Abstract
Abundant research has demonstrated the benefits of bilingualism, including cognitive and social advantages, and other studies have addressed the opinion and satisfaction of parents who have enrolled their children in bilingual programs. However, no study to date has explored why parents do not to enroll their children in bilingual programs or assess their interest, opinion, and knowledge regarding bilingual education. This study explored the possible reasons that influence parents to not enroll their children in bilingual programs. It assessed parents’ interest, their opinions, and their awareness of bilingual education benefits and policies through an online survey. Also, the study explored some factors that influence parents’ interest, opinion, and knowledge regarding bilingual education—primarily regarding family language history and origin background. The findings suggested that parents’ interest is high, and their opinion is positive, but the lack of parents’ knowledge regarding the existence of bilingual programs and the lack of knowledge surrounding the ability to request a bilingual program through the district with the help of Proposition 58 may create a barrier to increase bilingual education. Also, the findings suggested that bilingualism in the family is indeed a factor that influences parents toward favoring bilingual education for their children. Several suggestions and implications are provided to help educators, policy makers, and communities understand how to increase enrollment in bilingual programs and help to determine how to increase parents’ awareness of their children’s right to bilingual educational opportunities and the parents’ right to participate in decisions that affect their children’s education.