ABSTRACT
One basic assumption and two subsets of that form the original foundation for bilingual education. Among the basic assumptions the primary one is what people in the field call the vernacular advantage theory, the umbrella concept under which other bilingual education ideas took form. The second basic assumption, according to bilingual education advocates, is that children will learn to read best in a language they know well and that they can later transfer these skills easily to reading in a second language. The third underpinning of doctrinaire bilingual education is the linguistic interdependence hypothesis, another subset of the vernacular advantage concept. Advocates of bilingual education have long argued that limited-English students could only learn new concepts in the various academic subject areas if they were taught in their home language. The proper role, then, of state bilingual bureaus is to monitor the local programs to see that the highest-quality, most appropriate special services are provided for limited-English students.
