Building and destroying students’ ‘academic identities’: the power of discourse in a two‐way immersion classroom

Two‐way immersion is a model for bilingual education designed to help language‐minority students develop additive bilingualism while at the same time offering language‐majority students a chance to learn a second language. There is a great deal of rhetoric around two‐way immersion that claims these programs aim to improve overall equity among diverse groups of learners. The article begins with a brief review of the available research on two‐way immersion education. Then, using Bakhtin’s concept of dialogue and Bourdieu’s and Gee’s ideas of discourse/Discourse, this article takes a close‐up look at the discourse patterns in one second‐grade two‐way immersion classroom in Northern California, with an eye to uncovering how the teacher deliberately attempts to expose students to ‘alternative’ discourses and to lead language‐minority students to construct positive identities as learners. The ultimate question the article attempts to address is whether and to what extent any classroom program can create lasting change in the larger society through exposing students to ‘alternatives’ to mainstream dominant discourses within the context of classroom norms and activities.     

美英德法四国的双语教育

少数民族教育直接关系到我国少数民族地区的经济发展和社会进步。在少数民族聚居地区实施双语教学是发展民族教育的重要途径。但是,在少数民族双语教育方面仍然面临着许多问题。文章将系统地介绍关国、英国、德国、法国的双语教育的历史背景、语言政策和具体实施情况,以期对我们更好地开展双语教学有所启发。     

Loosening chronology’s collar: reframing teacher career narratives as stories of life and work without end

This research paper examines the narrative accounts of the academic Spanish‐language development of four preservice bilingual education teachers of different backgrounds, including Mexican‐American, white (non‐Hispanic), Mexican immigrant, and the U.S.–Mexico border Hispanic. The purpose of the study is to discover the kinds of educational forces which may impede bilingual education teachers' development of academic Spanish, look at their own perceptions of their Spanish‐language proficiency, and consider how student learning might be influenced. The stories illustrate how few meaningful educational opportunities prospective teachers have to develop academic Spanish‐language proficiency. They also demonstrate how sociocultural context may impede Spanish‐language development. In short, the paper addresses the need for dramatic social and educational changes if bilingual education teachers in the U.S. are to fulfill one of the basic tenets of bilingual education: the provision of native‐language instruction.     

Inclusive practice? Supporting isolated bilingual learners in a mainstream school

This paper is based on action research carried out in a primary school in Scotland where few bilingual learners shared their home language with classmates or staff. It investigated the educational experiences of bilingual children in the early stages of primary school, in which there were often practical difficulties supporting isolated learners in using their home language in school. It tracked a cohort of isolated bilingual learners over a period of two years and considered how theories of support for bilingual learners can be applied to isolated learners. It identified two themes: support for new arrivals who are at the early stage of acquisition of English and how monolingual schools can show that they value home languages and promote bilingual skills. The research reveals techniques for tackling the very real social issue of bilingual learners in monolingual classrooms, a topic of currency in today’s climate. It engages with concepts of pupil difference, practices of social justice and inclusion, as well as consideration of a quality curriculum for all students. The study reflects on practical arrangements for new arrivals, working with parents unfamiliar with the education system and creating opportunities for pupils to use and share their home language within school.     

Linguistic‐minority Students and Bilingual Mathematics Teaching

Mathematics teaching and subject‐matter acquisition of two groups of linguistic minority students were studied; one in a minolingual second‐language class and the other in a traditional bilingual‐education model in the city of Oslo, Norway. The background of attempts at bilingual education in the Norwegian context is presented, and some aspects of bilingual education, bilingual pedagogy and research‐based perspectives on the role of bilingual education in subject‐matter acquisition is discussed. On the basis of an empirical study of the teaching situation of linguistic‐minority students it is concluded that linguistic‐minority students profit from bilingual mathematics teaching. The empirical research results indicate that linguistic‐minority students (LMSs) with a bilingual‐education (BE) background can achieve as good or better results in mathematics as monolingual students. The strength of bilingual education can therefore be said to reside in the favourable conditions that it creates for the comprehension of linguistic‐minority students of the content taught. By creating favourable conditions bilingual subject‐matter teaching also fulfils minorities’ expectations of participating in content‐area instruction: to understand what is being communicated in subject‐matter teaching and to learn what is normally expected to be learned in subject‐matter teaching. It is therefore legitimate to argue for bilingual education on pedagogical grounds without the support of old‐fashioned anthropological or psychological arguments.     

