Using Two Languages When Learning Mathematics

This article reviews two sets of research studies from outside of mathematics education to consider how they may be relevant to the study of bilingual mathematics learners using two languages. The first set of studies is psycholinguistics experiments comparing monolinguals and bilinguals using two languages during arithmetic computation (language switching). The second set of studies is sociolinguistic research on young bilinguals using two languages during conversations (code switching). I use an example of a mathematical discussion between bilingual students to illustrate how sociolinguistics can inform analyses of bilingual mathematical conversations.     

婴幼儿语言启蒙对成人外语学习的启示

文章首先分别分析了婴幼儿语言发展的特点和成人外语学习的现状,然后从婴幼儿语言启蒙的角度,重新诠释了成人学习外语所需的几项要素,即有效的听、善于模仿及保持高度的兴趣、持续的专注力和不断重复。     

第二语言习得与双语教育最佳时机研究述评

对于儿童第二语言习得的关键期学术界尚未有定论,一般认为2岁至青春期前后特别是学前阶段是儿童学习第二语言的最佳时机。随着脑科学的发展以及对儿童认知发展规律的进一步认识,越来越多的实验研究表明在儿童早期阶段学习两种语言存在着明显的优势,更有利于儿童的语言、认知、智力、心理能力等方面的发展。在实施双语教育的地区,第二语言学习与双语教育要抓住最佳时机,家庭环境要尽早支持幼儿自然习得双语,正规学校系统要在学前阶段尽早开展双语教育。     

Profiles in Bilingualism: Factors Influencing Kindergartners’ Language Proficiency

Three common assumptions concerning bilingual children’s language proficiency are: (1) their proficiency in two languages is usually unbalanced; (2) low socioeconomic status (SES) indicates low proficiency in both languages; and (3) encouraging parents to speak some societal language at home will promote its development. Examining the vocabulary scores of 282 bilingual Singaporean kindergartners (167 Chinese, 70 Malay, and 45 Tamil), the current study found that these young children were evenly divided among four language profiles: strong in ethnic language (Chinese, Malay or Tamil) or English, strong in both languages, or weak in both. Children with high proficiency in both languages were proportionally represented in the low, middle and high SES groups, demonstrating the achievability of strong vocabulary in two languages for children of different SES. However, low SES children were most at risk for low proficiency in both languages, although many achieved high proficiency in ethnic language or both. Middle and high SES children were most likely to demonstrate low ethnic language with high English proficiency. Children mostly exposed to one language from different sources generally showed strength in that language. Children exposed to both languages at home were most likely to show low proficiency in both languages, although plenty of children exposed to both languages developed high proficiency in English or both. These results affirm previous findings that SES and home language exposure influence bilingual children’s proficiency. Implications include the importance of teachers assessing bilingual children’s proficiency in both languages and collaborating with parents to develop bilingual children’s vocabulary.     

Synthetic Phonics and Learning to Read: A Cross‐language Perspective

Arguments about how to teach initial reading are once more in the news. Proponents of “synthetic phonics” argue that there is only one effective way to teach a child to read. In this anniversary issue, it is worth taking a step back from the polarisation of the “synthetic” versus “analytic” phonics debate, to consider the evidence base for reading acquisition across languages. Most children will eventually become competent, indeed skilled, readers of their languages, but in some languages this happens much faster than in others. There appear to be two key factors. One is the phonological complexity of the spoken language, and the other is the spelling consistency of the written language. A thorough understanding of cross‐language similarities and differences in the key developmental processes for literacy acquisition is required if teaching strategies are to be optimised in different languages.     

Tools for talking: the purposeful and inventive use of languages by bilingual children in primary classrooms

This article is based on a number of observations of bilingual children in an East London primary school, and some work carried out for a doctoral study. The article explores children’s views and perspectives on their use of first and second languages at home and at school. The kernel of the investigation is that language use is dependent on purpose. Bilingual children’s use of their first and second language depends on which language best serves a particular function. Often children who speak two or more languages on a regular basis combine these to create a new language. Schools therefore need to review their language policies and practices in relation to their pupil intake, taking into account the contribution of bilingual experience to children’s overall linguistic development. Teachers also need to understand parents’ views on their children’s language and literacy education. These issues are of vital importance if schools are to provide an inclusive curriculum.     

