Editor's Introduction

This issue of the Bilingual Research Journal represents the first complete year of operation under the journal's new editors. It has indeed been a year of transition and learning—especially learning. However, I am delighted to report to the readership that we have made significant strides in attempting to bring to our community the wealth of research and practice that exist in our field. We have heard from many of you in different ways and we wish to acknowledge the assistance, support, and understanding which you have shown us this past year. I know that working together we can be assured that the Bilingual Research Journal remains the premier journal in bilingualism and bilingual education.

The editors have been impressed by the number and quality of the manuscripts submitted for consideration this year. Unfortunately, we cannot accept all of them. However, this demonstrates that our field is alive and well despite the virulent attacks which it has had to endure in the recent past. California has had its share of adversity with the passage of Proposition 227 just over one year ago. Although the results of state tests are beginning to find themselves out in the open, it is still unclear as to what lasting impact this will have on the education of English Language Learners. Hopefully, the research community will be able to report on this issue in these very pages in the not too distant future.

Arizona, like California, will be facing a similar vote on bilingual education in the November 2000 elections. Ron Unz continues to influence those interested in dismantling the English only programs that have benefited language minority students in significant numbers. Unz's aid to Arizona's "English for the Children" initiative has begun to raise issues not seen in Arizona since the passage of Proposition 106 _ an "English Only" law passed by the thinnest of margins by Arizona voters in 1988, and never implemented. It has since been declared unconstitutional.

This brings us to the current issue of the Bilingual Research Journal. The lead article in the Research and Essays Section of this issue comes to us from Belinda Bustos Flores and Ellen Riojas Clark. They discuss, through a research study conducted in Texas, the extremely important topic of `high-stakes' testing, and the relationship this issue has with minority teachers in general and language minority teachers specifically. The high incidence of failure among minority teachers should be of great concern to all of us since we are attempting to influence the production of quality teachers through effective research and practice. The issue is even more important given the standardized testing frenzy that is occurring across the country. Flores and Clark make recommendations concerning the current status of testing, the status of bilingual teachers in the state of Texas vis-à-vis the Texas competency exams (ExCet Tests), and the implications for future research on this topic.

The second article featured in this section is by Hitomi Oketani which examines the dual language development of post-World War II Japanese-Canadian youths. The study specifically looks at the relationship between bilinguality, academic achievement, and socio-psychological factors such as ethnolinguistic identity and beliefs, support for the first language (L1), and interpersonal contacts. These 42 subjects were students who had attended a Japanese Heritage Language school in Toronto, Canada. The results of the study help to bolster other research findings in bilingual education. Mainly, these are that the development of academic achievement in L1 positively influences the development of L2. Oketani goes further by claiming that educational outcomes as a whole are positively influenced.

In the third installment of Research and Essays, Linda Watkins-Goffman and Victor Cummings examine how to improve on English as a Second Language instruction for students new to the United States. Through a study of Dominican students striving to attain native language literacy, the authors remind us that new students have much more than language to learn. New students are always grappling with the cultural differences which cause them to look upon the American educational experience differently. This research could prove beneficial to those seeking to better understand their English Language Learners. This research was carried out in a redacción class in the Dominican Republic. In this way, the researcher could attempt to create a composite picture of how literacy is acquired in the native language classroom.

Enedina García-Vázquez, Luis Vázquez, Isabel C. López, and Wendy Ward, explore the relationship between proficiency in two languages and achievement among Mexican American students. Their study found that Mexican American students who had high levels of literacy in both English and Spanish were more likely to have higher grade point averages and more importantly, higher levels of academic achievement as demonstrated by standardized tests such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. It was almost expected that researchers would find higher achievement in English, but what was surprising in their study were the positive effects which the native language had on achievement in general. The implications of this study are important because they emphasize to parents as well as educators the importance of literacy skills in both the native language and English. Parents can rest assured that retention of the native language will not harm their children's acquisition of content knowledge, and educators can rejoice in the finding that proficiency in English plays a big role in a child's academic success. This research and the previous work by Oketani go hand in hand in terms of extending the foundation for research on the effects of native language on learning.

RESEARCH IN PRACTICE

In the Research in Practice Section of this issue we have selected a critical article by Nicole S. Montague, regarding the establishment of dual language programs for English Language Learners. Montague makes an interesting argument for the establishment of programs for English Language Learners that exceeds the `compensatory' model of educating children from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Montague feels that these programs should follow the dual language model and focus on adapting themselves in different ways for different communities and children_to the point of different teachers implementing slightly different variations of the dual language model in their respective classrooms. Her argument is an interesting twist on the debate focusing on what specific model of English instruction should be used by particular school districts. Perhaps this idea presents alternatives which have not been considered to date.

