Bilingualism and Second Language Acquisition

1
Bilingualism and Second Language Acquisition
2
Introduction

• There are more than 3.4 million children with
  limited English proficiency in elementary and
  secondary schools in the US.
• Educating immigrant children who are speaking
  languages other than English presents a
  formidable challenge for schools.
• Immigrant children often face difficulties
  learning to speak, read, and write in English, as
  well as learning the content of academic subjects
  while adjusting to life in America.

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Introduction

• Many children struggle with learning English for
  a variety of reasons.
• It is commonly assumed that a child not learning
  English quickly and proficiently has a language
  disorder.
• When working with culturally and linguistically
  diverse children who are learning English as a
  second language, it is important to understand
  typical second-language acquisition and
  principles of bilingualism.

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Principles of Bilingualism

• Bilingualism is the norm by world standards
  whereas monlingualism is not the norm.
• People in many countries speak several dialects
  of different languages so that communication is
  possible with other individuals in the same
  region.
• Persons who are bilingual are not two monolingual
  individuals in one (Grosjean, 1982).

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Principles of Bilingualism

• The bilingual is not the sum of two monolinguals,
  rather the bilingual is a unique individual who
  cannot be easily separated into two parts.
• Bilingual individuals usually learn the languages
  in different contexts and use the languages for
  different purposes with different people.
• Expecting equal knowledge and equal ability in
  two languages is not realistic.

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Principles of Bilingualism

• There are many societal and individual variables
  that determine the level of bilingualism or
  proficiency of two languages a person may
  develop.
• Because bilingualism is a continuum, ranging from
  full proficiency in two or more languages to a
  minimal degree of proficiency in one of the
  languages, it is unlikely to find two persons who
  are exactly alike in their use of two of the same
  languages.

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Second Language Acquisition

• There are three main classifications of children
  who are exposed to two languages in childhood
• Simultaneous bilinguals
• Preschool successive bilinguals and
• School-age successive bilinguals (Kessler, 1984
  McLaughlin, 1984 and Grosjean, 1982).
• A simultaneous bilingual is a child who has
  learned two languages before the age of 3 years.

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Simultaneous Bilingualism

• The child may have bilingual parents or parents
  who speak different languages (i.e., mixed
  language families).
• When two languages are spoken to children
  beginning in early infancy, the phenomenon of
  infant bilinguality occurs.
• The bilingual development observed in these
  children closely parallels monolingual
  development.

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Simultaneous Bilingualism

• A child who has experienced simultaneous
  acquisition of two languages from infancy and has
  learned these two languages in naturalistic
  situations seems to experience minimal
  interference between the languages.
• These children commonly manifest generally
  equivalent levels of proficiency in both the
  first and the second language.

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Simultaneous Bilingualism

• Research has shown that typically developing
  simultaneous bilinguals do not have any
  difficulty with language comprehension.
• They are not different from monolinguals in
  reaching the milestones in language development,
  such as the age when first words and word
  combinations appear and the number of words
  learned.
• Linguistic context and interactions are important
  in the acquisition of the two languages.

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Simultaneous Bilingualism

• Who is using the language, how much reinforcement
  is being given in each language, and how much
  exposure the child is receiving for each language
  are important to the potential bilingualism of
  the child.
• Researchers who have studied stages of language
  development in bilingual children have identified
  three important issues in this age group.
• The first is the age at which the child is aware
  of the two languages.

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Simultaneous Bilingualism

• Awareness of two languages is important so that
  the child can begin separating the languages and
  language and cognitive development.
• Children have the ability to differentiate
  between two languages before age 2 years, the
  presyntactic one-word stage of language
  acquisition.
• Prelinguistic infants differentiate two languages
  by hearing each language as a different melody.

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Simultaneous Bilingualism

• Different languages may be as distinct as
  different songs to the infant , because of
  differences in the intonation, stress, and
  rhythm.
• Another important issue in bilingual language
  development is the typical frequency of
  occurrence of language mixing.
• Language mixing, or using the features of both
  languages, occurs up to age 3.5 years in the
  simultaneous bilingual.

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Simultaneous Bilingualism

• The caregivers use of the two languages, the
  frequency of language mixing, and the type of
  language switches are important variables in the
  use of language mixing.
• The main types of code switches are
  intersentential (e.g., The baby is sick. Tiene
  tos) and intrasentiential switches (e.g., The
  baby tiene un cold).

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Simultaneous Bilingualism

• Some parents of simultaneous bilingual children
  switch or separate the languages by speakers to
  assist the child in developing language
  awareness.
• Others may not regularly switch languages so
  caregiver language models are an important
  variable when determining the amount of mixing
  that is occurring for a child.
• Expressive vocabulary development is also
  important in the understanding of bilingual
  language development.

