首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Bilingual Education Bilingual education in America is hundreds of years old, hardly a "new" issue. In 1837, Pennsylvania law
Bilingual Education Bilingual education in America is hundreds of years old, hardly a "new" issue. In 1837, Pennsylvania law
admin
2010-03-26
36
问题
Bilingual Education
Bilingual education in America is hundreds of years old, hardly a "new" issue. In 1837, Pennsylvania law required that school instruction be given on an equal basis in German as well as English. In fact, that example provides us with a fairly concise definition of bilingual education, the use of two languages for instruction. But, almost a century later, as America was being pulled into World War I, foreign languages were seen as unpatriotic. Public pressure routed the German language from the curriculum, although nearly one in four high school students was studying the language at the time. Some states went even further. Committed to a rapid assimilation(同化)of new immigrants, and suspicious of much that was foreign, these states prohibited the teaching of any foreign language during the first eight years of schooling.
Despite the long history of bilingual education in this country, many school districts never really bought into the concept. In districts without bilingual education, students with a poor command of English had to sink or swim (or perhaps, more accurately, "speak or sink"). Students either learned to speak English as they sat in class—or they failed school, an approach sometimes referred to as language submersion. If submersion was not to their liking, they could choose to leave school. Many did.
Bilingual education had a rebirth in the 1960s, as the Civil rights movement brought new attention to the struggles of many Americans temporarily without citizenship, including non-English speakers trying to learn in a language they did not understand. And, unlike the 1800s, by the 1960s and 1970s education had become less an option and more a necessity, the access to economic success. To respond to this need, Congress passed the Bilingual Education Act in 1968. This act provided federal financial incentives, using what some people call "a carrot approach," to encourage schools to initiate bilingual education programs. Not all districts chased the carrot.
From the start, the Bilingual Education Act was fraught with problems. The act lacked concrete recommendations for implementation and did not specify standards. Individual school districts and, in some cases, even individual schools, experimented with different approaches. In too many cases, the act simply failed to serve the students it was meant to serve.
During the early 1970s, disappointed parents initiated lawsuits. In 1974, the Supreme Court heard the case of Lau v. Nichols. This class action lawsuit centered around Kinney Lau and 1,800 other Chinese students from the San Francisco area who were failing their courses because they could not understand English. The Court affirmed that federally funded schools must "correct the language deficiency" of these students. Teaching students in a language they did not understand was not an appropriate education. The Court’s decision in Lau v. Nichols prompted Congress to pass the Equal Educational Opportunities Act (EEOA). Under this law, school districts must take positive steps to provide equal education for language-minority students by eliminating language barriers.
Typically in the bilingual approach, limited English proficiency (LEP) students learn English as a second language while taking other academic subjects in their native language. The transitional approach begins by using the native language as a bridge to English-language instruction. Academic subjects are first taught using the native language, but progressively the students transition to English, to their new language. This is the most widely used approach. The maintenance, or developmental, approach emphasizes the importance of maintaining both languages. The goal is to create a truly bilingual student, one who acquires English while maintaining competence in the native language. Students are instructed in both languages. English as a Second Language (ESL) supplements either the maintenance or transitional programs by providing special ESL classes for additional instruction in reading and writing English.
As schools struggle to meet the needs of LEP students, bilingual education continues to spark political controversy. Approximately 3 million students speak hundreds of languages and dialects. Misunderstandings are multiplied when language barriers are accompanied by racial and ethnic differences, leading to even greater isolation and segregation for many LEP students. And, while some struggle to make bilingual education work, others believe that it never will:
Opponents of bilingual education point to studies showing that first-and second-generation Hispanic(西班牙和葡萄牙的)students who attended bilingual programs from the 1970s to the 1990s earned considerably less money than Hispanics who attended "English only" classes. Moreover, Hispanic students who dropped out of bilingual programs were less likely to return and complete high school than were Hispanics who attended English-only programs. LEP parents despair over their children’s lack of progress in learning English and graduating from school. The dropout rates for Hispanic students, the largest group of LEP students, hovers around 50 percent. Many parents of students in bilingual programs now oppose these programs, an ironic turnabout, since it was parent protests in the 1960s and 1970s that forced reluctant schools and the federal government to initiate bilingual education. In 1998, more than 60 percent of the voters in California, including a sizable minority of Hispanic voters, supported an initiative to replace most bilingual maintenance programs with a fast-track transition to English.
