Dual language education and bilingualism in United States schools

Official Langue and Communication

The topic of first and second language in the United States is one that widely debated. Many Hispanic immigrants think that children of first language Spanish speaking backgrounds should retain that cultural distinction, and that coursework should be taught in Spanish. It is, however, part the United States naturalization process that a command of the English language is necessary to become a naturalized citizen in the United States (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, found online, 2008). The real puzzle is that there is any concern over by either coalition in acquiring a second language that is as useful as the first language in a world that is speedy towards a global community in which a second language can only be perceived as an individual asset, even a lucrative one. Teaching a course in a dual language is perhaps challenging in the contemporary classroom setting that lacks the appropriate teaching tools, but many educators are looking at the prospect of dual language teaching (Culatta, Barbara, Reese, Marin, and Setzer, Lee Ann, 2006, p. 67).

Social researchers Barbara Culatta, Reese Marin, and Lee Ann Setzer say that early dual language programs have a better chance for success when instituted early in the student's academic career (Culatta, Reese, Setzer, p. 67). Cultural diversity, they say, and the process of language support and exchange between students would make for a positive learning environment involving first and second languages (Culatta, Reese, Setzer, p. 67). At the point where the student acquires a second language, becomes fluent in the language that is not the student's own first language, it no longer matters what the student's first language is because the student, if proficient, has mastered a command of both languages (Culatta, Reese, Setzer, p. 67). It becomes a matter, they say, of phonological awareness, which facilitates the individual's ability to transfer from one language to another.