Transitional vs. Maintenance Bilingual Education: A Comparative Analysis of Academic, Social, and Identity Outcomes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65405/f44vxw74الكلمات المفتاحية:
bilingual education, transitional, maintenance, CALP, linguistic minority, identity, academic achievementالملخص
The provision of bilingual education for linguistic minority students remains a contested domain within educational policy and applied linguistics. This comparative review examines two divergent programmatic models: Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE), conceptualized as a subtractive or "weak" form, and Maintenance Bilingual Education (MBE), conceptualized as an additive or "strong" form. Grounded in the theoretical frameworks of Cummins (1979), Baker (2001), and Garcia (2009), this paper synthesizes empirical and theoretical literature to evaluate both models across three domains: academic attainment, social integration, and identity formation. Two illustrative case studies are analyzed: Esperanza Middle School, California, representing TBE implementation, and King Fahd Academy, London, representing MBE implementation. The analysis indicates that the constrained duration of TBE, typically 2-3 years, is insufficient for the development of Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP), and is associated with attenuated academic outcomes and adverse psychosocial effects (Spener, 1988). Conversely, MBE, characterized by a minimum 6-year instructional trajectory, demonstrates correlations with enhanced academic achievement, biliteracy, and positive ethnolinguistic identity (Baker, 2001). It is contended that MBE constitutes a more pedagogically and socially efficacious model. Implications for language policy and teacher education are discussed.
التنزيلات
المراجع
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