astering English to the neglect of the native language.
In bilingual education, students are initially taught in their native languages. However, "as their English skills improve, more of their classes are taught in English" (Monagle, 1991, p. 13). The ultimate goal of bilingual education is to reach the point where the students are capable of communicating fluently in English while at the same time retaining their original native-language skills. This transition from nativelanguage ability to English ability generally takes between two and seven years, depending upon the pace of the individual student (Leslie, Glick & Gordon, 1991, p. 56). In contrast to bilingual education, the English-only approach proposes that native languages be dropped as soon as possible. This approach does not believe that a transition period of several years is necessary in order for foreign-language students to become capable in English. Because English is the official language of the United States, such educators believe that all of the schools of the nation should be English-only schools.
It may be noted that there is more than one type of method used by English-only educators. For example, some instructors prefer to teach English as a Second Language (ESL). In ESL classes, all of the different immigrant children are mixed together regardless of their language differences. ESL teachers are trained to be able to help children who are having difficulties in English. Thus, "ESL teachers give all instruction in English; their special training helps them work with kids who start out not knowing a single word" (Leslie, Glick & Gordon, 1991, p. 57). In contrast to bilingual education, the ESL approach forces non-English speaking students to immediately give up their native languages in favor of English. Another English-only approach to teaching foreign-language children is known as the "total immersion" method. With ESL, non-English speaking c...