Childhood Bilingualism: Current Status and Future Directions

Forty-three percent of teachers in America’s public schools teach non-English-speaking or
English language-learning children. Dual language learners constitute a sizeable and growing
proportion of the U.S. population. A distinct feature of the U.S. situation is the conjunction of
bilingualism and poverty that is not as commonly the case in other countries. In the U.S.
sociocultural context, a substantial proportion of children acquiring English happen to be poor
and likely are enrolled in schools where resources are highly constrained, thus adding to the
challenges of instruction and compromising effective learning and literacy. American schools
increasingly are reflective of the multilingual world and in need of the best tools available to
ensure that every child can succeed. Answers must come quickly to benefit this generation of
children.
Given this sense of urgency, the Office of English Language Acquisition, the Office of Special
Education and Rehabilitation Services, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development, National Institutes of Health, with support from the American Federation of
Teachers, the International Reading Association, and the American Speech-Language-Hearing
Association, convened a workshop on April 22–23, 2004, in Washington, DC, on Childhood
Bilingualism: Current Status and Future Directions. The workshop capitalized on the increasing
convergence of interest in theoretical underpinnings of language development with the
translation of research findings for the practical benefit of children.
Primary purposes of the workshop were to initiate an open and ongoing discussion among key
members of the research community, as well as across disciplines and research approaches, and
across national boundaries, and to develop a research agenda that outlines major research
questions, re-energizes research, and promotes the development of novel, creative approaches or
approaches not seen traditionally in the area of bilingual language development. Opportunities to
connect applied researchers and more theoretically inclined academic researchers to promote
collaborations and increased communication were of particular interest. Participants were given
the mandate to consider a research agenda for the field, not just for one agency. Therefore,
participants were encouraged to make recommendations for future research that would cross
traditional agency boundaries and most rapidly and effectively move the field forward. In this
mandate, federal sponsors recognized that research needs are not necessarily program focused
but would need to investigate basic questions such as how the brain acquires language, as well as
more practical ones, and that even the most basic research should have eventual practical
applications. The workshop began with presentations on the current state of the field, which set
the stage for breakout groups to develop research questions, approaches, and priorities.