M7: Bilingual Programs

Put simply, the term bilingual means "two languages" and refers to programs that use two languages in instruction. However, there are different approaches within the  programs that fall under the bilingual category.

Bilingual programs fall into two primary categories: 

• Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE);  and
• Developmental Bilingual Education (DBE). 

Both TBE and DBE classrooms use students' home language or primary language (L1) during instruction. Primarily, that is because there is a clear relationship between the use of L1 and progress in L2 (the "target" language"). 

Dr. Alba Ortiz shares part of that reasoning in the video below. You can use captioning for this video here within the module page or read the transcript by opening the video in YouTube and clicking the three dots just under the bottom right corner of the video. 

While both TBE and DBE programs use two languages in instruction, their guiding philosophies are quite different. Click to the next page to learn more!