Final Summary: Bilingual literacy in education

Bilingual is the term used to describe a person who can speak two languages, their mother language and a second language (Luchtenberg, 2002). The mother language is the language of their parents, although the situation can exist where the second language is also spoken by a parent. When the mother language is the majority language of the country of residence, the language spoken by those with societal power in the country (Hornberger,1998), the second language will be the language of a different society or country, selected by the learner or the learner's school. If the mother language is instead an indigenous language, a migrant language or other minority language the second language will be the majority language of the country of residence. In the latter situation, the majority language is learnt so that a person can obtain an education and/or employment, access services and interact socially (Davis, 2009).

There are cultural factors involved with majority language and minority language learning and bilingualism. Luchtenberg (2002) states that in Germany there is a “reluctance to refer to migrant students ... as bilinguals and to develop bilingual programmes for them, and yet on the other hand there is wide support for German students in various bilingual programmes” (p. 50) and this view is present in other countries. It is based in the idea of nation, of which language is a part; migrants need to learn the language to be part of the nation, while a bilingual national is a resource for the whole nation. The part which is forgotten is, a bilingual migrant is an equal resource for the nation as a bilingual national.

School aged, minority language students learn the majority language through specialist classes with specialist language teachers or in mainstream classes with bilingual support teachers (Grant & Wong, 2003; Salend & Dorney, 1997). In most educational jurisdictions, majority language learning is not considered part of the school educational achievements of minority language speakers (Grant & Wong, 2003; Luchtenberg, 2002), despite the obvious language needs of those students.

In Australia, English as a Second Language classes provide English language students with language education, recognised educational achievement and additional support when required (Luchtenberg, 2002). Languages Other Than English classes may provided minority language speakers the opportunity (subject to teacher availability) to use their mother language in school , while exposing majority language speakers to different languages (Luchtenberg, 2002). Finally, in senior secondary school a minority language speaker may be able to study their mother language as part of their senior certificate (Mercurio & Scarino, 2005). However, the ideal situation for minority language students is that of a bilingual education, where the languages are given equal right of use and used instructionally in a coordinated manner (Hornberger, 1998).

The availability of bilingual education is limited, as it feared it will result in minority language speakers having limited literacy in the majority language, or even both languages (Molyneux, 2009). Literacy, the ability to read, write, use and understand language in a variety of different contexts (Krause, 2010), is developed in sociocultural settings, which influence the meaning and purpose of words in language and the value of written language (Langer, Bartolome, Vasquez & Lucas, 1990). For people to take meaningful roles in a society, they must be literate in the majority language as well as able to speak that language.

Molyneux (2009) reports on a school in Melbourne, Australia, which provides a two year English-Vietnamese or three year English-Mandarin Chinese bilingual education, for students from Vietnamese or Chinese backgrounds. It was found that in the early primary school years, not all students achieved English language requirements, however this improved over the course of their education. The students understood the importance of learning both languages and valued the linguistic outcomes, however they felt that bilingual education required more work than monolingual education. This shows that bilingual education does not result in limited majority language literacy.

The level of a person's literacy in their mother language effects the learning of literacy in a second language (Davis, 2009; Langer et al, 1990). Spoken language is rich in context and relates to concrete experiences (Davis, 2009), while literacy develops metalinguistic and metacognitive strategies for thinking about language and the meaning of words (Langer et al, 1990). Langer et al (1990) found that in a group of Mexican-American students, it was the meaning construction strategies used in Spanish reading that had the greatest effect on the student's understanding while reading English.

It is not always mother language literacy which has the greatest effect on literacy education.

A recent study by Davis (2009) attempted to ascertain if developing mother language literacy would improve second language literacy acquisition. The students for this study were a group of adult,

Southern Sudanese refugees in Sydney, Australia who had little or no literacy in their mother language, Dinka, and English. The refugees were taught basic Dinka literacy for two months followed by three months of English literacy. The literacy of the refugees in both languages improved, however Davis did not attribute this to Dinka literacy improvement. Instead it was attributed to the environment of care and respect created by the teacher, the relevance of the literacy materials to the refugees and the presence of Dinka-English bilingual teaching staff.

