[EDLING:346] Learning a second language: When simple solutions and anecdotes collide with the facts

[Francis M Hult]

Via lgpolicy...

> Thursday, August 23, 2007
> 
> Learning a second language: When simple solutions and anecdotes
> collide with the facts
> 
> By John Moore and Ana Celia Zentella
> June 28, 2007
> 
> Invoking simple solutions to complex problems is an easy and effective
> rhetorical device. No need to do research, check facts, consider
> complexities – just assert the solution and, as long as it is close
> enough to what people already believe, the argument is won.
> It works even better if you can add a personal anecdote. This was the
> case with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent suggestion
> that Spanish-speaking families turn off their Spanish television
> programs and watch English-language TV instead. Unfortunately, the
> governor's suggestion, based on his own subjective experience, belies
> a number of misconceptions about language demographics,
> second-language acquisition and pedagogy.
> 
> >From media discussions, one would think that Latino communities are
> Spanish-only language ghettos where no one is willing to learn
> English. However, the facts are otherwise. More than 70 percent of
> Spanish-speakers in the United States are also fluent in English, and
> a very large number of U.S. Latinos can only speak English.
> Those who do not attain fluency in English are almost exclusively
> first-generation immigrants who came to the United States as adults.
> Anyone who has tried to learn a second language as an adult knows how
> difficult it is. Nevertheless, even these first-generation
> Spanish-speakers are learning English in greater numbers than has ever
> been the case in our history as an immigrant nation, and many of their
> children are learning little or no Spanish. (Readers may have
> witnessed a Spanish-speaking mother talking to her child in Spanish,
> while the child answers in English.)
> 
> Research shows that the loss of an immigrant language once took three
> generations but that it is now common for a transition from Spanish to
> English to happen in two. The perception that Spanish-speakers won't
> speak English is simply false – they do and they do so faster than
> earlier immigrants did. This is not to say that there are no problems.
> California does have a large number of limited-English proficiency
> students who struggle to pass the English Language Arts, or ELA,
> section of CAHSEE, the state high school exit exam, which was first
> required for graduation in 2006. These students are typically
> first-generation Latinos, often arriving in their teens. They quickly
> become fluent in spoken English, but may fail to develop the English
> needed in academic contexts because acquiring those reading and
> writing skills can take more than five years.
> 
> The evaluators of the 2006 CAHSEE found that "recently enrolled
> students performed less well." Students in the 10th grade, who had
> enrolled since 2000, "had significantly lower ELA passing rates (below
> 40 percent) compared to students who had been enrolled for longer
> periods." This percentage decreased to 30 and 15 for students who
> enrolled in 2004 and 2006, respectively. Interestingly, these same
> students had less difficulty with the math test; between 40 percent
> and 50 percent of them passed it. Clearly, recent arrivals are capable
> students, but many run out of time before they can learn enough
> English to pass the exam upon which their diploma hinges, despite
> having passed all other state and course requirements.
> 
> The issues are complex and are, unfortunately, not amenable to simple
> solutions. The journalist who asked the governor's opinion about the
> CAHSEE results was posing a serious question about a major problem
> confronting immigrant adolescents that turning off their parents'
> telenovelas will not solve. Because these students are generally
> fluent in English, they are already watching English-language TV.
> 
> Although watching TV may help in acquiring some aspects of spoken
> language (e.g., vocabulary and pronunciation), programs such as
> "American Idol" (or even "Terminator" movies) will be of little help
> in developing the literacy skills needed to pass the ELA portion of
> the CAHSEE. In fact, wouldn't it be better for all students to turn
> off the TV altogether? The governor's suggestion is an unhelpful and
> flip response to a difficult pedagogical situation.
> 
> Rarely do politicians think to consult language researchers when
> dealing with linguistic problems. The governor seems to think that his
> recollection of his own experience with learning English is enough
> evidence to know how to deal with complex issues of second-language
> acquisition and literacy among poor immigrants under very different
> circumstances. However, we still harbor hope that research and facts
> might occasionally trump a facile appeal to personal anecdotes, so
> often invoked in political discourse.
> 
> Moore is a professor and chair of the Department of Linguistics, and
> Celia Zentella is a professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies,
> both at the University of California San Diego.
> 
> Find this article at:
> http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070628/news_lz1e28moore.html