Abstract
Bilingual education is a topic of increasing interest in the Australian educational context. It is also a subject surrounded by both controversy and confusion. The investigation upon which this discussion is based probed perceptions of bilingual education by its potential clientele. Our contention is that the degree to which students are receptive to the concept of bilingual learning has been neglected so far, although it is crucial to the implementation of any form of bilingual education. A 10 per cent sample of Year 7, 9, and 11 students was drawn from a representative sample of 38 Melbourne metropolitan post-primary schools and surveyed using Attitude to Bilingual Education scales. The following hypotheses were supported by the findings: ‘Bilinguals have positive attitudes’, ‘Bilinguals have more positive attitudes than do monolinguals’, and ‘Bilinguals perceive their peers’ attitudes as negative’. The hypothesis, The attitudes of different bilingual groups differ’, received some support but requires further investigation. Those hypotheses which did not receive support were ‘Bilinguals perceive their parents’ attitudes as very positive’, ‘Bilinguals perceive their teachers’ attitudes as negative’, ‘Bilinguals see merit in bilingual education only for themselves to the exclusion of their monolingual peers’, and ‘Monolinguals see merit in bilingual education only for bilinguals to the exclusion of themselves’.