Bilingual special education teachers, special education teachers who can speak the majority and minority language, are able to assist mainstream teachers in education of minority language speaking students. Including these students in mainstream classes is important as “inclusion programs seek to acknowledge, affirm, and address the individual educational needs of students by educating them together in high-quality, age-appropriate learning communities” (Salend & Dorney, 1997, para. 1). Through cooperation with the bilingual special education teacher, the classroom teacher can create meaningful learning experiences for all students and allow for the cultural, educational and linguistic background of the minority language speaker. It is beneficial for the minority language speaker to have opportunities to use their mother language and languid instruction sessions for all students will allow the minority language speaker's peers to understand the difficulties in learning a new language (Salend & Dorney, 1997).

The language, literacy and curricular education of minority language speakers in majority language classrooms can be achieved through the use of an inclusive, caring classroom which provides relevant, engaging content and supports, with the assistance of bilingual special education teachers, the development of the majority language and expression in the minority language. Alternatively, a school with a bilingual education program can support the development of the majority and minority languages as well as literacy and curricular education.

References

Davis, Z. (2009). First language (Dinka) literacy as a foundation for English language, literacy and numeracy. Canberra, Australia:Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. Retrieved from http://www.deewr.gov.au/Skills/Programs/LitandNum/LiteracyNet/Documents/FirstLanguageDinkaLiteracy.pdf

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

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

Krause, K.-L., Bochner, S., Duchesne, S., & McMaugh, A. (2010). Educational psychology: For teaching and learning (3rd ed.). South Melbourne, Australia: Cengage Learning

Langer, J.A., Bartolome, L., Vasquez, O., Lucas, T. (1990). Meaning construction in school literacy tasks: A study of bilingual students. American Educational Research Journal, 27(3), 427. doi: 10.3102/00028312027003427

Luchtenberg, S. (2002). Bilingualism and bilingual education and their relationship to citizenship from a comparative German-Australian perspective. Intercultural Education, 13(1), 49-61. doi: 10.1080/14675980120112931

Mercurio, A., Scarino, A. (2005). Heritage languages at upper secondary level in South Australia: A struggle for legitimacy. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 8(2,3), 145-159. doi: 10.1080/13670050508668603

Molyneux, P. (2009). Education for biliteracy: Maximising the linguistic potential of diverse learners in Australia's primary schools. Australian Journal of Language & Literacy, 32(2), 97-117. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.

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.

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.

Comparisson between Germany and Australia for billingualism

Luchtenberg, S. (2002). Bilingualism and bilingual education and their relationship to citizenship from a comparative German-Australian perspective. Intercultural Education, 13(1), 49-61. doi: 10.1080/14675980120112931

Through discussing the similarities and differences between German and Australian language policy, Luchtenberg highlights important areas of bilingualism and multiculturalism, however the paper is more German oriented than even. In discussing bilingual education in Germany, the point is made that there is more prestige associated with a bilingual German or a German-born student in a bilingual education than there is for a bilingual migrant or bilingual education for migrant students. There are more options available for German speaking student to learn foreign languages than there are for migrant students to learn in their mother language. The source of this is later attributed to national pride and national language resources. Another point that is made is that there is no recognised subject for learning the mother language which is recognised for completion of school.

Luchtenberg compares this to Australia's ESL and LOTE programs, which are seen as means for certifying English language education, teaching English speaking students a second language and allowing bilingual students a school based continuance of their mother language. Personally, I have not seen this in effect, the language for LOTE was always based on teacher availability which limited to European languages (although the language options have now improved) and at most there was only two LOTE teachers in a school. In Australia, bilingualism is seen as meaningful and resourceful when one of the languages spoken is English, however there is need for more sustained bilingual programs.

One of the more interesting contrasts is that Australia's multicultural perspective is inward, where as Germany's was outwards. For Australians, multiculturalism and language is about who we are as a country, where for Germany it is about relationships with other countries. The author comments that Germany needs to observe its own cultural diversity.

“Comparing German and Australian bilingual programmes we find a greater variety in German mainstream education, but a greater open-mindedness towards multilingualism in Australia.” (p. 54)

Bilingual literacy in Australia

Mercurio, A., Scarino, A. (2005). Heritage languages at upper secondary level in South Australia: A struggle for legitimacy. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 8(2,3), 145-159. doi: 10.1080/13670050508668603

“Languages policy and its implementation in education is inherently a political act and involves a struggle for the legitimacy of particular languages.” (p. 145)

“Of the 270 or so Australian languages that were spoken before colonisation in 1788, only 20 are considered to be in a relatively healthy state today” (p. 152)

This is an interesting paper, however it does not discuss effects on bilingual students. Instead it discusses the progress of language education subjects in senior secondary school in South Australia and the approaches that must be observed for languages to become part of the curriculum. It is the curricular details that really make this paper shine. Mentioned are attaching languages to administrative structures, curriculum structures and community structures, and the roles that each of these structures play in language education and maintenance. 

