|
So,
What’s Behind Adult English Second Language Reading?
Gail August
Hostos Community College
This study investigated
the relationship of first language (L1) grammatical knowledge to
English second language reading (ESLR),
with the objective of understanding this relationship in the context
of the transfer of L1 skills to second language (L2) academic
processes. Fifty-five adult, native Spanish-speaking English language
learners were given 4 assessments. Spanish reading accounted for
10% of the variance of ESLR, supporting the Linguistic Interdependence
Hypothesis, and English grammar accounted for 8% of the variance,
supporting the Linguistic Threshold Hypothesis. The results imply
that transfer from the L1 might operate differently in adult ESLR
than it does with children. An ESLR adult model is proposed, which
predicts that some ESLR students will require a
curriculum that provides a highly intensive focus on L2 language,
grammar, and reading skills.
Full
Text in PDF
Language Socialization
in Koreanas-a-Foreign-Language Classrooms
Andrew
Sangpil Byon
University at Albany, State University of New York
Within the language socialization framework, the second language
(L2) classroom would constitute a powerful context of secondary
socialization, particularly when it exists outside the learners’
culture of origin. In this paper, first year Korean-as-a-Foreign-Language
(KFL) classrooms are viewed as L2 socializing environments in which
students are not only learning the target language, but are also
being socialized into particular Korean sociocultural interactive
norms. The study analyzes teacher–student interaction in two
American college-level KFL classes in light of language socialization
perspectives. The analysis illustrates that teacher–student
interactions are consistent with hierarchism (Byon, 2004; Sohn,1986),
which is one of the major cognitive value orientations of
Korean culture. The result contrasts with English-as-a-Second-Language
settings (Poole, 1992) in which English teachers try to
minimize the status differences between themselves and students.
Full
Text in PDF
Code Switching as a Communicative Strategy:
A Case Study of Korean–English Bilinguals
Haesook Han Chung
Defense Language Institute
This study examines purposes
of code switching (CS) and how CS is used as a communicative strategy
between Korean–English
bilinguals. Data were collected through videotaping of conversations
between a first-generation Korean–English bilingual adult
and two
Korean–English bilingual children. Qualitative data analysis
indicated that CS could be brought about and shaped by the dynamics
of the relationship of the speaker–addressee and by cultural
features embedded in the Korean language. The analysis also posited
that
CS functions as a communicative strategy for facilitating family
communication by lowering language barriers as well as by
consolidating cultural identity. Results raise further awareness
that CS is a versatile strategy to meet the complex communicative
demands between or within generations of an immigrant family.
Full Text in PDF
English Language Learners in a Comprehensive High
School
Cathy Coulter and Mary Lee Smith
Arizona State University
This study focuses on the research literature available in the United
States on the evolution of language policy and planning issues involved
The comprehensive high school has changed little over the past few
decades, in spite of the rising numbers of immigrant children
populating U.S. public schools. Critics claim that high school traditions
and structures consign English language learners to marginal
positions and inferior academic opportunities. In our intensive
analysis of 8 English language learners in a comprehensive high
school, we found the criticisms to hold true and came to an understanding
of the mechanisms by which these consequences
came about.
Full
Text in PDF
Reconstructing the Status Quo: Linguistic
Interaction in a Dual-Language School
Shanan Fitts
California State University, Fullerton
This paper investigates
how bilingualism is understood and practiced by adults and students
in a dual-language elementary school. In this
dual-language program, native English speakers and native Spanish
speakers receive language and content instruction in both languages
in linguistically integrated settings. I examine the participants’
use of “tactics of intersubjectivity” to understand
how children use
their two languages to ally themselves with and distance themselves
from particular people, groups, and linguistic varieties. I ultimately
argue that, while the program model is fundamentally based on the
idea of the separation of languages and “parallel monolingualism”,
it does offer students opportunities to explore linguistic forms
and their attendant social meanings.
Full
Text in PDF
Teacher
Attrition and Retention Along the Mexican Border
Leslie
Garrison
San Diego State University
This study investigated teacher attrition and retention among 527
teachers who earned credentials between 1991 and 1998. They all
attended a regional campus of a large university located in a rural
area of southern California. Although the area had high poverty
and many English language learners, the teacher attrition rate was
markedly lower than nationally reported figures. Individual
interviews of a randomly selected sample were conducted to determine
differences between the conditions these teachers
encountered during their first years of teaching and the conditions
that contributed to dissatisfaction and attrition among teachers
reported in Ingersoll and Smith (2003). No major differences in
teaching conditions were found. Alternative explanations for the
high retention rate are explored.
