Definition
Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) programs use two languages for teaching content by following different models for separating the language of instruction by either the time of day, content area, or day of the week (Soltero, 2016). Although researchers and educators in the United States may differ on the terms and definitions they use when referring to the different models that use two languages for content instruction, these programs have fallen under the umbrella term dual language bilingual education (Flores & Baetens Beardsmore, 2015; Soltero, 2016). Here, I will use the term Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) taking into consideration that these types of programs vary in their structure, implementation, and student populations that they serve (Flores & Baetens Beardsmore, 2015). In addition, I am making the political choice (inspired by Dorner & Cervantes-Soon, 2020; Flores, 2016 and Garcia & Kleifgen, 2018) to use the term dual language bilingual education instead of the term dual language (omitting bilingual) because we, too, want to avoid being part of a discourse that silences the word bilingual within the U.S. educational context and its history (Garcia & Kleifgen, 2018; Cervantes-Soon, 2020).
Programs Goals
The goals of DLBE programs are for students to develop high levels of bilingualism and biliteracy, and to preserve, develop and honor the identities of language-minoritized students while ensuring equity for and academic achievement of language-minoritized students (Choi et al., 202; Howard, et al., 2018; Soltero, 2016).
I will use the term language-minoritized instead of the many different labels used to describe students who speak a language other than English, also known as home language, because language-minoritized “recognizes the student’s use of their home language and culture” (Garcia & Kleifgen, 2018, p.3) and because the term minoritized “points to the power of language-majority groups over those deemed inferior (Garcia & Kleifgen, 2018, p.3). I will use the term language-majority (Flores & Baetens Beardsmore, 2015) to describe English speakers.
Language Allocation
DLBE programs allocate language in two different systems, partial and total immersion (Soltero, 2016). Total immersion includes two models: 90/10, 80/20. Partial immersion includes one model: 50/50. In the 90/10 type, the minoritized language is used “for 90% of initial instruction, with the use of the majority language gradually increasing until both languages are used equally” (Flores & Baetens Beardsmore, 2015, p. 211). In the 80/20 model, the amount of instruction in the minoritized language is used for 80% of the time. By the time students reach third grade, fourth or fight grade, there is a balance of instructional time in both languages (Soltero, 2016). In contrast, the 50/50 model uses “both languages equally” from the beginning (Flores & Baetens Beardsmore, 2015, p.211).
Critical consciousness, “or fostering among teachers, parents, and children an awareness of the structural oppression that surrounds us and a readiness to take action to correct it”- (Palmer et al., 2019, p.1) has been proposed by some scholars as the fourth fundamental goal for DLBE programs.
Oregon Dual Language Bilingual Education Programs Directory
There are currently more than 140 kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12) DLBE programs in Oregon in public settings. These programs represent over 28 school districts and five languages (Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Vietnamese and Chinese), with Spanish/English as the most common DLBE program.
This directory lists K-12 programs in Oregon that provide grade-level content instruction in two languages to “language-majority students and language-minoritized students simultaneously” (Flores & Baetens Beardsmore, 2015, p. 226).
Questions? Email: Nelly Patiño Cabrera (nelly.patinocabrera@oregonstate.edu)
The purpose of this directory is two-fold: to collect and quantify the number and types of DLBE programs implemented in the state of Oregon; and to connect leaders and educators of DLBE programs from across the state and facilitate networking among and between them.
This directory includes information on two main types of dual language programs:
- One-way Dual Language: Programs in which the student population is composed entirely of students from one language group (Soltero, 2016). It can either have exclusively language-minoritized students or exclusively language majority students.
- Two-way Dual Language: Programs that serve a student population composed of an equivalent number of “language-minoritized students from one ethnolinguistic community as well as language majority students with little or no background in the minoritized-language” Flores & Baetens-Beardsmore, 2015, p. 210).
This directory also includes information about the school implementation scope, indicating whether a DLBE program was implemented schoolwide or as a strand.