Davis, Z. (2009). First language (Dinka) literacy as a foundation for English language, literacy and numeracy. Canberra, Australia:Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. Retrieved from http://www.deewr.gov.au/Skills/Programs/LitandNum/LiteracyNet/Documents/FirstLanguageDinkaLiteracy.pdf

Refugees from Southern Sudan have limited access to a range of services, employment and education due to their limited literacy in English or their first language Dinka. This is a report on a project aimed at improving Dinka and English literacy in a group of adult learners. Without first language literacy, the language is only used in spoken activities and becomes context rich. Second language literacy and learning is often context light, which increases the difficulty in learning the language and its' literacy.

The study taught Dinka literacy for 8 weeks, followed by English literacy for 11 weeks with Dinka literacy lessons continuing for one day each week during the English period. Literacy in both languages improved, as did the confidence of learning the languages. The author states that they were unable to ascertain if first language literacy improves second language literacy acquisition and believes that the improvement observed was due to the environment of care and respect created by the teacher, the relevance of literacy materials to the students and the presence of bilingual teaching staff. These ideas formed the basis for the reports recommendations. Also commented on is the ongoing mental health of refugees, as many in this study commented on short or restless sleep several years after arriving in Australia.

The appendix to the report contains a lengthy section of the teaching materials used and explanations of the strategies that were successful and modifications made to those that were initially unsuccessful. Childcare was an issue raised for further adult education programs. The care of children was identified by the Dinka language staff as a barrier for the parents to work and education.

Multilingualism in Singapore

Raban, B., Ure, C. (1999). Literacy in three languages: A challenge for Singapore preschools. International Journal of Early Childhood, 31(2), 45-54. doi: 10.1007/BF03166896

Preschool is twenty student to two teachers, primary school is 40-44 students for one teacher. Reading and writing is expected at the start of primary school, students who do not have these abilities are left behind.

“preschool children were being explicitly and successfully taught to read and write in English and in Chinese as well as Malay or Tamil or whatever other home language they may have acquired (e.g. Arabic)” (p. 47)

The national language is Malay and children in preschool are not strong in English or Chinese.

“they reported that 95% of the children, by the end of K2, were proficient in spoken English language and literacy and 80% were reading some Chinese characters” (p. 52)

“20 per cent of the population are bilingual and these families have bilingual children” (p. 52)

Second year preschool students are taught school behaviours. Primary school is English language, with a minimum of three hours Chinese tuition. Some elite schools have bilingual sessions.

“The preschool professionals we spoke to felt that parents needed to be better informed about their child's development, but declared that parents said they were too busy to attend meetings or talks which are organised for them by the preschool. The parents need to be convinced of their role in their children's learning.” (p. 49)

“while the preschool teachers in Singapore see that they are pushing children hard, they find at the same time that both parents and primary schools continue to want more” (p. 50)

These attitudes may change.

“we understood that schooling isn't compulsory because everyone attends” (p. 48)

Wikipedia: Singapore

Official languages: English (first language), Malay (national), Mandarin Chinese, Tamil

Official scripts: English alphabet, Malay alphabet, Simplified Chinese, Tamil script

Personal Reflection

I read this article not expecting what I was about to read. I have been in Singapore and knew it to be a multicultural, multilingual country. It was a strange experience being in a city where signs were in multiple scripts, PA announcements in multiple languages and everybody spoke excellent English. At one point I saw a TV sitcom which featured a Chinese-background woman married to an Indian-background man, the humour arising from the mix of cultures, and the whole show was in perfect English. I guess the surprise from this article is that I wasn't expecting this sort education system, one I know of from comments about Chinese and Japanese education systems. It is very different and the reliance on literacy starts earlier than in my own education. Most likely this article will not be used in the final summary at all.

Becoming a reader and writer in a bilingual special education classroom

Ruiz, N.T., Vargas, E., Beltran, A. (2002). Becoming a reader and writer in a bilingual special education classroom. Language arts, 79(4), 297-309. Retrieved from http://faculty.washington.edu/smithant/Ruiz%20Vargas%20and%20Beltran.pdf

This is an interesting article, however it is important to note that the only "bilingual" part is that it is the classroom (and teachers I presume) that is bilingual. The article gives the story of a boy who migrated from Guatemala to the United States with his family. He was identified as not able to read or write in Spanish or English and was assessed as having a learning disability during his third year of school. Two specialist teachers (the second and third authors) petitioned for the boy to be placed in their specialist classroom. After one and a half years, the reading and writing ability, I am assuming in Spanish, of the boy increased by approximately 3.5 grade levels.

