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by K. Anstrom. This document summarizes, analyzes, and integrates findings from
relevant research pertaining to the education of language minority students in the
content areas. The study focused on the instruction of secondary-level language minority
students in mainstream social studies, science, mathematics and language arts classes.
Specifically, the document focuses on several key questions: What does the relevant
literature pertaining to content area instruction of linguistically and culturally diverse
learners (LCDLs) contribute to the theory and practice of (1) standards for LCDLs? (2)
measures of achievement, proficiency, and/or academic literacy for LCDLs? (3) the
field of promising practices in content area instruction for LCDLs? The report includes
preparation of mainstream teachers to work with language minority students.
An article by S. Alva and A. Padilla reviewing factors that Mexican American students
who overcome a number of socioeconomic and cultural disadvantages use to succeed
academically. Why do some Mexican American students do well while others fail despite
sharing similar socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds? The purpose of this paper is to
present a conceptual framework that assigns a central role to the interaction among
sociocultural, personal, and environmental factors in explaining the academic
performance of Mexican American high school students.
Given the misinformation that persists about second language acquisition among both
educators and the public, this short publication by Virginia P. Collier is written to guide
the reader through the substantial research knowledge base that the field has developed
over the past 25 years.
by Gustavo Gonzalez & Lento F. Maez. As we prepare students to meet the challenges of
the 21st century, research must be utilized to guide the implementation of innovative
and comprehensive school-wide instructional practices that focus on helping all students
meet high standards. The findings and conclusions from the research studies discussed
here can be applied to help linguistically and culturally diverse students reach high
levels of achievement and performance.
by Patricia Kuntz. Although the teaching of African languages at the elementary and
secondary levels is rare, a number of schools offer one or more of the following major
African languages at these levels: Arabic (North Africa), Hausa (West Africa), Swahili
(East Africa), Wolof (Senegal), Yoruba (Nigeria), and Xhosa and Zulu (South Africa).
This digest suggests these programs have adequate instructional materials, learning
time, effective teaching practices, and curricula designed by scope and sequence.
by Charles William Twyford. The author of this article analyzes a number of factors -
cognitive, sociocultural, affective, and linguistic-- that may account for age differences
in second language acquisition.
The ACLU opposes "English Only" laws because they can abridge the rights of individuals
who are not proficient in English, and because they perpetuate false stereotypes of
immigrants and non-English speakers. This briefing paper elobrates on these critical
issues.
by Mary Hermes. Located within the recent scholarship in Indian Education, this brief
annotated bibliography concentrates on the subject broadly referred to as "culture and
curriculum." If culture is understood as the collective values, practices, and will of a
people, then cultural practices in Indian education can only be understood as acts of self
determination.
by Jon Reyhner. This article looks from a historical perspective at what impact the
implementation of the American Indian Languages Act might have on Indian education.
by K. Swisher. This study is an exploratory effort to determine current thinking about
learning styles from the perspective of those groups closely associated with American
Indian students, i.e., teachers and administrators of the schools attended by American
Indian students. The study assumes that there is a pervasive, but not clearly defined,
understanding by practitioners of learning styles relating to American Indian people. The
purpose of this study was to determine the extent of teacher knowledge about learning
styles and to determine the extent to which this knowledge is applied in classrooms
attended by American Indian students.
by Jim Cummins and Michael Genzuk. The U.S. Department of Education released the
findings of an eight-year study designed to provide definitive answers to one of the most
volatile questions in American Education: What types of programs work best in helping
Hispanic students succeed in school? The issue has revolved around the effectiveness of
bilingual education which involves using the child's primary language in addition to
English as a language of instruction. This article also available in Spanish.
by James Crawford. Paper presented at a Conference on Language Legislation and
Linguistic Rights, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, March 21, 1996.
by A. M. Zehler, P. J. Hopstock, H. L. Fleischman, C. Greniuk. The purpose of this report
is to examine assessment instruments and practices and to review issues related to
assessment of LEP students. It is critical to examine these issues now, as major steps are
being taken toward: (1) the redesign of assessment approaches; and (2) definition of
standards and new national assessment systems. Given their increasingly large
representation in schools today, issues related to language minority and LEP students
should be included early on in the efforts to define new assessments.
The nation's schools are increasingly multiracial even as the teaching force continues to
be predominantly white. This juxtaposition of burgeoning "minority" school populations
against dwindling numbers of "minority" teachers has drawn much scholarly attention.
Yet, few studies include data on Asian and Pacific Islander (API) teachers rendering
information partial, at best. This ERIC digest A. Lin Goodwin reviews available data on
APIs in order to assess their presence in the teaching profession.
by Deborah J. Short. Integrated language and content instruction has become a popular
alternative to traditional ESL instruction. Researchers have recommended this
instructional approach to develop students' academic language ability and facilitate their
transition to mainstream classes. Practitioners have also favored this approach to
prepare students for mainstream classes, increase student motivation and interest with
content themes, and make ESL students feel part of the mainstream school curricula.
This article addresses the issue of assessment in integrated classes and provides a
framework for organizing assessment objectives. It recommends using alternative
assessment measures, such as checklists, portfolios, interviews, and performance
based tasks.
by Roger Bordeaux. This Digest examines the use of standardized, nationally normed
testing in assessing the progress of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students.
It describes studies that have shown the inadequacies of these assessment methods as well
as theories that attempted to explain the poor test results of the AI/AN population. The
Digest then describes alternatives to standardized testing, particularly performance
based assessment, recommended by Native and non-Native educators and researchers.
by Judith Wilde. This document provides information to those who might be planning
professional development activities for educational personnel. While the focus is on
assessment of those participating in professional development activities related to
English language development, sheltered content instruction, and bilingual instruction,
the processes involved can, and should, be applied to any professional development
activity that results in a certificate or license of some type -- any professional
development activities that will result in better educational programs for all students
within the school.
by R. G. Rumbaut. This review is intended to provide some insight into the determinants
of the educational progress and adaptation of the children of these new immigrants in
California public schools. Results from a comparative research study of the educational
performance of children of immigrants in San Diego schools (including dropout rates,
grade-point averages [GPAs], achievement test scores, and educational aspirations),
focusing on the largest groups: Mexicans, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Laotians, Cambodians,
and East Asian groups is given. This is followed by a review of three illustrative case
studies of the adaptation of immigrant high school students who reside in different parts
of California: Southeast Asian refugees, Punjabi Sikhs from India, and Mexican
immigrants.
by Shannon Brownlee. U.S. News artilce in which Ms Brownlee reveals that learning
language, researchers are finding, is an astonishing act of brain computation--and it's
performed by people too young to tie their shoes. Geneticists and linguists recently have
begun to challenge the common-sense assumption that intelligence and language are
inextricably linked, through research on a rare genetic disorder called Williams
syndrome, which can seriously impair cognition while leaving language nearly intact
(box). Increasingly sophisticated technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging are
allowing researchers to watch the brain in action, revealing that language literally
sculpts and reorganizes the connections within it as a child grows.
by Mary T. Cazabon, Elena Nicoladis, and Wallace E. Lambert. Research on the most
effective forms of bilingual education (usually in terms of English achievement)
suggests that two-way programs may be the best. Two-way bilingual education has been
described in a national study as "the program with the highest long-term academic
success" (Thomas & Collier, 1997, p. 52). The students' success in these programs is
undoubtedly due to a number of factors. These include opportunities for linguistic
minority students to assume strong peer leadership roles in the classroom, an emphasis
on grade-level academic instruction in both languages, sustained support for and use of
multicultural curricula, and opportunities for non-English-speaking parents to form
close partnerships with the school staff as well as with other parents. The purpose of the
present report is to examine students' development in a two-way bilingual program by
focusing on both their attitudes toward becoming bilingual (and possibly bicultural) and
their school achievement in both languages. Although the authors do not have data to
examine causal links between attitudes and achievement, they see this study as a first
step toward showing the relationship between the two.
