Bilingual Literacy: First Notes

This is the first set of research notes for the topic of bilingual literacy.

Grant, R. and  Wong, S. (2003). Barriers to literacy for language-minority learners: An argument for change in the literacy education profession. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 46(5), 386. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.

This paper discusses bilingual literacy as a barrier from the perspective of laguage-minority learners and there is a large gap in reading achievement between English speaking and ESL students. The authors state early in the paper that they feel that reading specialists are not adequately prepared for language-minority learners and that the reading development of these students must be substantivity researched. They give statistics that "30-40% of school-age English-language learners fail to reach acceptable levels of English reading by the end of their elementary schooling" (from "elementary" I assume that these statistics are from the USA), with this failure continuing in later years. The "traditional" roadblocks to full literacy are (quoting, just it case it doesn't show up):

1. xenophobic English-only movements (Donahue, 1995)
2. limited resources and personnel within ESL (August & Hakuta, 1997)
3. controversy about bilingual education (Faltis & Hudelson, 1998; Krashen, 1996)
4. differences about the duration and type of language services children should receive (Collier, 1987)
5. cultural and linguistic deficit models (Luke, 1986).

These references may be worth checking out, will list at the end of this post. These are interesting points and I can see connections between most of them. The idea of deficit models could have only been generated from a xenophobic, culturally superior attitude. Apparently the deficit model is due to a narrow definition of literacy from the Western perspective, which obscures the complexities of literacy. They discuss the need for additional research in learning English as a second language from a range of backgrounds and the additional resources required for those students in schools. The big push through the article is for change.

Their references for above.

August, D., & Hakuta, K. (Eds.). (1997). Improving schooling for language-minority children: A research agenda. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Collier, V.P. (1987). Age and rate of acquisition of second language for academic purposes. TESOL Quarterly, 21, 617-641.
Donahue, T.S. (1995). American language policy and compensatory opinion. In J.W. Tollefson (Ed.), Power and inequality in language education (pp. 112-141). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Faltis, C.J., & Hudelson, S.J. (1998). Bilingual education in elementary and secondary school communities: Towards understanding and caring. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Luke, A. (1986). Linguistic stereotypes, the divergent speaker and the teaching of literacy. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 18, 397-408.

Other readings for later.

Hornberger, Nancy H. (1998) Language policy, language education, language rights: Indigenous, immigrant, and international perspectives. Language in Society, 27(04), 439-458. DOI:10.1017/S0047404598004011

Cummins, J. (1999). Research news and Comment: Alternative Paradigms in Bilingual Education Research: Does Theory Have a Place? Educational researcher, 28(7), 26. DOI:10.3102/0013189X028007026

Moll, Luis C. (1992) Bilingual Classroom Studies and Community Analysis: Some Recent Trends. Educational Researcher, 21, 20. DOI: 10.3102/0013189X021002020
Fitzgerald, J. (2000). How will bilingual/ESL programs in literacy change in the next millennium?. Reading Research Quarterly, 35(4), 520. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database
Jimenez, R. T. (1995) Three Children, Two Languages, and Strategic Reading: Case Studies in Bilingual/Monolingual Reading. American educational research journal, 32(1), 67. DOI:10.3102/00028312032001067
Grinberg, J. (2000) The Constitution of Bilingual/ESL Education as a Disciplinary Practice: Genealogical Explorations. Review of educational research, 70(4), 419. DOI:10.3102/00346543070004419
Langer, J. A. (1990) Meaning Construction in School Literacy Tasks: A Study of Bilingual Students. American educational research journal, 27(3), 427. DOI:10.3102/00028312027003427