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Bilingual Language Use in Hispanic Young Adults: Did Elementary Bilingual Programs Help?

Abstract This descriptive study of language use examined the extent to which bilingual Hispanic young adults used their two languages in varying aspects of their lives and analyzed the extent to which they maintained the use of Spanish in these domains. A convenience sample of 202 undergraduate, Hispanic university students completed the Language and Education Survey (Hasson, 2001). Data from the Language Use section of this instrument was the basis for the present study, which compared Hispanic students who were enrolled in bilingual or English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) programs in their elementary schooling with students who experienced an all-English curriculum. The results of this study showed that while there was a definite shift toward English in this sample, there were nevertheless significant differences between the Bilingual/ESOL group and the All-English group in the very specific dimension of language use. The findings raised some critical questions regarding how school systems address the particular needs of bilingual students and how this might affect the maintenance of their native language and its use in later life.