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##  Impact of Two-Way Immersion on Students' Attitudes toward School and            College. ERIC Digest.                                                        

One program model that has shown positive outcomes for Hispanic                 students is two-way immersion (Lindholm-Leary, 2001), also known as             two-way bilingual or dual language education. Two-way programs                  integrate native English speakers and English language learners in              the same classroom and provide content instruction in both English              and the native language of the English language learners. These                 programs aim to provide high quality educational experiences for all            students and promote higher levels of academic achievement. 
This              digest reports on a study that examined the impact of participation             in a two-way immersion program on the language and achievement                  outcomes of former program participants and on their current                    schooling path and college plans. The study explored outcomes for               three groups of students: 1) Hispanic students who began the two-way            program as English language learners; 2) Hispanic students who began            the program as English-only or English-dominant speakers; and 3)                European American students who entered the program as monolingual               speakers of English. METHOD"Subjects." A total of 142 high                school students who were enrolled in two-way immersion programs when            they were in elementary school participated in the study. All                   students were bilingual at the time of the study but were classified            according to whether they had started kindergarten as a native                  English speaker or a native Spanish speaker/English learner. This is            the breakdown of students for this sample: 66% were Hispanic                    students with Spanish as their native language (Hispanic Spanish                speakers); 20% were Hispanic students with English as their native              or dominant language (Hispanic English speakers); and 13% were                  non-Hispanic students with English as their native                              language (European American English speakers). 
"Student                       characteristics." Students in these three groups differed                       considerably with respect to their mothers' educational background              and their participation in the free lunch program. Significantly                higher levels of education were represented among the mothers of                European American students, followed by the mothers of Hispanic                 English speakers. The lowest levels of education were found among               the mothers of Hispanic Spanish speakers. Significantly more                    Hispanic Spanish speakers had participated in the free lunch program            while they were in elementary school than had Hispanic English                  speakers or European American students. 
"Comparison group". A                 small sample (17 students) was selected as a comparison group for               the Hispanic Spanish speakers. This comparison group was composed of            Hispanic students who had entered kindergarten speaking Spanish but             did not participate in a two-way program. Their socioeconomic                   background was very similar to that of the Hispanic Spanish speakers            in the study who had participated in a two-way program during                   elementary school. 
"Instrumentation." Two-way students and                    comparison students completed a questionnaire concerning identity               and motivation, attitudes toward school, current schooling path and             college ambitions, attitudes toward bilingualism and the two-way                immersion program, parental involvement, and school environment.                Students in the comparison group did not respond to the section of              the questionnaire that inquired about attitudes toward bilingualism             and the two-way program. Students rated the items on a five-point               Likert scale, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly                        agree. RESULTSResults of the study revealed very few                      differences among the three groups of former two-way students. Most             of the students reported fairly high academic competence and                    motivation to do well in school. They value education strongly and              believe that getting a good education is the best way to have a                 better life. They also understand that it is important to get good              grades to get into college. In fact, most of the students agreed or             strongly agreed that they want a college degree, but more Hispanic              students, both English- and Spanish-speaking (93% of each group),               feel that way than European American students (75%). Thus, the                  students have very positive attitudes with respect to their own                 academic competence and their future enrollment in                              college. 
"College preparation." Two-way students reported engaging            in activities or behaviors that are conducive to doing well in                  college: taking part in classroom discussions, going back over work             they do not understand, taking time to figure out school work, and              doing homework on time. In addition, most two-way students know the             entrance requirements for various colleges and have attended college            presentations at their high schools. 
"Mathematics enrollment."                Only six two-way students are enrolled in basic math classes; the               others are taking higher-level math, such as geometry, algebra,                 trigonometry, and calculus, which will help them prepare for college            and get into more prestigious schools. However, more European                   American than Hispanic students are taking higher level math.                   Interestingly, Hispanic Spanish speakers are more likely to be                  enrolled in higher level math courses than their                                native-English-speaking Hispanic peers. These results are in stark              contrast to a number of studies demonstrating substantial                       differences in mathematics course taking among different groups,                with Hispanic immigrant students typically enrolled in lower-level              and basic math courses (see, e.g., Darling-Hammond,                             1995). 
"Grades." Hispanic Spanish speakers reported the poorest               grades (most Bs/Cs/Ds), and European American students reported the             highest (mostly As or As/Bs), especially in language arts and social            studies. However, a much higher percentage of Hispanic Spanish                  speakers than Hispanic English speakers earn As and Bs in language              arts and social studies courses, content areas that would typically             be expected to favor a native English speaker over an English                   learner. Although Hispanic Spanish speakers receive fewer As and                As/Bs in math and science than Hispanic English speakers, they are              taking higher level math courses. 
"Dropout." In the United States,            the school dropout rate for Hispanic students, especially Spanish               speakers, is higher than for any other ethnic group (President's                Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic                      Americans, 1996). Most of the two-way students agree that they will             not drop out of school. Of those who have at least considered                   dropping out, most say they will stay in school because they need an            education. Only a very small percentage of European American                    students, but one third of Hispanic English speakers and almost one             half of Hispanic Spanish speakers, feel that their participation in             the two-way program has kept them from dropping out of                          school. 
"Attitudes toward the two-way program." All of the                    students' attitudes toward the two-way program are very positive.               Most believe that learning through two languages made them smarter              and helped them do better in school. Hispanic students in particular            felt valued in the program, were glad they participated in it, and              would recommend it to other students. Although most students were in            agreement, Hispanic students agreed more strongly than European                 American students that the two-way program challenged them to do                better in school, gave them more confidence, and gave them a better             education. 
