Second language acquisition (fwd)

[Fred Genesee]

Vince: 

Ann Peters posted your message on a listserv that I belong to and I thought
I would email you because I have worked for some time with immersion/bilingual 
programs for both majority and indigenous language groups in Canada
(primarily) but also in the U.S.

There is good reason to be concerned that Cree-speaking students will not
develop full competence in Cree unless they start early. This is a problem
not because the students themselves lack the ability to acquire Cree and
then English, but because English is so prominent that it is difficult to
reinforce indigenous languages in school and outside school if English is
the primary language of instruction in school. Students from minority
language backgrounds who are "immersed" or "submersed" in the majority
language at the outset of schooling often do not maintain or develop the
language to high levels of competence because the majority language
displaces the home language because it has such high prestige and currency
in the larger community. We have found in our research on French immersion
for Enlgish-speaking students that they are less enthuasiastic about French
once English is used for instruction. And, perhaps of more direct relevance
to your situation, research in the U.S shows that students who speak
minority languages, such as Spanish, at home are drawn inexorably toward
Enlgish as they get older and as English becomes more prominent in their
lives. Thus, from a language survival point of view, using Cree initially
as the primary language of instruction is probably most advisable. 

Research in the U.S. shows that minority Spanish-speaking students in
Spanish-English programs from Kindergarten onward outperform other minority
Spanish speaking students in English-only programs on both English
language, home language, and academic achievement tests. Part of the
success of these bilingual programs is linked to their use of coherent and
integrated curriculum from K to upper grades and part of their success is
related to high expectations with respect to attainment in both languages
and in academic domains as well. I can send you copies of reviews of this
research, if you are interested. 

There are a number of indigenous groups that have opted for immersion in
the indigenous language during the pre-school and primary school grades --
with some success. For example, we have early total Mohawk immersion
programs in the Montreal area that do that and there are total immersion
programs in Hawaiian (where Ann lives) that provide total insturction in
Hawaiin for all of elementary school. The students in these programs come
to school already speaking English and usually do not speak thenindigeneous
language. At some point, you might find it useful to contact people in
those schools to share experiences. I could help you with contact information.

At the same time, of course, you want to ensure that your children acquire
full competence in English. There are several program models that you could
think about for doing this. One would be early partial immersion in Cree
and English, starting in K -- in this program, both Cree and English are
used for instructional purposes; another model is delayed immersion in
English which starts off in the home language and then includes the
majority language starting in the middle elementary grades; and yet another
model is late immersion starting in late elementary or middle school (this
latter option could also include some English language instruction  prior
to immersion so that the students acquire basic skills in English).  The
ultimate success of these various options depends, of course, on the
quality of your curriculum and the intsruction the students get.   The
option you choose would depend to some extent on how much English and Cree
the children hear and use outside school and the resources (instructional,
materials, and curricular) you have at your disposal. 

The success of such programs in promoting competence in two languages and
in academic subjects is critically dependent on the quality of the
curriculum, the instructional material, and the professional competence of
the instructors. Like any school program, these things matter in
immersion/bilingual programs as well.

I can send you information about a book on Dual Language Instruction that I
co-authored with colleagues that was written as a guide for developing
bilingual programs that you might find useful. I will send it separately.

Let me know if I can be of futher assistance. 

Fred Genesee

At 11:20 AM 20/12/2005 -1000, you wrote:
>Colleagues,
>I just received this query and I think some of youknow much more about
>this than I do. Please respond directly to him.
>thanks
>ann
>
>****************************
>Dr. Ann M. Peters, Professor Emeritus
>Graduate Chair                      http://www.ling.hawaii.edu/
>Department of Linguistics
>University of Hawai`i               email: ann at hawaii.edu
>1890 East West Road, Rm 569         phone: 808 956-3241
>Honolulu, HI  96822                 fax:   808 956-9166
>http://www.ling.hawaii.edu/faculty/ann/
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 12:35:54 -0500
>From: Vince Dumond <vince.dumond at afnea.com>
>To: ann at hawaii.edu
>Subject: Second language acquisition
>
>Good Morning
>
>My name is Vince Dumond. I am the principal of a First Nation School in
>northern Ontario, Canada, on the James Bay Coast. I found your email in a
>paper you wrote (http://childes.psy.cmu.edu/topics/filler.pdf) while doing
>research on second language acquisition.
>
>In three years our community will have a new school and I want to start
>planning now for a seamless integration of day care, head start and
>kindergarten, all with highly qualified teachers.
>
>Do you know of research which supports solid foundation in first language
>until age 9, then immersion in the second language and the end product being
>a high achievement in both first and second languages by age 14?
>
>The aboriginal language is Cree and the second language is English.
>
>There is a fear among the elders, in this community, that the first language
>will be lost if children are not immersed in Cree for the first 3 years of
>school. There are qualified Cree teachers who can do so.
>
>The English teachers who come to this community see children who perform
>poorly in language scores in both Cree and English. The English teachers
>insist that the children be immersed in English first and learn the mother
>tongue, Cree, 40 minutes a day at school and also learn it at home so the
>children can have a higher achievement score in English upon graduation.
>Cree is not spoken outside of this isolated area.
>
>Can you help me find research which supports the acquisition of the first
>language as the well documented route to proceed in program planning?
>
>Planning for this important step is crucial.
>
>Please fee free to forward this email to the appropriate researcher.
>
>Many thanks
>
>Vince
>
>
>Vince Dumond
>Principal, JR Nakogee School
>Attawapiskat, Ontario, Canada.
>P0L 1A0
>Phone: (705) 997-2114
>Fax: (705) 997-1259
>
>
>
>

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