探索海淀走读大学"双语"教学的发展模式

本文首先明确双语教学不是语言教学 ,双语教学过程不仅是专业知识的传授过程 ,它还是一个第二语言知识 (外语 )及其文化学习的过程。学习者学习第二语言的动机直接影响着双语教学的效果。北京已形成了良好的第二语言——英语学习的社会环境 ,开展双语教育在某种意义上说是必须的。目前双语教学活动开展程度不一、效果差距较大 ,本文提出了几点针对性的建议。     

The Impact of Early Social Interactions on Later Language Development in Spanish–English Bilingual Infants

This study tested the impact of child‐directed language input on language development in Spanish–English bilingual infants (N = 25, 11‐ and 14‐month‐olds from the Seattle metropolitan area), across languages and independently for each language, controlling for socioeconomic status. Language input was characterized by social interaction variables, defined in terms of speech style (“parentese” vs. standard speech) and social context (one‐on‐one vs. group). Correlations between parentese one‐on‐one and productive vocabulary at 24 months (n = 18) were found across languages and in each language independently. Differences are highlighted between previously published monolingual samples, which used the same methods as the current study of bilingual infants. The results also suggest cultural effects on language input and language development in bilingual and bicultural infants.     

The effect of a structured story reading intervention,story retelling and higher order thinking for English language and literacy acquisition

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of structured story reading intervention, Story reTelling and higher order thinking for English Language and Literacy Acquisition (STELLA), delivered to 38 Hispanic English language learners (ELL) placed in an enhanced transitional bilingual programme over 2 years from first to second grade as compared with 34 control students placed in a typical practice transitional bilingual programme during the same time period. Both treatment and comparison ELL students' retellings of two stories in Spanish and English were measured by five story elements. Findings were that (a) students receiving intervention outperformed their comparison peers in all five story elements in English and Spanish of both stories; (b) students showed stronger ability in their native language in four of five story elements; and (c) students performed at a higher level in the narrative‐informational story than a narrative story in both languages. Educational implications are discussed.     

Bilingual and special educational needs in inclusive classrooms: some critical and pedagogical considerations

In the light of educational reforms aimed at promoting greater inclusive policies and practices, it is important to put a more pronounced emphasis on the needs of English language learners (ELLs) with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Simultaneously, a focus should also be placed on understanding and dealing with the disproportional representation of English language learners in special education categories. This dual and arguably sometimes mutually reinforcing phenomenon, along with its potential implications for education policy and practice, needs to be discussed against a convergent analytical framework drawn from bilingual and special education. The cross‐fertilisation of these disciplinary fields can provide a multimodal and comprehensive approach to meeting the intersectional needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students with special educational needs. To this end, it is important that issues of culture and language should become indispensable aspects of the special education knowledge base in inclusive classrooms.     

Phonological awareness in monolingual and bilingual English and Greek five‐year‐olds

This study examined and compared levels of phonological awareness in monolingual and bilingual English and Greek five‐year‐olds. Sixty‐eight children from Britain and Cyprus, matched on the basis of age, gender, non‐verbal and verbal IQ, were assigned to four groups: two bilingual (English‐Greek, Greek‐English) and two monolingual (English, Greek). Performance of the four groups on a set of six phonological tasks was compared. Bilingual children were given both English and Greek versions of the tasks; monolingual children were given the phonological tasks in their mother tongue only. Given the results of previous research, it was predicted that bilingual children would show higher levels of phonological awareness than monolingual. The children tested in Britain were already being taught to read in school, whereas those tested in Cyprus were not. On the basis of previous research, it was further predicted that there would also be effects of learning to read in an alphabetic language, such that the bilingual children tested in Britain would show higher levels of phonological awareness at the level of the phoneme than their counterparts tested in Cyprus. Results showed that the bilingual English‐Greek children significantly outperformed the monolingual English children, but this pattern was not replicated in the bilingual Greek‐English/monolingual Greek comparisons. This difference is discussed in terms of the bilingual enhancement effect, which, according to the present data, seems to occur only when bilingual children are exposed to a second language that is phonologically simpler than their first language. Results also showed that English‐Greek bilingual children performed significantly better than Greek‐English bilinguals, especially on tasks requiring phoneme awareness. This accords well with suggestions that learning to read in an alphabetic language promotes this level of phonological awareness.     

