Rationale for a Field-Based Research and Development Project for Multicultural-Bilingual Education

Abstract

PREMISEThe greatest present need in bilingual education 1 in the U.S. is that of an instructional design that takes into account totally its special nature and that encompasses a plan for implementing a sound integral program of education through a sequential and articulated 'curriculum supported by relevant instructional materials. Such a design and curriculum must be elaborated through a process of long-term research and development in conjunction with actual school and classroom situations.The instructional design must be created specifically in response to the special characteristics of the multicultural-and bilingual aspect of this education and must embrace appropriate concepts and methods that apply to education in general. The unique nature of multicultural-bilingual education 2 , which is reviewed in this paper, fundamentally must determine the general orientation for the development of the instructional design; the detailed features of the design will be derived in the course of the research and development from the distinctive aspects of subject content and methodology in the multicultural-bilingual setting and from the attributes of the students enrolled in the participating schools. This paper proposes the creation of a fieldbased project consisting of two or three experimental and two or three control schools for the development of the design.