二外日语教学探讨

从某种程度上讲,日语已成为我国外语学习者的第二大语种。这对于以汉语为母语的学习者来说,无疑是有益于学习的事情。但另一方面,由于第一外语与第二外语两种语言语系间的差异,以及学习者习得第一外语的时间相对较长,对此形成了一种较为固定的语言模式的认识,大部分学习者认为二外掌握起来难度较大。因此,兼顾第一外语与二外日语教学的进度显得尤为重要。     

An English-Speaking Prekindergarten Teacher for Young Latino Children: Implications of the Teacher–Child Relationship on Second Language Learning

This case study was designed to describe how an effective English-speaking prekindergarten teacher develops strategies for communicating with and teaching young English language learners. The teacher’s classroom practices to enhance her own relationship with the children promoted opportunities for the Latino children to become full participants in the classroom community. At the end of the year, the Latino children showed progress in formal and informal measures of receptive vocabulary in both English and Spanish. Findings from the study suggest the importance of the affective and social nature of second language learning in young children. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

Bilingualism,Biliteracy, and Learning to Read: Interactions Among Languages and Writing Systems

Four groups of children in first grade were compared on early literacy tasks. Children in three of the groups were bilingual, each group representing a different combination of language and writing system, and children in the fourth group were monolingual speakers of English. All the bilingual children used both languages daily and were learning to read in both languages. The children solved decoding and phonological awareness tasks, and the bilinguals completed all tasks in both languages. Initial differences between the groups in factors that contribute to early literacy were controlled in an analysis of covariance, and the results showed a general increment in reading ability for all the bilingual children but a larger advantage for children learning two alphabetic systems. Similarly, bilinguals transferred literacy skills across languages only when both languages were written in the same system. Therefore, the extent of the bilingual facilitation for early reading depends on the relation between the two languages and writing systems.     

利用学习迁移理论促进二外俄语教学

本文从高等教育心理学的学习迁移理论入手,简单阐述了俄语和英语两者之间存在着“共性”———学习迁移的前提,概括总结了两种语言在语音、词汇、语法方面的共同现象,论述了如何利用原有的英语知识来促进二外俄语的教学,即学习迁移的关键。     

Reading Disability in Chinese Children Learning English as an L2

To examine whether there are common or specific deficits of reading disability (RD) in first (L1) and second languages (L2), Chinese children (9–11 years, N = 76) with or without RD who learn English as an L2 were studied during a visual word rhyming judgment task. Evidence was found for common deficits in L1 and L2 in visuo-orthographic processes in left inferior temporal gyrus and left precuneus, as well as in phonological processes in left dorsal inferior frontal gyrus as children with RD showed less activation than controls in both languages. Furthermore, the visuo-orthographic deficit appears to be a RD effect, whereas the phonological deficit appears to be a reading/performance effect. Some weak evidence for language specific effects was also found.     

Learning to spell a regularly spelled language is not a trivial task – patterns of errors in Kiswahili

Various theories of spelling development are discussed, includingtheir relevance to regularly spelled languages. For those languagesstudied so far, models including the incorporation of a wide variety oflinguistic knowledge seem most fruitful. Data from studies of reading,however, suggest that when the language is regularly spelled children donot make many errors after the initial stages. Data are presented fromspelling errors in children learning to spell Kiswahili, a regularlyspelled, non-European language. Patterns of errors and even specificphonemes and graphemes that are problematic are shown to resembleclosely the patterns found in English and other European languages. Itis concluded that, as in other languages, children are integrating manydifferent types of linguistic knowledge in their attempt to spell wordscorrectly; dialect, orthography, and grammatical knowledge are allimportant. Unlike reading such a language, spelling a regularly spelledlanguage is a cognitively challenging task.     

语块对儿童初学者学习英语的借鉴意义

英语中存在大量的语块。第二语言习得理论和认知心理学研究发现,儿童模仿能力强,具有很强的记忆能力。语块的特点使儿童在初学英语时便关注语言中的语篇层次,有利于语言运用能力的培养。通过观察儿童学习英语发现:特定交际对话中简单的句型框架,配以语义性强的词汇可以帮助儿童学习者轻松习得英语,建立英语学习的兴趣,帮助儿童早期形成有利的英语学习意识。     

Learning about print: the development of orthographic processing and its relationship to word reading in first grade children in French immersion

As children learn to read, they become sensitive to the patterns that exist in the ways in which their language(s) are represented in print. This skill is known as orthographic processing. We examined the nature of orthographic processing in English and French for children in the first grade of a French immersion program, and the relationship between orthographic processing and reading beyond controls for mother’s education, non-verbal reasoning, English vocabulary and phonological awareness. We found that children showed greater orthographic processing skill to patterns that were common to both of their languages than to those that occurred in just one of their languages. Across both lexical and sub-lexical orthographic processing measures, scores were related to word reading within each language, beyond our control variables. There was some evidence of cross-language relationships between orthographic processing and word reading, both for lexical and sub-lexical language-shared measures of orthographic processing. These findings suggest that children’s attention to features that are common both languages might be one source of transfer of orthographic processing to reading between languages.     

