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The Importance of Bilingual Education

By: Sarah Cochran

Instructor: Dr
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American’s continue to be arrogant in wanting to impose the English
language and culture on the world at large, while we refuse to see the real picture of the world’s
growing diversity
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Bilingual education has been the cause of much debate in the United States over the last
several decades
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In other words bilingual education is a
process, one which educates students to be effective in a second language while maintaining and
nurturing their first language
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In the last few years the number of students in elementary, secondary schools, and
colleges around the country studying a foreign language has decreased drastically
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This is due to the fact that schools
at every level are balancing their budgets and foreign language studies are being eliminated
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“To prosper
economically and to improve relations with other countries,” U
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Secretary of Education Arne
Duncan declared in 2012, “Americans need to read, speak and understand other languages
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The geographic isolation of the United States and the growing importance of English in
the world have contributed to giving Americans a false sense of security with their lack of
foreign language competence
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Without the knowledge of

 

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foreign language it is hard to make trades with foreign countries
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Another area in which it is extremely important to have individuals who are fluent in
foreign languages is politics
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If we do not have individuals who are able to communicate, send
messages, and interpret other countries in a timely manner we could be in serious trouble
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Lastly the cultural isolation from the lack of exposure to foreign languages deprives U
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students of a well-rounded global education, which includes knowledge of the fine arts,
literature, history, and geography of other parts of the world
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As we can see from our history, the United States does not take change lightly
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We refuse to realize that
foreign language speaking individuals are on the rise and that English is no longer our dominant
language
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Our society needs to accept this information and start promoting bilingual
education in our school systems because those individuals who translate, communicate, trade,

 

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and save our lives will probably be foreign speaking children who have been taught English as
their second language
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S
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”4 Immigrant parents have a significant role in their children’s learning of a
second language
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All parents participating in the study had children in elementary
school
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This study
concluded that there was considerable support for the underlying principles of bilingual
education, and only a minority actually opposes placing their children in bilingual education
programs
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With the continuous debate of weather or not to make bilingual education mandatory in
our school systems has lead to many strong opinions for and against it
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Though the United
States has no officially recognized national language, some organizations and groups of
individuals believe that the presence and use of ‘foreign’ languages is a direct threat to the
traditional and esteemed role of the English language
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The number of foreign
language speaking individuals is increasing at a fairly progressive rate, and will eventually equal
the number of English speak individuals
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On the other hand supporters of bilingual education argue just the opposite
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The child who is exposed to multiple languages in an academic
environment will not feel ashamed to use his or her native language and will consequently be of
a more receptive frame of mind to learn and master English
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By teaching children academic subjects in
their native tongue, while simultaneously offering them English language instruction, students
can learn the language and continue to progress academically
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At
the same time these bilingual students are speaking their first language at home with their parents
and speaking their second language at school, as these students grow older, go to college, and
eventually into the working world their knowledge of two languages allows them to have so
many more possibilities than those students that only speak one language
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It is an injustice if students are not given the tools necessary to
learn, write, read, and experience such knowledge
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An interview was done with several teachers on their opinion of bilingual education
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Many teachers find that support
in the form of bilingual education training, district communications, and school site
administration is sorely lacking
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Many
teachers say that they have not been given any training specifically for bilingual education, or
when bilingual training was offered it was very limited with respect to academically rich
strategies
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From the teachers’ point of view, they are simply not being supported
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Foreign language learning should begin as early as possible
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3 Because
children are cognitively, affectively and socially more flexible than adolescents or adults, they
are naturally more “efficient” foreign language learners
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Research strongly indicates that
intelligence plays only a minor role in predicting the achievement of foreign language policy
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3 In fact, data from children who are raised bilingually indicate that
given a supportive environment, a child can start learning two languages from birth
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3 Therefore, there are strong
educational and psychological reasons for making foreign language instruction part of the
schools regular curriculum starting at the earliest grade level, kindergarten
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The fact that the
government has gone from strong support of true bilingual programs to the current No Child Left
Behind regime’s emphasis on teaching LEP students in English means that no middle ground has
been found
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No program will be efficient with partial support, that only leads
to confusion and frustration amongst teachers
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This has left millions of individuals struggling
each day trying to communicate in our world
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Therefore a more cohesive policy should be
developed at a national level to ensure that states are in fact taking appropriate action for the
education of language minorities
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Gallo,  Y
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,  Pinuelas,  L
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 (2008)
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 Multicultural  Education,  16(2),  10
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Skorton,  D
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   (2012)  America’s  Foreign  Language  Deficit
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http://www
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com/sites/collegeprose/2012/08/27/americas-­‐foreign-­‐language-­‐
deficit/  
3
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 (1986)
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   ERIC  Clearinghouse  on  Languages  and  Linguistics
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ericdigests
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htm    
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 (2009)
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   Washington  University  Law  Review,  86,  1211
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Clark,  C
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 What  do  we  really  mean  when  we  say  "bilingual/bicultural?"
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 Retrieved  from  
http://libill
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edu:2095/ps/retrieve
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Bilingual  Education
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http://sitemaker
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edu/370blinged/home  
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   Roots  in  History
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pbs
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html    

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