Texas Launches 'Dual Language' Classrooms
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Joan Oleck -- School Library Journal, 7/18/2007
Ten Texas school districts will pilot a "dual language" program to determine whether bilingual instruction in K–12 classrooms can help boost literacy and graduation rates for English-speaking and non-English-speaking students.
Under legislation signed into law by Governor Rick Perry in June, the dual-language program will run for six years in the ten school districts, with up to 30 campuses involved. "The bill establishes a dual language educational pilot program so we can really look at the outcome," says Senate sponsor Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio).
Conservative opponents, such as Rep. Debbie Riddle (R-Tomball), say that the project will turn children into "guinea pigs." But Van de Putte rejects that charge, adding that there are numerous studies showing the effectiveness of teaching language early to young children.
"The science tells us that children process language information in a different region of the brain called the deep motor area," Van de Putte says. "So the window of opportunity to imprint information and skills in the deep motor region of the brain is widest during very early childhood.” Adults, on the other hand, have a difficult time acquiring language because they have to store the information in a “less effective part of the brain," she adds.
Van de Putte also points to the growing number of non-English-speaking students in her state; most speak Spanish, but a sizeable number speak other languages such as Vietnamese. "If you look at the data that we had for the three largest school districts in the state—Houston, Dallas, and Ft. Worth—in 2003, 40 percent of those students were classified as 'limited English proficient,'" the senator says.
That trend "poses a significant challenge for our education community [and] for the children that must learn a language other than the other one they've primarily spoken in their home." As a result, Texas students must be prepared to compete in a global economy, she adds.
Schools in San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, and El Paso previously have implemented dual immersion programs, but the Texas Education Agency “has really not done its job of evaluating our bilingual education program," she says, referring to the normative language immersion for non-English speakers only. That's the reason for the new pilot program.
