As the population of English language learners rapidly increases, schools are looking into the implementation of dual language or bilingual education. This program offers students with limited proficiency in English the chance to increase their learning of the second language as well as maintaining their native tongue. Teachers and administrators must find convincing research to present to parents and district superintendents to receive the funding necessary for implementation. For example, administrators need to find research available to provide to parents placing their children within the program. If a child is a native English speaker and is placed into the program, parents will want to see proof that bilingual education not only increases EL learning but their child's as well. Three articles I found for my term paper were accessed through scholarly databases made available through my university’s library. However, when entering the same website articles through Google, the availability changed. Within the three sources I searched, only one showed the full text through a PDF file. Regina Cortina, Carmina Makar and MarFaith Mount-Cors’s article concerns dual language as a social movement and is available to the public. The article provides full research concerning the need for dual language programs, creating and executing studies within two differing school districts. Having this accessible to the public further promotes the implementation of Bilingual education, providing results correlating with students scoring higher in comparison to those placed in English only classrooms. The article also offers its readers the history of dual language education and how it has changed over time throughout the classroom.
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| Researching scholarly articles for dual language education can be done through Google Scholar. However, the access to articles is limiting and is shown in two of the articles below. |
The attainability of scholarly articles with provided
research to promote dual language programs are limited in for the public. For
example, an article written by Vickie Lake and Eleni Pappamihiel overviews the effective
practices to help ELL students when learning the new language. However if
someone were to search the article title, an abstract would be the only
available text for the public eye. For those that have access to scholarly
databases, readers will gain insight on how to promote a child’s language
proficiency that is not their native dialect. For example, the authors stress
the necessity that instructors provide an appropriate language environment as
well as providing both formal and informal opportunities to orally learn their
second language. Not publicizing this article to society is limiting
administrators reasoning for implementing dual language education into the
classroom. It also prevents instructors from becoming educated on how to teach
students classified as English language learners.
MariaAdelaida Restrepo, Gareth P. Morgan and Marilyn S. Thompson’s article
concerning vocabulary intervention for dual language learners offers a brief
overview of the study, revealing the purpose, method and results. However, in
order to receive the full context of the article readers must subscribe to the
article. The article alone is $15.00 to purchase and is only available for a
twenty four hour period once the viewer subscribes. To the public press, it reveals limited
information but ultimately, the website gives its readers the key facts. This
limited availability concerning strategies for vocabulary development is
helpful concerning teachers looking for effective strategies but without the
full article, cannot help school districts enforce a newer way of instructing language.
Although scholarly articles are limited to find for public access, the popular press offers their opinions to the public concerning the need for dual language education. Through the popular press and research for scholarly articles, administrators and parents can learn the importance of children being enrolled in Bilingual education.
