Bilingualism and the academic achievement of first- and second-generation Asian Americans: Accommodation with or without assimilation?

Recent scholarship claims that bilingualism has a positive effect on the ac ademic achievement of immigrant children. According to this perspective, gr owing Icp speaking two languages is beneficial because it stimulates cognit ive development and allow's immigrants a means of resisting unwanted assimi lation. Immigrant children who are fluent bilinguals can use their native-l anguage ability to maintain beneficial aspects of their ethnic culture whil e accommodating to the linguistic demands of an English-speaking society. U sing data on first- and second-generation Asian American students from the 1988 National Educational Longitudinal Study,we test for these hypothesized effects of bilingualism. We find no evidence that bilingualism per se has a positive effect on achievement. Instead, speaking a native language with parents has a temporary positive effect if the parents are not proficient i n English. These results indicate that the academic importance of bilingual ism is transitional: The educational benefits of delaying linguistic assimi lation exist only before immigrant parents achieve a moderate level of Engl ish-language proficiency.