Multilingualism and Literacy Difficulties: Bridging home and school

This article concerns the social and cultural aspects which affect teachers’, parents’ and children’s communication in situations where multilingual children are struggling to cope with learning literacy in a language which is not the main one they use at home. In particular, the article explores some issues associated with multilingualism and dyslexia. It makes reference to research reported at the British Dyslexia Association’s first international conference on this topic which took place in June 1999 (Schwartz 1999; BDA/Peer in press). It also draws upon some of the early pioneering research on teaching principles for children with specific learning difficulties (Strauss, Werner and Lehtinen, 1947; Cruickshank, 1961) in order to synthesise broad guidelines and provide a framework of questions for today’s teachers of multilingual children who are struggling with literacy learning. The questions are designed to facilitate a collaborative approach between teachers, parents and children through raising awareness of multilingual issues and exchanging information. In this way the broad framework may assist in preparing the ground for closer diagnostic assessment and supportive teaching.     

Supporting dual language learners in Head Start: teacher beliefs about teaching priorities and strategies to facilitate English language acquisition

ABSTRACT

Prior inquiry into teachers’ beliefs demonstrates that a top priority of early childhood teachers’ is developing children’s social-emotional skills (e.g., Hollingsworth & Winter, 2013; Kowalski, Pretti-Frontczak, & Johnson, 2001). This study builds upon and advances the knowledge base by providing evidence that the pervasiveness of these beliefs extends to Head Start teachers who work with the growing population of dual language learning (DLL) children. In this qualitative study, interviews that included practice-based vignettes for participants to analyze and respond to were conducted with 20 Head Start teachers serving classrooms with large proportions of DLL Latino children. Teachers reported they believed developing social-emotional skills among DLL children is of primary importance, noting that these skills are foundational for supporting DLL children’s English language acquisition. In turn, participating teachers also reported they believed using Spanish in the classroom is a strategy to support social-emotional skill development among DLL children and thus ultimately facilitate their English language acquisition. Finally, the interviews revealed that participating teachers believed English language acquisition occurs naturally and easily within the preschool setting. The implications of these beliefs for the design of preservice early childhood teacher education to meet the needs of today’s linguistically diverse childhood population are discussed.     

Teaching in the Foundation Stage—how current systems support teachers’ knowledge and understanding of children’s speech and language

This paper discusses the knowledge, skills and understandings of Foundation Stage teachers in relation to children’s speech and language development. Results from a questionnaire to 294 teachers reveal limited initial and post qualification training. Teachers’ knowledge of specific aspects of children’s language revealed that key areas for training were centred on the identification of children who may have speech and language difficulties and speech sound development. The discussion centres on how changes to the curriculum in initial teacher training, in the consolidation of the revised Special Educational Needs Code of Practice and in the assessment requirements within the Foundation Stage may impact on teachers’ knowledge of speech and language development and on their ability to identify children who have speech and language difficulties.     

Multilingual educational trends and practices in Lebanon: A case study

This paper reports on the multilingual background, language education policies and practices in Lebanon. Specifically, it shows how the multilingual make-up in the country is translated into language policies in schools. A survey of 30 private school principals, middle managers and teachers was administered online to obtain their views on school policies, problems, successes, concerns and quality ranking. Results showed that a great deal of work has been done to introduce a language of instruction and a third language as decreed by the Ministry of Education and at the same time keep the national language, Arabic, alive. The main concerns of the participants were the need for teacher training programmes and resources. Although the research implies that the school systems, in keeping up with this multilingual milieu, could be contributing to the death of the national language as well as producing students who are not fluent in any of the languages, there continues to be an attempt to keep alive a quality multilingual educational context which contributes to a cohesive society.     

Discursive strategies and learning of the school language: an ethnographic study in a classroom with high ethnic and linguistic diversity / Estrategias discursivas y aprendizaje de la lengua escolar: un estudio etnográfico en un aula de alta diversidad étnica y lingüística

Abstract

Research on the dialogic and intersubjective nature of children’s learning has emphasised the study of educational discourse and the semiotic mechanisms involved in understanding the students’ constructive activity. These studies have been carried out in classrooms where there was continuity between the language of instruction and the students’ first language. However, the number of classrooms in which students have an initial language which is not the language of instruction is increasing. This article analyses the educational discourse in a multilingual classroom when the teacher interacts with seven students in a teaching unit about language. The study uses interactional ethnography. The results show the use of teacher inquiry into the students’ beliefs about the task and the semiotic procedures used to construct a shared intersubjective framework. The discussion emphasises the similarity of some of these procedures with those used in the family in the initial stages of language acquisition, as well as the variations which the teacher uses of the social and specific framework of reference.     

