Overgeneralization in Bilingual Education and the Dual Language Classroom

Education of English Language Learner (ELL) students in the United States focuses significantly on the Spanish-speaking population. The bulk of training materials and resources place English and Spanish together in the dual language classroom. Though this is highly appropriate for the majority of students, the following will explain why this standard overgeneralizes the approach to bilingual education leading to misperceptions and a lack of support for non-Spanish-speaking ELL students. These issues should be addressed proactively and at the administrative level. Similarly, the idea of multiculturalism within the Spanish-speaking community and the importance of recognizing indigenous languages will be explored. Particular emphasis will be given to assumptions made concerning ethnic background, cultural overlap, and family literacy. This review will consider not only the pedagogical implications of the current dual language rhetoric, but also its sociocultural ramifications. While examples will mainly come from United States sources, the notions in this essay can be readily applied to other bilingual and dual language education settings.