Who Chooses Dual-Language Education? The Role of Perceptions of Bilingualism and Caregiver Background in a Rural School District

• In Event: 2-094 - Social Language Ecology in Dual Language Learners in the U.S.

Integrative Statement

Close to one third of school-aged children in the U.S. hear a non-English language at home, and Spanish is the primary language in approximately two thirds of these households (Child Trends, 2014). These demographic characteristics are particularly visible in newer immigrant destinations in the Southeast that have seen their English-learner population grow by as much as 200% in recent decades (U.S. Department of Education, 2011), posing a challenge to school districts unaccustomed to serving this population. Some districts have responded by opening dual-language (DL) programs that use English and a partner language (often Spanish) for instruction, with the goal of bilingualism and biliteracy for students from both minority and majority language backgrounds. Such programs often depend on attracting equal numbers of English- and Spanish-speaking families in order to fulfill their program model (Howard et al., 2018).

Research on DL programs tends to find positive attitudes towards bilingualism among parents of enrolled students, though the specific reasons often differ based on parent language background (Craig, 1996; Lindholm-Leary, 2001; Parkes & Ruth, 2011). However, few studies have included caregivers who did not choose to enroll their child in a DL program in order to better understand how caregiver background and beliefs feature in education decisions. The current study asks whether caregiver background (particularly language experience) predicts applying for a dual language program, and if parents’ perceptions of the value of bilingualism for their child add predictive power. We predicted that parents from Spanish-language backgrounds would be more likely to apply to the program than those from English-language backgrounds, and that positive perceptions of bilingualism would explain additional variation within each group.

A parent survey was distributed to all 940 2nd-5th graders in a rural agricultural school district in the southeastern US. In addition to questions about parent and child language background, the survey included the Perceptions of Bilingualism scale (PoB+, developed by the first author) and questions about the local DL program. Of the 592 surveys returned (98 in Spanish), one survey per family (the oldest child) with complete data on key variables was retained for this analysis (n = 424). Logistic regression was used to model the probability of applying for the DL program as a function of caregiver language background and PoB+ score, controlling for caregiver education and the child’s IEP status.

We found that caregivers who spoke only English had a 7% probability of applying for the DL program, compared to 31% for caregivers who spoke at least some Spanish, holding all else constant (b= -1.74,S.E.= .33,p<.001, see Study 1 Table 1). As illustrated in Study 1 Figure 1, caregivers who scored higher on the PoB+ were significantly more likely to apply (b= 0.99,S.E.= .21,p<.001), highlighting the importance of perceptions of the value of bilingualism among parents from both language backgrounds. As to reasons for not applying, while some worried their child would be confused by instruction in two languages, the most frequent reason given was lack of awareness of the program (38% of English monolinguals and 19% of those that spoke at least some Spanish.)

Authors

• Sarah Surrain, Harvard Graduate School of Education
  Presenting Author

• Alena G Esposito, Clark University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Gigi Luk, McGill University
  Non-Presenting Author