Researching the Linguistic Outcomes of Bilingual Programs.

Abstract

The growing interest in the linguistic outcomes of bilingual education programs is en couraging. The large number of bilingual and multilingual programs currently in existence in North America warrants the focus on linguistic benefits and possible negative consequences. Since the inception of federal funding in the late 1960s, it is apparent that there have been major changes in the type of linguistic investigations being undertaken. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on several types of linguistic analyses that I have conducted since 1970 and to view these studies in light of the approaches used in the 1980s. Perhaps this exercise will suggest directions for future linguistic research on bilingual education. The three studies that I will draw on include: (1) a pretest-posttest analysis of the spoken Spanish and English of Mexican-American bilingual children from the Redwood City Bi lingual Program and from a comparison group (Cohen 1975c), (2) an assessment of Spanish grammar among Culver City Spanish Immersion pupils (Cohen 1976), and (3) research on the effect of summer recess on Spanish language retention among English speakers from the Culver City Spanish Immersion Program (Cohen 1974; Cohen 1975a).

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