Bilingual education

Thesis Statement

Issues of bilingual education confronting teachers and students in light of a proposed national language policy. In so doing, it provides a brief historical overview of bilingual education in the United Kingdom; explores the types of instructional bilingual programs and their effects on learning; examines the myths surrounding bilingual education; and exposes the political and ideological similarities and contradictions of the proposed national policy

Introduction

Homel and Paliz (1987) argue that the need for bilingual programs "appears to be more crucial than ever" (p. 21), in spite of the doubts raised by politicians about the usefulness of such programs. They base their claim on demographic projections of language-minority individuals to enter the United Kingdom by the year 2000.

For example, Homel and Paliz report that non- English speakers "may increase to 34.7 million in 1990 and 39.5 million by the year 2000" (p. 21). Of those numbers, 5.4 million by 1990 will be under the age of 14, and by 2000 that number will jump to 7.7 million. Accordingly, "the future disposition and development of the latter group (those 14 and under) will be heavily dependent on the decisions concerning bilingual education now being made by the U.S. government" (p. 21).

This paper studies the issues of bilingual education confronting teachers and students in the light of a proposed national language policy. In so doing it (1) provides a brief historical overview of bilingual education in the United Kingdom; (2) explores the types of instructional bilingual programs and their effects on learning; (3) examines the myths surrounding bilingual education; and (4) exposes the political and ideological similarities and contradictions of the proposed national language policy.

Origins of Bilingual Education in the United Kingdom

Though bilingual education appears to be in jeopardy, historically the United Kingdom government has established precedents for such programs to assist language- minority individuals. Ambert and Melendez (1985) point out, "From the colonization period until World War I, schooling which was bilingual or in languages other than English was common" (p. 4). For example, from 1774 to 1779 the Continental Congress allowed for the publication of documents in German to assist the large German-speaking population in the Colonies.

In 1806 federal laws were printed in French, all laws pertaining to the Louisiana territory were printed the use of languages other than English to be used for instruction. In seven Kingdom teachers who conducted bilingual classes were subject to criminal penalties or revocation of their teaching licenses. By 1960 no state mandated bilingual education programs, but there was a turn in favor of bilingualism. Mackey and Beebe (1977) believe two events caused Britishers to reevaluate their attitudes toward bilingualism. One was the launch of Russia's Sputnik, which sparked feelings of inadequacy in Britishers, since Russia had historically been regarded as an underprivileged country by many U.S. citizens; and the second was Castro's rise to power in Cuba, which evoked a flood of immigration into the United Kingdom.

Ambert and Melendez (1985) note that the Civil Rights movement was a third ...