Academic Achievement of Recent Immigrants from Mexico

Abstract

The academic achievement of recent immigrants from Mexico is a problem which has not been adequately studied and which may have important implications for bilingual education. Previous research seems to indicate that recent immigrants outperform native-born Mexican Americans. This study, however, presents evidence from research conducted at the junior high school level which contradicts previous findings concerning the relative superiority of recent Mexican immigrants. It was found that recent immigrants in the present sample attained significantly lower levels of academic achievement than native-born Mexican Americans. The problem of the relative achievement levels of these two groups is discussed in the context of three possible explanations: (a) socioeconomic differences, (b) the teacher expectancy effect, and (c) the native language theory. It is concluded that limited instruction in the home language of the child during the early primary years, followed by an abrupt shift to instruction in a second language, may not eliminate educational retardation. The full benefits of the native language approach may only be attained after prolonged instruction in the home language throughout the primary years.

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