Professional ecologies shaping technology adoption in early childhood education with multilingual children

Strategic deployment of the digital world in educational ecosystems inhabited by multilingual children (4–6 years old), their teachers and their families is evolving in some communities. This study reveals the “actors” and communities that mediate the extent and the nature of engagement with new media in contexts of early childhood education, including evidence of partnership with teachers. Teachers and parents were found to be the “keystone species,” with the teacher the most influential mediator for young multilingual children. Empirical research into the interacting learning ecologies of young children in six early childhood centres and five associated schools is based on interviews with teachers and families plus photographs of the linguistic landscapes in these physical and digital ecosystems. Fragmented multiple perspectives on the education of young children and technology adoption are brought together with Davis’ Arena Framework of change with digital technologies in education. One early childhood education centre is mapped in a global arena to expose the co-evolution of education with technology that occurs in all levels, local through global. This clarifies the need for co-construction of policy and practice in these ecosystems so that that emergent bilinguals can have a better start in the digital world.     

Reading in multilingual learners of Urdu (L1), English (L2) and Arabic (L3)

The present study examined the language and literacy skills and their relations to each other in multilingual children, who have a broad range of oral and written language proficiency in each language that they “know”. Reading and vocabulary skills were tested in 50 Canadian children (ages 6–10 years) who were Urdu–English speakers, learning Arabic. Reading skills were related to within-language oral proficiency and across languages with similar and different orthographies. The results suggest the need for hybrid models of language acquisition that combine language-general and language-specific components. The results also are discussed in terms of the need to consider the language and literacy skills of multilingual individuals in current theories of language and literacy acquisition.     

Language education needs for multilingualism in Fiji primary schools

This paper looks at current practice in teaching multilingual Indo-Fijian children in eight Fiji primary schools. Indo-Fijians speak Fiji Hindi (FH) as their mother tongue, learn Shudh Hindi (SH) or Urdu, and English for formal and literacy purposes and use English and Fijian for interethnic communication. The current education policy states that children be taught in their mother tongue for the first 3 years of primary school before English becomes the medium of instruction. This practice was not apparent in the schools. In all 24 observed classrooms, English was the dominant language of instruction. There is an important need in Fiji for teacher training to address the issues around multilingual education so that teachers can confidently contribute to an educational system which maximises the use of Fiji's linguistic resources for the educational advancement of all sectors of the country's population.     

What linguistically diverse parents know and how it can help early childhood Educators: A case study of a dual language preschool community

While the population of bilinguals and English learners continues to rise in our schools, teachers often feel frustrated with their lack of knowledge about best practices to support their multilingual students’ language, socio-emotional and cognitive development. Teachers’ frustration is compounded by the push for assessments in the early years. The aim of this 24-month ethnographic case study is to explore what information linguistically diverse families hold about their bilingual children’s language development and use, and how this information can help teachers (1) understand formal and informal assessment data, and (2) create linguistically appropriate support for young bilinguals and their families. The research was drawn from an ethnographic case study of a dual language (Italian-English) preschool in a major metropolitan area. The private dual language preschool provided education for ages 2.8 years to 6 years of age. The families who participated in this study were primarily immigrants, bilingual and middle class.     

高校外语教师元认知能力在外语教学中的作用探析

高校外语教师肩负着提升学生外语水平能力的重担。在日常教学中教师进行元认知能力的培养对于提升教师自身能力,加强教师自身教学水平的提高具有不可替代的作用。元认知能力包含元认知知识、元认知体验和元认知监控,这三个方面构成了教师在实际教学工作中的重点。如何把握和创新教师的元认知能力对于改善高校外语教学、革新高校外语教学模式具有较强的实践意义。     

Trends and innovative practices in multilingual education in Europe: An overview

This overview focuses on Europe, a linguistically diverse region and moreover home to a number of minority languages. Over the past five decades, the focus of research on bi- or multilingual education has shifted from an initial emphasis on speakers?? identities and their membership of homogenous imagined communities to an interest in learners?? diverse and not usually clear-cut (multi)lingual repertoires. In the wake of regionalist movements emerging in the 1960s and an increase in transmigration and global mobility from the 1990s onwards, different models of practices and policies have developed in European bi- and multilingual education. The author discerns four different policy orientations and three types of structured language distribution practices. The challenge for policy-makers and schools is to choose carefully which of these models work best in their particular environments.     

