Language Revitalization in an Inner-City Latino Community

This article examines how a dual language immersion program implemented as a result of a collaboration between an urban school district, a liberal arts university, and a corporate partnership has served as a catalyst for revitalizing the minority language in a low income Latino neighborhood located in a large metropolitan area in the Southwest. Research has shown that the transmission of the minority or heritage language in an elementary school context stems minority language loss. For example, Freeman (1996) states that additive bilingual programs, such as Dual Language Immersion, can challenge the trend toward English monolingualism by promoting the heritage language in minority communities. This paper will describe one such program that has challenged the assumptions that students should be placed in programs where early transition into the dominant language is the norm by successfully producing fully bilingual and biliterate students with high levels of academic achievement in both languages and by changing parental perceptions toward native language maintenance