National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education, Arlington, VA. (1980). Outstanding Dissertations in Bilingual Education, Recognized by the National Advisory Council on Bilingual Education, 1979. The following award-winning dissertations in bilingual education are included here: (1) "The 1974 Bilingual Education Amendments: Revolution, Reaction, or Reform" by Susan Gilbert Schneider; (2) "(Memory Organization, Bilingualism, and Interlingual Interference: A Comparative Analysis of the Semantic Distance and Semantic Judgment of English Monolingual and Spanish-English Bilingual Students" by Ramanand Durga; (3) "The Effect of Auditory Discrimination Training of Spanish-Speaking Children on Auditory Discrimination and Sound-Letter Associations" by Virginia Reyes Kramer; (4) "Availability as a Measure of the Oral Spanish Lexicon of the Pre-K and K Chicano Child in Tucson, Arizona" by William James Fisher; (5) "Bilingual-Bicultural Instructional Aide Roles as Perceived by Teachers, Administrators, and Instructional Aides" by Maria N. Ortiz; (6) "A Sociolinguistic Study of Crow Language Maintenance" by John A.S. Read; (7) "A Comparative Study of Two Approaches of Introducing Initial Reading to Navajo Children: The Direct Method and the Native-Language Method" by Paul Rosier; and (8) A Status Survey of Texas Bilingual-Bicultural Education Programs" by Ernesto Zamora. Descriptors: American Indians, Auditory Discrimination, Bilingual Education, Bilingualism

Belcher, Diane, Ed.; Connor, Ulla, Ed. (2001). Reflections on Multiliterate Lives. Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 26. This edited volume is a collection of personal accounts, in narrative and interview format, of the formative literacy experiences of highly successful second language users, all of whom are professional academics. Representing 14 countries of origin, the contributors, who are well known specialists in language teaching as well as a variety of other fields in the social and physical sciences, thus represent a broad spectrum of linguistic and academic accomplishments. Chapters include the following: "The Fortunate Traveler: Shuttling Between Communities and Literacies by Economy Class" (Suresh Canagarajah); "Initiating into Academic Community: Some Autobiographical Reflections" (Vijay K. Bhatia); "Reminiscences of a Multilingual Life: A Personal Case History" (Nils Erik Enkvist);"Developing Literacy Can and Should Be Fun: But Only Sometimes Is" (Hakan Ringbom); "Straddling Three Worlds" (Anna Soter); "How a Speaker of Two Second Languages Becomes a Writer in a Foreign Language" (Adina Levine); "From L1 to L12: The Confessions of a Sometimes Frustrated Multiliterate" (Andrew D. Cohen); "My Experience of Learning to Read and Write in Japanese as L1 and English as L2" (Ryuko Kubota); "An Introspective Account of L2 Writing Acquisition" (Miyuki Sasaki); "Writing from Chinese to English: My Cultural Transformation" (Jun Liu); "Learning Is a Lifelong Process" (Ming-Daw Tsai); "Linguistic Experiences of a Mathematical Career" (Louis de Branges); "Taking the Best from a Number of Worlds: An Interview with Hooshang Hemami" (Hooshang Hemami, Diane Belcher); "Growing Up Trilingual: Memories of an Armenian/Arabic/English Speaker" (Anahid Dervartanian Kulwicki); "How Can I Help Make A Difference? An Interview with Robert Agunga" (Robert Agunga, Diane Belcher); "A Professional Academic Life in Two languages: An Interview with Maria Julia" (Maria Julia, Diane Belcher); "On Being a Citizen of the World: An Interview with Luis Proenza (Luis Proenza); "The Advantages of Starting Out Multilingual: An Interview with Steven Beering" (Steven Beering, Ulla Connor). (References appear throughout the text.) Descriptors: Arabic, Bilingualism, Chinese, Code Switching (Language)

Omoniyi, Tope (1999). Bilingualism, Biliteracy, Classrooms and Identity Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa. A discussion of bilingualism, biliteracy, and the educational context of Sub-Saharan Africa has three areas of focus. The first is the argument that the school environment is a complex one for bilingual education, biliteracy, and socialization generally in this multiethnic area, and that ideology and literacy issues feed language politics at several levels in the region. The second is that in spite of institutional efforts, only functionally limited bilingualism is available to many people, due to differences in public practice and private desires. In addition to external pressures such as flow of capital and popular culture, which have their preferred languages, issues such as minority status, language status, social attitudes, and cultural values are factors in the development of bilingual identity, and explain why biliteracy does not always accompany bilingualism. The third argument is for a program of school bilingualism geared toward creating a responsible citizenry rather than developing bilingualism as an end in itself. Contains 46 references.   [More]  Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Bilingualism, Cultural Context, Cultural Pluralism