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Simultaneous Bilingualism

• Early simultaneous bilingualism does not result
  in a delay in the appearance of first words, nor
  does it retard vocabulary development.
• There may be unequal progress in the two
  languages, but total vocabulary development
  compares favorably with the development of
  monolingual children in at least one language.

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Simultaneous Bilingualism

• Moreover, if the bilingual child has fewer words
  in each language than the monolingual child, when
  all the words in the bilingual childs two
  languages are counted, the child may have a
  slightly larger lexicon than the monolingual.
• A bilingual child may have different abilities in
  each one of the two languages depending on the
  childs exposure to each language.

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Simultaneous Bilingualism

• As your book points out, a child may have a large
  vocabulary for home- and food-related items in
  one language, and a large vocabulary for animals
  in the other language.
• The child may also produce longer and more
  complex sentences in one language because of
  having greater practice in expressing ideas in
  one and not the other.

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Successive Bilingualism

• Children who are introduced to the first language
  as infants and learn a second language after
  three years of age, after a great deal of
  learning of the first language has taken place,
  are known as successive or sequential bilinguals.
• In other words, these children usually have at
  least three years of speaking in complete
  sentences and asking question in the home
  language (L1) before entering preschool.

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Successive Bilingualism

• Children who experience successive acquisition of
  the second language (L2) show greater diversity
  in rates and stages of acquisition.
• Tabors and Snow (1994) describe a developmental
  sequence that preschool children may follow as
  they develop L2.
• They include the following stages
• Home language (L1) use with English speakers
  (L2)
• A nonverbal period
• Telegraphic and formulaic phrase use in L2 and
• Productive use of L2.

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Successive Bilingualism

• Some preschool children entering English-only
  classrooms continue to use the home language
  assuming that others will understand them or that
  others will learn their language.
• Some quickly recognize that continuing to use L1
  does not work and that other children in the
  classroom do not understand them.
• Older children (ages 4-7 years) recognize their
  inability to communicate with others much sooner
  than preschool children.

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Successive Bilingualism

• A silent period often occurs in the development
  of L2 by preschool children.
• These children may experience a stage in which
  they are nonverbal, but they do continue to
  communication, just not with words.
• When the child realizes that L1 will not help
  him/her communicate, s/he may stop talking, for
  up to 8 weeks.
• Others may socially isolate themselves and not
  attempt to communicate for longer periods.

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Successive Bilingualism

• A social consequence of their unwillingness to
  attempt to speak verbally is that the L2-speaking
  children may treat these children as infants or
  toddlers, or they may ignore the children (Tabor
  Snow, 1994).
• When preschool children first produce verbal
  utterances in L2, they are typically telegraphic
  and formulaic.
• In other words, their speech is often
  characterized by primarily content words.

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Successive Bilingualism

• Function words or morphological markers are
  absent.
• In the classroom, telegraphic speech is usually
  names for objects in English, as well as English
  labels for concepts taught in the classroom, such
  as numbers, letters of the alphabet, and color
  names.
• They also learn formulaic speech, or unanalyzed
  chunks or phrases such as Hi. How are you? my
  turn, and push me.

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Successive Bilingualism

• These formulaic speech patterns allow preschool
  children to socialize with English speakers in
  play situations.
• As time goes on, L2 learners learn to break down
  syntactic language rules and become productive L2
  users.
• With practice and application, they develop the
  finer points of the language.
• L2 learning progress, however, will be influenced
  by individual social, cognitive, and/or
  communicative differences.

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Successive Bilingualism

• School-age successive bilinguals enter the school
  after 5 years with no previous exposure to
  English or some other L2.
• The advantage for school-age successive
  bilinguals is that they have a greater and more
  mature language and cognitive development in the
  L1 on which to build the L2.
• The rate at which children entering elementary or
  secondary school as non-English speakers will
  acquire English (or some other L2) will depend on
  the following factors

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Successive Bilingualism

• Type and amount of exposure to L2
• Whom the child needs to communication with
• Their attitudes toward the new language
• Their aptitude to learn an L2 and
• Their motivation to learn the new language.
• Their parents attitude toward maintaining the
  home language may also have an influence on the
  development of proficiency in L2.

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Additive Bilingualism

• Additive bilingualism occurs when both languages
  spoken by the student are reinforced, resulting
  in high levels of proficiency in the two
  languages.
• The students L1 continues to be nurtured and
  encouraged as the child learn the L2.
• The student also achieves a high level of L2
  proficiency becoming both a fluent and balanced
  bilingual.

