In 2016, bilingual education was particularly one of the teaching methods that was exceedingly focused upon. In California, which owns one of the most linguistically diverse populations in the United States, voters said "yes" on Proposition 58 that overturned the state's requirement of allowing English Language Learners (ELLs) to receive English-only instructions.
According to a study from the Academy of Arts and Sciences, the lack of language education resulted in an extremely low percentage of people who could speak dual languages. In fact, only 20 percent of bilingual people were found despite the reports saying bilingualism has proven to improve a person's quality of life.
The slope of a student's achievements can actually be raised through dual-language assessment. The complexities of the native language can be tackled using the learning of a second language. Nelson Mandela can rightly be quoted in this situation.
Fordham University's Graduate School of Education associate professor Dr. Dianne Rodriguez told Fordham News that Mandela once said, "speaking in a language that someone understands gets the words into the person's head while speaking in the person's native language goes to the person's heart." Rodriguez further stressed the importance of bilingual education saying, "the demands of global trade and international connectivity make bilingualism an asset and a need."
Bilingual education can also be useful in the interaction between different people. Exposure to another language can help people directly immerse into different cultures and heritages and can get to know more about the people around the world.
Moreover, bilingual education can also promote the following aspects: metalinguistic awareness, cognition, social achievement and cross-cultural awareness and understanding. And all of this has now become a necessity for global trade and international connectivity, according to ASCD.
Making a law in the favor of bilingual education can only create an opportunity but the right policy decisions can really help in seizing the moment and broadening educational excellence. Strong literacy skills have now become a need of the world's population.
With that said, steps should be taken by authoritative people to improve the situation of the individuals and the country, using the phenomenal opportunity of bilingual education. How will such an experience help? According to The Education World, the answer can be found through the real life experience of a student.