‘Why did I do nothing?’ Poetry and the experiences of bilingual pupils in a mainstream inner‐city secondary school

This paper investigates the opportunities for bilingual children to explore and construct literacy practices in an inner‐city secondary school and the relationship of bilingual writers/readers to texts. It seeks to increase our understanding and awareness of bilingual learners from different social, cultural and linguistic backgrounds. This case study focuses on ‘poetry and the bilingual child’ and examines the language development of two refugee children who came from Afghanistan and Somalia with their families three years ago.     

English language acquisition and educational attainment at the end of secondary school

There has been relatively little empirical research on the impact of stage of fluency in English of bilingual pupils. However, this issue is increasingly important given growth in the bilingual school population in England of over one‐third between 1997 and 2004 to around 10% of the school population. This study evaluates the relationship between stage of English fluency and performance in public examinations at age 16 for all pupils within an inner London local education authority. Two methodological approaches are used to study the associations. The first looks at the context and the trend data for the case‐study local authority (LEA) in terms of languages spoken and the performance of bilingual pupils in schools. This is followed by a detailed statistical regression analysis to isolate the unique association between level of fluency in English and pupils' performance at age 16, after controlling for the effect of a range of other pupil and school background factors. The results confirm a strong relationship between stage of fluency in English and educational attainment, with the performance of bilingual pupils increasing as measured stage of fluency in English increases. Pupils in the early stages of fluency perform at very low levels, while bilingual pupils who are fully fluent in English perform better, on average, than English‐only speakers. However, the latter results are not due to bilingualism per se since the difference is no longer statistically significant after controlling for other measured pupil background variables. All EAL (English as an Additional Language) pupils make better than expected progress over the two years between age 14 and age 16. The final section questions the appropriateness of the Qualification and Curriculum Authority's (QCA) approach to the assessment of bilingual pupils, which contrasts with the local authority's good practice. Based on the findings of this study, we argue that there is a need to develop a national assessment strategy that better meets the needs of bilingual learners. The policy implications for national and local government and for school improvement practitioners are reviewed.     

Predictors of English spelling in bilingual and monolingual children in Grade 1: the case of Cantonese and Tagalog

In order to examine the effect of the home language on the spelling development in English in children who are learning English as a second language (ESL learners), it is best to directly compare groups of ESL learners from various home language backgrounds. This study compared the oral language, phonological awareness, reading, and spelling performance of Tagalog–English bilingual, Cantonese–English bilingual, and monolingual English-speaking children in Grade 1. The bilingual children had lower scores than the monolinguals on measures of oral proficiency, but demonstrated similar or better performance on most phonological awareness, reading, and spelling tasks after controlling for vocabulary size in English. A series of moderated regression analysis revealed that although phonological awareness was associated with English spelling performance regardless of language background, the associations between specific spelling tasks and related underlying skills seemed to differ across language groups.     

Raciolinguistic ideology of antiblackness: bilingual education,tracking, and the multiracial imaginary in urban schools

Abstract

Based on a qualitative study of an urban middle school, this article examines student perceptions of shifting tracking structures following the dismantling of a school’s bilingual education program. The article demonstrates that students understood the school changes based on supposed language needs through an explicitly racialized lens, thereby illuminating both the permeability and entrenchment of raciolinguistic ideologies in the predominantly nonwhite school. In particular, a raciolinguistic ideology of antiblackness that positioned Black students as lacking when compared to other non-White students was ultimately reproduced in student discourse despite the change from bilingual education to English-only class tracks. This finding is significant because it questions how education reform is often structured without regard to broader social contexts and histories. The article concludes by exploring strategies policymakers and educators can draw from to challenge underlying relational racializations of antiblackness that are so pervasive in our current language education programs.     