Bilingual education advocates argue that America is a country with diverse cultures and that diversity should be honored and nurtured. One problem, they point out, is that we simply do not have enough competent bilingual teachers who can respond to the large numbers of LEP children now in our schools.
Through the 1990s, the opponents of bilingual education gained ground as Congress sharply reduced funding for bilingual education. Moreover, a score of "English-only" bills made their way through various state legislatures and Congress. The future of bilingual education is still being defined.
More than two centuries ago, Ben Franklin expressed his fears about the multiple languages heard on America’s streets. His concerns have echoed through the centuries, despite a world in which national borders seem to be blurring or even disappearing. In today’s global community, Russians and Americans are working together in space, such international organizations as the United Nations and NATO are expanding their membership, and corporations are crossing national boundaries to create global mergers in an international marketplace. Moreover, technological break-throughs, such as the Internet, have made international communications not only possible but commonplace. However, for most Americans, these international conversations are feasible only if the other side speaks English. In this new international era, Americans find themselves locked in a monolingual society. How strange that, instead of viewing those who speak other languages as welcome assets to our nation, some seem eager to erase linguistic diversity.
Now, many Americans are not so willing to learn foreign languages.
选项
A、Y
B、N
C、NG
答案
A
解析
本题为推断题。相应信息在最后一段倒数第二、三句“However, for most Americans,…is a monolingual society”。这两句话的大意是:对大多数美国人来说,只有在对方讲英语的情况下,跨国交流才能得以实现;美国人发现自己被关在了一个语言单极社会中。从这句话可以推断出,现在许多美国人是不学外语的。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/XGk7777K
0
大学英语四级
相关试题推荐
TheUnitedStatesranksfirstamongWesterncountriesasfarasdivorcerateisconcerned.Bythelate20thcentury,Americans
Withinthe1980sandearly’90s,theearningsofwomenofalleconomiclevelsweregettinglessandlesscomparedwiththeirmal
Duringtelevision’sfirst20years,deafpeoplemissedmostofthefunbecausethey______."opencaptions"arecaptionsthat_
A、HebelievesMartinwasthewrongperson.B、Hewantstoknowwhoistellingthetruth.C、Hefindsthedecisionunbelievable.D、
MostAmericansusedtoworkforthemselvesratherthanforothers.Itisimportantthatyou’vebeentaughtskillsinexpressing
WhenIrefusedtomovemycar,he______________________(勃然大怒)andthreatenedtocallthepolice.
Formostofthe20thcentury,therehasbeenlifeonMars,or,atleastinthemindsoftheEarthlings,wholiveonitsclosest
Beforethe20thcenturythehorseprovideddaytodaytransportationintheUnitedStates.Trainswereusedonlyforlong-distan
Themodernageisanageofelectricity.Peopleareso【S1】______toelectriclights,radio,televisions,andtelephonesthatit
Themodernageisanageofelectricity.Peoplearesousedtoelectriclights,radios,televisions,andtelephonesthatitish
随机试题
下列行为人中,应认定为走私毒品罪共犯的是
患者女性。26岁,心悸,气短,下肢水肿三年,查体:心界向两侧扩大。心尖部有舒张期的隆瞻样杂音,胸骨左缘第3肋间有叹气样舒张期杂音,侍至心尖,肺动脉瓣区第二心音亢进、分裂,主动脉瓣区第二心音减弱,血压18.6/7.98kPa,应诊断为
A.有的年轻人和青少年有个别牙齿出现附着丧失,但其他方面不符合早发性牙周炎者称为B.有些患者对常规牙周治疗反应不佳,多数或个别牙仍持续发生牙槽骨吸收和附着丧失,甚至发生牙周脓肿。可诊断为C.如牙周破坏始终局限于切牙和第一磨牙,而年龄已超过25岁者,称
下列关于工作的总时差与自由时差的说法,错误的是()。
财政部门转让金融企业国有资产,应当报()批准。
在注册会计师应对舞弊导致的认定层次重大错报风险时,应当考虑的措施不包括()。
上级领导到你单位来调研你单位组织的“反四风,树新风”活动。并要召开座谈会,如果你是本次座谈会的主持人,请现场模拟一段开场白。
X.509数字证书格式中包含的元素有①证书版本、②证书序列号、③签名算法标识、④证书有效期、⑤证书发行商名字、⑥证书主体名、⑦主体公钥信息和⑧(62)。
在软件生产过程中,需求信息的来源是()。
Ourplane________offfromNewYorkat6:00yesterdayevening.
最新回复
(
0
)