ABSTRACT

As this handbook clearly demonstrates, the field of second language teaching and learning encompasses diverse goals, contexts, and traditions. New languages are learned in the community or in school, by children and adults, and for primarily oral communication purposes, literacy, or both. In the service of second language teaching and learning that occurs in school, dual language education occupies an important, if currently small, space that attends to the maintenance and development of the native language along with the second. The approach emphasizes bilingualism as an outcome when a new language is learned and fosters “additive bilingualism” (Lambert, 1984) as a foundational concept. Research shows that the model can be effective for second language learning while conveying other benefits as well.