The following article appeared in the Austin-Statesman on May 13, 2012.For more than 40 years, researchers have examined bilingual education programs to definitively conclude bilingual education is effective based on real-world results. Among the different types of bilingual education, dual-language programs are among the most academically and linguistically successful. On average, students participating in dual-language programs — from English-language learners, to native English speakers, including members of under-represented communities — score higher on English assessments across the curriculum than their native, English-only peers. In addition to scoring higher on English assessments, dual-language graduates are equally strong academically and linguistically in a second language.
The number of dual-language schools continues to increase rapidly across Texas and the United States. Almost every large school district in the state, including Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and Austin — where the immigrant and refugee communities continue to grow and at least 28 percent of students speak Spanish at home — are implementing dual-language programs. And many medium and small schools districts such as Grand Prairie, Round Rock and Schertz are offering dual-language programs to families interested in the curriculum.
For the almost 831,000 English-language learners in Texas, there is no more effective instructional model than dual-language to achieve a strong command of the English language, according to the Texas Education Agency. On average, English-language learners in dual-language programs achieve a higher mastery of English than English-only children, who do not participate in dual-language.
Research confirms time and time again that the key to strong academic English is a strong academic first language. Linguistic benefits aside, English-language learners in dual-language programs academically achieve up to approximately two grade levels above their English-only peers, according to researchers.
Without programs such as dual-language, an English-language learner's experience in a classroom where he does not know what the teacher is saying leads too often to poor academic learning, frustration and failure. Richard Levien captured the real-world challenges of students in his award-winning docudrama on immersion, available on the Media That Matters film festival website, in which Moises, a 10-year-old student, struggles to communicate in his new school because of limited access to his native language.
In addition to English-language learners, native English-speaking children benefit from participating in dual-language programs, achieving true biliteracy. This is realized by a small fraction of monolingual students who successfully navigate two or more years of foreign language instruction during high school. Many of these students' parents recognize that their children remain monolingual and seek a new vehicle that will deliver on the promise of biliteracy. Dual-language is that program.
Although it is possible for an individual child who is learning English to succeed in an English-only setting, the odds are not favorable. Forty to 50 percent of English-language learners drop out of English-only programs. Yet, dual-language programs such as the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo district have been able to boast 100 percent graduation rates. The price of adding a second language is not — and should not be — the loss of the first language. Students can —and should — have both.
Students in English-only programs sacrifice much of their native language when there is no need to do so. For most of these students, the gap widens as they begin to face the challenges of the middle and high school years.
Copious evidence exists from educational researchers, the Center for Applied Linguistics and the Texas Education Agency, which confirms that dual-language is the most effective instructional model for English-language learners.
Dual-language enrichment programs focus on offering students full academic and linguistic literacy in both their first and second languages at least through the end of fifth grade. However, more and more of these programs are continuing into secondary education. Dual-language enrichment programs are now part of the mainstream, creating a results-based instructional system that for more than 40 years has ensured students' long-term academic success at the middle and high school levels — and beyond.
The authors are dual-language experts and former university professors who work with more than 600 dual-language schools that implement the Gómez & Gómez Dual-Language Enrichment Model, the most widely implemented dual-language model in the country. They are working with the district to develop and implement a districtwide dual-language enrichment program.
