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<div class=""> Research on Making Policy Reforms Work for Dual Language Learners
<h1 style="color:rgb(255,255,255)">on Making Policy Reforms Work for Language Learners</h1><a><span class=""></span>
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</a><p>If
there’s any unifying thread in the story of the last several years of
education debates, it’s that policy changes are education reform’s <i>first</i>,
not final, steps. Given American education’s unwieldy, chaotic
governing institutions, legal and regulatory changes are almost always
susceptible to being watered down—or even <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bobby-jindals-common-core-reversal/2014/06/26/e668375c-f894-11e3-8aa9-dad2ec039789_story.html">reversed</a>.
For instance, while it seemed like a settled victory when the Common
Core State Standards were adopted by 46 states, recent implementation
(and political) challenges have <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bobby-jindals-common-core-reversal/2014/06/26/e668375c-f894-11e3-8aa9-dad2ec039789_story.html">sapped that effort of much of its substance</a>. Policy design and policy implementation require different skill sets (as does <a href="http://www.edcentral.org/tensions-pre-k-politics-research/">political mobilization</a>).
But they all matter, and the education policy community needs to think
much harder about what its proposals will look like in the classroom.</p>
<p>Efforts to reform how U.S. schools educate dual language learners
(DLLs) often run into this challenge. Many advocates concerned with
DLLs’ linguistic and academic development have focused their attention
on getting lawmakers to enshrine the importance of native language
instruction for these students.</p>
<p><a href="http://ecl.sagepub.com/content/14/3/367.abstract?etoc">New research</a>, published in this month’s issue of the <i>Journal of <a href="http://www.edcentral.org/edcyclopedia/early-childhood/" target="_self" title="Early childhood is the period from birth through age 8. During this span, children grow, learn, and develop more rapidly than at any other time in their lives. See also: Child Care Pre-Kindergarten Preschool" class="">Early Childhood</a> Literacy</i>,
spotlights the issue. The study explores a “two-way dual language”
program in a first grade Texas classroom. This model enrolls DLLs and
native English-speaking students together in a classroom where
instruction is delivered both in English and in the DLLs’ home language.
Ideally, the model supports bilingualism for both groups of students.</p>
<p>How did it go? Authors Leah Durán and Deborah Palmer found that the
program created a considerably different educational experience for
students than models that instruct only in English. Dual language
learners in the class expressed themselves in both Spanish and
English—and found both languages celebrated by their peers and teachers.</p>
<p>As is often the case, DLLs in the class frequently used
“code-switching,” transitioning from English to Spanish (and back) in
mid-sentence. Teachers welcomed this form of expression, which the
authors cheered as proof that it “was a normalized and non-stigmatized
classroom practice.” Indeed, teachers themselves swapped back and forth
between languages in a conscious, intentional way, regardless of whether
it was officially an “English Day” or “Spanish Day.” This squares with <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ906337">other research</a>
suggesting that young DLLs who code-switch are actually demonstrating
critical growth in their language competencies. Native English-speaking
students followed their teachers’ lead and expressed enthusiasm for
DLLs’ home language; one admired a DLL peer as “a Spanish expert.”</p>
<p>However, the researchers noted that the program was not quite fully
balanced: “[A]t no point did we observe an English-dominant speaker
initiate or respond in Spanish during the unstructured pair time.” In
other words, while DLLs were being supported in both languages,
English’s linguistic dominance (in the United States) was still creeping
into the classroom. That is, it wasn’t clear that the program was
living up to its “two-way” billing.</p>
<p>As far as DLLs are concerned, this isn’t necessarily a problem.
Except that the authors note that two-way dual language programs can
upend traditional monolingual expectations in American schools <i>for all students</i>.
If these programs are ineffective at supporting bilingualism for native
English speakers, it robs them of one of the selling points that makes
them “a popular and politically feasible alternative to transitional
bilingual education.” If these programs do not live up to their two-way
bilingual promise, it will be harder to keep them in place. Two-way
language programs are sometimes an easier sell with the public because
they purport to make bilingualism accessible to all students—not just
DLLs.</p>
<p>That is, even in this relatively faithful, high-quality
implementation of the two-way dual language model, there are
considerable areas for improvement (For instance, the authors suggested
that teachers consider restructuring the day to make it more likely that
native English speakers practice their Spanish). As hard as it can be
to get states, districts, and schools to change policies around DLLs’
native language use, it’s even more challenging to make sure that these
policies are implemented effectively. This research suggests that policy
reforms are only one of several critical levers for supporting these
students.</p></div>
<a href="http://www.edcentral.org/research-making-policy-reforms-work-dual-language-learners/">http://www.edcentral.org/research-making-policy-reforms-work-dual-language-learners/</a><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>**************************************<br>
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