5.1 Monolingual education for language minority students leads to relative monolingualism
When language minority students are schooled solely in the language of a majority society, there is minority language loss. Unless the language minority community has other institutional or societal support for the maintenance and development of the minority language, children often become monolingual speakers of the majority language, either entirely so or relatively so, depending on societal and family circumstances.
Submersion
Popularly known as "sink or swim," this educational setting is simply mainstream education with no planning for the inclusion of students who do not speak the majority language. Linguistic differences are not overtly recognized in the curriculum. Language minority students are simply put into classes where instruction, materials, and assessment are solely in the majority language. Most language minority students fail to learn in these settings, although most become monolingual in the majority language in the process. This is the most common educational program for language minority students in societies that do not recognize their linguistic diversity.
Submersion + withdrawal second language classes
This type of program is the easiest to plan and requires the least resources, and thus may be the most popular in the world today. Language minority students attend mainstream classes where no provisions are made for them. In that sense, they are in submersion education in the majority language for all content. However, they are "withdrawn" or "pulled out" for second language instruction with a language teacher. The purpose of this type of program is then to facilitate the acquisition of the majority language, with little consideration paid to the education of the language minority student. As soon as students become bilingual, withdrawal for language instruction ceases.
Structured immersion
In this type of program, popular recently in the United States, language minority students are "immersed" in instruction which uses solely the majority language (Hornberger, 1991). Structured immersion differs from the submersion programs described above in that there has been educational planning. Instruction is solely for language minority students who are learning the majority language, with material in the majority language which has been designed for language learners, with a teacher who uses only the majority language. The purpose of the program is to accelerate the acquisition of the majority language, with little consideration as to the quality of the education students receive. As soon as children become bilingual they are transferred to mainstream monolingual classes. This further accelerates the shift to the majority language. In the United States, these programs are also known as "sheltered English."
Segregationist
Planned by a language majority which wants to exclude a language minority, this type of program uses solely the minority language in the education of the minority. This type of monolingual education aims to keep the language minority separate and excluded from participation in society. For example, South Africa under apartheid had a segregationist educational system for all Bantu speakers with instructions solely in their native language (SkutnabbKangas, 1981).
5.2 Weak bilingual education leads to relative monolingualism or limited bilingualism
When schools do not devote enough time and effort within their bilingual curriculum to the development of the nondominant language in the society, the student, at best, will have limited bilingual ability. This is the case not only for language majority students when the second language does not occupy an important place in the curriculum, but also for language minority students when instruction in the mother tongue ceases once the student has become proficient in the majority language.
Transitional
This type of educational program is most popular in the United States for the education of language minorities when some positive action has been taken. It requires planning and resources. Initially, the students' minority language is used, with the majority language being taught as a second language, most often by the same bilingual teacher. Progressively, both languages are used in instruction, with little compartmentalization between them. Eventually, students are transferred out of the bilingual classroom to a monolingual one. The transition from bilingualism in instruction when the student is monolingual to monolingual instruction when the student is bilingual is planned in order to accelerate the shift to the majority language (García, 1993).
Mainstream + withdrawal foreign/second language classes
This type of educational program is the most popular in order to teach a foreign or second language to students who speak a majority language. Students are in mainstream classes for all subjects and in addition are "pulled out" or "withdrawn" for foreign/second language instruction with a language teacher. This program also requires planning, although the degree of bilingualism attained by the students is often related to the importance granted to bilingualism in society. The length of study and curricular time devoted to the language, as well as the teaching strategies used, have linguistic consequences, with different programs producing students who have more or less bilingual ability.
Mainstream + supplementary foreign/second language classes
This type of education is popular among parents who want their children to become fluent in a second language not taught in the educational system. Students attend school in the majority language, but in addition go to supplementary classes or schools on weekends or after school where the foreign or second language is taught. For example, all over the world there are supplementary private English schools where students receive supplementary instruction in English. There are also schools which offer languages as an enrichment activity after school hours. Parents often pay additional tuition fees to send their children to these language lessons. As with the type above, differing results are produced, depending mostly on the parental and school commitment to bilingualism.
5.3 Strong bilingual education leads to relative bilingualism and biliteracy
When schools and communities spend considerable effort and resources to develop bilingualism, the students will have a greater possibility of becoming bilingual and biliterate. These strong forms of bilingual education involve considerable sacrifice on the part of parents and societies committed to bilingualism, with some degree of risk and hard, persistent work.
