Educating%20Instructors%20for%20Bilingual%20Programs

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Educating Instructors for Bilingual Programs

• Lyris Wiedemann
• Stanford University
• lyriswie_at_stanford.edu

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Educating Administrators/ Teachers for Bilingual
Programs LSP?

• Increased interest for foreign language ìn
  schools K-12 and at college level
• Increased number of dual-immersion programs in
  the U.S.
• Very specific needs issues not faced by every
  language instructor

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Increased Interest in Foreign Languages in the
U.S.

• 31 of elementary 86 of secondary schools
  currently offer foreign/second language
  instruction (ERIC)
• Substantial increase in enrollments at college
  level (MLA)
•  Globalization world is an increasingly smaller
  place

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Dual-Immersion Programs

• Also known as two-way immersion (TWI)
• Programs that integrate native English speakers
  and language-minority students for academic
  instruction
• Goals bilingual proficiency, high academic
  achievement, and cross-cultural awareness

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TWI Programs in the U.S.

• 30 (1987) gt 225 (1998) gt 301 (2004)
• Where cities/states with sizeable immigrant
  populations (CA, AZ. TX, ) or university cities
• Most typical combination English/Spanish (also
  E/French, E/Chinese, E/Korean, /E/Navajo)
• Mostly elementary school middle/high school
  programs on the rise
• Models minority language dominant /balanced/ mid
  and high

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Some Advantages for TWI Over Traditional BE

• Minority population
• Also serves as model speakers
• Is integrated with the dominant majority
• Has its language validated
• Dominant majority
• Alternates being the expert with minority
• Learns a more real variety of L2, along with
  school L2

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Some Advantages for TWI Over Traditional
Bilingual Education (Cont.)

• Benefits both majority and minority involved
• Obtains more resources and investment
• It is cohesive rather than divisive

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What Kind of Instructors Do TWI Programs Need?

• Credentialed elementary school teachers who can
  teach content matter in both languages
• Ideal sources members of bilingual community
  with balanced bilingualism, Peace Corps alumni,
  graduates from education-abroad programs
• Middle/high school teachers of foreign languages
  whose competence is at Level 3 or beyond

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Some Findings

• Most teachers have taught in TWI classes for less
  than 5 years, which is different from the
  general population (Henke, 1997)
• Most teachers belong to bilingual minorities
• Most teachers have advanced degrees and bilingual
  credentials

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Some Answers from Administrators/Instructors in
TWI Programs in California

• N25
• Interviews by telephone

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What Kind of Training Do Teachers of TWI Programs
Need?

• Linguistic training to enable them to perform at
  advanced /superior levels
• Strong knowledge of inter and intra-cultural
  issues
• Strong classroom management techniques
• Abilities to create and design materials

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Challenges (Teachers)

• Teaching content information in L2
• Making it easier for students from lower grades
  and parents to understand that acquiring a
  language takes time
• Facilitating use of L2 by all students
• Being responsible for creating most of the
  materials

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Challenges (Administrators)

• Tensions between regular and TWI programs within
  the same school
• Opposition to program by members of faculty of
  the district
• Finding and training appropriate faculty
• Dealing with parents concerns, specially in the
  first grades

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Some Advantages of Bilingualism

• Mental plasticity or agility bilinguals know
  that there is more than one way to solve problems
  (Dartmouth study)
• Superior cognitive performance in several
  dimensions (Reynolds)
• One can have more friends (a first grader in a
  TWI program -- CLAS)

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Some Advantages of Dual-Immersion Programs (Cont.)

• Students outperform monolingual children on
  standardized tests
• Students in dual-language schools did better
  than those educated in traditional bilingual
  education programs
• Students in dual-language schools did better than
  those educated only in English
• (CAL-14-year study, George Mason University)

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More information?

• Resource Guide Online Two-Way (Dual) Immersion -
  Center for Applied Linguistics http//www.cal.org/
  resources/faqs/rgo
• ERICs search engine http//www.eric.ed.gov/searc
  hdb