As a teacher of English to speakers of other languages, the field of second language acquisition interests me. My experience and my bias have been in an English only approach, with little interest or exposure to bilingual education.  However, for the past three years I have taught at a school with more than 60% Spanish-speaking families, in a high poverty area.  The school is struggling for accreditation.  As a measure to bring up test scores and to appeal to the neighborhood population, the school initiated a dual language program in Spanish/English 4 years ago. 
In my school, the dual language classes include equal numbers of students from the two language groups.  The academic day is divided (50/50) with one language used to teach math and science and the other for reading and language arts.     According to the recent Collier & Thomas research project, when comparing progress of language minority students who enter the US public school system without fluency in English, two-way bilingual or dual language education shows the greatest long-term goals.
 For the past three years I have studied dual language program design and I have observed the students in the program. Some Spanish speaking students are experiencing great difficulty learning English. In fact, they seem to be struggling as much if not more than the other children who started school with them but did not enter the dual language program.  I am not sure why they are not experiencing success.  My guess is that the lack of family literacy and the students’ low Spanish skills create a barrier rather than a foundation to build English language skills.  That is one question that I would like to investigate.
   On the other hand, the way the dual language program is being carried out could also be a factor inhibiting success.  I would like to interview the teachers in the dual language program and find out their attitudes towards second language teaching and the use of the non-target language during the target language part of the day.  According to a handbook on dual language program design by Cloud, Hamayan and Genesee, there are nine elements to an effective dual language program.  One of those elements deals with using both languages equally to teach the content materials.  For a developmental bilingual program, such as dual language, to promote true biliteracy, there must be language equity.  Both languages must be accorded the same respect and value as media of instruction.  I would like to find out whether the two languages are afforded the same value and investigate the teachers’ ideas of the use of the two languages.
 The question of language equity could be one of the most important elements in dual language program design.  It could be the element that must be present in order to have the results which surfaced in the Collier & Thomas report on language acquisition.  When I observed in some of the dual language classes, I saw teachers who used English during the Spanish part of the day and Spanish during the English part.  I have also seen teachers who used English with the English speakers and Spanish with the Spanish speakers rather than attempting to teach in the target language for that part of the day. I would like to talk to the teachers and find out what their philosophy is about language teaching, how they decide which language to use when and how they decide on language strategies with children whose first language skills are not strong.

  Why do I want to do this study?  Evelyn Jacob said to study a ‘puzzlement’.  This is my puzzlement. What is an efficient way for students who were born in the US, but enter the public school system not speaking English and ‘non-fluent’ in Spanish to be successful in learning academic English?  Is bilingual education the most effective way?   In other words, is it  ‘double-duty’ for students with weak first language skills to learn English through bilingual education (two-way bilingual or dual language)?  How can these children be successful in school in the era of high stakes testing in English? 
 But in order to investigate that question, I must be sure that the dual language program, which is serving as the model for my research, is a true developmental bilingual program.  If I want to base conclusions on studies done with children in a specific dual language program, I have to be sure that the program follows good program design.  Otherwise the results of the study could be shown to be unreliable because of the design of the program or the attitude of the teachers towards one or the other of the languages.

                On a personal level, I see these children every day and wonder whether we are doing them harm by making them learn in two languages.  It is not a case of building on an existing structure but rather constructing the concepts in both Spanish and English.    As an ESL teacher who works with these children, I would like to make sure that they are successful on 3rd and 5th grade SOL tests as well as successful in learning English which will help them become productive members of society.

                On a practical level, the research done by Collier and Thomas shows that a long-term 2-way bilingual program is the most efficient program for second language students to attain and retain academic growth.  This was a quantitative study, which did not focus on the background of the children or the validity of specific programs.   Do non-fluent Spanish speakers encounter more second language learning difficulties since they do not have the first language concept base to build on?  I believe that the stories of the children who are not successful in this dual language program can give insight to schools or districts when deciding on language acquisition programs.  I also believe that this subject depends on the nature of the dual language program and on the attitude of the teachers. 
 The difficulties that I can see in advance fall in two categories:
1. Content:  how do I get the teachers to talk to me about their philosophy? How can I get them to open up about why they do what they actually do in the classroom?  What if what they tell me is not what is reflected when I observe in the class?
I hope that what I learn about interviewing and being an active listener can help me with content. 
2. Logistics:  There are 4 dual language teachers who teach in Spanish and 4 who teach in English.  How do I limit whom I interview?  I would like to get a full view of all of the teachers’ attitudes.  I think that I would limit the interviews to the teachers who are bilingual.  They are the ones who would be able to use both languages in the classroom.  Some monolingual English teachers have Spanish speaking assistants in their classes and so their classes could be mixing English and Spanish.

As I think about my ‘big’ question of whether a dual language program adequately serves children who do not have a strong basis in their home language, I keep coming back to the dual language program in my school.  In order to use data from this program, I have to make sure that it is a true developmental, two-way, bilingual program.  Only by observing the classes and interviewing the teachers about their philosophy and practice of using the non-target language, can I be sure that studying this program will give me valid results.