The Growth of Multilingualism and the Need for Bilingual Education: What Do We Know So Far?

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Abstract
More and more people in the United States speak languages other than English at home. Many are languages previously almost unknown in this country. The changes reflect the extent and character of recent immigration. They also reflect the natural growth of linguistic minority populations. While the number of monolingual English speakers increased by 6 percent in the 1980s, the number of home speakers of languages other than English (HSNELS) increased by 38 percent. The numbers of speakers of some of the Asian languages spoken by recent immigrants more than doubled. However, despite immigration, the majority of HSNELS are native born and natural growth is increasing the numbers of school-age HSNELS disproportionately in comparison with the numbers of school-age majority children. The increase in multilingualism among native-born as well as foreign-born people and the natural growth of minority populations, are only two of the indicators that language-related needs are here to stay. The number of people needing special help remains to be ascertained. Meanwhile, we, as advocates for linguistic minorities, have a special obligation in inform ourselves and others on the meaning, limitations, and implications of the information now available.

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