Washington state law requires that districts “make available to each eligible student a transitional bilingual instructional program” (as defined in WAC 392-160-005, 2015), which:
“(a) uses two languages, one of which is English, as a means of instruction to build upon and expand language skills to enable a student to achieve competency in English, (b) Teaches concepts and knowledge in the primary language of a student, while the student also acquires English language skills, and (c) tests students in the subject matter in English.”
There is still a lot of variance in the ways in which people refer to dual language programs. The terms English Language Learning (ELL) and Dual Language are often conflated, though the two programs serve students differently and require different types of endorsements and skill levels of the teacher workforce.
Though OSPI aims to make Dual Language education available to every student in Washington, Sheltered Instruction is still the most utilized EL program method. The main goal of Sheltered English instruction is to teach content first, and English second – teachers modify the required basic education curriculum to accommodate EL students, and the primary instruction is in English. Sheltered English instructors are certified in EL instruction, but do not have to hold a bilingual endorsement or be fluent in the student’s primary language (Shepherd, 2015).
This is an important distinction between ELL endorsed workforce and the bilingual endorsed workforce – ELL endorsed teachers teaching in an EL format instruct only in English. Because dual language program instruction requires teachers to instruct in two languages, EL teachers are not necessarily capable of meeting the needs of students in a dual language classroom.
The first, One-Way Development Bilingual Ed, pulls the student out of the regular student body to focus on English development. In this model, students are placed into classes based on their language, and receive 50/50 instruction – 50% in their native language and 50% in English. The teacher slowly phases out the student’s native language, eventually only teaching English.
In a Two-Way Immersion Bilingual class, native English-speakers and non-native English speakers learn in the same classroom. In this model, the teacher speaks two primary languages that best represent the student population, English and a second language, but students learn curriculum equally in both languages (2011). To be successful in these programs, the instructors must be biliterate – fluent in both the language and culture of both languages.
In a 90/10 model the amount of the target language decreases yearly as English increases until there is a 50/50 balance of the languages generally in grades four through six. In the 50/50 model teachers instruct in English and a student's target language for 50 percent of the day throughout the duration of the program.
50/50 programming often involves co-teaching - two instructors that have strong language skills in each language teach curriculum together.
In Two-Way Immersion Bilingual / Dual Language instruction, non-native English speakers are encouraged to deepen their skills and understanding of their native language and culture, both through academic scholarship and in sharing knowledge with their peers (Nietu, 2011, OSPI, 2017).
Two-Way Immersion Dual Language curriculum also acknowledges that many non-English speaking students are already fluent in more than one language, and allow students still learning English to test in their strongest language to accurately assess their academic ability (OSPI, 2016).
The Two-Way Immersion Bilingual model emphasizes the concept of equity—the principal of fairness and equal academic opportunity in the classroom (PESB, 2018). In Two-Way Immersion, the entire classroom is building new skills together.
Dual language programs serve the entire student population. The model encourages non-native English speakers to learn English and transition into a primarily English-speaking society while deepening their existing language skills, and it empowers English speaking students to gain fluency and a cultural foundation in a second language, while gaining a better structural understanding of their own language. For this reason, OSPI is pushing for two-way immersion as the ideal state model of dual language education.