Volume 28, Number 2 Summer 2004 ABSTRACTS |
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Contradictory Literacy Practices of Mexican-Background Students:
An Ethnography From the Rural Midwest
This ethnographic study
explores the contradictory literacy practices of 10 high school
students of Mexican background from the rural Midwest. The author
uses the term Mexican background to encompass both settled Mexican
Americans and recent-immigrant Mexicanos. Literacy is investigated
through English and Spanish in a sociocultural context. Findings
reveal how Mexican-background students demonstrate different literacy
practices in their homes and communities than those acknowledged
at school. Educators in the school setting did not recognize Mexican-background
students’ linguistic proficiency. In school, Mexican-background
students were viewed in terms of their limited-English status and
were mostly enrolled in low academic tracks. At home, Spanish-speaking
parents relied on their children’s sophisticated translation
abilities. Results indicate that the lost opportunities for effective
literacy learning at school ignored the realistic responsibilities
and potential of the Mexican-background students. Many of the adults
in this small, rural, midwestern community failed to recognize the
dynamic implications between literacy and identity that these adolescents
navigated on a daily basis across multiple settings.
This study used bilingual stories
to examine the long-term memory of compound bilinguals in Grades
2 and 3. Results revealed that third graders used more elaborate
memory strategies, had greater cognitive awareness of language,
and demonstrated significantly better overall memory, relative to
second graders. The author discusses memory development in light
of both contextual and personal variables, including a bilingual
lens of understanding that is comprised of prior language experience.
This exploratory study identifies
factors affecting parental choice of language of instruction, based
on semistructured interviews with 16 Russian-speaking parents in
three urban areas of Estonia. We investigated three different types
of language programs: Russian schools, which provided education
in the children’s first language; Estonian schools, which
provided education in the children’s second language; and
Russian–Estonian bilingual programs, which functioned as separate
classes within Russian schools. Our interviews with parents revealed
four basic types of orientation toward language and culture. We
have labeled these orientations multicultural (appreciating or feeling
comfortable with many languages and cultures), Russocentric (feeling
most comfortable with Russian culture and/or seeing Russian language
and culture as superior), bicultural (having familiarity with and/or
interest in both languages and cultures, or cultural neutrality),
and Estoniocentric (having a strong desire to belong to the Estonian
cultural and language group). These orientations correspond to parents’
choice of language of instruction for their children, suggesting
that choice of school language has different meanings for parents
with varying culture and language identifications.
California’s Proposition 227
(1998) has affected the education of many English language learners
(ELLs). However, the extent of Proposition 227’s influence
on special education planning and practice is unclear. ELLs who
have moderate to severe disabilities face major communication obstacles.
The present qualitative study looked specifically at the impact
of California’s Proposition 227 and the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (1990) on special education teachers’ educational
planning, assessments, and classroom practices for students identified
as ELLs who have moderate to severe disabilities. Findings indicated
teacher misinterpretation of Proposition 227, resource scarcity,
a lack of administrative support, and the exclusion of parents from
decisions regarding which language should be used to instruct ELLs
with moderate to severe disabilities.
Although many states and school districts
require reading benchmarks and performance standards, these reading
benchmarks may not be consistent or based on sound educational research
concerning what is best for English Language Learners (ELLs). The
purpose of this paper is to provide a discussion for the need of
research to establish realistic grade-level student performance
standards in English reading for ELL students with different levels
of English-language proficiency. An overview of the California English
Language Development Standards and the issues involved is intended
to help understand the enormous implications they have on ELLs.
Research
in Practice This micro-ethnographic classroom-based
case study explores the teaching methodology in a first-grade French-immersion
class. This study was carried out in a public elementary immersion
school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where English-speaking children
throughout the school learn the school curriculum through a second
language (French), starting in kindergarten. The findings of the
study indicated that the two team teachers of the first-grade French-immersion
class established a learning environment in which they consistently
used interactive dialogues, humor, challenging activities, imaginary
characters, prefabricated language patterns, and concrete learning
experiences to teach the second language and content matter simultaneously.
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