The specialist classroom was run on set of twelve classroom conditions, which are very similar to the Productive Pedagogies and the elements of the Quality Teaching Framework. The teachers also identified a set of principles for bilingual students with learning disabilities from the literature. These principles were:

1. Connect students’ background knowledge and personal experiences with literacy lessons.
2. Foster the use of students’ primary language in literacy lessons.
3. Create opportunities for students to meaningfully and authentically apply their developing oral language and literacy skills.
4. Foster increased levels of interaction (oral language, reading, and writing) among students and teachers. (p. 299)

Again, very similar to the PP/QTF, so I am sure that they can be applied for a "normal" classroom, rather than a special education one. The classroom activities promoted the use of written materials with feedback received from the whole class group. Importantly, initial emphasis was on the message contained within the written piece, rather than the spelling and grammar. Engagement between the boy and his peers was easily facilitated by the boys drawing ability, which was seen as a desirable asset for cooperative activities. It was this range of activities which improved his literacy. The teachers themselves feel that the improvement occurred  because he "became a highly motivated participant in all activities in his general education classroom, as well as in the resource room" (p. 304).

Interim Summary: Bilingual literacy in education

Bilingual literacy is a term used to describe the literacy, particularly literacy development, of second language speakers and learners. It is difficult to separate the literacy component from the larger issue of multiple language learning and speaking. The following summarises fragmented, personal research in the topic of bilingualism and bilingual literacy.

Literacy describes the ability to read and write in a range of different contexts, the ability to use and understanding written language and is connected to speaking, listening and critically analysing information (Krause, 2010). Literacy is a sociocognitive activity, in that literacy and the learning of literacy takes place in a sociocultural setting, which influence the meanings and purpose of words in language (Langer, 1990).

Where different societies within a country speak different languages, there exists majority language and a minority language, where majority and minority refer to societal power of those that speak the language (Hornberger, 1998). The minority language speakers, literate in their own language, are forced to learn and become literate in the majority language. For this reason, Hornberger (1998) states that Indigenous and immigrant languages in danger across the world as they are “subjected to seemingly irresistible social, political, and economic pressures” (p. 439).

In education, the minority language speakers are taught the majority language as they are learning the language. Grant and Wong (2003) estimate that in the United States of America “30–40% of school-age English language learners fail to reach acceptable levels of English reading [based on State-wide, standardised testing] by the end of their elementary schooling” (p. 387). They believe that English reading specialist teachers are not trained adequately for teaching language minority students and that there had been little research about English literacy development for minority language speakers. However the nature of standardised testing means that they most likely expected the same English reading level as first language English students.

Understanding how bilingual speakers construct meaning from text is an important consideration in bilingual education. A small study by Langer (1990)  found, in their group of Mexican-American students, that it was the strategies employed for meaning construction in Spanish (the first language), rather than English fluency, which had the greatest effect on English reading ability. Additionally, greater understanding of difficult passages of English text was achieved when they were mentally processed in Spanish. The literacy context was also found to be important, as the students had greater understanding of the story genre when written in English than the Spanish written factual report. These observations indicate that the first language of the speakers has a clear role in second language education.

When studying the Oyster-Adams Bilingual School (Washington DC, USA), Freeman (as cited by Hornberger, 1998) found that while the school embed English-Spanish bilingual education in the school curriculum, teaching pedagogy and social relations, the languages were not used equally. Examples given for this inequality were English code switching in Spanish classes and English written school district tests, however the degree which the school controls district tests is questionable. It was found that the school created an environment in which minority language learners could speak and learn in their language and promoted their rights, while teaching the majority language learners a second language and acceptance of minority language speakers. At this school the majority language learners were taught the second language in a method that treated the language as a resource for students, in this case a resource for learning, which is an approach Hornberger (1998) advocates for teaching languages to majority language speakers.

The future of bilingual education requires that bilingualism is built into all aspects of education, so that students are taught “how to transfer knowledge and strategies acquired in one language to another language” (García, 2000). By giving bilingual language and biliteracy equal time with content, the languages will be a resource that students will draw upon in their education. Future personal research will seek to establish a better picture of bilingualism and bilingual literacy and techniques to use in a classroom to develop bilingualism and bilingual literacy.



