Two-Way Bilingual Education
“Two-way bilingual programs address
several serious issues facing education
in the United States today.”
Donna Christian
V. Doherty Two-Way Bilingual Education
Differing opinions

Only by preserving
our commonality-English--can we
ensure that we will
continue to live
and work together
as one Nation,
one people.
Toby Roth, 1993

Proficiency in two or
more languages should
be promoted for all
American students.
Bilingualism enhances
cognitive and social
growth, competitiveness
in a global marketplace,
national security, and
understanding of diverse
peoples and cultures.
Stanford report,1993
Crawford states that this schizophrenic
attitude can be summed up as
“additive bilingualism for English
speakers and subtractive bilingualism for
language minorities”.
(p.210)
Agenda
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Essential definitions
Brief review of language support programs
Characteristics of a dual language program
Look at dual language programs in terms of
Wirt and Kirst’s values in education policy
Activity to bring it all together and to bring
out any questions you have.
Definitions

Bilingual education
– Transitional (aims to prepare students to enter
the mainstream classroom by using the home
language to ‘transition’ into English instruction)
– Developmental (aims to maintain and develop
the home language as students acquire English)

Two-way bilingual education places two language
groups together and promotes the learning of a
second language while maintaining the home
language.
Programs and Percentages
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ESL (pull-out and pull-out with content) - 64%
Transitional bilingual education programs - 26%
Developmental bilingual education programs - 10%
According to Collier & Thomas (1997) of the 10% who were in
developmental bilingual education programs, only 3% were in
dual language, or two-way bilingual programs.
Cummins, J. (2000). Language, Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual children in the
crossfire. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
“The quick-exit orientation,
though still pervasive, is
beginning to face a challenge
from parents, educators and
even some federal
policymakers.”

Crawford, J. (1999). Bilingual education: History, politics, theory and practice (4th ed.).
Los Angeles: Bilingual Educational Services.
A change is in the air…
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Research is starting to document the
benefits of extended mother-tongue
instruction to ELLs (Collier & Thomas, 1997, 2002)
Foreign language immersion programs
show superior results for English-speaking
students (Lindholm & Aclan, 1991)
Parents requesting more enrichment
programs (Cloud, Genesee, Hamayan, 2000)
Crawford,
J. (1999). Bilingual education: History, politics, theory and practice (4th ed.).
Los Angeles: Bilingual Educational Services.
Is there a way to reconcile the needs of the
English language learners and the native
English speakers?
YES
A dual language program
What is a dual language
program?
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A
B
C
D
E
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Additive
Bilingual
Curriculum-based
Developmental
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Enrichment oriented
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Goals of a dual language
program:
Students will develop high levels of
proficiency in their first language and in a
second language.
 Students will perform at or above grade
level in academic areas in both languages.
 Students will demonstrate positive crosscultural attitudes and behaviors and high
levels of self-esteem.

Christian, D. 1994
Criteria for Effective Two-Way
Bilingual Education
Crawford,
J. (1999). Bilingual education: History, politics, theory and
practice (4th ed.). Los Angeles: Bilingual Educational Services.
V. Doherty Two-Way Bilingual Education
Long-term treatment
Research has shown that it takes 4-6
years for students to achieve bilingual
proficiency.
V. Doherty Two-Way Bilingual Education
Optimal input in two
languages

Subject-matter instruction must be
-adjusted to the students’ level
- challenging
- relevant
in both languages.
Integration of language arts
into the curriculum
Students need formal language arts
instruction in both languages. This
should be done through content areas,
rather than through grammar exercises.
V. Doherty Two-Way Bilingual Education
Separation of languages for
instruction
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This can be done by subject matter,
physical space or by teacher.
This can also be done by days of the
week, or time of day (a.m. instruction in
one language, p.m. instruction in the
other).
Additive bilingual environment
The goals of a two-way bilingual
program stress the development of
two languages, not using one
language just to learn the other.
V. Doherty Two-Way Bilingual Education
Balance of language groups
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The ideal ‘mix’ is 50/50 to ensure equity in
the classroom.
A balanced mix ensures maximum
interaction in the classroom between the
two language groups.
Sufficient use of the minority
language
At least 50% of instruction should be in the
minority language to provide English speaking
students optimal input and to give the language
minority students opportunity to develop
academic proficiency in their language.
V. Doherty Two-Way Bilingual Education
Oyster elementary in
Washington, D.C. introduces
reading in both languages at
the same time. By 3rd grade,
their children are reading
above grade level.
V. Doherty Two-Way Bilingual Education
Virginia Collier (parent of an
Oyster graduate) attributes the
children’s high literacy ability
to ‘affirmation of the minority
language,…because the
whole school community is
reinforcing that Spanish is as
good as English”.
Crawford,
J. (1999). Bilingual education: History, politics, theory and
practice (4th ed.).Los Angeles: Bilingual Educational Services.
V. Doherty Two-Way Bilingual Education
Oyster is far from the typical
school
Oyster elementary has two teachers for
every class. One is the Spanish teacher
and the other the English teacher.
The children who go to Oyster are of
relatively high socioeconomic status.
Crawford,
J. (1999). Bilingual education: History, politics, theory and
practice (4th ed.).Los Angeles: Bilingual Educational Services.
V. Doherty Two-Way Bilingual Education
Integration of the dual
language program
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into the whole school so that the program
does not become a ‘school within a school’
into the community so that there is
participation of other minority/majority
language speakers in program activities
into the families so that volunteering in the
program encourages socializing among both
groups of parents.
Program models
Programs are described by the percentage of
the minority language first. For example:
90/10 means that the minority language is
used for instruction 90% of the instructional
day and English 10%. Programs can be
90/10, 80/20, 70/30, 60/40 or 50/50.
V. Doherty Two-Way Bilingual Education
Any questions on:
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Goals of a two-way bilingual program?
Important elements of a well-designed
program?
Types or models of dual language
programs?
Challenges in establishing
dual language programs
Finding qualified teachers
 Lack of understanding about the goals
of a bilingual program
 Funding the added costs of teacher
recruitment and two sets of content
materials
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More information on TWI
programs
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www.cal.org/twi (Two-Way Immersion 101)
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www.cal.org/jsp/TWI/SchoolView.jsp
(Directory of Two-Way Immersion programs
throughout the U.S.
How does a dual language program relate to
Wirt and Kirst’s four values in education
policy?
•
•
•
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Quality
Efficiency
Equity
Choice
ACTIVITY
A final thought
Perhaps some day, to become
Americanized will no longer mean to
become monolingual.
James Crawford
V. Doherty Two-Way Bilingual Education