Native Language Classes Aim to Ease Transition to English

[Joe Lo Bianco]

Difficult to day with confidence. Some indicators would suggest an increase
in bi and multi-lingualism, eg the vast growth of EFL/ESL in the world,
there are, the many millions of Chinese who study English.  Indicators of
increases in mono-lingualism would be the linguistic nationalism of many or
most states, which demands surrender of distinctive languages in exchange
for "belonging" in various ways.   The macro-sociology of language
competence is dynamic in many different directions at once: small languages
becoming extinct or receding, many national languages ceding communicative
space to LWCs, especially English, while more and more people are on the
move, both the poor and the elites, meaning the learning and use of
additional languages.  I guess I think multilingualism is increasing, but
in fewer languages, and more and more mono-linguals being English
speakers.  Joe


At 05:27 AM 28/10/2004, you wrote:
>Might be non sequeteur again, but the article made me think of a question.
>Do you think the percentage of monolinguals is increasing or decreasing in
>the world?
>
>Stan Anonby
>
>On Wed, 27 Oct 2004 14:28:01 -0400 (EDT)
>  "Harold F. Schiffman" <haroldfs at ccat.sas.upenn.edu> wrote:
> >
> > Native language classes aim to ease transition to English
> > Studies differ on whether schoolchildren who are learning English should be
> > taught in English
> >
> > Thursday, October 21, 2004
> >
> >
> http://www.oregonlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/metro_southwest_news/109818
> > 7043136340.xml
> >
> > LUCIANA LOPEZ
> >
> > TUALATIN -- The background noise in the Bridgeport Elementary School
> classroom
> > rumbles continuously, with students in each of the room's four quarters
> asking
> > and answering questions and teachers calling for attention and quizzing
> them.
> >
> > But this classroom noise is different from the chatter elsewhere in the
> > school. In this room, the lessons are in Spanish, taught to students
> who speak
> > Spanish at home.
> >
> > The Tigard-Tualatin School District has had such native language
> classes for
> > kindergarten through third-graders for about four years. Spanish-speaking
> > children with limited or no English are taught the basics of literacy
> in their
> > first language before the transition to English.
> >
> > The hope is that focusing on reading in a native language will give them a
> > stronger base from which to make that transition. The district is
> pushing to
> > hire more bilingual teachers and is considering expanding such native
> language
> > classes to higher grades and classes, such as middle school or high school
> > math or science.
> >
> > Critics say the lessons are largely a way for school districts to avoid
> their
> > responsibility to teach children English.
> >
> > The district's English-language learner population has risen about tenfold
> > since 1992. From the 170 students in the 1992-93 school year, an Oct. 6
> tally
> > shows 1,702 English-language-learner students districtwide this year,
> > concentrated in the elementary schools.
> >
> > Stepping up the district's efforts to recruit bilingual teachers,
> > administrators will travel to Southern California this spring searching for
> > candidates at job fairs, said Randy Harvey, director of operations and
> human
> > resources. "We have students who come to us who speak little or no
> English at
> > all, so to help them get a start at all in education we have to be able to
> > communicate with them."
> >
> > Teaching those students in their native language at least some of the time
> > helps them learn content they otherwise would miss until they have a
> command
> > of English, he said. For these students, "If you just throw them into a
> class,
> > you penalize all of their subjects."
> >
> > Teaching the students native language literacy first more effectively eases
> > them into reading in English, said Carol Kinch, the Tigard-Tualatin program
> > coordinator for English-language learners. "If kids learn to read in their
> > native language, they learn English faster," she said, likening the native
> > language classes to "accelerated English class."
> >
> > Some research seems to back up that conclusion. A 2001 study of elementary
> > school Spanish- and English-speaking children by researchers from the
> Center
> > for Applied Linguistics, Johns Hopkins and Harvard universities, found that
> > teaching students how to read in Spanish helped them make the transition
> > faster to reading in English.
> >
> > "In a nutshell, I know that we need to improve achievement of our ELL
> kids at
> > the middle and high schools," Kinch said. "The more native language
> > instruction kids get, the more they achieve."
> >
> > For example, she said, a student trying to learn physics who also must
> > struggle with the language could wind up pushing aside the subject matter.
> > Native language instruction "enables kids to still do the content."
> >
> > The Spanish-language classes at Bridgeport are only part of the
> students' day;
> > the rest of the time, they return to their regular classes taught in
> English.
> >
> > But opponents say the language of instruction ought to be English, and they
> > point to other research.
> >
> > A 1986 study in The Journal of Law and Education, for instance, found that
> > most "transitional bilingual education" programs were no different from or
> > worse than techniques such as submersion, in which the learner is exposed
> > mostly or entirely to the new language.
> >
> > And many native language programs fail to take advantage of the best
> time for
> > someone to learn a new language: when they're young, said Douglas
> Besharov, a
> > scholar with the American Enterprise Institute and a professor at the
> > University of Maryland, College Park. "It is tons easier to learn a
> language
> > if you're learning it when you're young."
> >
> > Once a school has a bilingual class, however, "The institutional forces
> are to
> > keep these classes full," he said, adding that many children have trouble
> > getting out of the classes even when they don't need the help. That
> leads to a
> > perpetuation of the classes even when it's not in the students' best
> > interests -- for which Besharov faults many of the people who run the
> > programs.
> >
> > "I think the bilingual teachers have a vested interest in kids staying in
> > bilingual programs for the longest time possible," Besharov said. "I
> think it
> > is such a conflict of interest for them."
> >
> > The underprivileged, who are among those who most rely on public
> schools, also
> > are among those who most need English-language education, said Jim
> Boulet Jr.,
> > executive director of the nonprofit group English First. "They're
> counting on
> > instruction on the basics; they're counting on their children learning
> > English."
> >
> > He scoffs at the idea that students whose classes are in Spanish will
> still be
> > immersed in English outside of school. "I never thought the day would come
> > that educators would argue that students would be better off picking up
> > English on the street corner, which is what that argument says," Boulet
> said.
> >
> > But for Flor Vidal, a former teacher in Peru who volunteers at Bridgeport
> > Elementary, the benefits of the Spanish-language classes are easy to
> see. When
> > the children learn how to read in Spanish, they get a better grounding in
> > literacy and language, she said, and they understand the basics before they
> > transfer those skills to a new language. It's also easier for them to
> > translate into English when they know their first language better, she
> said.
> >
> > Elsa Palza-Rink, a Bridgeport teacher, said the classes also give
> students a
> > chance to learn with others who face some of the same issues.
> >
> > "They're here learning with other kids who need help with the same
> thing," she
> > said. "Sometimes people think we're teaching them Spanish to be
> bilingual. Our
> > goal is to teach them Spanish to learn other things.
> >


Joseph Lo Bianco

Professor of Language and Literacy Education
LLAE, Faculty of Education
The University of Melbourne
3010 VIC   Australia

Tel:    03 8344 8346
Fax:    03 8344 8612
Mob: 0407 798 978
Email: j.lobianco at unimelb.edu.au