Introduction
Two related assumptions regarding medium of instruction dominate second language teaching and bilingual education programs. Both of these assumptions reflect what Howatt ( 1984) terms “the monolingual principle.” In the case of second and foreign language teaching it is assumed that instruction should be carried out, as far as possible, exclusively in the target language without recourse to students’ first language (L1). In the case of bilingual and second language immersion programs, it has become axiomatic that the two languages should be kept rigidly separate. In this paper, I discuss the research and theoretical literature relevant to this “two solitudes” assumption and argue that it has minimal research basis. When we free ourselves from exclusive reliance on monolingual instructional approaches, a wide variety of opportunities arise for teaching bilingual students by means of bilingual instructional strategies that acknowledge the reality of, and strongly promote,...
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Cummins, J. (2008). Teaching for Transfer: Challenging the Two Solitudes Assumption in Bilingual Education. In: Hornberger, N.H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30424-3_116
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