A review of current research literature on the education of language minority students
in the United States. The result of the review is the presentation of the "Best Evidence"
as it relates to the research foundations of the Bilingual Education Act (Title VII of The
Improving America's Schools Act). The author, Jim Crawford, has organized the
document according to the Congressional findings on the Bilingual Education Act.
by Gary Huang. To explore the complexities of communication with Asian and Pacific
Islanders (API) children and their families, this digest describes the overt and covert
dimensions of the various API cultures, and discusses APIs' socioeconomic background
and life experiences that affect their communication behavior. The goal is to help
practitioners improve communication with APIs and, thus, more effectively educate API
children.
Jim Cummins, from Ontario Institute for Studies in Education clarifies aspects of the
distinction between basic interpersonal communicative skills and cognitive academic
language proficiency that he framed 20 years ago (Cummins, 1979) as a qualification to
John Oller's (1979) claim that all individual differences in language proficiency could
be accounted for by just one underlying factor, which he termed global language
proficiency.
by Stephen D. Krashen. The core of the case for bilingual education is that the principles
underlying successful bilingual education are the same principles that underlie
successful language acquisition in general. These principles are: (1) We acquire a second
language by understanding messages, by obtaining comprehensible input. (2)
Background knowledge can help make second language input more comprehensible, and
can thus assist in the acquisition of the second language. (3) The development of literacy
occurs in the same way as second language acquisition does.
by Barbara Miner. This article looks at two California schools with large Latino
populations take very different tacks to preserve bilingual literacy in the wake of
Proposition 227's "English-only" provisions.
by Richard Rothstein. A Phi Delta Kappan article suggesting that our commonly held
notion of how earlier generations of immigrants were educated -- often used as the chief
argument in support of English immersion -- is a myth.
This article by by Kenji Hakuta reviews numerous areas including the following topics:
bilingualism defined, what is bilingual about bilingual education? second language
learning, bilingualism and cognitive development, and cross-language transfer of skills
and knowledge.
An historical perspective on bilingualism and bilingual education in North America.
From James Crawford's highly acclaimed book, Bilingual Education: History, Politics,
Theory, and Practice.
Reading is a discipline that requires a significant transfer of skills, knowledge, and
concepts from one language to another for bilingual students. In the classroom, bilingual
educators must provide instruction that builds a strong foundation for reading literacy
in both the first and second language. The research and classroom practices highlighted
in this pathway provide bilingual educators with specific methods and materials that can
be used to build a strong foundation in reading.
by Diane Rodriguez and Angela Carrasquillo. The purpose of this article is to discuss a
conceptual framework for bilingual education teacher preparation. The framework
described is based on information provided by experienced bilingual special education
field specialists (teachers, administrators, clinicians, and professors) about the
competencies bilingual special education teachers need to demonstrate in order to meet
the unique needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students with disabilities. The
article describes five areas relevant to the preparation of bilingual special education
teachers: language proficiency, assessment, planning and delivery of instruction,
culture and advancement in the profession.
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by Robin Butterfield. This Digest focuses on findings of the U.S. Department of
Education's Indian Nations At Risk (INAR) Task Force (1991) and the White House
Conference on Indian Education (1992) related to Native students who attend public
schools. Task Force and Conference findings--produced in early 1991 and 1992,
respectively--suggest systemic reforms that would (a) foster intercultural harmony in
schools, (b) improve teacher preparation, (c) develop instructional curricula and
strategies that support diverse cultural needs and learning styles, (d) include AI/AN
parents in the educational process, and (e) adopt a new paradigm for evaluation of AI/AN
student progress and success.
by William Demmert. This Digest connects personal experience to that of other Native
peoples and to the findings of two national studies. The Digest concludes with a summary
of steps that must be taken at the local and federal levels, as recommended in the studies.
by B. Bower. Unlike people who become bilingual after childhood, those who learn a
second language at an early age rely on the same critical patch of brain tissue when
speaking either tongue, according to a new study. Adult learners of language apparently
recruit nearby groups of brain cells, suggest neuroscientist Joy Hirsch of Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and her colleagues.
by Thomas Ricento. A review of the history of language restrictionism in the United
States and commentaries on current efforts to declare English the official language.
by Patricia Gándara, Katherine Larson, Russell Rumberger, and Hugh Mehan. This Brief
reports on three California school-based programs aimed at improving the rate of both
high school completion and college attendance among Latino students. While the aims of
the three programs are similar, their strategies differ according to the segment of the
population they target and the ways in which they deploy their resources. Yet each has
proven to be effective. ALAS targets the lowest-achieving Latino students who are at the
greatest risk of dropping out of high school. AVID targets underachieving students with
above-average test scores who have the potential to take more-demanding college
preparatory courses in high school. Puente targets students with varied levels of
achievement with the aim of ensuring that they finish high school and go on to college.
The report describe each of the programs and the evaluation results that exist to date.
In this article A.T. Lockwood examines the context in which Hispanic students drop out of
school--and what one exemplary middle school has done to battle these contextual
factors. A web of interlocking factors synergize to make dropping out of school much
more likely for Hispanic students. Factors include racial and ethnic identity, gender,
socioeconomic status, academic performance, self-concept, family organization, and
language fluency.
This digest by Theresa Hsu Chao suggests that Chinese heritage community language
schools (referred to here as Chinese language schools) are an integral part of the
Chinese community in cities across the United States. According to a recent study by the
National Council of Associations of Chinese Language Schools, approximately 82,675
students are taking Chinese in 634 language schools across the country. This article
reviews the process and the schools.
This article by S.Y. Zhang and A. Carrasquillo reviews the literature related to Chinese
parents' influence on Chinese students' educational performance. Cultural values always
play an important role in the educational achievement of Chinese students. Chinese
parents are renowned for their willingness to sacrifice for the sake of their children's
education. Parents have a significant influence in the academic performance of Chinese
students.
by Patricia Gandara. This is a study of high academic achievement found in the most
unlikely places: among low-income Mexican Americans from homes with little formal
education. It examines the backgrounds of 50 persons, male and female from one age
cohort, who met most of the predictors for school failure or "dropping out." All came
from families in which neither parent completed high school or held a job higher than
skilled labor; the average father finished grade four and most were sons and daughters of
farmworkers and other unskilled laborers. Most began school with Spanish as their
primary language, yet all completed doctoral-level educations from the country's most
prestigious institutions. This study investigates the forces that conspire to create such
anomalies. Its aim is to suggest how such outcomes might be the product of design rather
than accident.
By Jamie B. Draper and Martha Jiménez. Not since the beginning of this century has
language received as much attention in the United States. Like the language battles of the
early 1900s, those of the 1980s were rife with appeals to patriotism and unity casting
language minorities in the role of outsiders who deliberately "chose" not to learn the
English language. This article provides a chronological overview of these efforts.
Annotated bibliographies and ERIC abstracts highlighting classroom materials for
African American studies and students. The documents and journal articles have been
entered into the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) database. Most
documents can be ordered from original sources or from the ERIC Document
Reproduction Service, 1-800-443-ERIC.
by Carmen Simich-Dudgeon, Patricia Anne DiCerbo. This article is written primarily
for English as a second language (ESL), bilingual and mainstream teachers who have
English language learners in their classroom. The methods and activities described
throughout can be successfully adapted for use with elementary, middle, and high school
students. In reworking these activities for their own classrooms, teachers will want to
consider the literacy and English proficiency levels of their students, along with such
factors as age, cultural and education background, and learning style.
by G. Vernez, R.A. Krop, C.P. Rydell. This Rand report asks: How much would it cost and
what would the benefits be if blacks and Hispanics graduated from high school, went to
college, and graduated from college at the same rate as non-Hispanic whites? The answer
to this important question for the future of the nation is explored in this report. The
costs of education would be high, increasing by about 20 percent in California and 10
percent in the rest of the nation. But the benefits, in the form of savings in public health
and welfare expenditures and increased tax revenues from higher incomes, would be
even higher. Indeed, the added costs of providing more education to minorities would be
recouped well within the lifetime of taxpayers called upon to make the additional
investments. The nation is experiencing a rapid immigration driven increase in the
share of Hispanics in the school age population. Failure to increase the educational
attainment of this group would result in growing shares of new labor-force entrants
having levels of education lower than those prevailing today; in increased income
disparities between blacks and Hispanics, on one hand, and Asians and non-Hispanic
whites, on the other; and in increased public expenditures for social and health
programs for generations to come.