Separatist with withdrawal second language classes
The types of educational programs discussed thus far are usually organized by the majority. Separatist programs, however, are organized by the language minority itself when it has the power to do so. Instruction is through the medium of the minority language only, although the majority language is often taught as a subject in withdrawal classes. The purpose of this type of education is to prepare the language minority to pursue political autonomy. As an open educational alternative, this type of program is rare. A past example may be the ikastolas in the Spanish Basque region during the Franco regime. These underground Basque language schools were founded to promote Basque linguistic, cultural, and national identity.
Two-way/dual language
More popular as a means to achieve bilingualism, biliteracy, and biculturism through public funds are two-way programs, recently also called, in the United States, dual-language programs or two-way bilingual/immersion programs. These programs include both the majority and the minority, as both move toward bilingualism. Instruction most often involves linguistically heterogeneous groups. Both languages are used in instruction with compartmentalization, of ten having to do with time of day, and sometimes with a different teacher. The educational program is extended throughout the students' education. These programs have mixed results, often enabling language minority students to maintain and develop their ethnic language and thus become bilingual and biliterate, but not always being equally successful with language majority students.
Mainstream + supplementary heritage language classes
Often language minorities send their children to mainstream schools that function in the majority language, and also send their children to supplementary schools for heritage language classes. These classes are often after school or on weekends. Heritage language classes teach not only the ethnic or heritage language, but also the history and culture of the ethnolinguistic group. In some cases, most notably in Canada, heritage language classes are supported by the majority society. Most often, however, they are organized by the ethnolinguistic minority, and therefore require that the group be highly organized and have appropriate economic and educational resources. In the United States, for example, there are many supplementary ethnic language schools. Again. levels of bilingualism and biliteracy obtained through this type of education generally depend on family commitment. It is possible, however, to obtain high levels of bilingualism and biliteracy with this type of education, as long as the family and the immediate society provide the contextual support for the development of the ethnic language.
Maintenance
This type of educational program uses both a minority and a majority language throughout the education of the language minority. Both languages are compartmentalized, most often by using different teachers for instruction that takes place in different languages. Its aim is to promote the maintenance and development of the minority language and the increased knowledge of the minority history and culture, as well as the full development of the majority language and knowledge of its history and culture. Maintenance programs thus provide the enrichment that language minorities need and the pluralistic perspective needed by the majority society. Canada supports maintenance programs for language minorities under the name of heritage language bilingual education (Cummins, 1992). In the United States there are few maintenance educational programs supported through public funds, although private ethnic schools with maintenance goals abound (Garcia, 1988; Fishman, 1988). Again, however, these schools most often require that the ethnolinguistic group be self-sufficient and economically viable. High levels of bilingualism and biliteracy are usually obtained.
Immersion
These programs have been designed for language majority students or speakers of high-status languages who wish to become bilingual. Initially, instruction is solely through the medium of the minority language with a bilingual teacher. Progressively, the majority language is also used in instruction. Instruction through the medium of both languages continues throughout the students' education. This type of program was originally designed and implemented in the French-speaking province of Québec, Canada, for Anglophone students who also wanted to become fluent in French. The program has been highly successful and has spread beyond the Canadian context. Lately, immersion programs for language majority children have extended to other societal contexts. For example, Catalonia and the Basque region of Spain have developed extensive immersion programs in Catalan and Basque (Artigal, 1991). Language majority students achieve high levels of bilingualism and biliteracy in these programs.
Mainstream bilingual
This type of program uses two languages throughout the students' education. It differs from maintenance programs in that all languages are here considered majority languages. and all students are of the majority. This is the case, for example of Dwibahasa in Brunei, the educational system introduced in 1984 which requires instruction for all Malay-speaking children in both Malay and English Jones, Martin, and Ozóg, 1993). The bilingualism and biliteracy of the entire population is guaranteed. This is also the case of trilingual education in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Baetens-Beardsmore, Lebrun, 1991).
Two/multi-way mainstream bi/multilingual
This type of program also uses more than two languages throughout the students' education. There are students from different ethnolinguistic backgrounds, but all are considered majority students and all languages are granted equal value in the curriculum. The European Schools (Baetens-Beardsmore, 1993) are the best examples of this type. Initially, all students in the European Schools are instructed through their mother tongue while receiving instruction in a second language. Instructional groups are also linguistically homogeneous in the beginning. Progressively, instruction is through both languages and groups are mixed. The aim of this education is dearly to have multilingual/multiliterate citizens. It differs from two-way dual language programs in that the languages involved are more equally valued and in that initial instruction is in linguistically homogeneous groups.