The Linguistic Minority Parents’ Perceptions of Bilingual Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to examine the linguistic minority parents’ perceptions of bilingual education and (b) to investigate their views on bilingual education. This study was motivated by the re-emerging controversy surrounding the issue of whether or not public schools should continue to provide bilingual education programs for linguistic minority students. It was hypothesized that most parents of linguistic minority students did not fully understand the objectives and goals of bilingual education. It was also hypothesized that irrespective of their understanding level, most linguistic minority parents supported bilingual education as long as it provided their children the opportunities to develop English skills while providing them equal access to the core curriculum. Based on a sample of 290 adult subjects, all of whom were of Latino background, the study found that the majority did not know the different models or programs of bilingual education. Nevertheless, three out of four parents (76%) thought that the use of two languages—students’ home/primary language and English— facilitated their children’s development of English. Interestingly, if provided the option to enroll their children in mainstream classes, two-thirds (67%) responded that they would prefer that their children be placed in English-only classes.