The primary purpose of this investigation is to ascertain the long-term effect of a maintenance bilingual education program (K-2) on the acquisition of Spanish (L1) and English (L 2) for two principal linguistically homogeneous groups ofMexican-American children who were all limited in English (LEP) as well as Spanish (LSP) proficiency. For purposes of comparative analysis, these program participants were divided into a most-limited-language-proficient group (n = 74) and a limited-language proficient group (n = 113). Although the primary analysis compared L, and L2 acquisition, the second analysis examined changes in oral English and Spanish for the two principal groups at kindergarten and second grade. The most significant overall results related to the additive effects that the MBE program fostered for the two groups'oral L1 and L2.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Commins, N.
, & Miramontes, O. (1989). Perceived and actual linguistic competence: A descriptive study of four low-achieving Hispanic bilingual students. American Education Research Journal, 26, 443-472.
2.
Cummins, J.
(1986). Empowering minority students: A framework for intervention. Harvard Education Review, 56, 18-36.
3.
Cummins, J.
(1989). Empowering minority students. Sacramento, CA: California Association for Bilingual Education.
4.
De Avila, E. A.
, & Duncan, S. E. (1982). A convergent approach to oral language assessment: Theoretical and technical specifications on the LanguageAssessment Scales. Monterey, CA: CTB/McGraw-Hill.
5.
De Avila, E. A.
, & Duncan, S. E. (1983a). Language Assessment Scales. San Rafael, CA: Linguametrics Group.
6.
De Avila, E. A.
, & Duncan, S. E. (1983b). Validity and comparability of the LAS short form: A preliminary report. Monterey, CA: CTB/McGraw-Hill.
7.
Dolson D. P.
(1985). Bilingualism and scholastic performance: The literature revisited. NABE [National Association for Bilingual Education] Journal, 10(1), 1-35.
8.
Duncan, S. E.
, & De Avila, E. A. (1983). Scoring and interpretation manual for the Language Assessment Scales, LAS. San Rafael, CA: Linguametrics Group.
9.
Duncan, S. E.
, & De Avila, E. A. (1985). How to administer the LAS. San Rafael, CA: Linguametrics Group.
10.
Fernandez, R. M.
, & Neilsen, F. (1986). Bilingualism and Hispanic scholastic achievement: Some baseline results. Social Science Research, 15, 43-70.
11.
Grosjean, F.
(1982). Life with two languages: An introduction to bilingualism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
12.
Hakuta, K.
(1986). Mirror of language: The debate on bilingualism. New York: Basic Books.
13.
Lessow-Hurley, J.
(1990). The foundations of dual language instruction. New York: Longman.
14.
McLaughlin, B.
(1985). Second language acquisition in childhood: Volume 2, School-age children. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
15.
Medina, M., Jr.
(1988, April). Native language proficiency and Spanish achievement in an eight year maintenance bilingual education program. Paper presented at the NABE Conference, Houston, TX.
16.
Medina, M., Jr.
, & Escamilla, K. (1990, April). Longitudinal evaluation of transitional and maintenance bilingual programs on native, second and bilingual oral proficiency. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Boston, MA.
17.
Medina, M., Jr.
, & Escamilla, K. (1992). English acquisition by fluent and limited Spanish proficient Mexican Americans in a three-year maintenance bilingual program. Hispanic Journal ofBehavioral Sciences, 14, 252-267.
18.
Medina, M., Jr.
, Saldate, S., & Mishra, S. (1985). The sustaining effects of bilingual instruction: A follow-up study. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 12(3), 132-139.
19.
Ovando, C. J.
, & Collier, V. P. (1985). Bilingual and ESL classrooms. New York: McGraw-Hill.
20.
Padilla, A. M.
, Lindholm, K. J., Chen, A., Duran, R., Hakuta, K., Lambert, W., & Tucker, R. G. (1991). The English-only movement: Myth, reality and implications for psychology. American Psychologist, 46(2), 120-130.
21.
Ramirez, D. J.
, Yuen, S. D., & Ramey, D. R. (1991). Executive summary, final report: Longitudinal study of structured English immersion strategy, early-exit and late-exit transitional bilingual education programs for language-minority children (Contract No. 300-87-0156). San Mateo, CA: Aguirre International.
22.
Skutnabb-Kangas, T.
(1981). Bilingualism or not?Multilingual Matters. Vol. 7. Rosslyn, VA: InterAmerica Associates.
23.
Skutnabb-Kangas, T.
, & Toukomaa, P. (1976). Teaching migrant children's mother tongue and learning the host country in the context of the sociocultural situation of the migrant family. Report prepared for UNESCO, Department of Sociology and Social Psychology, University of Tampere, Tampere.
24.
Snow, C. E.
(1992). Perspectives on second-language development: Implications for bilingual education. Educational Research, 21(2), 16-19.
25.
Spener, D.
(1988). Transitional bilingual education and the socialization of immigrants. Harvard Educational Review, 58(2), 133-153.
26.
Tikunoff, W. J.
(1987). Providing instructional leadership: The key to effectiveness. In S. H. Fradd & W. J. Tikunoff (Eds.), Bilingual education and bilingual special education:A guide for administrators (pp. 231-264). Boston, MA: College-Hill.
27.
Whitmore, K.
, & Andrade, R. (1989, October). Semilingualism: An institutional model for pedagogy. Paper presented at the Second Annual Language, Reading, and Culture colloquy, University of Arizona, Tucson.
28.
Willig, A. C.
(1985). A meta-analysis of selected studies on the effectiveness of bilingual education. Review of Educational Research, 55(3), 269-317.
29.
Wong-Fillmore, W.
, & Valadez, C. (1985). Teaching bilingual learners. In M. C. Wittrock (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (pp. 648-685). Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.
