Dual Language Immersion

This archival data research study will examine the effects of participating in a heritage one-way simultaneous biliteracy developmental dual language immersion program on the academic achievement and growth of English language learners. In their book Dual Language Education for a Transformed World, Thomas and Collier (2012) state that when comparing various educational programs, “only dual language programs eventually close all of the achievement gap,” with English learners scoring as high or higher than native English speakers after about six to eight years (94). In addition to increased levels of academic achievement, students who participated in dual language programs were found to have higher self-esteem and confidence, improved student

The academic growth in reading of second and third grade ELL students participating in a dual language immersion program will be greater than the growth of second and third grade ELL students who participate in a traditional service model and greater than the growth of second and third grade non-ELL students as measured by the NWEA MAP Growth Assessment.

Limitations of the Study There are two major limitations of this study. The first limitation is the relatively small sample size. Since this study is focused on a single school with three distinct programs that exist as a strand within it, there are not a large number of participants in any of the strands. This small sample size may make it difficult to determine significance in the data and it may be difficult to generalize the results to larger populations or multiple school settings. The second limitation is the idea of randomness. Ideally subjects would be chosen at random for each of the programs or treatments. However, in this case there were certain criteria, such as home language survey and parental permission, which had to be met by students in order to be eligible for the dual language program as they entered Kindergarten. The remaining students’ status as either English Language Learners or native English speakers determined the educational program strand in which they would be placed.

One of the first documented bilingual schools was established as early as 1964 in Dade County, Florida, and was comprised of Cuban refugees who had settled in Miami along with local, native English speaking students (Thomas and Collier, 2012, p. 10). The program enabled both groups of students to reach mastery in English, quickly spread, and by 1968, thirteen states had some form of bilingual education program (Thomas and Collier, 2012, p. 10). In 1968, Congress passed the Bilingual Education Act as part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, “that provided funds for the establishment of bilingual programs for English Language Learners” (Kim, Hutchison and Winsler, 2015). Between the late 1960’s and the mid-1980’s, there was little growth in the number of dual language programs. That changed as America began to compete in a global economy and recognize the value of a multilingual workforce (Freeman, Freeman and Mercuri, 2005, p.