Transitional Bilingual Education and the Socialization of Immigrants
- 1 July 1988
- journal article
- Published by Harvard Education Publishing Group in Harvard Educational Review
- Vol. 58 (2) , 133-154
- https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.58.2.x7543241r7w14446
Abstract
David Spener argues that U.S. educational policies reflect an implicit economic need to socialize immigrants and minority group members to fill necessary, but undesirable, low-status jobs. Transitional bilingual education programs, which provide only a limited period of native-language instruction and do not ensure English mastery, prevent immigrant children from attaining academic fluency in either their native language or in English. The subsequent discrepancy between the learning capacities of immigrant children and their monolingual peers reinforces stereotypes of immigrants and some linguistic minorities, and serves to socially legitimize their economically required limited access to better jobs.Keywords
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