Erina Iwasaki
University of Notre Dame, USA; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8574-0125
Carol Benson
MLE International, USA; https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3075-0745
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36534/erlj.2024.02.07
Bibliographic citation: (ISSN 2657-9774) Educational Role of Language Journal. Volume 2024-2(12). BELIEFS IN LINGUISTIC EDUCATION, pp. 63-67.
The purpose of this paper is to highlight how the concepts of transfer and transition differently influence the way language-in-education policies are developed and enacted. We are particularly concerned with multilingual countries and contexts of the Global South, but we would argue that the language-in-education policy implications are similar around the world.
Transitional bilingual education was an approach developed in the 1970s and 80s in global North contexts, mainly Canada and the U.S., in the context of immigration and second language learning (Ramirez et al., 1991; Nieto, 2009). It was seen as preferable to all-L2 approaches because it began with L1 literacy and promoted transfer of skills to the L2, but it involved an eventual switch or transition of the language of instruction from L1 to L2. In recent years, it has been established that transitional bilingual education models do not completely “close the gap” in that they do not fully support learners who are speakers of non-dominant languages in reaching their literacy and language learning potential – rather it is additive dual language programs that hold an advantage (Collier & Thomas, 2017: 206).
Unfortunately,…
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