The Bilingual Child: Understanding Issues in Language Acquisition: A Primer for Librarians

1
The Bilingual Child Understanding Issues in
Language Acquisition A Primer for Librarians

• Presented by
• Oralia Garza de Cortés
• Latino Childrens Literacy Consultant
• oraliagarzacortes_at_gmail.com

2
Lau v. Nichols Supreme Court Decision
There is no equality of treatment merely by
providing students with the same facilities,
textbook, teachers and curriculum, for students
who do not understand English are effectively
foreclosed from any meaningful education. 1974.
3
Language Needs of School- Age Children

• Of 53 million children ages 5-17 in U.S.
• ll million spoke a language other than English
  (LOTE) in the home or 20 of all students
• 3 million spoke English less than very well
  or 6.5 of young school children
• Source 2006 American Community Survey.
• www.census.gov/acs/www.Downloads/ACS/accuracy2006
  .pdf

4

Where are the Children?

• 14 states had 2.0 percent or less of its children
  speaking English less than very well
• Including
• AL
• KY
• LA
• ME
• MS
• MT
• ND
• NH
• OH
• SC
• SD
• VT
• WV
• WY

• ELEVEN states with 6.0 or more of its
  children speaking English less than very well
  Arizona CaliforniaColoradoNevadaNew
  MexicoCaliforniaTexas WashingtonOregonNew
  York FloridaIllinois

5
Theoretical Foundations

• Drawn from three theories
• Vygotsky-1926,1966,1978. Child as a social being.
• Language is a social behavior-
• From Systemic Linguistics
• MalinowskiFirth,1968
• Halliday, 1973,1975,1978.
• Bilingualism as an act of identity.
• Le Page Tabouret-Keller.
• Source Thompson Young Bilingual Learners in
  Nursery Schools. Multilingual Matters.

6
Language is a Social Means of
Thought Lev Vygotsky

• Intellectual growth is contingent on
• learning language
• Development occurs on a social level
• within a cultural context.

7
Guiding Principle 1 A Childs Home Language
is the Foundation

• Cognitive Development
• Learning about the world
• Emergent Literacy
• Source Six Research Based Guiding Principles
  Serving the Needs of English Learners in
  Preschool School Readiness Programs. 2005.

8
Between ages of 2 and 6, language and the
surrounding culture take over the human mind. It
is during these years that biology hands over
development to the social world Language (any
language) plays a prominent, early role in
organizing cognitive and affective-behavioral
systems that support literacy Nelson quoted in
Dickinson and Neuman. Handbook of Early Literacy
Research, 2006
9
Oral Vocabulary

• A childs first vocabulary
• serves as a store of knowledge
• (Proctor et al., 2006).
• A childs brain stores the words
• child is learning and serves as
• his/her RAM.
• Dr. Patricia Montiel.
• Serving Bilingual Children.RNCIII.09/08.

10

Guiding Principle 2 A learning environment
that facilitates social-emotional growth and
affirms a childs culture and language is
essential for full participation and healthy
identity development. Source Six Research
Based Guiding Principles Serving the Needs of
English Learners in Preschool School Readiness
Programs. 2005.

11

Culture is.
12
Leading Scholars in the Field

• Alma Flor Ada
• Ellen Bialystok
• James Crawford
• Jim Cummins
• Linda Espinoza
• Eugene García
• Kenji Hakuta

• Lily Wong Filmore
• Tatiana Gordon
• Laurie Olsen
• Catherine Snow
• Stephen Krashen
• Tove Skutnabb-Kangas

13
A Primer on Terminology

• LEP-Limited English Proficient
• ELL-English Language Learners
• Children whose home language is not
  English
• or who primarily speak a language
  other than English
• in the home
• LM -Linguistic Minorities
• ELD-English Language Development
• (term used by schools for students
  in
• designated reading programs)
• ESL-English as a Second Language
• Dual Language- child is learning two
• languages
  separately
• Source http//www.slocoe.org/education/biling
• home/terminology.htm
• Source FirstSchool Symposium).

