The Effects of Transitional Bilingual Education On Elementary Level Minority Students

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The Effects of Transitional Bilingual Education On Elementary Level Minority Students Bilingual Education has been an increasingly controversial subject throughout education systems in America. The growing numbers of bilingual students in the country have provided much debate regarding the most effective way of instructing these students in traditional American schools. Perhaps one of the newest and fastest growing methods throughout the country has become "transitional bilingual education," a program which integrates the English language into these classroom by adding more English instruction throughout the course of the lesson. It has proved to be both beneficial to the students engaged into these programs as well as the teachers who administer it. Since, the issue of Bilingual education became relevant in the United States, people have argued over the need and effectiveness of such programs in American school systems. In 1939, Ohio became the first state to adopt a bilingual education law, authorizing German-English instruction at parents’ request. By the end of the nineteenth century, about a dozen states had passed similar laws. By the turn of the century, it was estimated that at least 600,000 primary school students were receiving part, or all, of their education in the German language, that equaled approximately four percent of American children in the elementary level. These numbers add up to be more students than those students enrolled in Spanish-English programs today. It seemed, at that time, that bilingual education was becoming more prominent and successful in the United States. However, once the country entered the first world war, these educational programs seemed to collapse dramatically. Fears about the ... ... middle of paper ... ...ericdigests/ed435201.html> ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics Washington DC. (1992). Myths and Misconceptions about Second Language Learning. ERIC Digest. Escamilla, K. (1989). A Brief History of Bilingual Education in Spanish. ERIC Digest Illinois State Board of Education. (1999). Transitional Bilingual Education and Transitional Program of Instruction Evaluation Report, Fiscal Year 1999. Krashen, S. (1997). Why Bilingual Education? ERIC Digest. Short, D. (200). The ESL Standards: Bridging the Academic Gap for English Language Learners. ERIC Digest.

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