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Additive Bilingualism

• By becoming fully bilingual, these student
  develop high level metalinguistic skills,
  increase their employability, and enhance either
  potential for making valuable contributions to
  society.
• In todays global economy, bilingualism is a
  great assets, and in many parts of the world,
  multilingual individuals are considered educated
  and cosmopolitan.

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Subtractive Bilingualism

• What occurs much more frequently is subtractive
  bilingualism, a situation in which L1 is replace
  by L2.
• Acquisition of the majority language comes at the
  cost of the minority language.
• Language loss in L1 occurs and the student
  gradually becomes a monolingual speaker of
  English or the majority L2.
• Children who belong to a minority ethnolinguistic
  community are especially vulnerable to
  experiencing subtractive bilingualism.

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Subtractive Bilingualism

• In a minority ethnolinguistic community, L1 may
  have a lower social status, be less widely spoken
  and valued, have little socioeconomic power, and
  receive little or not institutional support.
• For example, in the US, it may be a struggle for
  parents to maintain their childrens Spanish
  skills because the schools provide little or no
  support for maintenance of Spanish.

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Language Proficiency

• Proficiency relates the an individuals degree of
  mastery of the various components of language
• Listening/understanding
• Speaking
• Reading and
• Writing.
• Exposure and use are important variables in
  language proficiency.
• As children learn their first language, they
  acquire concepts and strategies that will
  facilitate L2 learning.

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Language Proficiency

• Concepts are acquired through interaction with
  the environment and the nature of this
  interaction may vary from culture to culture.
• High quality exposure enhances the learning of
  concepts that are important for cognitive and
  linguistic development.
• As children hear and use their native language in
  a variety of contexts, they develop conceptual
  knowledge and cognitive strategies for success in
  acquiring new information and linguistic skills.

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Language Proficiency

• A solid foundation in theL1 assists the child in
  learning another language.
• Your book describes a framework of communicative
  proficiency developed by Cummins (1981, 1984)
  that captures the relationship between
  proficiency in L1 and proficiency in L2.
• His framework incorporates two intersecting
  continua

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Language Proficiency

• one represents the degree of cognitive demand
  involved in the communication taskundemanding
  versus demanding and
• the other represents the extent to which context
  contributes to expressing and receiving meaning
  context enhanced versus context reduced.
• Tasks that are cognitively undemanding and
  context embedded (face-to-face) result in basic
  interpersonal communication skill (BICS)
  development.

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Cognitive Involvement

• Cognitively undemanding tasks are those that are
  generally automatized and require little active
  cognitive involvement for adequate performance.
• For example, stating ones name, address, and
  phone number when asked this information is
  cognitively undemanding, as is asking permission
  to go to the rest room, following the directions
  to line up for recess, and participating in
  various art, physical education, and music
  activities.

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Context Involvement

• In context-embedded communication, participants
  share reality and can actively negotiate meaning.
  
• Context-embedded communication is typical of that
  found in the everyday world outside the classroom
  where language is supported by a wide range of
  meaningful situational cues and paralinguistic
  gestures.
• Gestures and facial expressions facilitate the
  communication of meaning in this context-embedded
  situation.

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Context Involvement

• Context-embedded tasks include projects and
  hands-on activities, basic math computations, lab
  experiments and demonstrations, and lessons using
  visuals (e.g., charts, overheads).
• BICS takes approximately two years (in an ideal
  situation) to develop to a level commensurate
  with that of native speakers of a language.
• Tasks that are cognitively demanding and context
  reduced (academic) result in cognitive academic
  language proficiency (CALP).

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Cognitive Involvement

• Cognitively demanding tasks involve situations in
  which knowledge is not automatized and the person
  must make use of various cognitive strategies to
  perform the task.
• Following written instructions without an
  illustration, listing categorical items (e.g.,
  tell me all the fruits you can think of), or
  writing an essay in L2 can be cognitively
  demanding when one has not yet mastered that
  language.

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Context Involvement

• Context-reduced communication also relies on
  linguistic cues for meaning.
• Algebra, teacher lectures, most textbooks,
  standardized tests, and statewide achievement
  tests are tasks in which there is no shared
  reality.
• CALP takes between five and seven years to
  develop to a native like level for students from
  an enriched background and seven to 10 years
  under less than optimal conditions.

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Implications of Language Proficiency

• Professionals in the US who work with CLD
  students in public schools knows that these
  students are often placed into submersion or
  sink-or-swim classrooms where only English is
  spoken and no special provisions are made to help
  students learn the English they need for school.
• Student who speak no English are often expected
  to learn English in the classroom setting where
  the linguistic input is often context-reduced and
  cognitively demanding.

