Bilingual Education in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective

Bilingual education has long been a controversial topic for communities, policy makers, and teachers. Misconceptions about what bilingualism itself is, and what bilingual education should do, have laid the groundwork for a wide range of policies that don't always have a coherent vision for their students. In this wide-ranging and provocative book, García examines the history and current state of bilingual education programs throughout the world, offers a critical reading of the current conversations around them, and invites readers to imagine a new paradigm for the 21st century: one based on the idea of multilingual fluidity as a social and cultural imperative in a globalized world.

García examines languages and bilingualism as individual and societal phenomena, presents program types, variables, and policies in bilingual education, and concludes by looking at practices, especially pedagogies and assessments. Questioning assumptions regarding language, bilingualism and bilingual education, this book proposes a new theoretical framework and alternative views of teaching and assessment practices.