Language Status of Preschool Mexican-American Children—Is There a Case against Early Bilingual Education?
- 1 February 1974
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Perceptual and Motor Skills
- Vol. 38 (1) , 227-230
- https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.1974.38.1.227
Abstract
When 253 children from a predominantly Mexican-American community were examined for language competence in both English and Spanish upon entering preschool programs, a significant percentage proved markedly deficient in both languages. Further, less than a fifth were fluent in Spanish only. Nevertheless, such children were able to progress in English-language preschool programs. This suggests that an arbitrary placement of young children in bilingual programs without adequate prior assessment to detect actual language needs and competencies may be less productive than immediate English instruction.Keywords
This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: