Second language acquisition (fwd)

[Fred Genesee]

Margaret's point about quality materials is certainly true; bad education
will result in weak outcomes no matter what language is used and no matter
how much it is used. However, I would not want to underestimate the
ambition and competence of indigenous groups to create curricula and
materials in their native language -- the Hawaiian and Mohawk communities
have done remarkable work in this regard although it has been extremely
demanding and time-consuming. The Inuit in Northern Quebec have likewise
created early heritage language programs in Inuktitut and had to create
their own materials, train Inuktitut-speaking teachers, etc.  The task is
complicated further by the fact that these languages do not always lend
themselves easily to modern day mathematical and scientific concepts. In
Hawaii, they had to create a lexicography (??) committee to create terms
for concepts, processes, and entities that did not already have a word in
Hawaiian. 

My experience with immersion programs for students who are learning a
heritage language, like Mohawk or Hawaiian, versus immersion for students
learning a non-heritage language (like anglophone students learning French
in Canada) is that the former demonstrate a level of involvement and
commitment that can be truly remarkable; likewise for the teachers and
administrators in heritage language programs. Arguably, this reflects the
fact that they are learning and recovering a part of who they are; whereas
students who are learning an L2 that is not part of their cultural heritage
have a different configuration of attitudes and motivation ...

Fred

At 03:16 PM 21/12/2005 -0600, Margaret Fleck wrote:
>Barbara Pearson wrote:
>
>> 1. I think a good part of the animus against minority language
>> programs in the U.S. is directed against programs that delay
>> the introduction of English till 2nd and 3rd grade. 
>
>It's also important to realize that bad schools can make almost
>any approach perform badly.   California, one of the big
>battlegrounds on this topic, has a range of issues with the
>quality of its public schools, which could easily have sabotaged
>the actual performance of its bilingual programs, helping lead
>to their unpopularity.
>
>Another source of variation would be availability of materials in
>the minority language.    If I can believe the numbers I just
>found on the internet, there are maybe 31 million Spanish speakers
>in the US alone, about 500,000 Welsh speakers, but the total Cree
>population is barely enough to support a small high school.  In addition
>to the basic textbooks, a switched-on school kid is going to need
>
>     -- popular cultural materials (e.g. Pokemon and Harry Potter
>        books and movies)
>     -- library and classroom enrichment materials (e.g. books on
>        spiders, medieval knights, digital photography) which is
>        a big feature even in my son's first grade class
>     -- textbooks and off-site courses for advanced subjects (e.g.
>        calculus, computer programming), and non-academic subjects
>        (e.g. music, car repair, driver's ed)
>     -- internet resources
>
>All this stuff is readily available in Spanish.   A lot can probably
>be found in Welsh.  I really wonder how much is going to be available
>in, say, Cree.   Worrying about sufficient exposure to L2 may be
>a moot point if decent-quality L1 instruction requires significant
>use of L2 resources anyhow.
>
>Margaret
>    (Margaret Fleck, U. Illinois)
>
>
>
>
>

Psychology Department		Phone: 1-514-398-6022
McGill University			Fax: 1-514-398-4896
1205 Docteur Penfield Ave		
Montreal QC Canada H3A 1B1