The Language and Culture Bureau (LCB) provides accountability with support to districts that serve students participating in Bilingual Multicultural Education Programs (BMEPs) so that all participating students achieve the program goals as outlined by New Mexico statute and administrative code. These are: (1) Students become bilingual and…

For over 15 years now, various commentators have highlighted the 'monolingual bias' inherent in SLA and TESOL research, which invariably constructs bi/multilingualism in deficit terms. In contrast, these critics have advocated an additive bilingual approach to SLA and TESOL, albeit, not as yet to any great effect. In this paper, I explore why so…

This article traces the ways in which New York City schools have responded to the multilingualism of its children in the last forty years. I review here the past to construct the future--the future of the past. I argue that in the predominantly Puerto Rican community of the 1960s and 1970s a simple approach toward languages and bilingualism in…

The educational experiences of Southeast Asian Americans, particularly Cambodian Americans, Hmong Americans, Laotian Americans, and Vietnamese Americans, are characterized by numerous challenges, which can be attributed to their migration history, socioeconomic status, and English proficiency. By the end of 11th grade, a high percentage of…

The paper considers directions of the formation of a competence approach. The emphasis is placed on the nature of the socio-cultural content line that is interrelated with the speech line and is necessary for successful socialization in the development and training of students from national minorities of the Ukraine and the United States,…

While the medium-of-instruction (MOI) has been seen as one of the most crucial decision-making areas in language policies, it is curious that the equivalent Japanese expression to MOI is absent from educational policy documents. In a nation where the Japanese language is called the national language and enjoys the status of an official language,…

No other city in the nation more clearly exemplifies the dramatically changing social, political, and economic landscape of America's urban centers than Houston. Houston has transformed from a bi-racial southern city on the bayou to one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse communities in the nation. Houston Independent School District…

Bilingual education is thought to be one of the principal means of simultaneously revitalizing threatened language and preparing students for success in mainstream society. However, little research has examined, in a comprehensive and longitudinal fashion, bilingual programs in Aboriginal contexts. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to conduct…

This study examines attitudes towards bilingual Jewish-Arab education among Jewish and Arab adults in Israel. The sample consisted of 1014 respondents who participated in a national phone survey in late 2006. Results indicate that Arabs are significantly more supportive of bilingual education in Israel than Jews. Positive attitudes regarding the…

This paper reports on the problems faced by students in the second language classroom. It focuses on their integration of social and cultural aspects in language learning, because every language is an amalgamation of both. The author adds that the learner of a second language finds difficulty in learning the culture of the first language and it…

The Houston Independent School District (HISD) currently offers five bilingual programs and two English as a Second Language (ESL) programs for English language learners (ELLs). These programs are intended to facilitate ELL students' integration into the regular school curriculum and to ensure access to equal educational opportunities. This…

This report examines dual language program implementation in three Texas public school districts similar to Austin Independent School District. The school districts are compared in terms of demographic composition, program implementation, and English language learner (ELL) students' academic performance in 2014 on the state's academic test, STAAR.

Educational policies for English language learners (ELLs) tend to focus on English language acquisition. In this chapter, the authors argue that educators need to give more attention to the development of bilingualism and biliteracy to draw upon the tremendous intellectual, linguistic, and cultural resources that bilingual children bring to the…

The commitment to multilingualism embedded in the 1996 South African Constitution has wide ranging implications for many aspects of education. This paper focuses on the dearth of teaching and learning materials in African languages required to deliver effective bilingual education, and on the potential role of translation in offering solutions for…

Until recently, the assumption of the language-teaching literature has been that new languages are best taught and learned monolingually, without the use of the students' own language(s). In recent years, however, this monolingual assumption has been increasingly questioned, and a re-evaluation of teaching that relates the language being taught to…