Transitional Bilingual Education

Definition

An educational approach in the United States for students with limited English proficiency in which the students are instructed in their primary language for a limited time until they have reached sufficient proficiency in English and are then transitioned to English-only instruction.

Description

Transitional bilingual education programs are referred to as early-exit programs if students receive bilingual instruction (i.e., at least some instruction in primary language in addition to instruction in English) for 2 years or less and late-exit if students receive bilingual instruction for most or all of their elementary school years (typically around 40% of instruction in primary language until sixth grade) [1]. Language proficiency and academic achievement in English is the central long-term goal of such programs. Longitudinal research has demonstrated that late-exit bilingual education programs are associated with faster growth rates in academic achievement and similar...