14
More terminology-2

• Developmental Bilingual
• Two Way Immersion
• Two Way Developmental Bilingual
• L 1-Level of First Language Proficiency
• L2-Level of Second Language Proficiency
• English Plus English plus other language(s
• http//www.slocoe.org/education/biling
• home/terminology.htm

15
Full proficiency takes 4-7 years

• CALPS
• Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency
• Skills needed for complex, cognitive learning in
  the
• classroom
• Abstract Thinking
• http//www.dupage.k12.il.us/doc/Needs20of
  20EL20and20Developing20New20Language.doc

• BICS-
• Basic Interpersonal
• Communications Skills
• Used for Social Communication
• Surface skills fluency
• Can be acquired in two years-
• Between 2500-5000 words required
• Note For high School proficiency-40,000 words
  required

16
The Iceberg Effect
Only 10 of skill needed to learn a
language is visible

• Surface Level

L2
L1
17
States with English Only
Legislation

• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Utah
• Virginia
• Wyoming

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Colorado
• Florida
• Georgia
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Kentucky

18
Total Immersion or The English Only Approach

• True or False?
• Total English immersion from Pre-kindergarten
  through Third Grade is the best way for a young
  English Language Learner to acquire English.

19
A False

• False. Research evidence indicates children
  taught in English-only classrooms or transitioned
  to English instruction before they demonstrated
  well established oral language abilities in their
  own language do not do well in English or in in
  their own language.

20
True or False?

• Learning two languages during the early childhood
  years will overwhelm, confuse, and /or delay a
  childs acquisition of English.

21
A. False

• Preponderance of research evidence points to
  benefits for dual language learners.
• Cognitive Benefits for children who learn more
  than one language
• Childrens skills in first language transfer
  easily into second language.

22
English Only?

• Interaction is key and critical for learning!
• Learning to read (and learning to love to read)
  happens best in ones first language.
• A strong foundation in ones first language
  (e.g., Spanish) sets the stage for second
  language success.
• There is no reason not to and every reason to
  promote reading in Spanish.
• Kendall King. The bilingual mind and the
  bilingual experience Separating fact from
  fiction. ALA Annual. Anaheim, Ca. June, 2008.
  

23
KEY QUESTIONS 1. Why Is it important to
Honor Home Language and Culture? 2. Why does
this Matter?

24
Effects of Language Loss

• The loss of home language has been
• associated with poor long-term academic
  outcomes.(Slavin Cheung, 2003 Oller Eilers,
  2002).
• Children who were made to feel that it was
  necessary to reject the home culture in order to
  belong to the majority culture often ended up
  unable to identify fully with either cultural
  group. (Cummins, 1981).

25
Negative Impacts

• Disrupts family communication patterns
• leading to loss of intergenerational wisdom
• Loss of individual esteem
• Loss of esteem for ones community
• Potential for non-mastery of their home language
• Potential for non-mastery of English
• Source Responding to Linguistic and Cultural
  Diversity A Position Statement of NAEYC

26
Guiding Principle 3 Home-School
Partnerships Honor Parents as First Teachers

• Libraries can learn from lessons of schools-
  parents are their childs first teacher
• A childs social, emotional, cognitive and
  language development is consistent at home/ at
  school/at the public /school library

27
Library Capacity

• T or F Libraries dont have the capacity to
  provide programs for children in all of the
  languages represented. Therefore, we should
  stick to English-only programming.

28
Guiding Principal 4 Staff Development is
Crucial

• Staff working with young English Language
  Learners receives research based professional
  development training
• Quality of program depends on extend to which
  staff receives professional development training

29
The Childrens Storyhour/ La hora de
los cuentos

• Which Language? Whats Best for Children?
• English only?
• Spanish Only?
• Bilingual?
• Which is best for children?

• There are no easy answers
• What is /are your goals and or/objectives for
  storyhour?
• Know your audience
• Are they ELLs?
• Are they from homes where a language other than
  English is spoken?
• Spanish Speaking? Developmental English Learners?
  
• Are they Developmental Spanish Learners? i.e.
  Learning Spanish?

30
Hire Bilingual Specialists to work with
Childrenslibrarians to conduct Spanish
storyhour programsOffer Parent Workshops in
Spanish on topics such as Aprendiendo en dos
idiomas ( Learning Two Languages.) Note Provide
translator if you do not speak Spanish).Work
closely with area school ELL/Bilingual
TeachersExpand Spanish Childrens
CollectionExpand Parent Collections to include
information on young children and second language
learning

• What can Libraries / Librarians Do?