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by Ann Galloway. This digest looks at the communicative approach to the teaching of
foreign languages. It is intended as an introduction to the communicative approach for
teachers and teachers-in-training who want to provide opportunities in the classroom
for their students to engage in real-life communication in the target language. Questions
to be dealt with include what the communicative approach is, where it came from, and
how teachers' and students' roles differ from the roles they play in other teaching
approaches. Examples of exercises that can be used with a communicative approach are
described, and sources of appropriate materials are provided.
This Digest provides brief descriptions of key federal legislation and initiatives calling
for school reform. Each description is followed by a series of questions that can help
American Indian and Alaska Native communities closely examine local school reform
plans.
by Jim Cummins. This paper outlines the rationale underlying an innovative approach
to computer assisted language learning that proposes to use target language text as input
for learning. The text is made comprehensible to learners as a result of dictionary and
learning strategy supports built into a multimedia CD-ROM design. The dictionary
supports can be provided in learners' first and second languages (L1 and L2) and
learning strategy supports include graphic organizers to facilitate comprehension of
content as well as a variety of vocabulary building and grammar learning supports.
These supports represent scaffolding that enables the learner/reader to process the
meaning of texts that otherwise would have been inaccessible. Any text in electronic
form can be imported into the system and used as authentic input for target language
learning. Computer Assisted Text Scaffolding for Curriculum Access and Language
Learning/Acquisition - Summary
by Charles W. Stansfield. Not all students are able to participate in the assessment
program. Typically, schools defer or exempt students from participating if they cannot
speak, read, and write English. Consequently, the test results obtained by schools often
give an incomplete and, sometimes, misleading picture of the quality of student
achievement at the school. In schools where there are a large number of non-native
English speaking students, the school may exclude all of those students from
participating in the assessment program. Thus, the official reported results may have
little relationship to the actual status of educational achievement in the school. This
digest reviews the problem and the situation and offers solutions.
by Hugh Mehan. The prevailing discourse poses dropping out as a failure of individuals.
The purpose of this paper is to try to interrupt that discourse and to furnish a different
"way of talking that can unpack, inform, critique but still imagine what could be" in
public urban high schools in the United States. The different way proposed represents
dropping out in social, not personal, terms, as an institutional production that
reproduces the structures of inequality in the educational, economic, and civic domains
of everyday life.
by Deirdre A. Almeida. This Digest describes current inadequacies in teaching about
Native Americans, even when teachers are making an effort to portray American Indians
and Alaska Natives respectfully, and suggests ways to avoid common pitfalls. The Digest
provides guidelines for detecting anti-Indian bias in the curriculum and offers a brief
list of Native American-controlled publications and resources.
by G. Genevieve Patthey-Chavez, Lindsay Clark and Ronald Gallimore. This report
explores the ways in which instructional conversations between a teacher and her
students contributed to building an academic community in a transitional bilingual
fourth-grade classroom. Through an analysis of reading lesson transcripts, classroom
events, and student essays and journal assignments, this report shows how classroom
experiences fostered the development of students' understanding of the concepts of
sacrifice and responsibility. This report describes how, at both the individual and
classroom community level, instructional conversations deepened student
understandings of the texts they read in class by encouraging students to make
connections between particular textual concepts and their own experiences. In addition to
tracking student gains in understanding, this report shows how the conversations helped
build a classroom community that incorporated the cultural beliefs and concerns of the
students.
by Kenji Hakuta. In a recent court declaration urging that immigrant students be exposed
to English as early as possible, an advocate wrote: "the optimal time to learn a second
language is between age three and five or as soon thereafter as possible, and certainly
before the onset of puberty" (Porter, 1998). Such statements derive from the critical
period hypothesis for second language acquisition, the origins of which are attributable
to Penfield and Roberts (1959) and more prominently perhaps to Eric Lenneberg
(1967), who amassed evidence in support of the view that first language acquisition is a
biologically constrained process, with a specific timetable ending at puberty. In a single
paragraph of the book (p. 176), Lenneberg speculated about the implications for second
language acquisition, noting that after puberty, second languages are acquired
consciously and with great effort, and often not very successfully. The purpose of this
paper is to make explicit the assumptions underlying this hypothesis, and to highlight
what we know, and don't know, about its empirical status.
Robert A. Peña investigates the relationships between student achievement, student
culture and practitioners' attitudes and expectations. Student achievement was defined as
academic performance but also included perceptions, rationales and explanations for
student behaviors and conduct. Student culture described students' Mexican American
origins, customs and beliefs. Practitioners' attitudes described how middle school
personnel generally perceived Mexican American high and underachieving students, and
practitioners' expectations described how personnel interacted and behaved toward
Mexican American students.
by R. Chávez Chávez. A discussion on constructing a curriculum discourse for Latina/o
students. Focusing on the need for authenticity from within the community that values,
respects, and dignifies the self by trusting the self for the good of self and others. The
author suggests that constructing curriculum for achieving equity is an attitude that
resonates from a longing to have all students think and do for themselves and others in
compassionate ways rooted in respect, dignity, and high expectations.
by Benjamin Levin and J. Anthony Riffel. Increasing diversity in the population is a
major issue for educators in North America, presenting political as well as educational
challenges. This paper examines Canadian educational policy responses to four kinds of
diversity - bilingualism (French/English), multiculturalism, the situation of
aboriginal peoples, and the problem of poverty. A description of each issue leads to some
speculations or propositions on the nature of diversity and appropriate educational
responses to it.
The National Education Association (NEA) article on: Reasons Against English Only; NEA
Resolutions; Language Inclusion History & English Only Legislation; Community
Recommendations; and English Only Resources.
A study by A. Valencia that is intended to yield findings on the degree that significant
persons in the students' lives have had in their decisions to pursue and reach higher
educational attainments. Nine sources of influence were selected for this study, and the
sources were of one particular type- significant persons in the students' lives who
influenced them to pursue and complete university studies.
by E. Franklin & J. Thompson. This article describes the collected written and visual
works of one Dakota child, Monica, and three themes: relationships, cultural
commitment, and romance visible in her works. Through a descriptive study of her
works, Monica's teachers were able to understand her particular meaning-making
efforts, the way in which various genres (e.g., personal narratives, realistic and
romance fictional narratives, cards and letters, written and visual responses to books)
supported her exploration and expression of meaning, and the struggles and tensions
inherent in her creative process.
by L. Radford, J. Netten, and G. Duquette. This article provides classroom teachers with
clear directions and specific classroom strategies which will enable students to develop
target second language skills through the teaching of mathematics. Students learn a
number of problem-solving strategies and they apply these strategies to specific, real
context situations using arithmetic and algebraic formulas. Students are encouraged to
co-operate and communicate in finding solutions to the mathematical problems they face
and thus develop communications skills related to the problem-solving activities.
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by: Hakuta, Banks, Christian, Durán, Kaestle, Kenny, Leinhardt, Ortiz, Hinojosa,
Lucinda Pease-Alvarez, & Snow. The Committee to Develop a Research Agenda for the
Education of Limited-English-Proficient and Bilingual Students was convened to
undertake a comprehensive review and synthesis of research on the education of limited
English-proficient and bilingual students an recommend research needs and priorities
for the future. A report of the committee's work, Improving Schooling for Language
Minority Children: A Research Agenda, was published in early 1997. A second report
published in February 1998, Educating Language-Minority Children summarizes for
teachers and education policymakers what has been learned over the past three decades
about educating language-minority students.
by C. T. Adger. This digest suggests that under-informed about what dialects are, how
they relate to each other, and what functions they fulfill, people have voiced views about
language in society that cannot be scientifically justified.
by Courtney Macavinta. Although more Americans are getting online, race and class lines
still are sharply segregating those who have access, according to a report issued today by
the Commerce Department. In the agency's third annual look at the so-called digital
divide between technology "haves" and "have-nots," the 1998 data shows that those
living in rural areas and those at the lowest income levels have much less access to
computers and Net connections in comparison to upper-income households in urban
areas. Although 40 percent of U.S. households were online last year, there is a
perpetuating trend in which whites are on the Net at a much greater rate than African
Americans, Latinos, or those of Asian/Pacific Islander descent, according to the report,
Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide, which is based on U.S. Census data.
This digest by Michael Genzuk suggests that the nation's nearly 500,000 paraeducators
working in K-12 classrooms embody a promising source of prospective teachers.
Paraeducator-to-teacher programs capitalize on the attributes that paraeducators bring
to the program and the program streamlines their pathway into teaching. Studies suggest
that paraeducator-to-teacher program graduates bring a wealth of community and
student knowledge to their practice, attributes that are highly regarded in today's
diverse classrooms.
by Stephen Krashen. Critics of bilingual education have cited the high Hispanic dropout
rate as evidence against bilingual education. Since most bilingual programs are Spanish
English, it is concluded that bilingual education must be responsible. This note reviews
what is known about dropout rates among Hispanic students.
by Richard St. Germaine. American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) students regularly
face obstacles that can impede their progress in school. Educational theorists and
researchers have provided various explanations for this high failure rate, each with its
own set of prescriptions. Recently, much attention has focused on cultural discontinuity.
This Digest suggests that addressing cultural obstacles is an important but incomplete
approach to increasing AI/AN students' success.
by H. Molina, D. Farrell Siegel, and R. A. Hanson. This paper presents the results of
several related studies that examine the relationship among early reading instruction,
non-English language background, and the schooling achievement of high school seniors.
Collectively, these studies challenge the current thinking about when students should
begin receiving formal reading instruction, and that being from a non-English language
background (NELB) is generally synonymous with being academically disadvantaged. To
the contrary, they indicated that NELB students, particularly those who are provided
with early reading instruction, are generally not at a disadvantage in terms of standard
education measures taken in high school. That is, after controlling for social class and
family size, being from a non-English language background probably has positive effects
on the general achievement levels of children. These findings add support to bilingual
programs utilizing NELB language and cultural assets.
by Glenn Ole Hellekjaer. Bilingual instruction is the Council of Europe's preferred term
for teaching content in a foreign language. This article looks at some of the ways in which
bilingual instruction differs from foreign language and subject-matter instruction, and
what this means for teaching. It pays particular attention to the process of introducing
upper-secondary school pupils to this novel form of instruction, and offers practical
suggestions on how to teach and organize such a class. Next it looks at how foreign
language and subject-matter instruction can help or hinder bilingual instruction. Last,
it discusses briefly the need for a whole school policy to support a bilingual program.
by John R. Rickford. A Sociolinguists, from the Department of Linguistics at Stanford
University, discussion of the controversial language debate on Ebonics.
The objective of this case study by M. Seda and D. J. Bixler-Marquez was to identify, in a
holistic manner, the individual, aggregate, and interactive effect of socioeconomic status
(SES), cultural, psychosocial, and academic factors that shaped the at-risk status of a
Chicano fourth grader. A prescriptive dimension of the study was to provide a set of
recommendations that could be used to place the subject on the path of academic and
social recovery.
by Barry McLaughlin & Beverly McLeod. Researchers at the National Center for
Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning have identified
instructional strategies that are effective for educating students from culturally and
linguistically diverse backgrounds. They have also studied reform efforts that have
important lessons for the school, the teacher, and the classroom. This research has a
bearing on how schools can be organized and how teachers can teach to meet the needs of
all their students.
All educators must face the reality of culturally and linguistically diverse students in
today's classrooms according to author JoAnn Parla. School districts which never before
had to instruct these students are now finding they must meet this need. Often, the
number of bilingually trained personnel in these areas is limited. This article discusses
issues related to the multicultural classroom. It presents a teacher-training component
that includes information on cultural sensitivity, linguistic diversity, and teaching
strategies.
by Henry Trueba & Lilia Bartolomé. This digest provides a critique of the various
educational strategies that have been used with Latino students, and suggests alternatives
that may prove more effective. Interestingly, some of the recommendations included here
were first made nearly 20 years ago, but they have not yet been widely implemented.
by Eugene Garcia. This report suggests that linguistically and culturally diverse students
can achieve academic success when provided with appropriate instruction tailored to
meet their specific needs. Recent research has documented effective instructional
practices used with students from homes and communities where English is not the
primary language of communication. These descriptive studies identified specific schools
and classrooms whose language minority students were particularly successful
academically.
Evaluating educational technology programs can be a challenging endeavor. This guide
represents a joint effort among the U.S. Office of Educational Research and Improvement,
the Office of Educational Technology, and the Office of Elementary and Secondary
Education. The guide should be viewed as a tool for individuals who have little or no
formal training in research or evaluation. Its intended informal style and accompanying
worksheets provide the basic principles of evaluation and are designed to help district
and school personnel gain an overview of and ideas for evaluating local technology
initiatives. The guide is not meant to be the key to conducting a perfect evaluation.
Rather, the goal of this handbook is to provide educators a resource with which to jump
into the evaluation process, learning as they go.
by O.S. Fashola & R. E. Slavin. Over the past ten years a number of programs designed to
affect dropout rates and related outcomes have been implemented and evaluated in middle
and high schools serving many Latino students. Collectively, these studies show that
schools can make a dramatic difference in the dropout rates, school success, and college
enrollment rates of at-risk Latino youth. The purpose of the paper is to review research
on programs of this kind.
by Roland G. Tharp and Lois A.Yamauchi. Instructional conversation (IC) is a dialog
between teacher and learner in which prior knowledge and experiences are woven
together with new material to build higher understanding. IC contrasts with the
"recitation script" of traditional western schooling, which is highly routinized and
dominated by the teacher. IC varies in form in different cultures, as do other discourse
forms. Analysis of the research on the formal and informal learning of American Indians
lends insight into possible ways in which instructional conversations in classrooms with
these children can be modified to promote learning. Effective instructional conversations
for Native Americans are influenced by four basic psychocultural factors identified by
Tharp (1989): a) sociolinguistics; b) motivation; c) cognition; and d) social
organization. These factors are implicated in activity settings that are more likely to
produce effective ICs in Native American classrooms. "Ideal" activity settings--those
most likely to produce and maintain ICs for Native American students are proposed and
illustrated in this article.
edited by Jon Reyhner. Effective Language Education Practices and Native Language
Survival is the proceedings of the Ninth Annual International Native American Language
Issues (NALI) Institute co-sponsored by the NALI Board of Executors and the Montana
Association for Bilingual Education and held in Billings, Montana, June 8 & 9, 1989.
by Olatokunbo S. Fashola, Robert E. Slavin, Margarita Calderón, and Richard Durán. The
focus of this review is on the identification of programs that have been shown to be
effective in rigorous evaluations, that are replicable across a broad range of elementary
and middle schools, and that have been successfully evaluated or at least frequently
applied to schools serving many Latino students.
by Virginia P. Collier. This article reviews a number of studies, including the author's
own recently completed one, that point to an advantage which children in middle
childhood appear to have over younger children and adolescents in formally acquiring a
second language.
by Manuela González-Bueno. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of using e-mail as a
tool to promote foreign language learning in and out of the classroom. The study identifies
the following features of the foreign language generated through the electronic medium,
some of which have already been observed in previous studies: (a) greater amount of
language; (b) more variety of topics and language functions; (c) higher level of language
accuracy; (d) more similarity with oral language; (e) more student-initiated
interactions; and (f) more personal and expressive language use. These observations are
expected to expand the generalizations made in previous studies, and more finely tune
theoretical propositions, about how to integrate electronic communication in the
classroom in order to facilitate foreign language learning.
by Jim Cummins. The "e-Lective Language Learning" system described in this paper
proposes to use target language text as input for language learning by incorporating a
variety of L1 and L2 dictionary and learning strategy supports into a multimedia CD
ROM design. Any text in electronic form can be imported into the system and used as
authentic input for target language learning. The built-in supports permit learners to
comprehend text that would otherwise have been inaccessible. As considerable research
has demonstrated, the more target language text learners read and comprehend, the more
of the target language they learn.
This full-text guide features an 11-step process for making online collaborative
projects successful. Offerings include: explanations of various kinds of online
collaborations -- discussion groups, data collection and organization, document sharing,
synchronous communication, and online workshops and courses, tools and websites that
can be resources for creating each of these forms of collaborative environments, and tips
for moderating online collaborations. Examples of school-based online collaborations
appear throughout the guide, which was produced by the Northeast & Islands Regional
Educational Laboratory at Brown University, the National School Network, & the Teacher
Enhancement Electronic Community Hall.
by Carla Meskill, Jonathan Mossop, Richard Bates. School-age children for whom
English is not the native language have immediate and critical needs regarding English
language and literacy. The majority of these children are not in any of the nation's
bilingual programs. Thus they are restricted in their participation in academic activity
during the period needed for their second language and literacy acquistion, a period
which is typically from five to seven years. During this time, English as a Second
Language (ESL) learners receive instruction in second language and literacy through
specialized English as a second language instruction as well as "incidentally" in regular
mainstream classroom classes. Providing opportunities for ESL learners to develop
English language and literacy skills is a continual challenge and concern for schools.
Recent interest in technologies as a means of supporting language development has
brought ESL teaching professionals around the country to include computers,
multimedia, and telecommunications as tools for instruction. In addition to ESL-specific
instruction, non-ESL or mainstream teachers are coming to view these technologies as a
means by which ESL learners who cannot otherwise participate in class activities can be
actively involved in language and literacy practice.
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Escrito por el Departamento de Educación de los Estados Unidos, esta guía sobre el
Internet para padres de familia tiene como fin ayudar a los padressin importar su nivel
de conocimientos tecnológicosa utilizar el mundo en línea como una importante
herramienta educativa. La guía simplifica la abrumadora cantidad de información para
los consumidores y ofrece a los padres una introducción al Internet y la forma de navegar
por él. La Guía sugiera la forma en que los padres pueden permitir a sus hijos explorar
los prodigios del Internet al mismo tiempo que los protegen de sus peligros potenciales.
by Carrie Secret. This 31-year veteran of Oakland classrooms explains the effects of the
Standard English Proficiency program, which recognizes the systematic, rule-governed
nature of "Black English" while helping students learn Standard English, and how respect
and cultural awareness can help teachers reach their students.
by A.T. Lockwood. In this document attention focuses on secondary-level curricular
strategies that have been successful in not only significantly diminishing the dropout
rate of Hispanic students, but also accomplishing a variety of other worthwhile goals. It
features the educational strategies of the Calexico School District in Calexico.
by James Crawford. The threat to linguistic resources is now recognized as a worldwide
crisis. As many as half of the estimated 6,000 languages spoken on earth are spoken only
by adults who no longer teach them to the next generation. An additional 40 percent may
soon be threatened because the number of children learning them is declining
measurably. In other words, 90 percent of existing languages today are likely to die or
become seriously embattled within the next century. In formulating a response to this
crisis, there are three questions that need to be explored: (1) What causes language
decline and extinction? (2) Can the process be reversed? And (3) why should we
concern ourselves with this problem? This articlel looks in detail at the situation of
Native American languages in the United States.
by S. L. Mckay and G. Weinstein-Shr. This article examines the relationship between
U.S. national policies on literacy, available literacy programs, and individual lives.
Beginning with a discussion of the expanding role of English literacy in U.S. immigration
policies, this article examines the pressures to become literate in English with
consideration given to the resources that are available to do so. Language use in
immigrant families is discussed with a focus on native language loss and the consequences
of this loss for intergenerational relationships. The article concludes with suggestions
for an approach to literacy in which the links between national policies and personal
lives are made explicit.
An article by M. Smith looking at the unique challenge being faced by Hispanic students
who are hearing impaired. The purpose of this article is to review some basic facts about
hearing impairment then discuss the effects this disability can have on Hispanic
students. Specific suggestions are offered for meeting the needs of these students and
their families.
by A.T. Lockwood. To bond Hispanic students to schools and prepare them for productive
roles as citizens in a democratic society, school staff need to familiarize themselves with
the many outstanding programs available to strengthen their current instructional and
social agenda, and to implement programs best suited to the individual needs of their
student populations. Many demonstrably effective programs at the elementary or middle
level already are flourishing in schools around the country. This article focuses on three
of those programs: Success for All, the HOSTS Program (Helping One Student To
Succeed), and Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI). This article illustrates what each of
the three programs looks like in application.
by Nicholas B. Fitzgerald. This digest summarizes findings of the NEAEP that are
pertinent to English as a second language (ESL) literacy education, including a profile of
the ESL population served by adult education, the nature of ESL program participation,
the impact of ESL instruction, and estimates of both current and future demand for ESL
services.
by Linda Harklau. Language minority students are often placed in mainstream, English
medium classrooms long before they develop the degree of language proficiency
necessary to compete on an equal footing with native speakers of the school language.
With the ever-increasing presence of such students in U.S. schools, ESL and content are
educators are working to better integrate their respective curricula and instructional
roles. In order to accomplish this integration, significant instructional difference in
these two contexts must be identified, and systematic comparisons must detail how L2
learners fare in each of these instructional environments. What do students lose and gain
in their transition from ESL to the mainstream? This question was addressed in a 3 1/2
year ethnography of the L2 learning experiences of newcomer students attending a high
school in northern California.
by Douglas E. Mitchell, Tom Destino, and Rita Karam. Summary of the report on data
system reliability and statisticfal modeling of program impacts in the Santa Ana Unified
School District's English language development and bilingual programs.
by C. Meskill, J. Mossop, S. DiAngelo, and R.K. Pasquale. This study compares and
contrasts the "technology talk" of novice and expert teachers of K-8 language and
literacy (ESOL). Interview data with eight teachers - two expert (experienced teachers
and technologies users), five novice (limited experience in teaching and teaching with
computers) and one transitional expert (experienced teacher and non-technology user)
serve to illustrate the conceptual and practical differences between those who have
adapted technologies as powerful teaching and learning tools and teachers who, in spite of
specific formal training in instructional technology, speak about it and its application in
starkly contrasting ways. These contrasts are presented as a set of four conceptual
continua that can help in explicating novice starting points, transitional issues, and the
expertise of computer-using language professionals.
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by Judith LeBlanc Flores. Postsecondary outcomes for Mexican Americans have not
improved measurably since the mid-1980s. Although Hispanic students are attending
and graduating from college in greater numbers, much of this growth is linked directly
to their population growth. Despite increased representation among undergraduates and
college graduates, Hispanic students complete college at a lower rate than the general
student population. This digest addresses those factors that may facilitate postsecondary
outcomes for Hispanic students, particularly Mexican-American students, who enroll in
U.S. community colleges and 4-year institutions.
ERIC abstracts on family involvement of Asian/Pacific Islanders. Most of the documents
and journal articles have been entered into the Educational Resources Information Center
(ERIC) database. Links to ERIC Abstracts provide detailed ordering information.
by Kris Anstrom and Anneka Kindler. Issues related to the education of language minority
students need to be understood within the context of educational reform as exemplified in
the recent passage of three ground breaking pieces of legislation, the Goals 2000:
Educate America Act, the Improving America's Schools Act (IASA), and the School-to
Work Opportunities Act. All three pieces of legislation require that new linkages be
formed across old programatic boundaries, between local educational agencies (LEAs),
state education agencies (SEAs), institutions of higher education (IHEs), and the federal
government, and between community-based organizations and the schools. Knowledge of
the issues and legislation on the part of those concerned with the education of language
minority students and their involvement in all levels of the reform effort will help
determine whether language minority students benefit from the reform movement. The
purpose of this document is to provide an overview of the issues and legislation pertinent
to the attainment of educational equity and excellence for language minority students.
This is the Executive Summary of the Final Report: Longitudinal Study of Structured
English Immersion Strategy, Early-Exit and Late-Exit Transitional Bilingual Education
Programs for Language-Minority Children, February 1991, as prepared for the United
States Department of Education under contract no. 300-87-0156.
U.S. Department of Education report. Up to one-third of new U.S. teachers leave the
profession within the first few years. One reason for this "wastage" of teaching
resources, according to the Commission, is our typical "sink-or-swim" attitude toward
teacher induction. In contrast, new teachers in some other countries are provided with
resources and guidance that help them to make a successful transition from being
students themselves to becoming self-confident, skilled professional teachers. This
paper reviews a cross-national study of teacher induction practices.
by Nancy Feyl Chavkin and Dora Lara Gonzalez. According to the Bureau of the Census
(1994), there are approximately 13 million Mexican Americans in the United States. In
reviews of the status of education for Mexican American students it is reported that
there is a decline in high school completion rates, a steady rise in the dropout rate, and
high numbers of students two or more years behind grade level. This digest describes
research supporting family participation in students' education. It then describes
barriers to participation faced by many Mexican American parents and successful
programs and strategies for overcoming those barriers. Finally, the benefits of two-way
communication and school-family partnerships are described.
Edited by Jay Moskowitz and Maria Stephens, this publication is the result of the second
phase of a study on teacher training and professional development sponsored by APEC
(Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation). Phase I of the study described teacher
preparation systems across APEC members, to identify key issues and challenges for
teacher preparation and professional development, and to identify promising practices
for the future of teacher preparation. The findings of Phase II, focusing on policy and
practices of teacher induction in 11 participating APEC members, are presented here.
Resolution of the board of education adopting the report and recommendations of the
African-American Task Force; a policy statement and directing the superintendent of
schools to devise a program to improve the English-language acquisition and application
skills of African-American students.
This work was done in collaboration with Norma Gonzalez, James Greenberg, and Carlos
Velez. How can committed city teachers boost the literacy skills of their poor, minority
students? According to some educational researchers, the answer lies in a more
"sociocultural" approach to literacy instruction.
Funds of Knowledge for Teaching" (FKT) is a project of the Bureau of Applied Research
in Anthropology and the College of Education at the University of Arizona. At the core of
this project is a notion of culture as a dynamic entity--a way of using social, physical,
spiritual, and economic resources to make one's way in the world. In FKT,
anthropologists, teacher educators, and teachers learn about the funds of knowledge
possessed by students and their families in order to gain insight about connections among
ordinary curricular goals and students' experience in the community. Together they
devise new academic materials, strategies, and activities that build more sturdily on
what students know and can do outside of school.
by N. González, L. C. Moll, M. Floyd-Tenery, A. Rivera, P. Rendón, R. Gonzales, and C.
Amanti. This Digest describes a research model that has shown that classroom practice
can be developed, transformed, and enriched by drawing upon the existing funds of
knowledge in minority students' households. Funds of knowledge refers to those
historically developed and accumulated strategies (e.g., skills, abilities, ideas,
practices) or bodies of knowledge that are essential to a household's functioning and
well-being. Through participant-observer visits to minority student households,
researchers and teachers became aware of these funds of knowledge.
by Wendy Schwartz. The enrollment of Asian and Pacific Islander (API) students is
increasing drastically, so it is important for school and community people to learn how
to communicate with API families. Since APIs communicate very differently from
native-born Americans and other immigrants, this guide describes how the backgrounds
and cultures of the various API groups affect their attitudes and behavior.
by Muriel Saville-Troike. This discussion of the role of culture in the bilingual
classroom explores the relationship of language, culture, and education. It provides in
service and pre-service training procedures for developing cultural competencies in
bilingual educators; and suggests applications of cultural information to classroom
practices, curriculum development, and evaluation. These concepts and methods may
prove useful not only in bilingual programs, but for improving equal educational
opportunity for all minority-group students, and for all those commonly labeled the
'disadvantaged'.
by Theodore Andersson. This article focuses attention on bilingual children between
birth and age five and considers their potential desire and ability to learn to read not
only one but often two languages before entering kindergarten or first grade. The main
focus of the study is family reading. This is a particularly rich field of study; for,
whether the family under consideration is a small nuclear or large extended family, the
number and ages of the children, the presence or absence of grandparents or other
relatives, the particular relationships among the family members, and the time
available for reading provide an almost infinite number of variables and possibilities.
by Stephen Krashen. The "failure" of whole language in California has been widely
reported. The author attempts to give a clear definition of whole language, discuss some
of the research, and provide some information about the impact of whole language in
California.
by R. W. Rumberger, K. A. Larson, G. J. Palardy, R. K. Ream, and N. C. Schleicher. This
report examines student mobility among California Latino adolescents. Student mobility
may be especially important in California because of its highly mobile population.
Latinos are the largest and fastest growing segment of the state population. According to
California Department of Finance estimates, the Latino public-school population is
projected to triple in size between 1986 and 2006, while the non-Latino white
population is projected to decrease. Consequently, if student mobility can be problematic
for both students and schools, as previous research suggests, it is especially important
to understand the nature of mobility among the Latino population.
This policy briefs by T. B. Corcoran reviews what is known about professional
development, where it is now, and where it needs to be. The brief discusses its
organization, costs, and effects on practice. It also suggests some principles to guide
professional development in the future and offers a framework for designing and
assessing policies and programs.
by Joseph Torres. Under a cloud of new affirmative-action turmoil in higher education,
the class of 2001 is arriving on campus -- but for Hispanics, the figures we've been
reading in the papers aren't the only story. Other numbers, fed by immigration and
determination, add up to brighter prospects for the nation's 32 million Latinos. As
Latino students matriculate and choose their majors, they can be found venturing into
fields that not so long ago were deemed out of reach. Degrees earned by Hispanics in just
about every field are dramatically increasing, according to a recent report by the
American Council on Education.
by Wendy Schwartz. This digest describes strategies and programs specially designed to
meet the early education needs of Hispanic children, particularly those whose families
suffer from poverty. It also reviews efforts to recruit the children; to involve their
parents in activities that will enhance their children's learning; and to provide parents
with literacy, job, and other skills training, and a range of social services.
Hee-Won Kang, P. Keuhn, and A. Herrellby Hee-Won Kang's article suggests that for
some adults, the development of literacy may be a practical matter of economic
advancement or survival. For others, it may be a matter of broader concerns such as
preservation of a culture and helping to brighten the future of their children. The Hmong
Literacy Project, funded by the National Institute for Literacy, encompassed all of these
concerns.This article is a description of the implementation and some of the results of
the project.
By K. Hakuta, Y. G. Butler and D. Witt. One of the most commonly asked questions about
the education of language minority students is how long they need special services, such
as English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) and bilingual education. The purpose of this
paper is to pull together findings that directly address this question. This study reports
on data from four different school districts to draw conclusions on how long it takes
students to develop oral and academic English proficiency.
by Robert Rueda and Carmen DeNeve. In their efforts to accommodate cultural diversity
in the classroom, schools have taken a variety of approaches - few of them ideal. In this
article, the authors examine how educators can use the "funds of knowledge" available in
culturally diverse families and communities to build bridges between the home cultures
of students and the cultures of their schools.
by E. C. De Laurentiis. The author of this article proposes criteria to create excellent
learning environments with computers. Many of these criteria apply to good education no
matter what the learning device. He also suggests that despite its promise, and the vision
of many futurists, technology has yet to make its mark on education.
by Theresa Perry. An essay on the political furor that greeted the Oakland School Board's
resolution on Ebonics, and some of the issues that were glossed over during the noisy
national debate that followed.
by Wayne O'Neil. A linguist addresses some of the more common questions about Ebonics
and the Oakland School Board resolution, and some of the misconceptions about the
resolution spread by the mainstream media.
by Jim Cummins. The term "immersion education" came to prominence in Canada during
the 1960s to describe innovative programs in which the French language was used as a
medium of instruction for elementary school students whose home language was English.
However, as Johnson and Swain (1997) point out, there is nothing new in the
phenomenon of "immersing" students in a second language (L2) instructional
environment. In fact, throughout the history of formal education the use of an L2 as a
medium of instruction has been the rule rather than the exception. The Canadian French
immersion programs, however, were the first to be subjected to intensive long-term
research evaluation, although some large-scale research had been undertaken in other
contexts prior to the Canadian experience.
by J. Egbert, T. M. Paulus, Y. Nakamichi. The purpose of this study is to examine how
language teachers apply practical experiences from computer-assisted language learning
(CALL) coursework to their teaching. It also examines ways in which teachers continue
their CALL professional development.
