Learning by the Discovery and Verbal Reception Methods in Bilingual and Unilingual Children

Abstract

This study compared the effectiveness of the discovery and verbal reception teaching methods as a function of instructional language in unilingual and bilingual subjects. Unilingual subjects were taught in English while bilingual subjects were taught in either their primary language, Spanish, or their secondary language, English. The results indicated that regardless of language or method of instruction, bilingual subjects took longer to acquire the conceptual rule than unilingual subjects. The retention and transfer performance of unilingual and bilingual subjects taught in their primary language was best when the verbal reception method was used. When taught in their secondary language, however, the retention of bilingual subjects was better following the discovery method.