Peer relationships among 4 preschool second language learners in “Small-group time”

Second language learners entering preschool are challenged by unfamiliar social and communicative expectations that limit them from full participation in the classroom. In this ethnographic study, the experiences of four Korean 3-year-olds new to preschool were studied during 1 school year to learn how peer relationships among the four would affect their participation, specifically in teacher-initiated events. Findings revealed that young second language learners from the same ethnolinguistic background were able to establish relationships and construct participant structures that guided their participation before individually acquiring the social and communicative skills shared by other class members. Their joint initiatives, including use of native language and imitation, led them to a higher level of participation than is typical for second language learners in a new setting. Their participation was facilitated by a teacher who accommodated their interdependent behavior and guided them into further involvement to experience the benefits of small-group activities.     

Instructional models for the acquisition of English as bridges into school science: effects on the science achievement of U.S. Hispanic English language learners

Science educators have suggested that, for minority and low-income students, gaps between home and school science cultures necessitate ‘border crossing’ for successful learning in science. Our analysis used National Assessment of Educational Progress 2000 and 2005 data to assess the impact of U.S. state-level policy regarding instructional models for language acquisition for the learning of science. Specifically, we assessed whether policy favouring structured English immersion led to better student outcomes than bilingual education among Hispanic English language learners in 4th and 8th grades in the U.S. We found significantly higher science achievement among 4th grade Hispanic ELLs in states with stronger bilingual emphasis in their policy, suggesting that policy support for bilingual education could provide a better bridge to span the cultural gap between home and school science, at least for younger students.     

Negotiating tensions between the high-performing and socially just college: A consideration of the discursive construction of youth in English college governing boards

The English further education (FE) sector caters for young learners who are regularly defined as at risk due to a range of economic and social challenges, as transitions from youth to adulthood become more protracted, and inequalities amongst young people and between generations persist and deepen. At a time when policy places increasing responsibilities on governors and leaders to balance college performance and cost-effectiveness against FE’s long-standing social justice mission, this article analyses how this tension plays out through the discursive construction of young learners by two English college governing boards. We use a critical discourse analysis approach to connect how young learners are ‘talked into being’ through the micro-level processes of governing within the wider context in which college governing operates. We argue that, despite a wider drive for governors to interact with learners, their understanding of learners is dominated by data, through which young learners in particular are constituted as a risk rather than at risk. We explore the discursive constructions of young learners that ensue in this data-dominated context, and the social practices governing boards use to manage the risks posed by young learners. We highlight the different positionings of governors and college senior managers within these constitutive practices, arguing that the ways young learners are discursively constructed is revealing of a central tension in college governing practices—that between the high-performing and the socially just college.     

The Salamanca Statement and sign language education for deaf learners 25 years on

ABSTRACT

The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education proposed a policy shift from special education to inclusive education models that require schools to serve all children. However, alongside this shift was a recognition that sign language access for deaf learners is essential for meeting the right to education and that this access cannot always be provided in mainstream settings. The Statement was written during an apex in bilingual education for deaf students in certain countries, and the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD), joined by Swedish and Danish government and deaf advocacy organisation delegates, successfully lobbied for inclusion of Section 21. This section makes three claims regarding the importance of policy-level recognition of differences among learners, the right of deaf learners to education in a national sign language, and the suggested greater suitability of deaf schools or congregated programmes for many deaf learners. The Salamanca Statement, like Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and related General Comments, makes universalising claims within a rights-based framework; however, the competing claims of deaf advocacy organisations have posed a challenge and corrective to such statements since deaf learners are often excluded in inclusive classrooms.     

Translanguaging in Today's Classrooms: A Biliteracy Lens

As US classrooms approach a decade of response to No Child Left Behind, many questions and concerns remain around the education of those labeled as English language learners, in mainstream, English as a Second Language, and bilingual education classrooms. A national policy context where standardized tests dominate curriculum and instruction, and first language literacy is discouraged and undervalued, poses unusual challenges for learners whose communicative repertoires encompass translanguaging practices. Drawing on ethnographic data from two different educational contexts, we argue via a continua of biliteracy lens that the welcoming of translanguaging in classrooms is not only necessary, but desirable educational practice. We suggest that Obama's current policies, on the one hand, and our schools' glaring needs, on the other, offer new spaces to be exploited for innovative programs, curricula, and practices that recognize, value, and build on the communicative repertoires and translanguaging practices of students, their families, and communities.