Full
Text in PDF
Keeping
La Llorona Alive in the Shadow of Cortés: What an Examination
of Literacy in Two Mexican
Schools Can Teach
Anne-Marie Hall
University of Arizona
This article, a 5-month ethnographic research in Oaxaca, Mexico,
examines various aspects of the literacy curriculum in 2 Mexican
primary schools. The author observed and interviewed 35 students
in 6th grade and 7 teachers in 2 schools, as well as examined student
writing and teaching materials. The research suggests that though
the Secretaria de Educación Pública (Secretary of
Public Education,
SEP) of Mexico mandates progressive educational theories, in practice,
the national curriculum reinforces the Spanish colonialist
views of indigenous languages and beliefs. In addition, there is
a powerful intimate culture of children and families who interact
with
this curriculum. This study looks at what happens when the ideas
and practices of the SEP collide with indigenous traditions, and
what U.S. educators can learn from this.
Full
Text in PDF
ESL
Teachers’ Perceptions and Factors Influencing Their Use of
Classroom-Based Reading Assessment
Yueming
Jia, Zohreh R. Eslami, and Lynn M. Burlbaw
Texas A & M University
This paper reports on a qualitative study that examined English
as a second language (ESL) teachers’ perceptions of classroom-based
reading assessments. ESL teachers’ use of classroom-based
reading assessments, their understanding about the function and
effectiveness of this assessment method, and the factors influencing
this assessment process are presented. Six middle school and 7
elementary school ESL teachers participated in this study. Data
consisted of interviews with ESL teachers, classroom observations,
and assessment materials teachers used in the classrooms. Constant
comparative method was used for data analysis. Findings of this
study include that ESL teachers highly value classroom-based reading
assessments, considered them accurate and valuable and
thought these assessments could provide great help to the daily
teaching of reading. Teachers viewed state-mandated standardized
testing negatively and of little value for English language learners.
Student characteristics, statewide mandated tests, and district
policies were three major forces influencing and controlling the
kind of reading assessment used by teachers. The teachers’
perceptions,
beliefs, and uses of assessment have implications for teacher education
programs and policymakers.
Full
Text in PDF
Shared
Reading Within Latino Families: An Analysis of Reading Interactions
and Language Use
Terese
C. Jiménez
Loyola Marymount University
Alexis L. Filippini and Michael M. Gerber
University of California,
Santa Barbara
Storybook reading research
with monolingual families suggests that adult strategies used during
shared reading provide greater
opportunities for children’s verbal participation while facilitating
their language and literacy skills. Research of this type with linguistic
minority children is relatively uncommon. In the present study,
16 primarily Spanish-speaking Latina/o caregivers and their 7- to
8-
year-old children participated in a home-based reading intervention
in the families’ primary language. Parents were taught shared
reading strategies based on Whitehurst and colleagues’ (1988)
Dialogic Reading. Results show increases in parents’ strategy
use
and overall verbal participation. Further, measures of children’s
productive language and relative participation increased
significantly. This pilot study has implications for further research
and intervention utilizing shared storybook reading within linguistic
minority populations.
Full
Text in PDF
“It’s
Not My Job”: K–12 Teacher Attitudes Toward Students’
Heritage Language Maintenance
Jin
Sook Lee and Eva Oxelson
University of California, Santa Barbara
This paper examines teachers’
attitudes towards their students’ heritage language maintenance
and their engagement in classroom
practices that may or may not affirm the value of maintaining and
developing heritage languages among students. Through surveys
and interviews with K–12 teachers in California public schools,
the data show that the nature of teacher training and personal experience
with languages other than English significantly affect teacher attitudes
toward heritage language maintenance and bilingualism.
Teachers who did not receive training as language educators expressed
negative or indifferent attitudes toward heritage language
maintenance and did not see a role for themselves and schools in
heritage language maintenance efforts. This study highlights the
need for all educators to better understand the critical role and
functions of heritage languages in the personal, academic, and social
trajectories of linguistic minority students.
Full
Text in PDF
High-Stakes
Testing and English Language Learners: Questions of Validity
Elizabeth A. Mahon
Durham Public Schools,
North Carolina
The purpose of this study was to understand relationships between
English proficiency and academic performance for a group of
English language learners (ELLs) from 4 elementary schools. Descriptive
and inferential statistics were used to examine scores
from the Language Assessment Scales, the Woodcock-Muñoz Language
Survey, and the Colorado Student Assessment Program.
Findings showed that English proficiency was significantly related
to English academic achievement, even for ELL students who had
been in U.S. schools for 3 years or longer. Furthermore, the 5th
grade ELL cohort had greater increases in reading and writing scores
compared to all Colorado 5th graders. This led to a slight closing
of the achievement gap. Lastly, Spanish achievement, especially
when combined with English proficiency, predicted English achievement.
