What have researchers determined regarding the effectiveness of bilingual education programs?

Who among the following most likely belongs to a collectivistic culture?

A. Viola, who likes being appreciated in front of an audience
B. Martha, who only thinks about her performance in a team project
C. Bill, who prefers doing things on his own rather than receiving help from his family or his peers
D. Chad, who develops positive relationships with his group members to complete a task

journal article

Research in the Teaching of English

Vol. 30, No. 1 (Feb., 1996)

, pp. 7-74 (68 pages)

Published By: National Council of Teachers of English

https://www.jstor.org/stable/40171543

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Abstract

Bilingual education is the use of the native tongue to instruct limited English-speaking children. The authors read studies of bilingual education from the earliest period of this literature to the most recent. Of the 300 program evaluations read, only 72 (25%) were methodologically acceptable--that is, they had a treatment and control group and a statistical control for pre-treatment differences where groups were not randomly assigned. Virtually all of the studies in the United States were of elementary or junior high school students and Spanish speakers. The few studies conducted outside the United States were almost all in Canada. The research evidence indicates that, on standardized achievement tests, transitional bilingual education (TBE) is better than regular classroom instruction in only 22% of the methodologically acceptable studies when the outcome is reading, 7% of the studies when the outcome is language, and 9% of the studies when the outcome is math. TBE is never better than structured immersion, a special program for limited English proficient children where the children are in a self-contained classroom composed solely of English learners, but the instruction is in English at a pace they can understand. Thus, the research evidence does not support transitional bilingual education as a superior form of instruction for limited English proficient children.

Journal Information

Research in the Teaching of English is a multidisciplinary journal composed of original research and scholarly essays on the relationships between language teaching and learning at all levels, preschool through adult. Articles reflect a variety of methodologies and address issues of pedagogical relevance related to the content, context, process, and evaluation of language learning.

Publisher Information

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), a not-for-profit professional association of educators, is dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. Since 1911, NCTE has provided a forum for the profession, an array of opportunities for teachers to continue their professional growth throughout their careers, and a framework for cooperation to deal with issues that affect the teaching of English. For more information, please visit www.ncte.org.

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