Miller, Robert (1999). Helping Mexican and Mexican-American Students in the Schools of the East Side Union High School District. This document provides information about schools in Mexico and suggests ways that U.S. schools can use this information to improve education for Mexican and Mexican American students. Chapter 1 describes the Mexican educational system as a vantage point for understanding the expectations of Mexican parents in the United States. This chapter covers the organization of the Mexican school system, recent changes in administrative functions from the federal government to the states, textbooks, curriculum in the primaria (grades 1-6) and secundaria (grades 7-9), enrollments, program options and educational practices in the secundaria, distance education in rural areas, the media superior level (grades 10-12), and private schools. Chapter 2 discusses problems and special strategies in rural areas, bilingual education for indigenous peoples, adult education and literacy campaigns, and 1995 illiteracy rates by age groups for the general and indigenous populations. Chapter 3 examines the development of binational educational cooperation and describes various national and state projects such as teacher and faculty exchanges, provision of Mexican textbooks and adult education materials to U.S. programs, student exchanges, immigrant services, and bilingual teacher education. Chapter 4 focuses on strengths of Mexican students, culturally relevant teacher strategies, ways to promote parent involvement, and implications of characteristics of effective schools. Appendices list school strategies relevant to Hispanic students, organizations that focus on helping Mexican and Mexican-American students, and Web sites on Mexico. (Contains 46 references and an index.)   [More]  Descriptors: Adult Basic Education, American Indian Education, Bilingual Education, Educational Practices

Owen, Laura Terese (1997). JNCL Annual State Survey, 1996. An Assessment of Support for Foreign Languages, Bilingual Education, and English as a Second Language. The annual survey of the Joint National Committee for Languages (JNCL) and National Council of State Supervisors of Foreign Languages (NCSSFL) assessed state-level support for foreign language, bilingual, and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) education. Respondents were 78 employees within state departments of education and state language associations. Results indicate two-thirds of state departments of education had downsized, with language program personnel experiencing significant job losses, an average of 17 percent. Staff whose tasks are primarily or directly related to foreign language instruction averaged 1.3; the figure doubled for bilingual and ESL education. Funds were specifically allocated for foreign language programs in 73 percent of states, with average funding about level with the previous year. Fewer states allocated funds for bilingual and ESL education, but amounts were substantially higher. Respondents felt their policymakers gave the most support to foreign language programs, in both rhetoric and action, at 35.5 percent, with bilingual education receiving 23.4 percent and ESL receiving 31 percent. States reporting the most communication between state language associations and department of education also reported high agreement on policy issues. ESL and foreign language associations were more active in advocacy efforts than bilingual education counterparts, but inter-association coordination of efforts was limited.   [More]  Descriptors: Activism, Advocacy, Bilingual Education, Employee Attitudes

Estes, Dwain M. (1999). An Attempt at Problem-Based Learning. In October 1998, the Coordinating Board Committee of the Department of Education at the University of Texas–Pan American (UTPA) recommended adoption of a problem-based learning model for use in the university's stand-alone doctoral program in educational administration. This recommendation came despite some apprehension and confusion among some board members. Subsequent work by the committee produced a plan employing educational labs where problem-based learning could take place. Curriculum and instruction professors preferred an observer role for doctoral students in bilingual-education labs, and some students and faculty were confused about their roles. These concerns persisted despite seemingly successful use of daily feedback, block-time arrangements in classroom scheduling, and constructive discussion among all parties. Many students and faculty did express concern about presenting content under block scheduling. One widely circulated email expressed an expectation that students be actively taught, the need for in-depth instruction in research design and methodology, a desire to receive dissertation-writing skills, apprehension regarding peer evaluation, and clarification about available resources. The dean demanded changes in content and scheduling to better meet the students' needs. Limited positive results arising from the problem-based learning program included such areas as feedback, collaborative networks, leadership teams, two-way bilingual education, action research, readings, portfolios, journal keeping, mental health, classroom structure, and curriculum, content, university relations, public relations, program approval, and conference presentations. Future experimentation and discussion should address problems that merit attention and that build on the established successes of the program. (Contains 14 references.)   [More]  Descriptors: Administrator Education, Cooperative Learning, Critical Thinking, Curriculum Development