Full
Text in PDF
Dual-Language
Student Teachers’ Classroom-Entry Issues: Stages Toward Gaining
Acceptance
Teresa I. Márquez-López
University of California,
Riverside
This case study examines
how three dual-language student teachers gain entry in their student-teaching
experience. They confront the
challenges of meeting the expectations of their cooperating teachers
and field supervisors, become familiar with their students’
academic
strengths and weaknesses, and deliver effective classroom instruction.
Each of the student teachers was observed to move
through three stages of teacher development: (a) gaining entry,
(b) acquiring competence, and (c) gaining acceptance. Throughout
the
study, the student teachers examine the influences of their varied
cultural experiences, native and non-native language issues, and
their role as the instructional leader in their student-teaching
setting.
Full
Text in PDF
Teaching
to the Test: How No Child Left Behind Impacts Language Policy, Curriculum,
and Instruction
for English Language Learners
Kate Menken
City University of New
York
The purpose of this study was to understand relationships between
English proficiency and academic performance for a group of
English language learners (ELLs) from 4 elementary schools. Descriptive
and inferential statistics were used to examine scores
from the Language Assessment Scales, the Woodcock-Muñoz Language
Survey, and the Colorado Student Assessment Program.
Findings showed that English proficiency was significantly related
to English academic achievement, even for ELL students who had
been in U.S. schools for 3 years or longer. Furthermore, the 5th
grade ELL cohort had greater increases in reading and writing scores
compared to all Colorado 5th graders. This led to a slight closing
of the achievement gap. Lastly, Spanish achievement, especially
when combined with English proficiency, predicted English achievement.
Full
Text in PDF
Goats
Don’t Wear Coats: An Examination of Semantic Interference
in Rhyming Assessments of Reading
Readiness for English Language Learners
Sylvia Moreira
Queens College, City University of New York
Maryellen Hamilton
Saint
Peter’s College
Rhyming tests have historically been used in the education system
to assess reading readiness. English language learners (ELLs) have
consistently scored poorly on these assessment tools. The current
article examines a possible reason for this poor performance by
ELLs. Specifically, the authors examined the relationship between
semantic associations of visual images and performance on rhyming
assessments for ELLs. Two groups of students, native English speakers
and native Spanish speakers, were tested using a typical
rhyming assessment tool. As expected, it was found that the native
English speakers outperformed the native Spanish speakers. An
analysis of the native Spanish speakers’ errors revealed semantic
interference. Educational implications of these findings are
discussed.
Full
Text in PDF
A
Critical Look at Bilingualism Discourse in Public Schools: Autoethnographic
Reflections of a Vulnerable Observer
Mariana Souto-Manning
University of Georgia
A bilingual elementary school teacher and mother of a bilingual
child, the author questions the presence of specific bilingualism
discourses in two Southeastern public schools. Despite research
that shows the acquisition and development of two languages
actually augment language processing and problem solving skills,
the perception of children’s brains as buckets preprogrammed
for
the development of a single language is still commonly employed
in these schools and serves to support the placement of English
language learners in special education classes. In this study, Critical
Narrative Analysis, a hybrid of critical discourse analysis and
conversational narrative analysis, is applied to meld a macro and
microanalysis of the author’s own teacher journal entries
and the
narratives of a veteran special education teacher. The article shows
how the bilingualism discourse continues to reflect a deficit
orientation.
Full
Text in PDF
“Mi
Hija Vale Dos Personas”: Latino Immigrant Parents’ Perspectives
About Their Children’s Bilingualism
Jo Worthy and Alejandra Rodríguez-Galindo
University of Texas at
Austin
This paper presents the voices of 16 Latino immigrant parents whose
children were upper elementary students in a bilingual
education class in the southwestern United States. In interviews
that focused on their children’s language learning and usage,
the
parents spoke of a commitment to a better life for their children.
All believed that English proficiency and bilingualism were keys
to social and economic advancement and that speaking Spanish represented
an essential tie to familial and cultural roots, and all
demonstrated awareness and involvement in their children’s
education and language use. Many parents had begun to notice
subtle signs of Spanish erosion and resistance, despite the fact
that Spanish was the home language of all. To counteract the social
and
political forces drawing their children away from bilingualism,
the parents were using a variety of strategies although most of
them
worked long hours simply to survive, and thus, had little free time.
This study urges that educators take the time to listen and learn
how
parents are able and willing to assist their children.
Full
Text in PDF
|
