The impact of the introduction of bilingual learning on sixth grade educational achievement levels.

María-Carmen García-Centeno,Nuria Rueda-López,Laura de Pablos Escobar,Carmen Calderón Patier,Emmanuel Manalo

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0234699

Abstract

Bilingualism was implemented in the Community of Madrid (Spain) more than ten years ago, through the incorporation of the English language in the teaching methods of certain schools. Since that time, various research projects have been carried out, with the objective of comparing the academic performance of students in bilingual schools with those in non-bilingual schools. The present paper makes use of primary education data from the Department of Education and Research for the Community of Madrid in an effort to analyze whether or not bilingualism results in the relative improvement of educational outcomes achieved in primary schools in the Region of Madrid, in Spain. More specifically, the data used is from sixth grade classrooms, given that, generally speaking, in this grade all schools give a standardized test which measures academic performance in Math, Science and Technology, Spanish Language Arts and English Language Arts. Our assessment makes use of a multinomial logit model, and includes the most common variables found in the research on the determination of educational outcomes (variables related to whether or not schools are bilingual, which is the main focus of this paper), as well as other less common variables considered to be relevant. These include absenteeism, satisfaction levels among families and students, and the percentage of students in second chance programs. The results show that bilingualism does not lower children performance in the subjects taught in English or in the subjects taught in Spanish. Academic performance in Mathematics, Science and Technology, and Spanish Language Arts is similar with respect to those schools which are not bilingual. However, results in English are significantly higher in bilingual schools when compared to non-bilingual schools.

Highlights

In recent decades, the application of bilingualism in various educational systems has become more common in many European countries, and most especially in Spain
The method has been implemented through a program known as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), whose main objective is the simultaneous learning of a foreign language, along with the curriculum for each grade level
The objective of our research is to explore the factors that influence the probability of general improvement in academic outcomes and the learning of a foreign language in primary school, in those schools which are included in the CLIL program in the Region of Madrid

Summary

Introduction

The application of bilingualism in various educational systems has become more common in many European countries, and most especially in Spain. There are significant differences when it comes to how the program is implemented, depending on the social and educational context of the various participating countries [1]. In keeping with European trends, Spain incorporated CLIL into its educational system a couple of decades ago, differing versions of the program can be found depending on the Spanish region, given that education is a de-centralized jurisdiction. There are peculiarities resulting from the fact that there are regions in Spain with two official languages. These include Catalonia, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Galicia and the Basque Country [2]. Regions with a single official language include Andalusia, Madrid and Extremadura, among others [3]

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