Santana, Raymond A. Nava (1982). Legal Theory in Support of Bilingual Education. A review of the national and state legislation dealing with bilingual education is presented in the context of an introductory history of the bilingual movement in the United States. This history falls into two periods; the first from 1840-1920, and the second from 1960 to the present. The goal of bilingual education, to teach English without sacrificing the home language and culture, is the backdrop for the examination of the laws governing it. First, federal bilingual policy mechanisms are examined from the initial constitutional mandate resulting from the Brown v. Board of Education case to action of the Reagan administration in 1981 withdrawing proposed Lau regulations. In each case the legislation is criticized in terms of its impact on equal educational opportunity for limited English speaking minority children. Following this section, the response of the Los Angeles Unified School District to the 1974 Supreme Court decision in the Lau case is presented and an outline of major deficiencies existing in Los Angeles as of 1980 are discussed. A fourth section describes California's bilingual/bicultural education program and the policy mechanisms that support it. The final section is a review of court actions in Los Angeles and Judge Egly's orders in 1980 on proposed programs for segregated and racially isolated minority schools. Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Civil Rights, Educational Policy, Elementary Secondary Education

Thomas, Thomas (1999). Teaching Reading to Low-Literate Language Minority High School Students. This paper, written from the perspective of a classroom teacher who is also the child of immigrant parents, examines issues related to teaching reading to low-literate minority students for whom English is not their first language. The paper presents background issues, examines the process of language acquisition, and focuses on the following: the political context (this country is in the middle of a controversy over bilingual issues, with several states arguing over how to teach new immigrants and various federal mandates about bilingual education); educational factors that affect the process of gaining English proficiency (teacher effectiveness and student motivation); cultural factors that influence immigrants' adjustment to U.S. education (including language); key principles of second language acquisition (e.g., literacy in the first language); age and second language acquisition; language and meaning (the importance of cultural relevance); and instructional strategies (environment, meaning and the language experience approach, content-centered approach, and cooperative learning). (Contains 93 references.)   [More]  Descriptors: Age Differences, Bilingual Education, Bilingual Students, Classroom Environment

Komesaroff, Linda (2001). Adopting Bilingual Education: An Australian School Community's Journey, Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education. This study describes changes at an Australian school for the deaf toward a language policy favoring the increased use of Australian Sign Language and bilingual pedagogy. Teachers' dissatisfaction with educational outcomes and current practices propelled these changes. Beliefs about language policy and practices are explored, as are the implications for change. (Contains references.) Descriptors: Beliefs, Bilingual Education, Deafness, Educational Philosophy

Balboni, Paolo E. (1998). Educazione bilingue e multiculturale, istruzione bilingue, immersione totale: quattro nozione da definire (Bilingual and Multicultural Education, Bilingual Instruction, Total Immersion: Four Notions Needing To Be Defined), Bulletin suisse de linguistique applique. This article suggests that the terms "bilingual education, multicultural education, bilingual instruction, and total immersion" refer to four distinct processes, each needing to be defined more clearly. To define them, a theoretical framework is proposed based on two sets of variables. The first set integrates the anthropological model of human relations ("I, I and You, I and the Community") and the pedagogical model of educational goals (self-promotion, socialization, acculturation). The second set comes from a theory of language policy that distinguishes two types of multilingual societies, the "melting pot" and the "rice salad." Applying this framework to the four notions illustrates that they are different processes and should be differentiated in curriculum design, in the language used by schools and educational authorities, and in the literature. (Contains 19 references.)   [More]  Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Comparative Analysis, Educational Strategies, Educational Theories

Carrasquillo, Angela; Rodriguez, Judy (1998). Measuring Success in Bilingual Education Programs: Case Studies of Exemplary Practices. The factors or variables that contribute to the academic success of limited English proficient students in three schools in New York City were studied. Researchers studied two elementary schools and one high school with successful bilingual education programs. A team of five researchers visited the schools, observed bilingual classes, interviewed bilingual students and their teachers, administrators, and parents, analyzed test data and other academic records, and evaluated student work. Teachers also completed questionnaires about the programs. Results indicated that each school has its own unique characteristics, but that 10 areas were present in all 3 schools: (1) positive school climate; (2) an administration with leadership and commitment to bilingual education; (3) teachers' high expectations of students; (4) teacher effectiveness and empowerment; (5) clearly defined curricula; (6) extracurricular and co-curricular activities; (7) high student self-esteem and expectations of themselves; (8) academic growth; (9) satisfactory attendance; and (10) parental involvement. In the successful programs, teachers, administrators, and other school personnel are constantly questioning their techniques and academic support to the bilingual program. (Contains 11 references.)   [More]  Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Bilingual Education, Case Studies, Curriculum