"Attitudes toward bilingualism." Almost all students               felt that being bilingual would help them get a better job. However,            students differed in how they rated their use of and proficiency in             Spanish. Overall, students reported using Spanish at least weekly.              Hispanics were more likely to use it on a daily basis. While one                might assume that native Spanish speakers would continue to use more            Spanish at home and with their friends, survey results revealed                 otherwise. Only one fifth of Hispanic Spanish speakers use only                 Spanish at home, and many use only or mostly English. Similarly, few            Hispanic Spanish speakers use only Spanish with their friends; most             use both languages, although English dominates. While one fourth of             students feel very uncomfortable speaking Spanish in public, most               students report feeling comfortable. Twice as many Hispanics as                 European American students feel very comfortable. 
Most students               rated their Spanish proficiency in a medium range; Hispanic Spanish             speakers were slightly more likely to rate themselves in the higher             range of proficiency. Most students felt that they were fluent in               classroom discourse, although Hispanic Spanish speakers perceived               their fluency with peers to be much higher than their fluency in the            classroom. European American students were much more likely than                Hispanic students to be complimented as well as praised by a teacher            or administrator for speaking Spanish. 
"School environment." Most             students rated their school and classroom environments as conducive             to learning: they feel safe; discipline is fair; there are few                  fights among different ethnic groups; there is little gang activity;            they do not feel discriminated against; they perceive that there are            teachers who will help them if they need it; and they believe that              teachers generally think they are smart. BENEFITS OF TWO-WAY                  PROGRAM FOR HISPANIC SPANISH SPEAKERSMost of the differences                between the two-way students and the comparison students were not               statistically significant. Each finding in and of itself could lead             to the conclusion that a two-way program is no more advantageous for            Hispanic English language learners than any other program. Examining            the findings as a whole, however, there are a number of results that            favor the two-way students. For example, it is particularly striking            that almost half of the Hispanic Spanish speakers in this study                 believed that the two-way program kept them from dropping out of                school. In addition, two-way students are more likely than their                comparison peers to want to go to college immediately following high            school. This may be due to their knowing significantly more than                their non-two-way peers about college entrance requirements and                 being more likely to have attended presentations about college.                 Thus, two-way students are more likely to know that they need to                take higher-level math courses to get accepted at college. 
Indeed,            there is a huge difference in the enrollment in math courses. Almost            half (47%) of the comparison-group students are taking basic math               compared to only 3% of two-way students. For both groups, 30% are               enrolled in algebra and 24-26% in geometry. However, none of the                comparison students is taking algebra II or trigonometry/calculus,              whereas 28% of Hispanic Spanish speakers from two-way programs are              enrolled in algebra II and 13% in                                               trigonometry/calculus. CONCLUSIONThe results of this study are            impressive on two counts. First, they demonstrate that high school              students who participated in the two-way program developed high                 levels of academic competence and motivation, ambitions to go to                college, knowledge about how to apply to and get into college, and              pride in bilingualism. In addition, they were highly satisfied with             their education in the two-way program. 
Second, the results point             to the development of a sense of resiliency among Hispanic students,            particularly those learning English and those from low-income                   families. These students appear to possess high self-esteem,                    motivation to study hard, belief in academic competence, perception             of a positive school environment, a supportive family, and a peer               group that values education-characteristics that have been                      identified with resilient and successful students, that is, those               living in adversity or from high-risk environments but who are well             adjusted and achieve academic success (Gandara, Larson, Rumberger, &            Mehan, 1998; Padron, Waxman, & Huang, 1999). Thus, it is not                    surprising that most of these students have ambitions to attend                 college and will not drop out of                                                school. REFERENCESDarling-Hammond, L. (1995). Inequality and              access to knowledge. In J. A. Banks & C. A. McGee                               Banks (Eds.), "Handbook of research on multicultural education." New            York: Macmillan. 
Gandara, P., Larson, K., Rumberger, R., & Mehan,             H. (1998, May). "Capturing Latino students in the academic                      pipeline" (California Policy Seminar Brief Series No. 10). Retrieved            April 5, 2002, from the California Policy Research Center Web                   site. 
Lindholm-Leary, K. J. (2001). "Dual language education."                Avon, England: Multilingual Matters. 
Padron, Y., Waxman, H., &                Huang, S. (1999). Classroom and instructional learning environment              differences between resilient and non-resilient elementary school               students. "Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk of                  Failure, 4," 63-81. 
President's Advisory Commission on Educational            Excellence for Hispanic Americans. (1996). "Our nation on the fault             line: Hispanic American education. A report to the President of the             United States, the Nation, and the Secretary of Education."                     Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved April 5,                2002, from                                                                      http://www.ed.gov/pubs/FaultLine/index.html 
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This digest               was prepared with funding from the U.S. Dept. of Education, Office              of Educational Research and Improvement, National Library of                    Education, under contract no. ED-99-CO-0008.  The opinions expressed            do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of ED, OERI, or            NLE.                                                                         **Title:** Impact of Two-Way Immersion on Students' Attitudes toward School and            College. ERIC Digest.                                                        **Note:** Based on a Research Report (No. 10) published by the Center for                 Research on Education, Diversity & Education: "Impact of Two-Way                Bilingual Elementary Programs on Students' Attitudes toward School              and College," by Kathryn J. Lindholm-Leary and Graciela Borsato.             **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics, 4646 40th Street               NW, Washington, DC 20016-1859. Tel: 800-276-9834 (Toll Free). For               full text: http://www.cal.org/ericcll/DIGEST.                                **Descriptors:**  Academic Achievement, Bilingualism, Elementary Secondary Education,             English (Second Language), High School Students, Higher Education,              Immersion Programs,  Language Proficiency, Second Language                     Learning,  Spanish Speaking,  Student Attitudes                              **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests, Two Way Bilingual Education                                    
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