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Alfredo H. Benavides
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The Role of Socioeconomic and Sociocultural Factors in Language Minority Children’s Development: An Ecological Research View Virginia González Abstract The purpose of this article is to critically review contemporary literature on external factors influencing language minority children’s development. This article merges literature from separate modules, stemming from researchers within a developmental psychology and an ethnic minority perspective. The first section presents an overarching multidimensional model for understanding the importance of an ecological perspective to the study of development in language minority children. This first section presents a context for the second section on socioeconomic status (SES) factors, and for the third section on sociocultural factors influencing development in language minority children. This article closes by presenting some recommendations for much-needed research for broadening our current understanding of the interacting effect of SES, sociocultural, and other mediating factors (i.e., biological, psychological) on developmental and educational achievement levels attained by language minority children’s development.
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Moving From the ESL Classroom into the Mainstream: An Investigation of English Language Anxiety in Mexican Girls N. Eleni Pappamihiel Abstract Using a recently developed instrument, the ELAS (English Language Anxiety Scale) based on the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale, this study examines English language anxiety in Mexican middle school girls. Of 178 middle school students (91 boys and 87 girls), it was shown that while there is no gender difference in ESL classes, girls are significantly more anxious about using English in their mainstream classes. This difference is partially explained by the different types of English language anxiety that manifest in ESL and mainstream classes. Various statistical procedures including ANCOVA and factor analysis support the conclusion that as ESL students move from ESL to mainstream classes their English language anxieties shift from academic types of worry to peer interactional concerns in which female students seem to feel more stress. Recommendations for teachers include the use of affective assessments, such as the ELAS, prior to complete mainstreaming and the development of safer group activities in which girls feel more comfortable.
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Attitudes Toward Bilingualism in Ireland Maria R. Coady Abstract The Irish Republic has developed and implemented language maintenance and language revival policies since gaining independence from British rule in 1922. At that time, the new Irish government envisioned a bilingual state in which both Irish and English would be used (Ó Riagáin, 1997), and language policies were created to support that goal. Such policies were implemented using schools as the primary vehicle to maintain and revive the Irish language. As a result, two distinct forms of schooling were differentiated for language majority, English-speaking students. The first involves schools in which English is used as the primary medium of instruction, with Irish taught as a compulsory subject in school. Second are immersion schools, known as Gaelscoileanna, in which Irish is used as the medium of instruction apart from the teaching of English. This paper explores students’ and parents’ attitudes toward bilingualism in Ireland among students who participate in these two different types of schools. The study utilized an adapted questionnaire from Cazabon, Lambert, and Hall (1993). Qualitative research findings from focus group interviews with students supplement findings from the questionnaire. Findings suggest that qualitative data provide important insight to understanding the complexity of attitudes toward bilingualism.
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Waking the Sleeping Giant: Engaging and Capitalizing on the Sociocultural Strengths of the Latino Community Jorge P. Osterling Abstract Putting together the language minority community’s initiatives and talents into educational programs awakens the community’s “sleeping giant” and untaps powerful resources for our school systems. Adopting a sociocultural perspective and using Arlington’s Empowering Families Through Literacy as a case, this article analyzes an example of an educational project designed and implemented in an increasingly diverse, multicultural, and multilingual community by a group of grassroots organizations. Implementing lessons learned from research, theory, and standards for an effective pedagogy, and recognizing and building upon the students’ first language and culture, this study exemplifies the conscious efforts of immigrant communities to join efforts to academically succeed in America.
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ˇBasta Ya! Latino Parents Fighting Entrenched Racism Zulmara Cline and Juan Necochea Abstract At times it is necessary for individuals to get out
of their comfort zone in order to be able to make a difference and
have a positive outcome. In this article, we discuss the story of
a group of parents who chose to fight a school district in order
to bring about some needed changes within the district to guarantee
educational equity for their children. In their story, we see the
courage and determination of the human spirit.
