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In Lynn Malarz’s bilingual curriculum handbook, she states that “the main purpose of the bilingual program is to teach English as soon as possible and integrate the children into the mainstream of education” (1998). The misconceptions surrounding bilingual education has done much to increase the educational system’s negative outlook on minority languages. Today, due to the great emphasis on assimilation into the United States’ English-speaking culture, children of various minorities are not only losing fluency, but also their ability to speak in their native language, at all (Fillmore, 1991, p. Many non-minority Americans can trace their family tree back to a time when their ancestors lost fluency in a language that was not English. This kind of language erosion has been integral to the narrative of this country for some time. The term refers to the fact that learning a second language directly affects primary language, causing loss of native language fluency (Fillmore, 1991, p. This phenomenon, called subtractive bilingualism, was first discovered by psychologist Wallace Lambert, in his study of the language acquisition of French-Canadian children. schools quickly lose touch with their language heritage. While parents can maintain native language, children educated in U.S. Many non-minority Americans are not aware of the native language loss that has become prevalent in children of immigrant parents. Although her research was conducted more than twenty years ago, this fact still rings true. However, as American linguist, Lilly Wong Fillmore, pointed out in her language loss study, minority languages remain surprisingly unsupported in our education system (1991, p. The United States is often proudly referred to as the “melting pot.” Cultural diversity has become a part of our country’s identity.
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The Importance of Maintaining Native Language