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M. Beatriz Arias and Leslie Poynor
Arizona State University
Researchers of teacher education programs
have lamented the fact that these programs do little to prepare
teachers to work with culturally and linguistically diverse children.
In this paper we problematize the traditional transmission teacher
education approaches to diversity with respect to preparing teachers
to teach reading and language arts to culturally and linguistically
diverse children. Further, we use Banks' developmental stages of
ethnic identity to discuss the potential impact (or lack of impact)
of such traditional transmission teacher education on pre-service
teachers. Our research then examines the potential impact of a progressive,
transactional reading and language arts methods block of courses
at an urban professional development school on pre-service teachers'
understanding of teaching culturally and linguistically diverse
children. Finally, we situate our findings within Banks' developmental
stages of ethnic identity.
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Jill Kerper Mora, San Diego State University
Joan Wink and Dawn Wink, California State University, Stanislaus
This article describes a system for categorizing
various theoretical models of dual language instruction. The use
of the term "immersion" in the popular parlance is contrasted
with its meaning for language educators in describing programs implemented
to conform to specific enrichment or compensatory educational principles
and goals. A paradigm is presented for examining the congruence,
or match, among the theoretical model, teachers' beliefs, and actual
classroom practices to determine the fidelity, and therefore, effectiveness,
of a dual language program. Examples from school districts that
exhibit high levels of congruence, and counter examples of programs
lacking fidelity to their theoretical underpinnings, are presented
to illustrate potential pitfalls of implementation. The results
of California's Proposition 227 in providing coherent guidelines
for program implementation are analyzed based on the congruence
paradigm. Proposition 227 is judged to be a decontextualized procedural
model rather than a sound theoretical model for educating language
minority students.
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Elaine Hampton and Rosaisela Rodriguez
University of Texas at El Paso
This research was designed to determine the value of implementing
a hands-on, inquiry science curriculum in classrooms where elementary
children are developing second language skills along with their
first language skills. The children were taught by interns from
the University of Texas at El Paso in three elementary schools in
the El Paso area. Half the instruction was in Spanish and half in
English.The interns and in-service teachers provided evidence of
the children's concept development. The elementary students provided
data via an attitude survey and written assessments from 107 fifth
graders. The consistency of the data indicates that there was a
strong positive feeling about the value of this inquiry approach
for increasing the children's language skills in both languages,
that new science concepts were understood, and there was very little
difference between children who chose Spanish or those who chose
English to respond. The results of this research illustrate the
value of a hands-on inquiry science program in a bilingual community.
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Sandra H. Fradd, University of Florida
Okhee Lee, University of Miami
Francis X. Sutman, Temple University
M. Kim Saxton, Eli Lilly and Company
In spite of reform efforts, opportunities for all students to learn
science remain illusive. Recent studies indicate that science curricula
do not meet students' learning needs. Research-based curricula focusing
on science inquiry with English language learners (ELLs) have yet
to be developed. To encourage development of appropriate science
materials, this paper discusses the learning needs of specific groups
of ELLs and their teachers. First, we describe our research with
groups of fourth-grade ELLs and their teachers, including perspectives
of inquiry with teachers who shared their students' languages and
cultures and features of materials developed to integrate science
and literacy instruction. Next, we present student achievement results
using the materials. Finally, we discuss the importance of materials
enabling all students to learn science through inquiry.
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Maria Guadalupe De la Colina, Bryan Independent
School District
Richard I. Parker, Jan E. Hasbrouck,
and Raphael Lara-Alecio, Texas A&M University-College Station
A study was conducted using a single case, multiple baseline
(across subjects) design to study an intensive reading intervention
among low-achieving at-risk students in first and second grade Spanish/English
bilingual classrooms. The intervention, involving three research-supported
techniques, was conducted for 45 minutes per day, three days per
week, over 12 weeks, with 74 students from four classrooms (analyses
included 53 students with complete data). Dependent measures were
oral reading fluency scores and comprehension scores from post-reading
questions, collected every two weeks from equivalent probes. It
was concluded that implementing intensive reading fluency interventions
in bilingual classrooms is feasible and valuable if conducted with
fidelity, and if students are highly engaged.
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Valentina Blonski Hardin
University of Houston
The present study examines how 50 fourth-grade Spanish-dominant
students utilize cognitive reading strategies to enhance comprehension
of expository texts in Spanish and transfer strategic reading behaviors
to English reading. The participants were grouped by Spanish reading
ability into Able (Ab), Average (Av), and Less-Able (LAb) readers
in order to determine how native language (L1) reading ability influences
second language (L2) reading. Students' perception of the reading
process and their oral proficiency in English were also examined
as possible influences on cross-linguistic transfer. Data were collected
through student interviews and think-aloud task tasks. For purposes
of analysis, responses were grouped into categories of similar answers
for comparisons across groups and languages; overall group means
for strategic reading in Spanish were compared to those in English
at various Language Assessment Scales (LAS) levels of English oral
proficiency. All groups reported an increase in strategy use in
English reading. Results indicate that strategic behaviors in L1
undergird L2 reading behaviors and that the level of second language
proficiency played a less prominent role in second-language strategic
reading than did the level of strategy use in L1.
