Multilingual education, where students learn academic content in two or more languages, has been gaining popularity around the world in recent years. We can’t deny that there are benefits of multilingual education. Research has shown that there are many benefits to learning in multiple languages, for both individual students and society as a whole. Let’s explore what multilingual education is, its different models, and the extensive advantages it provides.
What is Multilingual Education?
Multilingual education refers to the use of two or more languages for teaching academic subjects in a school environment. It aims to promote proficiency in multiple languages while also fostering academic achievement across all subject areas. There are several different models of multilingual education:
- Transitional Bilingual Education: Instruction begins in the students’ native language and transitions to English over a period of 2-6 years. The goal is to help students learn English while continuing academic learning in the native language.
- Dual Language Immersion: Instruction is provided in two languages, usually English and a target language like Spanish or Mandarin Chinese. The goal is for students to develop fluency in both languages.
- Heritage Language Programs: These programs are designed to revitalize and preserve minority languages by offering instruction to both language minority and language majority students.
- Indigenous Language Immersion: Provides instruction through an indigenous language to revitalize and preserve that language while also achieving academic goals.
- Maintenance Bilingual Education: Designed to help minority language students maintain proficiency in their native language while adding proficiency in the majority language.
No matter the model, multilingual education utilizes two languages systematically to promote high levels of proficiency in both, while facilitating high academic achievement across the curriculum.
Benefits of Multilingual Education
Decades of research studies have demonstrated the wide-ranging cognitive, academic, and societal benefits of multilingual education. Here are some of the key advantages:
Cognitive Advantages
- Enhanced problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity: Multilingual students have been found to be more skilled at seeing problems from multiple perspectives and generating creative solutions. The experience of switching between languages appears to enhance cognitive flexibility and abstract thinking.
- Better focus and selectivity: Mastering multiple languages improves inhibitory control, allowing multilinguals to better focus attention on relevant information and screen out distractions. This benefit persists across the lifespan.
- Delayed cognitive aging: Studies show multilingualism helps delay age-related cognitive decline, with multilingual seniors experiencing dementia 4-5 years later than monolinguals. Using multiple languages provides the brain with robust cognitive exercise.
Academic Advantages
- Improved academic performance in all subjects: Multilingual students tend to outperform monolingual students in all school subjects, including reading, math, science, and social studies. Learning in two languages appears to enhance overall academic ability.
- Literacy skills transfer across languages: Multilingual education allows students to transfer literacy skills, like phonological awareness, from one language to another. This can help students deepen comprehension and acquire new languages more efficiently.
- gap: Bilingual instruction helps close the achievement gap experienced by minority, immigrant, and low-income students. These students can continue learning content in their native language while mastering a new language.
Societal Advantages
- Preservation of heritage and indigenous languages: Multilingual programs help maintain and revitalize threatened minority languages and support indigenous language revival efforts. This preserves linguistic diversity for future generations.
- Enhanced cultural awareness and exchange: Learning languages fosters greater cross-cultural understanding between social, ethnic, and racial groups. This promotes social cohesion and unity.
- Improved national security and global competence: Citizens fluent in many languages enhance a nation’s economic competitiveness, diplomacy efforts, intelligence work, and security. Multilingualism prepares youth to succeed in a globalized world.
- Increased job opportunities: Multilingual individuals have a clear advantage in the workforce, with employers valuing fluency in multiple languages. Multilingual education helps prepare students for new career possibilities.
Keys to Successful Multilingual Education
To reap the full benefits of multilingual schooling, certain components are essential to promote student success:
- Qualified bilingual teachers and staff: Instructors must be proficient in academic languages to provide high quality teaching and language modeling. Ongoing teacher training in bilingual pedagogy is key.
- High-quality language models: Whether teachers or digital programs, quality language input in both languages helps students become highly proficient and develop vocabulary.
- Adequate language exposure: Students need sufficient instructional time in each language, at least 50% per language, to develop academic fluency. Less exposure limits language development.
