Bilingual Education and Biliteracy

Sometimes the terms related to bilingual education and biliteracy can be confusing. On the Wikipedia website, bilingualism is someone who speaks fluently in two languages and biliteracy is when a person not only speaks two languages but can read and write in them too.

The article “Strategic Approach to Biliteracy Education” states that biliteracy instruction is not an outcome but a process that should be strategically planned. The three primary programs are Transitional Bilingual Education, Dual Language or Two-way Immersion, and Developmental or Late-exit Bilingual Education.

A Transitional Bilingual Education program often means that a student is educated solely in his or her native language for a period of three years (more or less) so that he or she doesn’t fall behind with their learning. After this period, the student then exits out and begins learning only in English.

A Two-Way or Dual Language Immersion program, which is growing greatly, especially in California, often means bringing together native speakers of a foreign language and native English-speaking students into the same classroom. It’s often set up so that 90 percent of the instruction is in the native language being taught and the other 10 percent is in English. Then, usually starting in the fifth grade, students transition to being taught 50 percent in English and 50 percent in the other language.

The Late-Exit or Developmental program is where a child is taught in his or her first language for a large percentage of the day and for a lesser period of time in English, slowly but surely, increasing English.

The article “Biliteracy and Multiliteracy in Bilingual Education” says that the challenge of bilingual education is that teachers are not always as fluent as they could be in the languages of their students.
To help fill in the gaps, The Latino Family Literacy Program enlists the help of parents by guiding them in setting up a regular at-home, family reading routine using bilingual books, which often aids greatly in building the skills of both languages. Teachers can attend a one-day, program training at a workshop near them or via an online webinar.