1. 1 Nury Rodriguez Education 702.22: Seminar in Applied Theory and Research I Spring 2010

2. Introduction  Statement of the Problem  Review of Related Literature  Statement of the Hypothesis 2

3.  Historical overview of bilingual education and policies affecting English Language Learners.  The bilingual education method of instruction has been widely debated by different linguists, and other stakeholders in the field of education. 3

4.  Research shows that some English Language Learners’ academic achievement tends to be low regardless of which instructional method is used.  The purpose of this action research is to describe the effects of a bilingual education program on students’ achievement in reading. 4

5. 5 Pro According Hakuta, Butler, and Witt, a students’ ability to develop the target language takes 1 to 3 years, and it takes 5 to 7 years to develop academic language (as cited in Mora, 2000, p. 353). Con Structured English Immersion programs “mainstream their students in two to three years, compared to the five to eight years called for by a full bilingual education program” (Baker, 1998, p. 202).

6. 6 HR1: Implementing a Bilingual Education program with English language learners with high L1 proficiency will increase their reading skills more so than the group of English language learners with low L1 proficiency.

7. 7 References

8. 8