Teaching and learning in a multilingual Europe: findings from a cross-European study

School classrooms within the EU are multilingual learning environments. The diversity of pupils in classrooms raises significant challenges for teachers, but to date, there are no data from large-scale surveys that compare views within and across European countries. A bespoke questionnaire was designed to examine views of current classroom learning environments with respect to the multilingualism. The questionnaire was piloted and subsequently completed by 2792 teachers across different European countries. Eleven countries provided sufficient data for analyses. Results from structural equation modelling showed that teachers’ attitudes could be reliably measured across Europe with the use of carefully devised questionnaire, whose loading and factor structure remained invariant across countries. Teachers’ views about multilingualism were most challenged by the numbers of children in their classes, not the percentage of multilingual pupils in the class. Countries differed in how they perceived multilingualism, with their differences leading to distinctive country clusters. Gender and education level (elementary vs. secondary) differences were also observed irrespective of country. These findings enhance our understanding of the role that the characteristics of teachers and their classrooms play in a multilingual setting across diverse European settings. The practical relevance of the results and new opportunities for teacher training are discussed.

     

“Nobody Told Me They Didn’t Speak English!”: Teacher Language Views and Student Linguistic Repertoires in Hutterite Colony Schools in Canada

This article presents a qualitative study of five monolingual teachers’ understandings of the linguistic repertoires of their multilingual students. These teachers deliver the Saskatchewan provincial curricula in English to Hutterite colony students who are users of three languages: (a) spoken Hutterisch as a home and community language, (b) written High German as a language for religious worship, and (c) spoken and written English for school and for communication outside the colony. Findings from this study demonstrate that the teachers report having had limited or inaccurate understandings of their students’ linguistic repertoires prior to beginning their teaching positions. Secondly, the teacher participants’ awareness of the students’ language resources was, and is, an ongoing process. Finally, the willingness and ability to cultivate hybrid language use of Hutterisch and English varies from teacher to teacher. The article concludes with discussion of considerations for teacher education and in-service teachers working in Hutterite communities.     

Teaching the language of mathematics at three levels of an English-medium primary school

This study, situated in a multilingual, English-medium educational context, draws on theory from mathematics and language education to capture teachers’ perspectives on the place of language in their mathematics pedagogy. The benchmark study explored this topic through surveying and interviewing teachers. Additionally, it sought to relate teachers’ views to their practice by focusing on observing three teachers’ mathematics lessons at primary one, three, and five. Findings are that mathematics teachers placed importance on teaching language, being specifically concerned with language as input and comprehension. They taught vocabulary and reading skills in supportive ways explicitly yet differently at the three grade levels. Particularly at the lower levels, teachers contextualised language in the concrete examples employed for mathematics teaching. At all three levels, prominence was given to teaching pupils how to read word problems as well as how to solve them. However, at primary three, a tension was observed between the two aims of teaching mathematical vocabulary and teaching the reading skills for word problems. This paper illustrates the tension and discusses its possible causes.     

Classroom literacy practices in low- and middle-income countries: an interpretative synthesis of ethnographic studies

Surveys in low- and middle-income (LMI countries) reveal persistently low levels of learning among children in disadvantaged communities. Against this background, our synthesis of ethnographies aims at a fresh interpretation of classroom practices to clarify instruction-related barriers to literacy attainments. The review focuses on the period from 1990, the year of the UN Declaration of Education for All, to 2014. Sixteen studies focusing on children up to Grade 4 from eleven LMI countries met criteria for methodological rigour. The synthesis, structured within socio-cultural and psycholinguistic frameworks, examined vignettes of teacher- and child-initiated talk and activities related to language and literacy learning. Trends captured include instructions that are light on explanation, skewed towards reinforcing orthographic knowledge, and leaving the advancing of children’s broader linguistic and general knowledge to incidental learning. Learning from the peer group is common and, in bi- and multilingual settings, use of home language as a learning resource is uncommon. It is proposed that a cultural analysis of choral lessons, writing for learning, peer tutoring and community-specific preferences for language of instruction is required to understand whether embedding inference-focused interventions within these practices will promote more effective teaching and learning.     

Language of learning and teaching in schools: an issue for research in mathematics teacher education?

Most countries in Africa have introduced the use of local languages as the language of learning and teaching for the first few years of schooling. Meaning that for the first few years of learning, learners learn mathematics in their local languages. In response to this, most research has focused on the challenges of using local languages in multilingual mathematics classrooms in schools. Not much research focuses on how the teacher educators prepare the prospective teachers to teach mathematics in multilingual classrooms. To further knowledge in the area of multilingualism in mathematics education, I, in this paper, present an analysis of the literature on multilingual teacher education in Africa. Specifically, I look at what it is that governments in interested countries are doing in teacher education programs in response to the introduction of local languages in schools. From the literature examined, I found that although there is awareness in a number of countries of the need for multilingual teacher education, not much has been done in order to train mathematics teachers on how to use local languages in the classroom. I therefore recommend that, for those countries that have implemented or planning to introduce the use of local languages in schools, some reforms should also take place in teacher education programs in terms of training the prospective teachers how to teach in local languages.     