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Struggling to Preserve Home Language: The Experiences of Latino Students and Families in the Canadian School System Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw, Judith K. Bernhard Marlinda Freire Abstract Latinos in Canada are receiving attention because of frequent poor performance in school. This phenomenon turns out to be connected to a number of basic problems that can only be understood through investigation of institutional processes with routine operations that may disadvantage certain minorities. This paper presents and discusses part of the data collected in a larger research project on Latino families and Canadian schools. Bilingual Latina researchers used participant observation and action research techniques to report on the home language practices of 45 Latino families and how the school’s routine processes influenced those practices. Findings include the following: (a) parents saw Spanish maintenance as a way to foster family unity, Latino identity, and professional advancement; (b) the strong assimilative pressures experienced by parents often resulted in their doubting the desirability of openly speaking Spanish at home; (c) because the children were losing their home language rapidly, the parents used a number of strategies; and (d) there are several things that parents would like to see happen that would enable them to maintain Spanish. Our findings indicate the necessity for schools to proactively recognize and build on the family’s cultural capital, including their home language.
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The Politics of Bilingual Education in the People’s Republic of China Since 1949 Minglang Zhou Abstract The constant struggle between accommodationism and integrationism within the Chinese Communist Party divides its minorities policy and the Chinese government’s language policy into three stages since 1949. The first pluralistic stage (1949–1957) recognized minorities’ language rights, established infrastructures for minority education, and developed prototypes of bilingual education. The Chinese-monopolistic stage (1958–1977) unified language policies for Chinese and minority languages, promoted Chinese over minority languages in education, and reduced bilingual education to the minimal. The second pluralistic stage (1978–present) has legislated for bilingual education, revived it, and significantly developed it, but also faced its dilemmas. The Chinese experience represents, only from one perspective, the limitation of minorities’ rights to and choices of education in their native languages worldwide.
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When Exemplary Gets Blurry: A Descriptive Analysis of Four Exemplary K-3 Spanish Reading Programs in Texas Michael D. Guerrero and Kris Sloan Abstract This study represents an effort to describe four high-performing Spanish reading programs in Texas at Grade 3. The schools selected represent one non-border urban school and three U.S.-Mexico border schools. The methodologies used were qualitative based on on-site visits, a semi-direct interview protocol, K-3 classroom observations, and document analysis. The four schools shared the following six features: explicit support for Spanish literacy and biliteracy; high expectations; skills-driven reading instruction beginning in kindergarten; shared understanding of the Spanish reading program; alignment between Spanish and English reading programs; and explicit targeting of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) test. The state mandated Spanish reading curriculum and TAAS Spanish reading measures are discussed in light of the findings, and policy and research implications are offered.
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Keys to Success for Bilingual Students with Limited Formal Schooling Yvonne S. Freeman, Sandra Mercuri, and David E. Freeman Abstract As the number of immigrant students in U.S. public schools has grown, so has the number of English learners who arrive with little previous schooling. These are often the same students whose limited education has been interrupted. In 1993 an estimated 20% of those identified as limited English proficient (LEP) in high schools and 12% of those in middle school had missed two or more years of schooling. It is critical that teachers have some understanding of effective strategies for working with older English learners with limited and/or interrupted formal schooling. When they start school, these students are already significantly behind. They have been labeled as overage, preliterate, or low literacy LEP, but whatever labels schools might use, these students have needs that are generally not met by the instructional designs of regular English as a second language (ESL) or bilingual programs in most school districts. This article describes how one bilingual teacher has successfully worked in a multi-age 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classroom to meet the academic needs of newcomer Spanish, Mixteco, and Triqui-speaking students with limited previous schooling. This teacher uses many different research-based strategies in the classroom to provide her students with the keys to succeed academically. By using these strategies, she gives her students a positive start as they move into secondary school taught entirely in English.
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Parents’ Decisions About Bilingual Program Models Olga Maia Amaral Abstract After Proposition 227 took effect in California, one city on the border of Mexico still had 48% of its parents choosing bilingual education for their children in kindergarten and first grade. Survey results provide some insight into some of the reasons parents selected one of three programmatic options (bilingual, structured English immersion, and English-only classroom settings) for their children. It also provides information regarding the background of the parents as well as their perception of how well their children are achieving in each type of classroom.
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Identity and Language Learning: Gender, Ethnicity,
and Educational Change Reviewed by Kim Potowski
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