REVIEWS

This issue of the BRJ contains four important reviews of work directly affecting bilingual education and culturally and linguistically different children. First, Sumru Akcan offers a review of Victoria Purcell-Gates' 1995 book, Other People's Words: The Cycle of Low Literacy. This is a book which explores the literacy experiences of poor Appalachian whites, through the eyes of a mother and son's educational experiences.

The second reviewers are Jeff MacSwan and Peter McLaren. They review two books dealing with the work of Basil Bernstein. The first review is on Knowledge and Pedagogy: The Sociology of Basil Bernstein (1995), edited by Alan R. Sadovnik. The second review is on Discourse and Reproduction: Essays in Honor of Basil Bernstein (1995), edited by Paul Atkinson, Brian Davis, and Sara Delamont. Taken as a whole, these two works represent a large body of scholarly work.

The fourth review is by Masahiko Minami. It is on a 1997 book titled Dinner Talk: Cultural Patterns of Sociability and Socialization in Family Discourse, by Shoshana Blum-Kulka. This review delves into the book's dinner table conversations, seen by the author as a means of transmitting cultural and linguistic patterns in an intergenerational manner.

We hope that researchers and practitioners alike will find something of interest in this issue of the Bilingual Research Journal. Policy-makers and those needing yet `one more' study to justify bilingual education should especially get something from this issue. We are indebted to a number of people for the final push to get this issue out. In particular, I wish to thank all of our reviewers who worked extra long hours over the summer to finish the necessary reviews and recommendations. What many people do not realize is that without reviewers there is literally no journal. We deeply thank each one of you.

A SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to acknowledge some of the changes that have taken place over the past year in our world of bilingual education. First, the BRJ would like to extend a sincere `thank you' to Jim Lyons and Nancy Zelasko for their long and dedicated tenure in the NABE national office. Jim stepped down as Executive Director of NABE on February 1, after seventeen years at the helm, and Nancy also left NABE this past June to join the staff at the National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education. It has been my complete pleasure to have known and worked with these extraordinary people for the past twenty years. Their dedication to language minority children and the Bilingual Research Journal which serves them, is a wonderful and rare occurrence. We who produce the research and attempt to make it meaningful to the readers, know how hard Jim and Nancy toiled in order to keep the BRJ alive. We are all indebted to you and we sincerely thank you for being yourselves.

I would also like to announce the departure of Dr. Jeff MacSwan from his duties as Associate Editor of the Bilingual Research Journal during this past year. Dr. MacSwan has been very instrumental in the revitalization of the BRJ. We wish him well and thank him for his contributions.

Last, but not least, the BRJ wishes to welcome the new Executive Director of NABE, Ms. Delia Pompa, to the ever-exciting world of bilingual education. Delia is no stranger to bilingual education, having served as OBEMLA Director in her previous position. We wish her well in her new role as chief advocate for language minority children. We know that she will perform admirably and that whatever assistance we can provide will be given with enthusiasm.

Alfredo H. Benavides
Tempe, Arizona
September 1999

Research in Practice: The Voice of the Practitioner

Research publications are often based on the premise that research precedes practice. Indeed, a corollary is that practice uninformed by research is less worthy than practice that is solely derived from research. This hierarchical placement of research on a higher plane than practice is problematic. The Bilingual Research Journal embraces a bi-directional conception of these two notions: research informs practice, but, practice is the operational base on which research is built. Practice, in short informs the researcher about the field often revealing the questions to be explored.

The Bilingual Research Journal realizes that the contributions by practitioners to the field of bilingual education through both research and practical application are essential to the collection of data, testing theories and hypotheses, and the dissemination of knowledge about the field. In essence, without the field, bilingual education research would be limited in value or non-existent. While clinical experiments could still be "performed" on bilingual subjects in a clinical setting, nothing could replace a live classroom or school as a laboratory. Therefore, research and practice are inextricably bound.

To put this idea into practice in the BRJ, the editors have created a "Research in Practice" section in which we will include the work of practitioners in our field. We envision these papers a shorter piece when compared to those in the "Research and Essays" section. These "Research in Practice" articles will range from 8 to 15 pages in length and will focus on specific aspects of the practitioner's craft: reflections of practice, case studies exemplifying or disputing the knowledge base, short-term action research, the experience of teaching, and other examples of the connections that exist between the world of practice and world of research. Other formats are possible.

Material for "Research in Practice" will be peer refereed However, the standards for selection will be differentiated from those used for the straight "Research and Essays" section. The jurors reviewing material for this section will view the material from the perspective of its usefulness to other practitioners. Please Refer to "Submitting Materials for Publication in BRJ" elsewhere in this issue. Except as noted above, observe the instructions for submitting articles instead of "Research and Practice."

JoAnn Canales
Texas A&M University-Corpus Cristi
Editor, "Research in Practice"