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Challenging Linguistic Purism in Dual Language Bilingual Education: A Case Study of Hebrew in a New York City Public Middle School

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 September 2017

Kate Menken  and
Sharon Avni
Kate Menken
Affiliation:
City University of New York, Graduate Center and Queens [email protected]
Sharon Avni
Affiliation:
City University of New York, Borough of Manhattan Community [email protected]
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Abstract

Dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs, in which students are taught language and academic content in English and a partner language, have dramatically grown in popularity in U.S. schools. Moving beyond the teaching of Spanish and Chinese, DLBE programs are now being offered in less commonly taught languages and attracting new student populations. Based on qualitative research conducted in a New York City public middle school that recently began a Hebrew DLBE program, we found that this program, in its inception and design, challenges traditional definitions of DLBE and offers new understandings about bilingual education for the 21st century. We argue that the policies and guidelines for the provision of DLBE and the scholarship upon which they are based are rooted in notions of linguistic purism that fail to consider or meet the needs of communities enrolling in bilingual education programs today.

Type
Research Article
Information
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics , Volume 37 , September 2017 , pp. 185 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press, 2017 

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