Bilingual Education

English Language Learners

The purpose of the study is to analyze a comprehensive framework to help teachers in defining success in bilingual education. Also to show how research has presented some components of the Massachusetts English Language Learners framework.

According to the law (Title VI of the Civil Rights & United States Code Ð'§ 1703) all students have the same right to education. This is why the 1968 Bilingual Act was instituted to help states around the nation develop programs to educate the LEP students. Every student has the same rights to equal access to education and the same opportunity to accelerate their academic achievement and performance.

In some areas of the nation bilingualism and high academic achievements don’t always agree (Lindholm & Aclan, 1991). The research on bilingualism and academic achievement has often provided conflicting results. In the state of Massachusetts the controversy strives on the MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) which is the tool utilized by the state to measure the students academic proficiency. The bilingual program in the state of Massachusetts is a Spanish bilingual program. Some of the questions that are very common to the topic are:

1. Will a child learn to read more rapidly in his second language if he or she is first taught to read in his or her primary language?

2. When do teachers use their student’s native language (Spanish)?

3. Was the state curriculum followed by the teachers while teaching in the bilingual program?

4. Are bilingual programs effective?

5. How do bilingual programs measure academic achievement?

References

Lindholm, K.J.,