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Cindy C. Quintana
Eastern New Mexico University
This article details the development of an inventory that identifies
and measures reading preferences of sixth- through ninth-grade Mexican
immigrant students. The inventory of reading preferences employs
a unique methodology which utilizes open-ended, rating type questionnaires
and annotated titles for 22 reading preference categories in combination
with two statistical techniques (Q-quotient and reading preference
factor) all developed by the researcher to accurately measure reading
preferences. Reliability coefficients ranged from .90 to .96, far
exceeding the typical range of .60 to .80 for similar inventories.
Three panels of experts, one including children in validating the
inventory, identified 36 annotated titles representing the dominant
culture (Section A), and 37 annotated titles representing one of
four predominant cultures in the Southwest: Mexican, African American,
Native American, and Anglo American (Section B) from a pool of 120
annotated titles. This inventory was used to investigate seven primary
and four secondary research questions. Summary results are provided.
Other uses of the inventory are suggested.
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Cynthia A. Riccio, Alfred Amado, Sandra Jiménez,
Jan E. Hasbrouck, and Brian Imhoff, Texas A&M University
Carolyn Denton, University of Texas, Houston Health Science Center
Recent research suggests that phonological processing deficits,
including the awareness of sounds in words or phonemic awareness,
are predictive of difficulties in learning to read and reading fluency
in English. As research in this area has increased, so has the number
of measures with which to measure phonological processing in English.
Increasing numbers of children in schools today speak Spanish as
their first or only language, and the teaching and assessment of
literacy and pre-literacy skills is of concern with these children.
The purpose of this study was to develop a measure of phonological
processing in Spanish (Conciencia Fonológica en Español
or CFE). The measure was developed based on research that is available
in English and then piloted with children in a bilingual program
to examine the reliability and validity of the scores obtained on
this measure. Results support the utility of the test in measuring
a developmental process; internal reliability and test-retest reliability
are adequate. Correlations with a comparable measure in English
are in the moderate range supporting construct validity of the CFE.
Regression analyses suggest that phonological processing in Spanish
as measured by the subtests of the CFE is predictive of reading
fluency in Spanish as well as reading fluency in English. Implications
and future areas of research are discussed.
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Calliope Haritos, Hunter College School of
Education
Katherine Nelson, Graduate Center of
the City University of New York
We initiated story recall in bilingual children to analyze how specific
languages affect memory for narrative. Forty 8- and 9-year-old bilingual
(Greek-English) children listened to a story on tape, in either
English or Greek, and were asked to retell it in either English
or Greek, once from memory and a second time with the aid of a picture
book. Story recall was measured in terms of number of recalled phrases.
Story recall for subjects who heard the story in English and retold
it in Greek (group EG) was significantly better than for groups
EE, GG, and GE. Results are discussed in terms of dual coding theory
and subjects' language socialization history. The implications of
these findings suggest the need for dynamic, flexible bilingual
education programs that are sensitive to the previous language experiences
of bilingual students.
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Virginia González, University of Cincinnati
Chia-Yin Chen and Claudia Sanchez, Texas
A&M University
Writing patterns of a Chinese English-as-a-foreign-language
(EFL) learner were analyzed as a case study from linguistic, pragmatic,
and psycholinguistic perspectives. Alternative assessments were
used by American pre-service teachers and a Taiwanese EFL instructor
for rating linguistic developmental problems referring to format,
style, syntax, and grammar. In addition, researchers conducted deeper
linguistic analyses of discourse organization and cultural thinking
styles. The case study also presents patterns found, some conclusions,
and theoretical and practical educational implications.
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Binbin Jiang, University of the Incarnate Word
Phyllis Kuehn, California State University, Fresno
This study examined the issue of transfer for low-intermediate
ESL students enrolled in an academic English development course
at the community college level. Late immigrant students (adult immigrants)
had higher L1 academic language proficiency and generally made better
progress in L2 academic language development as a result of instruction
than did the early immigrant group (those who immigrated at a younger
age). The findings support Cummins' Model of Common Underlying Proficiency
(CUP) and the Interdependence Hypothesis between L1 and L2, complement
previous studies on literacy development in first and second languages,
and provide both quantitative and qualitative evidence on positive
transfer of prior linguistic and cognitive skills from L1 to L2.
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Book Review
by
C. Larson and C. Ovando
Reviewed by Martha McCarthy
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