TEACHER PERCEPTIONS AND BELIEFS ABOUT THE CHARACTERISTICS AND ACADEMIC IMPACT OF A DUAL LANGUAGE IMMERSION PROGRAM
Date
2022-12
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Abstract
Many children of immigrants replace the minority language with English (Anderson,
2012). This results in loss of opportunity to become bilingual impacting educational access and employment negatively (Tran, 2010). Attending a dual language program is one way of maintaining their home language, but is there an impact on their academic achievement when learning two languages simultaneously? A mixed-methods phenomenology study was used to explore this question.
A survey and a 30-minute interview with six K-2 dual-language teachers and one
administrator were used to learn about their professional characteristics and beliefs of school personnel in a Dual Language program. Comparing achievement scores (MAP reading) between two Southern California schools; one implementing a dual-language Spanish-English program and one with an English-only program across five data points during 2018-2020 we learned about the academic achievement between the two programs. Classroom observations and teacher and administrator interviews were used to learn how their perceptions contribute to the dual-language program implementation.
Findings demonstrated that teachers in the dual language program are bilingual, biliterate,
and value bilingualism. They believe that teacher preparation and effectiveness, resources and professional development, positive beliefs about dual language programs, parental support, and teacher and parent collaboration contribute to the effectiveness of the program. Students in dual language scored statistically higher on 2 out of 15 data points in grades 3 and 4. Previous research does not find evidence of academic advantage until the fifth grade or beyond. Evidence of teachers practicing the strategies that promote language maintenance and academic instruction was found through the walkthroughs.
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Keywords
dual language immersion, bilingual education, academic achievement in bilingual students, components of dual language program