Mele Taumoepeau

The Battle Rages On: Winner Undecided: Bilingualism or Total English Immersion? Mele Taumoepeau

Research abounds that attests to the ever raging battle between proponents of "Bilingual Education" (BE) and the supporters of a "Total Immersion" (TI) approach to teaching and promoting English language proficiency among English Language Learners (ELL's) in the United States and elsewhere in the world. While this battle continues in earnest, a third group emerged that advocates the promotion of both the ELL's first language and the target language through a "Dual Language" approach. This work examined the use of both BE and TI approaches in three Middle Schools in the island Kingdom of Tonga and the subsequent outcomes. While the results appear to support a TI approach, they raised more questions than they answered.