(Part II)
In this reflection, the study by Ramirez (199) on limited English proficiency students gives multi-policy recommendations from which I would like to highlight only three amongst the suggested results, that:
1. Providing LEP students with substantial amounts of primary language instruction does not interfere with or delay their acquisition of English;
2. Providing substantial instruction in the primary language appears to help LEP students catch up their English-speaking in the mainstream classroom in English language, reading and mathematics;
3. Increasing the use of the primary language for instruction appears to make it possible for language minority parents to support their children’s learning by monitoring and /or helping their children with the required work (pp. 45-47).
Applying the above suggestion as part of the implementation of any bilingual/multilingual immersion program in my view provides a great chance for students to benefit from all target languages as a result. It depends however largely on the goals why a bilingual program was designed.?