Bahena 1

Yahir Bahena
English
Conan Martinez
21 May 2019
The Importance of Bilingual Education
As the United States migrant population increases, the linguistic diversity in the
country expands as well. Due to the upsurge of Hispanic, Asian, and other individuals of
diverse backgrounds, school districts need to consider intended programs to better serve
these linguistic minority groups. Educators can't presume the majority of their students to
speak English as their primary language. Bilingual education is needed for students whose
first language is not English. Students who experience this education system may enhance
their academic performance and promote their social skills in and outside of school
settings.
Bilingual education is a type of education system in which students are taught
academic content in two languages in a primary language school environment. Students
that lack fluency in that language are taught in both their native language and the school's
primary language depending on the bilingual education system. The term, bilingual
education, can very as its used as a general description of dual and or transitional bilingual
programs such as dual immersion, heritage language, and English immersion. The origins
of these programs began in the year 1968 as the bilingual education act was passed after
recognizing the needs of students with limited English speaking ability (Manzanares). The
objective of this schooling system is not to purely instruct a second language for students,
but to fully develop an understanding of an academic concept and skills through the best
form of communication the student knows best.
With migration on the rise, language becomes more divergent; increasing language
minority groups. A bilingual education is very influential to students with this type of
background as it can be difficult to navigate academic comprehension in a language that is
unfamiliar to them. The majority of linguistic minority individuals are represented by
Spanish speakers in the U.S. In five years the Hispanic population expanded by 16 percent
in the United States compared to the nationwide population, increasing by 3.3 percent
(Malarz). Having a dual education is vitally needed for these individuals. A bilingual
education exposes a new way of learning for students as it can expand their social skills
and academic abilities.
According to the National Public Radio, monolingual classrooms, also known as
one-way immersion classrooms, students are outperformed in test scores by bilingual
instructed students (Kamenetz.). A skill that a bilingual education system mandates
substantially is the ability to switch between both languages at given times. In a dual
immersion system, “[c]lasses were strictly instructed in German and the next week
academic content was provided in English” (Johnson). This is the fundamental skill for
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paying attention. Due to this ability, switching between tasks can benefit the student firmly
as it may come effortlessly to them when concentrating on an assignment.
This intellectual system can benefit the student socially if they're exposed to this
type of system at an earlier age. Bilingual educated students are “[o]pen to more diverse
settings”(Johnson), and tend to have an open mind towards language and people from
different backgrounds. Due to this exposure, as the student matures into adulthood, they
can tolerate change and alter speaking abilities to the needs of who they are speaking to.
Another social advantage is being more socially accepting as bilingualism is accompanied
with multiculturalism, becoming more aware of social norms in different cultures and
being more open to cultural traditions. Adapting to new setting can come easy to bilingual
instructed individuals as they have been practicing it since an earlier age. Having the
privilege to participate in this education system is constructive towards the learner’s
future. “It opens doors and provides opportunities to the individual in social settings”
(Oluwa).
Many ​are mislead on this topic and overlook the benefits and emphasis misguided
beliefs. Bilingual education can excel students futures as it can improve the student's
mental state in diverse surroundings and can even help make logical decisions outside of
school. Many fear that this system may confuse the child's mind, merging the two languages
when structuring sentences and speaking. This is normal and it does not indicate that the
primary language is at a disadvantage. It proves that they are quicker to adjust to any
situation compared to monolinguals as bilingual instructed learners use words that best fit
the situation at hand (​Bilingual Education is Good).
Being a bilingual heritage speaker and not a bilingual instructed student, I
personally believe a bilingual education system is important to a bilingual learner.
According to research, this education system allows bilingual learners to exercise both
languages in a scholastic maner. This can potentially generate more biliterate individuals as
most bilingual heritage speakers lack the practice of literacy in one language, something a
bilingual education system prevents. It is important for bilingual learners to have access to
a dual language education as the state of being a bilingual learner can be enhanced with
this system, improving social skills and developing new academic strategies to solve
problems with language.
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Works Cited
Ascd. ​Bilingual Education: Effective Programming for Language-Minority Students​,
www.ascd.org/publications/curriculum_handbook/413/chapters/Bilingual_Educati
on@_Effective_Programming_for_Language-Minority_Students.aspx​.
Johnson, Juliana. Personal interview. 25 April 2019.
Kamenetz, Anya. “6 Potential Brain Benefits Of Bilingual Education.” ​NPR​, NPR, 29 Nov.
2016,
www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/11/29/497943749/6-potential-brain-benefits-of-
bilingual-education​.
Oluwa, Olusola. Personal interview. 24 April 2019.
“Why Bilingual Education Is Good for Children.” ​The Local​, 23 Sept. 2011,
www.thelocal.ch/20110923/1276​.

I chose this quote because it was informative and the statistic puts things
into perspective as minority groups increase with migration and the diversity in
language expands. This shows that spanish speakers are the main face for linguistic
minority groups and can be surprising to reader hence, why I incorporated this into
my writing.