Mealtimes in Swedish preschools: pedagogical opportunities for toddlers learning a new language

This paper reports on a study which explores how routine activities in preschool can support young multilingual children’s participation, communication and development of languages. The paper takes as its starting point the idea that young children’s development takes place through interaction and participation, including in routine activities. Empirical data of mealtimes was gathered in eight toddler groups in a Swedish city, and analysed as a context for learning. The mealtimes were video recorded and interpreted by using an interaction analytic approach which allowed multiple layers of mealtime interactions, all of which impact on the level of participation available to children, to be explored. A detailed analysis of activities and opportunities for communication provides an additional perspective for understanding participation and language learning in institutional practices. The findings show how language learning is situated as a communicative and participatory experience, and that common and shared topics are crucial for participation. Further, a shift in children’s participation status during interaction at mealtime is possible. An extended way of incorporating language teaching into multilingual preschool contexts is discussed.     

Policy and Practice in Language Support for Newly Arrived Migrant Children in Ireland and Spain

Over the last decades, migration across Europe has continued to increase. Consequently, offering educational support for migrant students in the schools of host countries has been an extensively debated issue across Europe and further afield, especially in countries with a history of immigration. However, less is known about how education systems in the ‘new’ immigration countries have responded to the needs of recently arrived migrants. This article focuses on language support measures set up for migrant students in state-funded schools in the Republic of Ireland and Spain – both multilingual countries with more than one official language and with a heterogeneous migrant population. In reviewing educational policy and practice in these jurisdictions in the areas of language support for migrants, this article seeks to contribute to the debate on challenges involved in supporting language acquisition by migrant students in formal educational settings.     

Learning to be Literate in Andhra Pradesh (Southern India) and Punjab District (Pakistan)

Two education projects, one in Southern India and the other in the rural Punjab, Pakistan, have as their focus the shift of the curriculum from a rote learning of text books to an active, experiential and child centred approach to learning. Achieving literacy is a key element in the success of these projects. In these two areas the drop out rate from education can be particularly high from the first year in school, where learning to read is seen as learning complex letter shapes in a de-contextualised way which does not build on early language experience. Class 1 children are not exposed to texts in any form until they have mastered letter formations. Further reading is often rote learning of the text books and book materials can be almost non existent in public schools. The question has to be raised of how easy it is, in reality, to implement active approaches to learning to become literate in conditions where lack of training and inadequate materials make the task difficult for teachers. Are there aspects of recent research and understanding of language acquisition and children learning to read that might be generalisable even in very different pedagogical and cultural conditions? Experience suggests that there are language resources available to teachers at little or no cost and that once they have experienced using these materials they can become enthusiastic and inventive teachers of literacy. The ubiquitous ‘action song’ is a popular element in early education, enjoyed by both teachers and children. Encouraging teachers to produce a written version of the action song to be learned can give access to a text right from the earliest time in school. Common rhyme and letter patterns in the songs can be identified and high lighted and children have shown that they can quickly identify these written elements in the text. Versions of stories derived from pictures and told to the teacher for writing down have resulted in simple Big Books being used for shared reading with children in Class 1. Teachers have been surprised at how detailed and accurate these children's drawings can be. Both these simple, low cost literacy approaches can be undertaken by teachers of large classes without them needing to change very much in the way that they manage the class. Even so the focus of learning shifts from the teacher to the learner and the methodology is based on sound, relevant and up to date research in language acquisition. Examples that are given show that active learning approaches can be successful if teachers are given training and support that takes account of their previous understanding and classroom conditions.     

“I Want to Do Things With Languages”: A Male Karenni Refugee’s Reconstructing Multilingual Capital

This article discusses how a male Karenni refugee in the United States has constructed multilingual capital along the way of his multiple movements across national borders. As a member of an ethnic minority group in three different countries (Burma, Thailand, and the United States), he has invested in learning multiple languages throughout the movements. Based on a two-year ethnographic study on the participant’s multilingual practices, I argue that being multilingual is a fundamental part of his transnational identities, economic security, and agentive acts. His roles outside formal classroom settings as a language broker, refugee, and an ESL tutor have been shaped by a continuum, or horizontal relationship of languages. The study suggests the inclusion of adult students’ transnational identity and multilingual practices outside a language classroom. In addition, a career that requires multilingual skills and transnational knowledge should be encouraged and created for newcomers.