To What Extent Should Bilingual Educationbe Offered in Public Schools - Essay Example

Name Instructor Course Date The Extent to Which Bilingual Education Should be Presented in Public Schools What Bilingual Education really is Bilingual education is where learning takes place by the use of two different languages with varying amounts of each language used accordingly, with the school program set in mind (Baker 14). It mainly involves teaching non English speaking learners in their native language, and it was developed in 1960, with an aim of allowing such learners to progress in Social Studies, Mathematics and Science, while they learnt English in a different class. Initially, bilingual education was meant to be a transitional program, but some students lingered in the program for too long in their school years (Fishman 33). There are several types of bilingual educational programs, some of which include; Transitional Bilingual Education, which involves teaching a child in his / her native language for a short period of two to three years, while learning English in a different class, to ensure that they do not lag behind in other subjects, before transferring the learner to an all English learning class. Dual Language Immersion is designed to assist learners who speak English as a first language and for those who English is not a native language to be able to be biliterate and bilingual. This programs aids in non English speaking learners to learn English and stay on track in other subjects, while it helps the English speaking learners to be bilingual or learn a second language. Developmental Bilingual Education is another program designed to teach the learner in his / her native language for a long duration, then the learner can later transfer these skills into English by later accompanying the education with English classes. The United States of America’s Take on Bilingual Education In the United States of America, Bilingual Education focuses mainly on students with limited English proficiency (English Language Learners) (Crawford 12). A learner that requires support from the teacher in the English language due to the fact that she does not speak English at home is considered to be an English learner. There has been an argument that Structured English Immersion is much more effective than Bilingual Education, due to research done by a number of researchers, who have consequently come up with documented academic support. Structured English Immersion is a method of rapidly teaching English to learners and it involves: dedicating a significant amount of the day in teaching English to English learners, then grouping them in accordance to their level of proficiency in the language. The English language is the main content in Structured English Instruction while other subjects play a supporting and subordinating role (Crawford 34). English is the language of instruction in Structured English Immersion, and both instructors and learners are expected to read, write and speak in English. The instructional methods used by teachers make the English language to be treated as a foreign language in Structure English Immersion. Also in Structured English Immersion, students learn discreet English learning skills. Strict time lines are also set in place to ensure that learners in structured English Immersion are able to exit from the program and finally, such learners continue to receive language support even after exiting from the program (Fishman 53). After the investment of billions of dollars in bilingual education over the past three years, its programs have not fully delivered on the goals it set to achieve. Many of the students fail to exit from such programs, or they fail to achieve the fundamental English skills required, and even some score poorly in standard achievement examinations. Consequently, learners from these programs, miss out on opportunities in English speaking countries. English Immersion programs have been proven to work much better, and the voters in the states of Arizona and California have advocated for this program. This is seen in the sense that, since bilingual education ended in California, test scores in all, if not most areas has improved significantly (Crawford 67). The Benefits of Bilingual Education Though bilingual education has been scrapped in the states of California and Arizona, much emphasis cannot be stressed on the fact that bilingual education has its benefits. If students are taught in English from the initial stages, they tend to get confused and hence it takes them longer to learn these other subjects and thus they lag behind and never get to recover on the time lost (Brisk 65). Now testing a child who has never spoken English and comparing his / her results to those of a child who has grown up with English as a first language will definitely produce skewed results, which will tend to reflect negatively on immigrants. Hence bilingual education tries to bring education to their level as it addresses this problem. When a learner doesn’t understand English, you learn their native language, use it in his / her instruction, then later when the learner has learned enough English, it can be used as the main language of instruction (Brisk 57). That is how bilingual education is supposed to operate, if a learner is not to fall behind in his / her studies due to the language barrier. Another point to note is that a learner who is taught in his / her native language will not be ashamed to speak in that language and will be more receptive to learning and mastering English as a language (Brisk 76). A language is much easier to learn when it makes sense, and it is interesting, as well as it belongs to you or you are affiliated with it as compared to learning a language that is dull, artificial and is not yours. Whenever the use of first language isn’t discouraged, students to whom English isn’t a native language, feel they have a voice and they are heard by their teachers. Home language is a civil human right that every human being deserves and thus, bilingual education presents this right to the immigrants (Brisk 89). The Cons of Bilingual Education Initially, bilingual education was supposed to help the immigrants to be able to blend in to the society. In bilingual education, this provided for different classrooms and teachers for the learning in their native language, and this was supposed to take place over a period of three years or more. This segregation widened the gap between the immigrants and the citizens instead of narrowing it as formally intended (Duignan 56). Furthermore, the long period of three or more years that were intended to be the period of segregation from the other English speaking learners, is too long and it tends to delay the process of the immigrants adjusting to the ways and culture of the new country. Bilingual education also requires a large number of teachers who are proficient in English and a native language if English is used as a medium of instruction. The gap between the demand and the supply of such teachers is very wide and also the attention that such teachers have to dedicate to their learners is supposed to be special. Classes to offer bilingual education are also scarce hence learners of different ages have to be mixed up together to make use of this scarce resource (Duignan 76). This presents itself as a problem to these teachers as they have to cope with instructing learners of different educational levels. The allocation and availability of funding to fund the cause of bilingual education in public schools is scarce, and as it is proven, bilingual education is not a cheap affair. Without the proper funding, bilingual education in public schools could only be a dream (Duignan 66). Conclusion Bilingual education in public schools should not be scrapped and should be taught, as its advantages are beneficial to the society as a whole. Though, it should be noted that for bilingual education to achieve its cause and ultimate goal of integration of the non English speaking learners with the English speaking learners, and enabling them to be able to gain education, bilingual education should be regulated and politicians and leaders should deem it necessary to consider it as an integral part of the education system and include it in the national budget. It is mostly in public schools that we find immigrants, owing to the fact that private schools tend to be more expensive and are attended by mostly the upper middle class citizens. This put into consideration, a large population of the public school students are non English speaking, and thus it is important that they are taught in their native language as this will benefit not only them, but also English speaking learners will get a chance to learn from their diverse cultures, and also the level of appreciation of different cultures will be high. Bilingual education plays and important role in public schools and it should be taught as scrapping it from the educational system could deprive non English speaking learners their civil right. References Baker, Colin. Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 2006. Print. Brisk, Maria. Bilingual education: from compensatory to quality schooling. New York: Routledge, 2006. Print. Crawford, James. Bilingual education: history, politics, theory, and practice. Texas: Crane Pub. Co., 1989. Print. Duignan, Peter. Bilingual education: a critique. Texas: Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, Stanford University, 1998. Print. Fishman, Joshua. Bilingual education: an international sociological perspective. Texas: Newbury House, 1976. Print. Read More