Flexibility in young second‐language learners: examining the language specificity of orthographic processing

This study examines whether orthographic processing transfers across languages to reading when the writing systems under acquisition are sufficiently related. We conducted a study with 76 7‐year‐old English‐first‐language children in French immersion. Measures of English and French orthographic processing (orthographic choice tasks) and standardised measures of English and French word reading (Woodcock and FIAT) were taken, in addition to verbal and nonverbal ability, and phonological and morphological awareness. Analyses reveal significant contributions of orthographic processing to reading both within and across the two languages, despite the inclusion of control variables. Findings of the transfer of orthographic processing skills to reading across languages suggest that orthographic processing may not be as language specific as previously hypothesised. We discuss the several similarities between English and French, such as a shared alphabet and cognates, that may drive transfer across languages in the context of current theories of second‐language reading development.     

英法比较对二外法语学习的影响

英语和法语两者之间存在着许多联系,既有共性,又有特性.本文通过语音、词汇及语法三方面对这两种语言的共性及特性进行比较,在二外法语学习中促进正迁移,抑制负迁移.帮助英语专业的学生更好的进行二外法语的学习.     

Dual language development of Latino children: Effect of instructional program type and the home and school language environment

Latino dual language children typically enter school with a wide range of proficiencies in Spanish and English, many with low proficiency in both languages, yet do make gains in one or both languages during their first school years. Dual language development is associated with how language is used at home and school, as well as the type of instructional program children receive at school. The present study investigates how changes in both Spanish and English proficiencies of Latino, second-generation immigrant children (n = 163) from kindergarten to second grade relate to instructional program type as well as language use at home and school. A series of MANCOVAs demonstrated significant dual language gains in children who were in bilingual classrooms and schools where Spanish was used among the teachers, students, and staff. Furthermore, only in classrooms where both Spanish and English were used did children reach age-appropriate levels of academic proficiency in both languages. Home language use was also significantly associated with dual language gains as was maternal Spanish vocabulary knowledge before controlling for maternal education. Educational implications and potential benefits associated with bilingualism are discussed.     

Cultural and linguistic influence on brain organization for language and possible consequences for dyslexia: A review

Current neuroimaging and neurophysiologic techniques have substantially increased our possibilities to study processes related to various language functions in the intact human brain. Learning to read and write influences the functional organization of the brain. What is universal and what is specific in the languages of the world are important issues. Most studies on healthy bilinguals indicate that essentially the same neural mechanisms are used for first and second languages, albeit with some linguistic and cultural influences related to speech and writing systems, particularly between alphabetical and nonalphabetical languages. Proficiency, age of acquisition, and amount of exposure can affect the cerebral representations of the languages. Accumulating data support the important role of working memory for acquiring high proficiency in the reading of native and second languages. It is proposed that longitudinal studies on second language acquisition are essential and that the specific problems related to second language learning in dyslexic children should have high priority.     

New Discoveries From the Bilingual Brain and Mind Across the Life Span: Implications for Education

We discuss the fruits of educational neuroscience research from our laboratory and show how the typical maturational timing milestones in bilingual language acquisition provide educators with a tool for differentiating a bilingual child experiencing language and reading delay versus deviance. Further, early schooling in two languages simultaneously affords young bilingual children a reading advantage and may also ameliorate the negative effect of low socioeconomic status on literacy. Using powerful brain imaging technology, functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy, we provide a first-time look into the developing brains of bilingual as comapred to monolingual children. We show unequivocally that the age of first bilingual exposure is a vital predictor of bilingual language and reading mastery. Accounts that promote later dual language and reading instruction, or those that assert human brain development is unrelated to bilingual language mastery, are not supported by the present findings. We discuss the implications for education, teachers, and developmental brain sciences.     

The language and literacy development of young dual language learners: A critical review

The number of children living in the United States who are learning two languages is increasing greatly. However, relatively little research has been conducted on the language and literacy development of dual language learners (DLLs), particularly during the early childhood years. To summarize the extant literature and guide future research, a critical analysis of the literature was conducted. A search of major databases for studies on young typically developing DLLs between 2000 and 2011 yielded 182 peer-reviewed articles.