Successful Bilingual and Immersion Education Models Programs
Effective bilingual and immersion education models rely on well-defined pedagogic frameworks that are rooted in thoughtful philosophical approaches and school policies. Cooperative learning is a key strategy, promoting positive interactions among students and between students and teachers.
Successful Bilingual and Immersion/Education Models Programs
Pedagogy
Pedagogic frameworks will come from philosophical frameworks adapted in school policy.
Language through Common Task Orientation: Linguistic knowledge transfer will occur when the cooperative learning strategy is focused around a language task
Sharing Between Learners: Cooperative learning strategies should be encouraged.
Student-Centered Teaching and Learning: encourage students to share their linguistic codes and cultural knowledge
Targeted and Varied Teaching Techniques: respond to different learning styles
Equitable Interaction: Promotion of positive interactions between teacher and learners.
Community and identity
Community involvement is important for identity reconciliation and essential in heritage programs
Models
Transitional (Subtractive): Replace L1 for L2.
Maintenance (Additive): L1 is only the basis of L2 learning.
Heritage (Additive): Aim at the rejuvenation of an indigenous language.
Enrichment (Additive): Aim at bilingualism and the extension of the minority language
Types of immersion
Two-way
Partial
Total
Bilingual immersion planning for success
Criteria for program success in two-way immersion education:
8. Characteristics of effective schools should be incorporated into programs, such as qualified personnel and home-school collaboration.
7. Positive interactions among students should be facilitated by the use of strategies such as cooperative learning.
6. Classrooms should include a balance of students from the target language and L1 backgrounds
5. The program should provide an additive bilingual environment
4. The target language should be used for instruction a minimum of 50% of the time
3. Optimal language input as well as opportunities for output should be provided
2. The focus of instruction should be the same core academic curriculum that students in other programs experience
1. A minimum of 4 to 6 years of bilingual instruction
Academic achievement
L1 schooling is a predictor of L2 achievement
Language minority students perform better academically in their native language
Philosophies and goals
•Minority language as a problem to overcome. Goal: Monolingualism
•Language as a resource. Goal: Bilingualism
Program design need sociocultural awareness to consider questions of power, culture and identity.
Bilingual Education
Bilingual education is instruction in two languages and the use of those two languages as mediums of instruction for any part, or all, of the school curriculum