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by Lily Wong Fillmore. Just as readers must apply their linguistic knowledge to the
interpretation of the texts they read, so too must they make use of their knowledge of the
world and their prior experiences in reading. The author argues that the education of
children irrespective of their background would be greatly diminished if educators were
to choose materials for them that were in any way narrowed or lowered in level because
of putative deficiencies in the children's backgrounds. Such decisions must take into
account the role that authentic and challenging materials play in building students'
background and in supporting language development. Children and adolescents also gain
the very kind of background that they need to have, to deal with materials they read in
school, from the literature and textbooks they have already read.
The strategies in this booklet aim at meeting the unique educational needs of Hispanic and
LEP students in the context of this emphasis on high standards and high achievement. The
strategies in this booklet reflect the priority the Department of Education places on the
education of Hispanic and LEP students and respond to the recommendations proposed by
the President's Advisory Commission, the Hispanic Dropout Project, and the
Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
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This Digest examines the relationship between K-12 teachers' use of computer-based
technologies to deliver and support classroom instruction and the training provided to
prospective teachers by teacher education institutions. It offers an overview of obstacles
faced by teacher educators in providing appropriate technology instruction and outlines
approaches to addressing these obstacles.
by Shirley Brice Heath. Both language learning theorists and practitioners of teaching
English as a second language or dialect have argued that role playing moves language
learners beyond their usual performance in ordinary classroom presentations. This
paper tells the story of how inner city youth organizations use dramas that young people
write, cast, and direct to enable them to retain their first language or dialect while
gaining standard English and preparing for job entry. The story ends with implications
for the language classroom.
by Ronald Tharp and Lois Yamauchi. Research indicates that the instructional
conversation (IC) can be an effective method for raising the low academic achievement
levels of various groups of Native American students. The IC is a dialog between teacher
and learner in which prior knowledge and experiences are woven together with new
material to build higher understanding. A description of factors and their role in
implementing ICs among Native American populations is discussed.
by Roland Tharp and Ron Gallimore. Newly understood through the principles of socio
historical theory, real teaching is understood as assisting the learner to perform just
beyond his or her current capacity. This assistance in the "zone of proximal
development" awakens and rouses to life the mental capacities of learners of all ages.
This assistance is best provided through the instructional conversation, a dialogue
between teacher and learners in which the teacher listens carefully to grasp the
students" communicative intent, and tailors the dialogue to meet the emerging
understanding of the learners.
by James A. Vasquez et al. This bibliography, with 310 references, is a good sampling of
the literature that is currently available and includes practices that many educators
have found lead to successful teaching of LEP students. The bibliography provides a
beginning point for those interested in bilingual and ESL instructional settings.
by Fred Genesee. Among the most interesting and effective innovations in second language
education during the last three decades have been the immersion programs developed in
Canada. The first immersion programs were developed to provide Canada's majority
group English-speaking students with opportunities to learn Canada's other official
language. Since that time, immersion programs have been adopted in many different
areas of North America, and alternative forms of immersion have been devised. This
report presents a selective review of research findings from the extensive evaluations
that have been undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of immersion programs in Canada
and the United States. It focuses on selected aspects of second language learning and
discusses implications of immersion research findings for the design and development of
second language programs in other school settings for other kinds of learners.
by Deborah J. Short. This report describes preliminary findings from a study
examining middle school American history classes with English language learners. The
study has investigated the construction of social studies knowledge in these classes and
the development and implementation of lessons that address the cultural and educational
backgrounds of the learners while integrating language, content, and culture objectives.
Attention is paid to teacher accommodations, student oral and written participation, and
the infusion of multicultural issues and perspectives.
by D.J. Villa. The recent explosion in technology, in particular in computer and
digitizing systems, has many implications for heritage language maintenance and
learning. In particular, authentic language usage can be easily recorded and preserved
for those goals. That same explosion, however, can lead to a less than appropriate
implementation of technology for language maintenance and learning. Further, certain
cultural boundaries can make it difficult to have access to authentic language usage,
particularly by out-group individuals who work on indigenous languages. This paper
presents a pilot study that attempts to both implement technology in an appropriate
manner and surmount the problems faced by out-group language researchers by training
an in-group member, in this case a speaker of Navajo, in the methodology and technology
necessary for recording and preserving her heritage language. The results of this work
are discussed, as well as the role of computer and digitizing technology in language
maintenance and teaching.
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by Margaret Riel. Current developments in communication technology now provide new
options for students to extend themselves across distances and through time. This
technology invites children to leap off the "shoulders of giants" onto satellites and use
this global perspective to participate in new ways with their peers and other experts in
distant locations. It is possible that these experiences will help make the power or the
written word more apparent to new generation of citizens This paper on the Internet and
the humanities focuses on the human side of networking. How do classrooms change when
they are part of a global network like the Internet? What future images of schooling can
we see from the vantage point of satellites? The paper is organized around two general
topics followed by some reservations about technological solutions and problems.
by Matthew Soska. For many years, teachers used the computer to provide supplemental
or additive exercises. In recent years, advances in computer technology have motivated
teachers to reassess the computer and consider it an integral part of daily learning.
Today, technology gives teachers the capacity to significantly enhance their students'
language and cognitive development. They can utilize the technologies briefly described
here for instructional testing and assessment; to teach culture; to help students learn
academic content and develop critical thinking skills; and to expand students' speaking,
listening, reading, and writing skills.
by Irma M. Olmedo. Teaching social studies to bilingual or ESL students in the U. S. can
create both linguistic and cultural difficulties. Because social studies textbooks and
materials use abstract vocabulary, teachers need to develop comprehensible examples
for students with limited English skills and information retrieval skills and a knowledge
base to make the curriculum content accessible. Many teachers are already rethinking
the way the social studies is taught in order to find ways to make the subject more
interesting and comprehensible to students. One approach helps students understand that
history is filled with stories. By employing oral history approaches with bilingual and
ESL students, teachers can "bring history home" and help students understand that
history is not just something that happened long ago and now lives only in their
textbooks, but rather that they and their communities are players on the historical
stage.
by Dennis Sayers. How can other languages be used in conjunction with English to
further intercultural and multilingual learning when teachers and students participate
in computer-based global learning networks? Two portraits are presented of
multilingual activities in the Orillas and I*EARN learning networks, and are discussed as
examples of the principal modalities of communication employed in networking projects
between distant classes.
by Clayton Collins of The Christian Science Monitor. This article suggests that language
has long been equated with cultural clout - the "perfect instrument of empire," as
Spain's Queen Isabella was said to have been told by an adviser. Today, the world's
empires may be in retreat but active movements to leverage language for power have
surged worldwide. This article provides a world wide perspective to language policy for
political power.
What would be the legal impact of an English Language Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution? This excerpt from Language Loyalties: A Source Book On The Official
English Controversy, by James Crawford gives a detailed overview of the historical and
legal precedents to explore this question.
by Kellie Rolstad. This study examines the effects of Korean/English two-way
immersion on third language speakers who received no first language support, and
includes assessments of self-concept, ethnic identification, academic progress and
language proficiency. The effects of this third language immersion experience on these
language minority children were assessed longitudinally, ending during the children's
sixth and final year in the program, as well as cross-sectionally in comparison with
similar children in other programs. The findings show that, except for the tendency for
first language ability to decline among the third language children, the immersion
experience has not been detrimental to the third language children, and hence that third
language immersion may, in fact, constitute a source of educational enrichment despite
the lack of first language support. These findings suggest that submersion damage is
likely related to what I call "sociolinguistic status" rather than to supposed linguistic
deficits incurred as a result of a home/school language switch. The implications of this
study, while only suggestive, provide further evidence of the social causes of submersion
damage, and support the feasibility of immersion education for third language speakers
as a form of educational enrichment, provided that the children have at least a basic
proficiency in the majority language.
by Courtney B. Cazden. Controversy continues over the most reasonable conclusions to
draw from the accumulated research evidence on the effectiveness of various program
models for students who are not proficient in English. This paper examines a report
prepared for the U.S. Department of Education on three program models for language
minority children: structured English immersion strategy and early-exit and late-exit
bilingual education.
by Beverly Hunter and John Richards. The nature of work and learning in our
knowledge-based society and economy requires active participation by individuals and
groups in the construction of knowledge. Active construction of knowledge, participation
in collaborative learning, and building on learners' interests and experiences outside of
school are major threads in educational reform and new curriculum standards. This
paper provides examples of student work that not only demonstrates their own learning
as young "knowledge" workers, but also makes a contribution to their community, to the
learning of others, and to the base of knowledge available on the Internet.
by Geoffrey Nunberg. This essay suggests that the story told by the English-only
movement is nonsense from beginning to end. No language was ever less in need of official
protection.
