The Success of Two-Way Bilingual Programs

From the Marshall Memo #430

In this Education Week article, Lesli Maxwell reports on the growing popularity of dual-language or two-way bilingual immersion programs. There are now more than 2,000 nationwide, mostly in schools that have similar numbers of native speakers and second-language children. California, Texas, and Utah have been leaders in the movement. “The momentum behind these programs is really amazing,” says Virginia Collier of George Mason University in Virginia. “And we are not talking about a remedial, separate program for English-learners or foreign-language programs just for students with picky parents. These are now mainstream programs where we’re seeing a lot of integration of native speakers of the second language with students who are native English speakers.” 

“The goal isn’t to run away from one language or the other,” says Leonides Gomez of the University of Texas-Pan American, “but to really educate the child in both and to use the native language as a resource and an asset. Content is content, and skills are skills. When you learn both in two or more languages, it moves you to a different level of comprehension, capacity, and brain elasticity.”

California, the site of a heated controversy and ballot initiative on bilingual programs in 1998, hosts a significant number of two-way programs. Spanish is the most common second language, followed by Mandarin Chinese and French. Last year, 6,000 graduating seniors earned the state’s “seal of biliteracy” on their high-school transcripts and diplomas, signifying that they had achieved fluency in English and a second language. 

Research on two-way programs is less than definitive because most students self-select, but anecdotal evidence is strong, especially on the potential of these programs to close the achievement gap. Among the biggest challenges: finding teachers who are truly bilingual and expert in subject matter.  

“‘Dual’ Classes See Growth in Popularity” by Lesli Maxwell in Education Week, Mar. 28, 2012 (Vol. 31, #26, p. 1, 16, 17), available to subscribers only