Martin, Joyce, Comp. (1999). Native American Languages: Subject Guide. This document is an eleven-page supplemental subject guide listing reference material that focuses on Native American languages that is not available in the Labriola National American Indian Data Center in the Arizona State University, Tempe (ASU) libraries. The guide is not comprehensive but offers a selective list of resources useful for developing language and vocabulary skills or researching a variety of topics dealing with native North American languages. Additional material may be found using the ASU online catalogue and the Arizona Southwest index. Contents include: bibles and hymnals; bibliographies; bilingual education, curriculum, and workbooks; culture, history, and language; dictionaries and grammar books; English as a Second Language; guides and handbooks; language tapes; linguistics; online access; sign language.   [More]  Descriptors: American Indian Languages, Biblical Literature, Bilingual Education, Dictionaries

Hovens, Mart (2001). Bilingual Education in West Africa: Does It Work?. This study compared the impact of experimental bilingual schools to the impact of regular schools in Guinea-Bissau and Niger. The Guinea-Bissau school used Creole for instruction in the first two grades, then transitioned abruptly to Portuguese in third grade. Nigerian children were taught in one of the five main languages (Hausa, Zarma, Peul, Tamajaq, and Kanuri) in the first three grades. Halfway through second grade, French was introduced orally, and in the three higher grades, it became the language of instruction, while the national language remained as a subject of study. Students from both bilingual and monolingual systems were tested in reading, writing, and math in both languages (official and national). Researchers also conducted classroom observations. Results indicated that in the bilingual schools, there was more dynamic interaction between teachers and students and between students themselves. Teaching was more student-centered. Achievement was higher in bilingual schools for girls than boys and for farmers than civil servants. Results suggested that the earlier schools started teaching the second language, and the later schools introduced the second language as a medium of instruction, the better the students' achievement. Results also indicated that the transition to the official language in bilingual programs should be gradual.   [More]  Descriptors: African Languages, Bilingual Education, Bilingual Students, Creoles

Lockwood, Anne Turnbaugh; Secada, Walter G. (1999). Transforming Education for Hispanic Youth: Exemplary Practices, Programs, and Schools. NCBE Resource Collection Series No. 12. This monograph reviews the findings and recommendations of the Hispanic Dropout Project (HDP) and describes successful school-based strategies to combat the dropout problem and promote academic achievement among Hispanic students. Chapter 1 discusses the high Hispanic dropout rate; why Hispanic students drop out; stereotypes and realities; and HDP recommendations encompassing minimum guarantees of a quality education, schools' relationships with parents and families, the role of teachers, effective school strategies, and educational policy. Chapters 2-5 describe specific effective programs: (1) Lennox (California) Middle School's approach to personalizing the curriculum and involving parents and families; (2) Calexico (California) School District's secondary-level strategies, including emphasis on equity, commitment to bilingual education, a culture of continuous refinement, high expectations and support for meeting them, and alternative dropout programs; (3) three elementary programs–Success for All, Helping One Student to Succeed (HOSTS) (a mentoring and tutoring program), and Cognitively Guided Instruction (mathematics problem solving using students' prior knowledge); and (4) two secondary programs–the Coca-Cola Valued Youth program, in which high-risk middle school students tutor younger students, and Project AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), which features coaching, advocacy, and college preparation. In Chapter 6, four HDP members summarize observations and recommendations related to the quality of instruction, role of bilingual education, effects of tracking, resources and physical conditions, investing new resources, achieving attitudinal shifts, teacher preparation and professional development, identification and implementation of effective programs, challenging content and valuable relationships, individualization, time for results, aspects of program design and implementation, and politics of education. (Contains 13 references and a bibliography with an additional 131 references.)   [More]  Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Bilingual Education, Dropout Prevention, Dropouts

Quintelli-Neary, Marguerite (1999). The 'Old English District': ESL Problems in South Carolina. An examination of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction in York County, South Carolina focuses on community attitudes toward limited-English-proficient (LEP) residents. Factors discussed include the perception that virtually all residents speak English and that children who don't speak English fluently, generally Hispanics, will have left the area before learning enough to function in mainstream classes; the state mandate for English-only instruction; and a generally hostile environment for LEP residents. Common responses to LEP students appear to be either classification as disabled students, perception as untenable expenses, and relegation to language laboratories to "correct" their language problems. LEP students are often lacking in self-confidence, are mocked by native English-speaking peers, and must become language brokers for their families. Suggestions made for ameliorating the situation include acknowledgement of the LEP population and teacher education in support of bilingual teachers and bilingual education. Contains 10 references.   [More]  Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Bilingualism, Change Strategies, Educational Attitudes