- Separation by language for instruction: Best practice is to separate languages during instructional time, using one designated language per subject or class. Language switching hinders proficiency.
- Culturally responsive teaching: Curriculum and teaching styles should be tailored to multilingual learners’ cultural backgrounds to create an inclusive classroom.
- Active parent engagement: Providing language workshops, translators, and parent outreach encourages family involvement to reinforce multilingual learning at home.
- Assessment in both languages: Testing students in both languages allows authentic measurement of academic knowledge vs. just English ability and prevents incorrect placement.
- Adequate funding: Long-term financial support from government education budgets is required to sustain quality multilingual education programs.
When these best practices are implemented, multilingual education provides the most effective environment for students to thrive both academically and linguistically.
Addressing Common Concerns and Criticisms
While the benefits are clear, multilingual education does face some common criticisms that should be addressed:
Concern: It can confuse students and impede English acquisition.
Response: On the contrary, research shows it enhances English ability compared to English-only instruction. Learning fundamentals like literacy and subject knowledge in the primary language allows more cognitive resources to acquire English.
Concern: Translanguaging, or going between languages, doesn’t allow full proficiency.
Response: Best practice is separating language of instruction, not translanguaging. Students develop higher proficiency and knowledge learning academic subjects consistently in one language.
Concern: Students won’t learn enough English to succeed.
Response: In dual language and other sustained programs, students match or outperform peers in English-only classrooms in the long run. Heritage programs also promote English mastery.
Concern: It’s too confusing for teachers to deliver content in multiple languages.
Response: With proper training and materials, bilingual teachers can provide excellent instruction in multiple languages. Proper support and planning are the keys to success.
While meeting these criticisms directly, we must increase public understanding of the linguistic, cognitive, academic, and cultural benefits research shows multilingual education provides.
Choosing the Right Multilingual Model
With many models to choose from, schools and districts must identify the right multilingual approach based on their student population, resources, and community needs:
- For non-native English speakers, transitional bilingual or developmental bilingual fosters English mastery while sustaining academic growth in the primary language.
- For revitalizing heritage languages like Navajo or Vietnamese, heritage language immersion is most appropriate and culturally responsive.
- For language majority students, two-way dual language immersion brings mutual benefits, with both groups becoming bilingual and biliterate.
- Districts with large numbers of indigenous language students should consider indigenous language immersion to restore language proficiency.
- Urban schools with many immigrant students can implement dual immersion or two-way immersion to great advantage.
Considering student demographics, community preferences, and resource availability allows districts to select optimal multilingual models to meet both learner and community needs.
Conclusion
The extensive research leaves no doubt—multilingual education offers students immense linguistic, academic, cognitive, and social benefits that extend through their lifetimes. When schools and districts implement programs tailored to local contexts using proven best practices, students from all backgrounds thrive. With proper public understanding and institutional support, multilingual schooling can help build a more inclusive, just, and equitable world for all students.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are answers to some common questions for parents and students around multilingual education:
How long does it take for students to become fluent in both program languages?
For immersion models, it takes 4-7 years to become proficient in academic and conversational language. Students develop advanced fluency through secondary school.
Do all students need prior experience with both languages to enroll?
No, most programs are designed for students with a range of language backgrounds. Dual immersion only requires basic proficiency in one language for enrollment.
Does learning in two languages confuse students or affect proficiency in either language?
No, research consistently shows learning in two languages enhances proficiency compared to single language learning. Multilingualism provides cognitive benefits rather than confusion.
Do multilingual programs require extra years of schooling?
No, students can complete program requirements and graduate on time. The curriculum is the same; it is just delivered through two languages.
How can parents support their students in multilingual programs?
Parents should read with children in either language, provide language resources, demonstrate pride in multilingual skills, and build connections with other program families.
How can schools start a multilingual program?
With district support, schools can start dual language or other programs by training teachers, designing curriculum, establishing student ratios, informing parents, and cultivating community partnerships.