The economic value of bilingualism in the United States

Research is showing that continuing to foster English learners' home language while he or she learns English has long-term benefits, including economic benefits. Employers in the United States are increasingly prioritizing hiring multilingual candidates who are fully literate in a second language. Some models for teaching ELs, such as Transitional Bilingual Education, fail to support developing students' bilingualism. According to the author, the failure to nurture these linguistic skills in the children of immigrants exacts a cost to the earnings of these potentially bilingual/biliterate students.