While there are bilingual programs which have been shown to be effective, it seems the necessity and practicality of such programs may be up for debate. English Language Learners, speaking more than 400 different languages, represent one of the fastest growing groups among the school-age population (Moughamian, et al. p. 1). Finding effective bilingual educators to provide instruction in each language represented at a given school may not only prove difficult but also impractical for schools where there is a small population of a given language.
One researcher, Christine Rossell, at the University of Boston, calls into question whether or not bilingual programs are in fact bilingual. "Many programs throughout the United States identified as "bilingual education" can be more accurately described as sheltered English immersion because they are actually taught completely or almost completely in English" (Rossell). Rossell goes on to say that after observing numerous Russian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Khmer, Haitian, Cape Verdean, Spanish, Japanese, Hebrew, and Portuguese "bilingual" classrooms she "concluded that schools almost never offer bilingual education that fits the theoretical model, in which students learn to read and write initially as well as learn subject matter in their native language" (Rossell). Several explanations were provided for why English was the primary mode of instruction in "bilingual education" classrooms. One such reason is that the students native language is so different that skills needed for reading and writing in say, Chinese, are not readily transferable to English (Rossell). Another explanation for bilingual programs not providing bilingual instruction is that students speak many dialects, in which case English is the only language shared by all learners (Rossell). In light if these findings, it seems that many "bilingual" education programs being offered may more accurately be described as Sheltered English Immersion where English is the primary mode of instruction and the student's native language is used as a means of support or clarification. That these programs are effective may not be a testament to the language of instruction in so much as the strategies utilized by these teachers to scaffold instruction to meet the unique and diverse need of English language learners. In sum, the use of research based effective strategies in teaching English Language Learners may be more important than the language used during instruction.