Strong vs. Weak forms of Bilingual Education by Chris and Marie Fagan

Transitional Bilingual Education

camfagan06 — 2024-10-23 20:17:44 UTC

Transitional Bilingual Education is considered a weak form of Bilingual Education. The goal of a Transitional Education program is to assimilate the students into the majority language, and not necessarily to promote growth or achievement in the minority language (Baker & Wright, 2021, pg. 218).

WEAK FORMS OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION

camfagan06 — 2024-10-23 20:18:04 UTC

Mainstream Education with World Language Teaching

camfagan06 — 2024-10-23 20:29:57 UTC

Mainstream Education with World Language Teaching is considered as weak form of Bilingual Education as well. Most of the time, especially in the United States, the ratio of majority language to minority language instruction favors the majority language overwhelmingly. Often, minority language instruction may be less than an hour a day. This form of "drip feed" education does not often result in bilingual students, who often only receive two years of world language courses (Baker & Wright, 2021, pg. 220).

Separatist Education

camfagan06 — 2024-10-23 20:35:24 UTC

Separatist Education is another weak form of Bilingual Education. This type of program attempts to instruct and develop students in the minority language only. Often, this is a way " to protect a minority language from being over-run by the language majority (Baker & Wright, 2021, pg. 221).

STRONG FORMS OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION

camfagan06 — 2024-10-23 20:36:42 UTC

Immersion

camfagan06 — 2024-10-23 20:37:28 UTC

Immersion programs are considered strong forms of Bilingual Education. These programs typically start in high level of instruction (50%-100%) in the minority language and then taper off into a more even ratio of minority vs majority language instruction. The goal of these programs is to develop students with a high level of achievement and growth in both languages (Baker & Wright, 2021, pg. 244).

Heritage Language Programs

camfagan06 — 2024-10-23 20:37:45 UTC

Heritage Language Programs are also considered strong forms of Bilingual Education. Often the goal of these programs is to preserve and grow minority heritage or native languages. The strongest programs are similar to many Immersion programs in which students are only taught, or mostly taught, in the minority language for the first segments of the program and then adjust to a 50-50 split (Baker & Wright, 2021, pg. 239).

Two Way/Dual Language Programs

camfagan06 — 2024-10-23 20:38:23 UTC

Two-Way or Dual Language Programs are strong forms of Bilingual Education because the end goal is for students to become bilingual in both the majority and minority languages. These programs seek an even number of majority and minority language students and faculty for instructions (Baker & Wright, 2021 pg. 229)