From Bilingualism to Interlinguistics: The Case Against the Deficit Model of Language Acquisition

Abstract

Abstract: The article argues against an ahistorical deficit model of Spanish/English bilingualism in educational practice based on interlinguistic research. The bidirectional facilitative effects of Hispanic bilingualism allow Spanish-speaking minorities to exploit their language background while learning academic English and integrating their language and culture into the American mainstream. Recent unprecedented demographic events in the United States have caught both native and immigrant residents woefully unprepared to meet the challenge of educating and mainstreaming newcomers in the most efficient and painless manner. The American classroom is now a stage in which teacher and student find themselves facing each other having to overcome cultural and linguistic barriers. By 1998, over a third of the nation’s public school students were of color (Valdes, 2001). Unlike past decades, linguistic minority groups have decided to break with traditional assimilationist patterns and retain as much of their cultural heritage as possible. How this was to be accomplished, especially through the educational system, is a question that has spurred much debate.

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