This study examined how parents, teachers, and administrators conceptualised dual-language immersion (DLI) education and its goals at Bobcat Canyon School (BCS, pseudonym), a private preschool in the Southwestern USA where 64% students were White and 36% were students of colour. Through interviews with 15 parents, eight teachers, and two school…

The purpose of this article is two-fold. First, we seek to make a case for the promise of dual language programs to enhance Catholic schooling and enrich educational opportunities for Latinx students. Second, we offer insights into the current landscape of Catholic schools with dual language programs, drawing upon data from a national survey…

This paper reports on a writing programme I started at Bronx Community College to improve academic success among recently immigrated Spanish-speaking students by linking ESL courses to Spanish academic literacy courses within the framework of a learning community. My reflection begins by articulating the pedagogical rationale for looking beyond…

In this study, we used a quasi-experimental, longitudinal design to examine the English language arts (ELA) and mathematics test scores of emergent bilinguals (EBs) in DLBE 50:50 models versus English as a second language (ESL) models in Indiana over four academic school years. With a focus on the midwestern U.S., we bring attention to a…

This paper examines the literacy results of English language learners (ELLs) in two California schools following either the 50/50 or the 90/10 dual language (DL) program model. The purpose of this paper is to provide a literature review of dual language programs with an analysis of two schools' websites and literacy assessment data in order to…

Dual language learners are a growing population in early learning and care settings. Young DLLs have the potential to develop proficiency in two languages when provided adequate supports; however, most teachers of young DLLs feel inadequately prepared to support DLLs. Cultivating Oral Language and Literacy Talent in Students (COLLTS) is an…

Schools throughout the world teach in several languages, but few reach the level of linguistic proficiency of Hamelin-Laie International School in Mongat, Barcelona, Spain. This school begins instruction in English, Catalan, and Spanish and at grade one, adds a fourth language as a World Language. Factors that impact the success of this school…

In the last 20 years dual language education programs have increased in number and expanded in range. Whereas once they were predominantly focused at the elementary level, they now span from pre-K through to high school. This book examines the key attributes of successful dual language programs, as well as the challenges and opportunities involved…

This essay offers a candid overview of the past one hundred years of preK-fifth grade Spanish language teaching and learning in the United States. Among the topics addressed are numbers of programs, program models, and factors that impact the success of learners and programs.

In the United States, English is not the official language but the dominant one. But for many students, the dominance of English instruction has come at the expense of losing their first language. For much of our history of schooling in the United States, students have been forced to leave their heritage or home languages at the door when they…

California's Proposition 227, or the Unz Initiative, had as its main focus the requirement that English learners be taught only in English, based on the belief that these children could learn English in one year. This led to the dismantling of many bilingual programs in K-12 schools across California. A team of faculty from California State…

The purpose of this reflective article is to present an alternative that incorporates the four language skills in all content areas through technology-based dual-language centers for emergent bilinguals at the elementary level. The authors propose a matrix to plan the centers and include three examples to facilitate language transfer in English…

This article examines the culminating activity--"la cosecha" or the harvest--in a yearlong project in which teachers at a bilingual afterschool program and staff from a citywide environmental advocacy group taught students to plant, harvest, and sell produce grown at the school site. The authors show how students are socialized to become…

A survey of 724 families of students at eight dual language schools in the southwest United States that focused on parents' satisfaction with their child's academic skills and with program characteristics is reported. Results are explored for parental language, parental education level, program model type, grade level of the child, and years the…

This paper situates the contemporary debate about education and accountability for English language learners/bilingual learners within a sociocultural context and suggests ways that dual language educators and researchers can help move this debate forward. I begin with a brief review of competing discourses about bilingualism and education for…