Bilingual education in America. Illusion or reality?

An Examination on Latinos in Wisconsin

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2013 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Linguistik, Note: 2,3, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: In this seminar paper, the focus will lay on bilingual education in the USA. First of all, the differentiation between monolingualism, bilingualism and multilingualism will be made clear to understand the wideness of this topic. At this point, it has to be considered that even the term bilingualism can be diverse in its meaning due to the fact that it can refer to an individual or a society being bilingual. (cf. Aronin/ Hufeisen 2009: 13) This phenomenon will be explained in the next chapter. Furthermore it is important to have a look on the history of bilingual education itself. In this paper, history of bilingual education will start around the 1700s. It is the point in history when first appearance of bilingualism is documented. Certainly, even earlier, bilingualism might be pointed out but this period is crucial for the development of bilingualism in America which is important for this paper. In the next chapter, the focus will lay on bilingual education, the actual topic. Here, not only forms will be explained but also critics and problems will be pointed out due to the fact that bilingual education was not always successful because of various reasons which were explained in the history part, then. The fifth chapter deals with Latinos in the U.S. and especially with their opportunity to receive bilingual education. A closer examination will be made, then, on Latinos in Wisconsin and why the offer on bilingual education for them is so various. Finally, to prove the facts that will be claimed, an example will be given. The Madison Metropolitan School District will be introduced with its programs for English Language Learners and especially one Elementary school in the District. Before the conclusion with a summary and the answer of the opening question finishes the paper, the success of the bilingual programs of the school and the school district will be shown.