California/Spain Visiting Teachers Program Participants' Opinions About the Use and Effects of Students' Primary Languages in the Classroom

This study examined opinions about some theoretical and practical tenets of bilingualism and bilingual education, as well as about the instructional use of English language learners' (ELLs) native languages in the classroom, of 77 teachers from Spain working in California as part of the California/Spain Visiting Teachers Program. In their responses, participants showed strong support for the tenets of bilingual education and for the use of ELLs' primary languages in class, agreed that primary language instruction contributes to the academic and English acquisition progress of ELLs, and opposed the discontinuation of ELLs' primary languages after these students had learned English. The results of the study show that 8 years after the passage of Proposition 227, which intended to eliminate the presence of minority languages in California public schools, participants continued to acknowledge the value of these languages in the linguistic and academic progress of ELLs.