James Crawford's

Language Policy Web Site & Emporium

Chapter 9: Considering Program Alternatives
By James Crawford

Jim Cummins and Stephen Krashen could hardly be stronger advocates for bilingual education. Yet their work raises a series of logical questions about the potential value of alternative approaches in educating English learners:

• • If comprehensible input is the key ingredient in acquiring English, why is native-language instruction necessary? Is bilingual education, with its funding demands, teacher shortages, and political headaches, the best pedagogical alternative?
• • If communication-based ESL looks promising, especially when combined with sheltered English techniques for teaching other subjects, why not devote more efforts to perfecting all-English programs?
• • If English-speaking children in Québec can learn French through total immersion in the early grades, with all subjects taught in the second language, why can’t language-minority children learn English in the same way in the United States?

These issues have come up repeatedly since the Baker–de Kanter report became public in 1981. After reviewing the research literature, this Education Department study concluded: “The case for the effectiveness of transitional bilingual education is so weak that exclusive reliance on this instructional method is clearly not justified.” Baker and de Kanter advanced an alternative they hailed as “uniformly successful” wherever it had been evaluated: structured immersion. As late as 1985, however, only nine “pure immersion programs” existed nationwide, according to Keith Baker, citing a survey by SRA Technologies as it embarked on a long-term, federally funded evaluation of this methodology (also known as the Ramírez report).

Thus far the bulk of research evidence about immersion has come from Canada, where the methodology has proven quite successful with language-majority children. Immersion “may or may not” be appropriate for language-minority children in the United States, Baker and de Kanter conceded, but it “shows enough promise” that, at minimum, it should be tried. To evaluate this argument, it is necessary to examine what the Canadian immersion model is and is not.

For permission to download and reprint the

1 copy $5.95 2 copies $11.90 3 copies $17.85 4 copies $23.80 5 copies $29.75 6 copies $32.13 7 copies $37.49 8 copies $42.84 9 copies $49.20 10 copies $53.55

After your payment is received, your Web browser will be redirected to a page with instructions on downloading and a password you will need to open the chapter. By clicking on the PayPal link above, you agree to reprint only the number of copies you have purchased. This permission may not be shared with others without violating the copyright. Also note that your purchase does not allow any electronic posting or other reproduction of the work on web sites, "electronic reserves," or similar media. Thanks for your cooperation in honoring this legal agreement.

To inquire about special rates for more than 25 reprints, please write to this address.