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Naser Almutairi
113B
Professor Rebecca Lawson
February 21st, 2016
Word Count:1236
Bilingual Education
In many school systems, there are students who come with little to no knowledge of the
English language. Not having this knowledge can lead to serious academic and social problems
since English is the primary language in the United States and must be learned to be able to get a
good job. Educators have debated the best ways to serve this student population, known as ELLs,
and different methodologies have been used in the classroom to improve the language abilities of
these students. One of the most controversial methodologies has been bilingual education which
teaches students in their native language (for the most part, Spanish) until they are comfortable
enough to transition to more English. The goal of this methodology is to make sure that ELLs are
mainstreamed into classes where only English is spoken. Bilingual education provides students
whose native language is not English a comfortable base to build their language skills and has
shown to be able to improve the English level of non-native speakers.
For any student whose native language is not English, being in a classroom where
English is the only language can be an intimidating experience. These students will not be able to
express themselves, and will not be able to partake in the academics since they do not understand
what is taught. Being surrounded by other students who speak English fluently will cause these
students to feel more uncomfortable and cause them to avoid being called on or asked questions.
Quoting from the article by John Benson, Bilingual Education Holds Cognitive, Social and
Health Benefits, shows how students that enter bilingual programs have reduced levels of
anxiety, loneliness, and poor self-esteem (2). These reduced levels of anxiety, loneliness, and

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poor self-esteem can benefits students who have recently arrived in the country or whose parents
do not speak English in the home and have had no experience with English before entering the
school system. Sadly, a student who cannot communicate in the language of the country that he
lives in will feel isolated from the community and may become bitter or angry. Language
provides comfort and can lead a student to feel less isolated and more integrated in the society.
When a student is exposed to his or her native language in school, the student will feel more
validated since they will know that their language is important and that important people in their
lives such as teachers like this, too. When the native language is valued, the student will feel
proud that he or she speaks a second language and that their culture is valued and not ignored or
replaced by another one. This will increase the students connection to the school community so
that they value education more and can make the student work harder to learn more English and
move out of ELL classes.
The comfort level of students who do not speak English as a first language is a top
priority, but language programs such as bilingual education must have a positive impact on
students if they are going to be used. There have been a many language programs that have
served ELLs, but not all of them have led to successful student integration. From the list of
programs that have come and gone over the years, bilingual education has demonstrated itself to
be the most effective and has caught the attention of educator and theorist Stephen Krashen who
has studied bilingual education and feels that when schools provide children quality education
in their primary language, they give themknowledge and literacy. Literacy developed in the
primary language transfers to the secondary language (4). Instead of acting as an obstacle to
learning English, bilingual education stimulates language learning in both the primary and
secondary languages which will make any student brighter. Krashen does not provide much data

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in his article though his expertise in the education field can be used to conclude that, since
knowledge and literacy are the building blocks of education, students who are knowledgeable
and literate in English will do better in the classroom. Slavin and Madden back Krashen as they
discuss the positive results of the Success for All (Exito para Todos) bilingual program which has
been instituted in states like Texas, California, and Pennsylvania. Among children receiving
native language instruction, those who succeed in that instruction ultimately perform
substantially better in English than those who do not (3) write the two researchers. Krashens
research and the study of the Success for All program done by Slavin and Madden show that
bilingual education is a program that should not be criticized for failing to improve English skills
for children who do not speak English.
While the research done by Krashen, Slavin, and Madden is enough to persuade some
people, for others it is not so easy for them to believe in the merits of bilingual education. The
biggest critics of bilingual education might be Baker and Rossell who are determined to show
that bilingual education is no better than any other program that is meant to help ELLs. As of yet,
write Baker and Rossell, there is no consistent research support for transitional bilingual
education as a superior instructional practice for improving the English language achievement of
limited English proficient children (19). The criticism that bilingual education as being better
than other languages programs is not supported by the research destroys the main argument that
teachers and researchers have used in the past to show that bilingual education should be placed
in any school where students do not speak English. If bilingual education does not hold value
over every other language program, then teachers and researchers would have to reconsider their
views and possibility admit that they had been wrong. But what if the research conducted by
these two men was full of inconsistencies to begin with? Many of the case studies that Baker and

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Rossell used to build their position were unreliable and, after other researchers examined their
work, many found that the cases studies could not be located, making their results suspect. Jay
Greene who believes in bilingual education was one of the researchers to examine Baker and
Rossells work and, in his own journal, A Meta-Analysis of the Rossell and Baker Review of
Bilingual Education, communicates that it is clear that Rossell and Bakers review of studies is
useful as a pool for a meta-analysis, but the lack of rigor and consistency in how they classify
studies and summarize results prevent their conclusions from being reliable (10). Greenes own
work shows that no conclusions can be taken from Baker and Rossells research and that
different evidence used to be used if one is going to make the case that bilingual education is no
better than other programs.
The research supporting bilingual education as a program to improve the language
abilities of ELL students is everywhere, but this abundance of research does not mean that all
critics will be silenced. Similar to any other educational program that is used in any school,
politics is always involved; therefore, there will be people who dislike this program only because
they believe that no language other than English should be spoken in the classroom. The results
are what matter and are what should be used by educators to make their decisions. The interests
of the student population should not be made on politics or on people who have agendas that are
separate from the students.
References
Baker, Keith and Rossell, Christine H. The Educational Effectiveness of Bilingual Education.
Research in the Teaching of English, v30 n1 p7-74 Feb. 1996
Benson, John. Bilingual Education Holds Cognitive, Social and Health Benefits The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 5 Oct. 2013. Web. 21 February 2016.

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<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/05/bilingual-education_n_4049170.html>.
Greene, Jay P. "A Meta-Analysis of the Rossell and Baker Review of Bilingual Education
Research." Bilingual Research Journal 21.2-3 (1997): 103-122.
Krashen, Stephen. What Is Bilingual Education? National Association for Bilingual Education,
2015. Web. 21 February 2016.
Slavin, Robert E., and Nancy A. Madden. "Effects of Bilingual and English as a Second
Language Adaptions." Effects of Bilingual and English as a Second Language Adaptions.
Success for All Foundation, Mar. 1999. Web. 21 February 2016.