The bilingual inclusive classroom

Salend, S., & Dorney, J. (1997). The roles of bilingual special educators in creating inclusive classrooms. Remedial & Special Education, 18(1), 54. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Note: I have a HTML version of this paper, so no page numbers for quotations. I have done my best to with paragraph numbering.

“general education settings can promote the linguistic, social, and academic development of second language learners of English, many general and special educators have not been trained to address the educational needs of second language learners in such settings” (para. 3)

“cooperative teaching arrangements between bilingual special education teachers and general education teachers can be employed to educate second language learners in inclusive classrooms” (para. 3)

“general and special education teachers, who are predominantly White women from middle class backgrounds, often have not had exposure to the philosophical basis for bilingual and multicultural education” (para. 5)

Instruction in second language requires concentration, which may require the student to have breaks. Education in majority-language is not just about language, but the cultures involved. Social and academic language use.

“language skills that guide social interactions are context embedded and cognitively less demanding, and therefore are typically learned by students within 2 years” (para. 14)

“academic language skills that relate to literacy and cognitive development in the classroom are context reduced and cognitively demanding, and take up to 7 years for many students to develop” (para. 14)

Its all about bilingual specialist teachers and their support.

“Bilingual special educators can assist educators in meeting the unique needs of second language learners by providing them with information about students' educational, experiential, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds” (para. 21)

Adjustment time required when students move from bilingual special education classrooms to mainstream classrooms. First language time important and could help the majority language speakers understand the effects of learning a second language. Helps the minority language speaker feel valued when their peers use their language. Teachers should promote language diversity, bilingualism, language maintenance and provide resources in multiple languages.

Provide language assistance for assessment, decreasing the amount of support provided over time. Student centred assessment, such as portfolios and journals, are helpful, particularly tasks which allow the student to see their own progress. Traditional assessment does have language literacy embedded in its tasks.

Family and community involvement are important, especially with minority language students, however the parents' literacy or speaking ability in the majority language may be the same as or less than that of their child.