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Implications of Language Proficiency

• Because a students initial exposure to English
  is often of this nature, many students fail to
  acquire a solid conceptual foundation and end up
  struggling academically.
• The acquisition of CALP is difficult if the
  students primary exposure to the language occurs
  within situations in which contextual cues are
  limited.
• Helping students to develop a basic conceptual
  foundation is critical if students are to acquire
  the strategies necessary for academic success.

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Cognitive-Linguistic Variables

• Students bring a variety of language learning
  styles and strategies to the second language
  learning situation.
• Learning styles and strategies that influence CLD
  students communication skill acquisition
  include
• Use of routines
• High- or low-input generators
• Use of practice opportunities
• Avoidance of speaking English and
• Imitation of environmental models.

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Use of Routines

• Linguistic routines are whole phrases which
  second language learners use to initiate and
  sustain simple conversation.
• Because they many not know the meaning or
  grammatical function of the individual words
  within the phrase, they may give the false
  impression that they are fluent speakers of the
  language.

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High- versus Low-Input Generators

• CLD students who are high-input generators use
  the learning strategy of creating many
  opportunities for practicing language.
• Often these students are extroverted and initiate
  conversations with speakers of L2 to generate an
  interchange that gives them increased
  opportunities to practice communication.
• Low-input generators are usually not assertive,
  generate fewer opportunities to practice
  language, and acquire language skills more
  slowly.

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Practice Opportunities

• Much of a students progress in SLA depends on
  the availability of functional opportunities for
  L2 practice.
• Some students speak English in the classroom but
  not in any other contexts.
• Even then, they may speak very little.
• The learning of English is likely to be slow if
  the student speaks very little English in the
  classroom and little or no English outside the
  classroom.

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Avoidance

• A student may avoid communicating in L2 because
  of fear of being made fun of by others.
• Students dont want to be laughed at when they
  speak.
• This may be particularly true of older students
  who speak English with a pronounced accent.
• This strategy can result in the students
  language performance appearing to be inadequate
  when language competence might be adequate.

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Speech and Language Models

• CLD students may have different daily speech and
  language models.
• Not only is the parents modeling important, but
  so too is that of siblings, neighborhood friends,
  school peers, grandparents, and babysitters.
• Students coming from extended families where they
  spend much time with grandparents or babysitters
  may not have speech and language models of L2
  outside of the school environment.

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Affective Variables

• There are many affective variables that have been
  documented by many researchers.
• These include
• Personality
• Anxiety level and
• Motivation.
• A students personality impacts learning of a
  second language.
• To maximize learning, students need to have a
  positive attitude and a positive self-concept.

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Affective Variables

• The more positive a student feels about
  him/herself, the more rapidly and completely SLA
  is likely to take place.
• Students whose L1 and culture are rejected may
  have low self-esteem and consequently earn
  English more slowly than children whose
  backgrounds are accepted.
• There is some evidence that extroverted students
  acquire English conversational skills faster than
  introverted students.

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Affective Variables

• Being assertive can be very helpful in
  facilitating L2 learning, as assertive learners
  avail themselves of increased opportunities for
  L2 practice.
• If a student is not assertive there may be fewer
  opportunities to practice English skills with
  native speakers.
• Motivated students with low anxiety level are
  able to learn a L2 with more ease and speed than
  anxious students, even if these students are
  motivated to learn.

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Affective Variables

• Childrens motivation to communicate and fit in
  with peers who speak the L2 has a powerful
  influence on their acquisition of that L2.
• Students who are intrinsically motivated to learn
  English will fare best because they learn English
  due to its challenge, interest, and value.
• Students who are only extrinsically motivated to
  learn English (e.g., the school demands it) may
  learn more slowly.

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Affective Variables

• Refugee and immigrant children who have been
  traumatized in their home countries may have some
  challenges adapting to a new culture.
• SL learners acquire the L2 to the degree that
  they acculturate.
• If a student is not integrated into situations
  with English-speaking peers, s/he may be somewhat
  unmotivated to learn English.
• Some parents of CLD children may discourage then
  from playing and interacting with native
  English-speaking students.

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Affective Variables

• Motivation to learn English, then, may be quite
  low and the students progressed slowed down.
• Moreover, if a student is rejected by family
  and/or peers for speaking English, motivation
  will be affected.
• The more congruent or similar two cultures are,
  the more likely the social contact will occur and
  second language learning will be facilitated.
• The more dissimilar the cultures, the less social
  contact there will be and the less English
  learning will take place.