROACHES: PROGRAM TYPES Elementary-Level Program Model Bilingual programs found at the elementary level are generally one of three types: I. Early-exit, or transitional, bilingual education programs are usually developed to serve young students who are recent immigrants to a new country (and thus are language-minority students). Aim: These programs aim to use two languages for classroom instruction up until the point at which children have developed sufficient oral and literacy skills to receive all classroom instruction in their second language. (Thus the label transitional; two languages, the childrens native language and the dominant societal language; are used in classroom instruction only until the children can make the transition to receiving all the instruction in the dominant language.) Content: Early-exit programs always include oral use of the childrens native language in the classroom; they may or may not include the active teaching of literacy skills in the
Reported by: Edward Almazan Jr

childrens native language. To the degree they do, they may aim to develop biliteracy, but only the degree of biliteracy needed to make a transition to literacy in the dominant language. Length: Program length varies, usually from one to two years. Most such programs begin in kindergarten or first grade. Goals: The goals of the transitional bilingual programs are to ensure mastery of gradeappropriate academic content and facilitate the speedy acquisition of the dominant language so that children can move into mainstream classrooms within three years of program entry (Genesee 199, p. 14). Requirements: Transitional programs require sufficient number of certified bilingual teachers able to teach at the corresponding grade level; access to sufficient academic materials in the students native language; specialized instruction in the second language so that students are prepared to move into classroom using only the language, and specialized linguistic support for students during and after the transition; appropriate and regular assessment of student progress; and support for and from students family and community members. II. Late-exit, or maintenance (or developmental bilingual, in some sources), models also aim to serve young students who are either immigrants to a country or who are members of relatively large groups within a country and who speak a native language different from the dominant one. Aim: Develop biliteracy. Goals: The goal of such programs typically include development of literacy skills in both the native language and the second language, and development of academic literacy skills in both language theoretically continues for the duration of the program. Length: Such programs are usually found at the elementary level, and extend from grades K through 6, depending somewhat on how the particular school system organizes levels of instruction. Requirements: Sufficient number of certified bilingual teachers to teach all the grade levels included in the program; access to sufficient academic materials in the students native language and in the second language; specialized second language instructions; appropriate assessment; and parent and community support.

III. Immersion programs, pioneered in Canada to serve language majority students, in this case, native speakers of English desirous of developing high levels of skill in French. Aim: Aims to immerse students in a language different from their native language. Goal: The ultimate goal is to build strong academic literacy skills in that language and to give students access to subject matter taught entirely through the second language.
Reported by: Edward Almazan Jr

Length: Such programs typically begin in kindergarten or grades 1 or 2 and extend all the way through elementary school. Requirements: Parental and community interest; presence of qualified and dedicated teachers and administrators, etc.

Secondary Bilingual Approaches At the secondary level, issues of program model and choice of instructional language are affected by the departmentalized nature of instruction found in the most secondary schools. The greater cognitive demands of secondary school instruction also create pressures for both students and teachers to cover more, and more challenging content material in a limited period of time. Bilingual programs found at the secondary level are usually some variant of earlyexit or transitional bilingual programs in which the students native language is used just long enough to help them make a transition to the socially and politically dominant language, which they are the expected to use through the rest of secondary school. Time and subject allocations vary considerably, according to student population and teacher expertise.

Postsecondary Bilingual Approach Postsecondary institutions serve students beyond the age of compulsory attendance. Some bilingual programs for adults in the United States have been developed to provide short term, highly focused vocational training for special populations such as refugees who qualify for special government support. Where there are large number of language of English learners who share a native language background, native language instruction maybe included as a part of relatively short (less than six months) programs aimed at helping participants find employment as soon as possible.
Reported by: Edward Almazan Jr

 Bilingual programs that include native language literacy instruction for adults tend to be found in the geographic areas representing the largest proportional settlement of recent immigrants: New York, California, Texas, and Illinois (Gillespie 1994). Postsecondary students enrolled in degree programs may have access to language instruction designed to accommodate various professional and personal goals. Some Universities offer immersion programs that are best viewed as a variant of foreign language immersion programs. University immersion programs may combine intensive language instruction (that is instruction from four to six hours per day for a semester or for a term) with a period of residence in another country where the language is spoken, with the goal of rapidly building proficiency.

Many colleges and universities in the United States offer special language courses (heritage language) that may be taught either bilingually or entirely in Spanish for native speakers of Spanish; often, though not always, the goal of such courses is language maintenance and development of formal literacy skills in Spanish for students who have receive all or most of their formal education in school in the United States and thus have not had the opportunity to build advance literacy skills in Spanish (Valdes 1995).

Some postsecondary institutions in the United States offer courses that combine language instruction in courses designed for particular majors such as education or business.

In Canada, some universities offer highly proficient students the option of taking special content are courses completely through the medium of their second language, either English or French; such courses, a kind of secondary level immersion programs a way to maintain and develop proficiency while learning new subject matter.

Reported by: Edward Almazan Jr