References

García, G.E. (2000). How will bilingual/ESL programs in literacy change in the next millennium? Reading Research Quarterly, 35(4), 521-522. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database

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

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

Krause, K.-L., Bochner, S., Duchesne, S., & McMaugh, A. (2010). Educational psychology: For teaching and  learning (3rd ed.). South Melbourne, Australia: Cengage Learning

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

Languages under attack?

Hornberger (1998)

The paper starts by discussing the need for policy and education to preserve and sustain indeginous and immigrant languages, which the authors feel are "under attack" (p439) - in the USA in particular, and may hae been true elswhere at the time of writing. They give the example that there are 175 indigenous langagues, of which only 20 are being "transmitted as child languages" (p3). I assume they use "transmitted" to mean "formal instruction", rather than informal instruction in the parent to child form. Apparently endangered languages have received increasing scholarly attention in recent years. They give many examples of programs to improve te use of languages throughout the world, holding the South African constitution, which recongnises 9 national languages and gives provision for more, as the paragon on bilingualism. Also give are examples of Govermernt policy and societal pressure for a single language.

In developing billingual education, the author believes that it is best developed in a way which makes the minority language a resource for the majority language speakers, rather than just a right of the minority language speakers. A bilingual school in the USA is given as an example. This school has a policy of billinguistic use of Spanish and English and this is embedded in the school curriculum, teacher pedagogy and social relations at the school. In practise, this was not entilrely acchieved, for example the school district standardised testing was only in English, the Spanish language students achieved a greater degree for billingism than the English speaking students. What they achieved was a school which promotoed, and gave, the rights of a minority language group while teaching the majority language students a second language. In my opinion, this is still a great achievement.
Kura Kaupapa Maori, community based schools in New Zealand were given as an example of language and cultural revitalisation, however these sound like immersive schools and therefore not billingual. However, I think the Education Foundations textbook may contain imformation on the movement towards English/Maori billingual schoools in New Zealand.
A study by Crease in the UK reports that "language rights of the children rarely became a priority equal to the content-based aims of secondary education"  (p454) and trying to change the system was viewed as a deficit thinking by the billingual students.

"A serious commitment to provision of the rights for children to be educated in their own language requires a systemic and systematic effort, which cannot necessarily be handled by an add-on program or policy." (p454)

Meaning construction means what?

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
This paper is based on a study of Mexican-American students in 5th grade in a public school a low-income area of Northern California. The goal of the study was to observe the strategies used by bilingual students to construct meaning from text, how they use both languages and the knowledge sources they rely on when they read. The student's were all of Mexican ancestry, with a mix of USA and Mexican born students, however all have some literacy in Spanish (mostly their first language) and English. The students where given reading passages in Spanish and English and then answered questions pertaining to the content of each passage. For the responses, the interviewers were bilingual and allowed the students to answer the questions in either language.

To me, the detailed discussion of the results is meaningless - what they say makes sense but I do not understand it in the broader context. And for the detail required in the summaries I think it is not necessary. In the summary they give the broader picture of their results. They found that students with good meaning making strategies in their first language were able to transfer them to their second language. The meaning making strategies employed by students separated good readers and poor readers, rather than fluency in English. Students with poor strategies in Spanish had difficulty making sense of English despite English language proficiency. Through the questioning process, they found that Spanish fluent students thought in Spanish when they encountered difficult concepts in English. The understanding of the readings was, in order of highest to lowest understanding, the Spanish story, the English story, the Spanish report and then the English report (although the English story score was only higher than the Spanish report). The authors attributed this to genre familiarity - not surprising since children of that age are more familiar with stories. Also not surprising was that the type of question asked affected the student's ability to communicate their answer.

In the background part of the paper, there is a discussion of "Literacy as a Sociocognitive Activity" (p431), that literacy is not just reading and writing, but also thinking about language and text. I think it should be taken one step further to it is about thinking. There is also a component to literacy which is about the society in which reading/text occurs. They have three assertions "All learning is socially based", "Literacy learning is an interactive process" and "Cognitive behaviors are influenced by context, and effect the meanings that learner produce" (p431). These are interesting assertions and I think I agree with them.

They also discuss the constructive aspects reading, how understanding the meaning of text is a process which builds upon itself, based upon what has already been read in the text, the knowledge of person reading the text and the sociocultural background in which it is being read. And I hope that passage is as confusing as the three paragraphs in the paper, it takes a long time to say little.

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
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