DESCRIPTORS

Discussed are some of the problems of bilingual programs (lack of funds, personnel, and evaluated programs). Four broad categories of bilingual programs are (1) Transitional Bilingualism, in which Spanish is used in the early grades to help pupils "adjust to school " and/or "master subject matter " until their skill in English is developed; (2) Monoliterate Bilingualism, which aims to develop both languages for aural-oral skills, but is not concerned with literacy skills in the mother tongue; (3) Partial Bilingualism, which seeks fluency and literacy in both languages, but generally restricts literacy in the mother tongue to subjects related to the ethnic group and its heritage; and (4) Full Bilingualism, which aims to develop all skills in both languages in all domains. (The author feels that a fully balanced bilingual speech community may be a theoretical impossibility.) Vitally needed are (1) a survey establishing language and varieties employed by both parents and children, by societal domain of function; (2) a rough estimate of the relative performance level in each language, by societal domain; (3) an indication of community and school staff attitudes toward the existing languages and varieties and toward their present allocation to domains; and (4) an indication of community and school staff attitudes toward changing the existing language situation. (AMM