This 1997 paper, authored by Adel Nadeau, draws on the author's experiences leading a
major school reform effort in an urban elementary school with a large limited English
proficient (LEP) student population. The discussion offers insights into successful
reform practices premised on the language and academic needs of LEP students. The
context for reform as it existed at the author's school is presented first. Pedagogical
premises that apply to programs for LEP students are outlined next, followed by the
reform practices.
by B. Bertram and J. K. Peyton. Electronic communication networks are in wide use for
college-level language and writing instruction and are being adopted for use in
elementary and secondary school classes. Teachers use network-based approaches to
literacy instruction to support authentic reading and writing, collaboration, student
centered learning, writing across the curriculum, and the creation of classroom writing
communities. A case study of network-based college classrooms identified great diversity
in the ways these goals were realized. Nevertheless, common factors shaped all of the
implementations: institutional goals, practices, and gateposts; theories, personalities,
and established practices of teachers; student characteristics and expectations; features
of the technology; and available resources. These factors suggest that like any innovation,
the introduction of computer technology to promote interaction and learning in
educational settings is a complex process that cannot be divorced from the users or the
setting. The authors suggest this complexity needs to be understood so that perceptions of
and expectations regarding the value of the innovation are neither idealized nor
superficial.
by Jesus Salazar. This article summarizes the results from the re-analysis of two
recent bilingual education studies: Greene's (1998) meta-analysis and Thomas and
Collier's (1997) longitudinal study. First , the article presents the ten main criteria
identified over the past three decades by the research community for conducting a
methodologically adequate bilingual education study. Second, based on a power analysis of
Greene's data, it is argued that a major reason why many bilingual education studies
over the past thirty years remain uninterpretable is because of the high occurrence of
Type II errors. Third, based on an effect size analysis of Thomas and Collier's data, it is
maintained that their longitudinal model best explains thirty years of bilingual education
research. When Thomas and Collier's data are converted into effect sizes, their model
becomes a longitudinal meta-analysis, and their findings support the results from
Greene's and Willig's (1985) meta-analyses. This article concludes by making
recommendations for enhancing the evaluation of Title VII programs.
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The purpose of this article by María E. Torres-Guzmán is to present a review of the
literature on mentoring bilingual teachers and to pose alternatives to extant models. A
question and answer format has been used to provide a definition of mentoring, discuss
implementation efforts and problems encountered, identify salient issues emerging from
the pairing of mentors in bilingual settings and suggest mentoring alternatives.
by Jay P. Greene. With the sponsorship of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, the Public
Policy Clinic of the University of Texas' Government Department, and Harvard
University's Program on Education Policy and Governance, the researchers have
conducted a systematic, statistical review of the literature on the effectiveness of
bilingual education. With this technique known as meta-analysis to summarize the
scholarly research, they find that children with limited English proficiency who are
taught using at least some of their native language perform significantly better on
standardized tests than similar children who are taught only in English. In other words,
an unbiased reading of the scholarly research suggests that bilingual education helps
children who are learning English.
by Flora Ida Ortiz. The Bureau of Census (1994) reports there are approximately 13
million U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. Over 30 percent reside in the South and over
45 percent in the West. The lives of Mexican American women, wherever they reside,
are affected profoundly by schooling, work, and family. This report shows the
interdependence of these factors; changes in one affect the others.
by Mary S. Leighton, Amy M. Hightower and Pamela Wrigley. From the projects
described in this federally sponsored report, educators can learn much about how to
develop a highly qualified instructional workforce for language minority students.
Illustrates research-supported principles of professional development with the
experiences of communities of scholars, practitioners, and teacher aspirants at selected
sites. Commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Bilingual Education
and Minority Language Affairs.
by Lucinda Pease-Alvarez. Recent research has emphasized the economic, social, and
cognitive advantages available to bilinguals. Yet for many immigrant groups,
bilingualism is a temporary phenomenon. Most immigrant children arrive in the United
States as monolingual speakers of their native language, develop bilingualism as they
acquire English, establish English-speaking households, and raise their children as
English-speaking monolinguals. According to survey data, even Spanish, a language
thought to be particularly enduring in the United States, seldom lasts beyond the second
or third generation
by T. Alexander Aleinikoff. This essay suggersts that cross-national group loyalties can
neither be wished away or erased. Yet the idea of the American nation is worth defending
against multicultural attack. Herewith some ground rules for a culturally diverse
nation.
by Carol A. Chapelle. This paper suggests that some design features and evaluation
criteria for multimedia Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) might be developed
on the basis of hypotheses about ideal conditions for second language acquisition (SLA). It
outlines a relevant theory of SLA and enumerates the hypotheses it implies for ideal
conditions such as input saliency, opportunities for interaction, and learner focus on
communication. Implications of each hypothesis for multimedia CALL design and
evaluation are outlined and exemplified.
by Christine Rossell. A critique of the study suggesting that the methodology of the study
is unscientific. The criteria for a scientific study are basically four-fold. First, there
should be a treatment group-for example, LEP students in a bilingual program-and one
or more comparison groups-forexample, similar LEP students in one or more types of
all-English programs. Second, the achievement of these students should be compared
after some time period in their respective programs. Third, any differences between the
students initially should be controlled for statistically in order to give each group a level
playing field. (This is not necessary if there is random assignment.) Fourth, the same
students must be followed over time since there is no way to statistically control or
match on initial differences, nor would it make any sense to do so if different students
are in the study at different points in time. This article contends that although all four
characteristics are essential, only the first two are found in the Thomas and Collier
study.
by Barry McLaughlin. By discussing commonly held myths and misconceptions, this
paper attempts to clarify a number of important issues in the area of second language
learning. These include the ease and rapidity with which children learn a second
language, the optimal age at which to begin second language instruction, the importance
of the extent of exposure to the second language, the relationship between oral
communication skills and academic language skills, and cultural and individual
differences in language learning styles. Each myth presented in this paper is followed by
a discussion of related research on second language learning and its implications for
classroom teachers.
by Bernard Spolsky and Elana Shohamy. Article focusing on Israel's language policy
reporting Israel as highly multilingual, with a 20% Arabic-speaking minority and large
number of languages used by its enormous immigrant population, Hebrew is the
dominant language for official, public and private use of the 5,500,000 citizens. In
spite of the widespread official and ideological policy support for Hebrew, English has
continued to flourish and spread in all sectors of the Israeli population. Article reviews
language education policy and language education system.
by A.M. Shartrand, H.B. Weiss, H.M. Kreider, and M. Elena Lopez. Researchers at the
Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) have collected data to determine not only why
training teachers to work successfully with families is so critical, but also how to train
teachers to work in partnership with parents and families. In addition to identifying the
skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary for teachers to prepare for family
involvement, the findings confirm three needs of teachers: (1) more direct experiences
with families and communities, (2) support in making school conditions conducive to
family involvement, and (3) opportunities to share successful experiences and outcomes
with their colleagues.
The final report of the Hispanic Dropout Project summarizes the project's findings,
data, and recommendations, based on its work nationwide. It addresses the role of the
following constituencies: students, parents and families, schools and school staff, local
and state policymakers, and institutions of higher education, including the research and
development establishment. For each constituency, the group presents typical comments
advanced to explain inaction, followed by evidence of inaction, distilled from the data of
the Hispanic Dropout Project and concrete illustrations from sites the project visited.
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by V. W. Lewelling. The issue of an official language has surfaced periodically
throughout U.S. history. On the surface, the idea appears to be a symbolic gesture-to
give English, the de facto language of the country, official status. However, proposals
have also called for prohibition of state laws, ordinances, orders, programs, and policies
that require the use of other languages. Concern over the implications such an
amendment could have for U.S. citizens and residents whose native language is other than
English led to formation of an English Plus language advocacy coalition of more than 50