Dual-Language Immersion Programs: A Cautionary Note Concerning the Education of Language-Minority Students

Dual-language immersion programs have received a great deal of attention from parents, researchers, and policymakers. The supporters of dual-language immersion see the promise of providing first-language instruction for children with non-English-speaking backgrounds, while simultaneously offering monolingual children access to non-English languages. In this article, Guadalupe Valdés concentrates on the possible negative effects of the dual-language immersion movement. After reviewing the literature on the success and failure of Mexican-origin children, the author raises difficult questions surrounding the use of dual-language immersion in the education of language-minority students. Among the issues raised are the quality of instruction in the minority language, the effects of dual immersion on intergroup relations, and, ultimately, how dual-language immersion programs fit into the relationship between language and power and how that relationship may affect the children and society.