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Essay on Impact of Bilingualism on Reading Success Of a School Aged Child
Concern has been expressed that bilingual education might be detrimental when children are tested for reading achievement in English.
The subject of bilingual education continues to be a topic of debate across the United States. Certainly, the advantages of being bilingual are clearly understood; however, whether students should actually be taught in two languages is not universally accepted (Adams, M. 1990). If a `balanced bilingual' is the desired product from a bilingual education program, it must be clearly understood that there are several areas of literacy skills involved in language development: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Studies indicate that the further a child moves toward balanced bilingualism (equal competence in all areas of the two languages), the greater the likelihood of cognitive advantages (Clarkson 1992). Peal & Lambert (1962), in reporting on English/French bilingual students, have stated that intellectually the bilingual students have "a mental flexibility, a superiority in concept formation, and a more diversified set of mental abilities ... In contrast, the monolingual appears to have a more unitary structure of intelligence which he must use for all types of intellectual tasks" (p. 6). These cognitive advantages are definitely a desired outcome of any educational program.
In addition to bilingual education, accountability is also a hot topic in educational circles and, as a result, academic testing has become a widespread phenomenon in American education. In some states, testing for reading achievement has high priority. When scores are low on any of the measures being used (Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, Grades 3-8; Iowa Test of Basic Skills, Grades 1-2), administrators are challenged to analyze test results very carefully in order to determine the next step for possible improvement. Since many children have either Spanish as a first language, or are strongly influenced by Spanish in the home, educators often consider the development of necessary reading skills at the expense of the development of Spanish linguistic skills...............
