This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices. Some of the authors featured on this page include Aura Mor-Sommerfeld, Laurie Olsen, Hui Li, M. Lynn Aylward, Jae H. Paik, Teresa Valiente Catter, Todd Wanerman, Mark Leikin, Rebecca Johnson, and Coleen D. Carlson.
(2013). Curricular Models of CLIL Education in Poland, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Bilingual education in Poland gained in popularity after the political changes in 1989 when Polish society started noticing the importance of foreign language learning. With the emergence of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) in the 1990s, which in the Polish context is still termed as "bilingual education", foreign languages other than English were introduced as a medium of instruction. To provide a comprehensive overview of practices and help to identify operational features of this type of education, four large-scale research studies were conducted, exploring CLIL sections with English, German, Spanish and French as languages of instruction. The data collected on the basis of classroom observations and interviews with CLIL teachers and students revealed a number of regularities recurring in the schools that were studied. It enabled the researchers to formulate four curricular models of CLIL education at secondary level. This article aims to present the models of content subjects teaching. The models depend on the proportions of L2 use, the perceived focal point of the teaching/learning process and the educational level at which CLIL is introduced. The adoption of a particular model entails different instructional choices, teaching practices and learning objectives in terms of both content and language learning. [More] Descriptors: Curriculum Development, Bilingual Education, Foreign Countries, Second Language Learning
(2015). Using Parent and Teacher Voices in the Creation of a Western-Based Early Childhood English-Language Program in China, Journal of Research in Childhood Education. The current English-language research and educational program was driven by an initiative to create a more interactive, theme-based bilingual language education model for preschools in Chengdu, China. During a 2-week teacher education program centered at the Experimental Kindergarten of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Chengdu, China, a team of educational and developmental researchers and early childhood educators from the United States created and implemented a teacher education workshop centered on theme-based, child-centered early bilingual education curricula. The team conducted a series of classroom demonstrations, teaching observations, and focused group discussions and presented theoretical lectures to supplement and support the learning objectives of the workshop. Changes in teachers' understanding of the learning materials and perspectives on educational approaches were measured using pre- and posttest surveys with multiple-choice, Likert-type scale, and open-ended responses. Results showed increases in teachers' learning as well as positive responses to the researchers' model. Parent surveys were collected to understand their motivations and expectations for children's English-language learning, and the data showed unique patterns in Chinese parents' goals for their children's bilingualism. The authors describe how teacher and parent data can be used to give context to the local teaching approaches and conditions, and how these data can be used to refine, adapt, and implement Western-based models. [More] Descriptors: English (Second Language), Second Language Instruction, Preschool Education, Foreign Countries
(2010). The Role of Inuit Languages in Nunavut Schooling: Nunavut Teachers Talk about Bilingual Education, Canadian Journal of Education. This article provides a discourse analysis of interview transcripts generated from 10 experienced Nunavut teachers (five Inuit and five non-Inuit) regarding the role of Inuit languages in Nunavut schooling. Discussion and analysis focus on the motif of bilingual education. Teachers' talk identified discourse models of "academic truths" and "revitalization," demonstrating how Nunavut teachers are making efforts to engage with community to effect lasting educational change. [More] [More] Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Eskimos, Discourse Analysis, Educational Change
(2012). Caught between Two Languages, Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review. One of the challenges to educating English-language learners (ELLs) is ensuring that students become literate in their native language–something that experts say is important for their success in English and other subjects–and learn sufficient English skills before the middle grades, a critical transition point because of the increasingly difficult academic content that students are expected to master in English. While Chicago Public Schools' (CPS) bilingual programs have fallen short in quality, most ELLs do make the leap out of bilingual education by 3rd grade. But of the nearly 64,000 bilingual students in CPS, 12% are in the middle grades and have been in bilingual education since their early school years. Research shows that long-term bilingual students are more likely to fall behind their peers in high school. These students are also more likely to be in special education. Many schools nationwide lack the resources to teach these students, including teachers with the right training. If current trends in population and achievement continue, up to one-quarter of all U.S. students may fail to become proficient enough in English to succeed in school before they graduate or worse, drop out of high school, says Arizona State University bilingual education expert Eugene Garcia. CPS is encouraging schools to increase programs that help students develop their native language, because of "the positive academic, social, and cultural benefits for students who maintain higher levels of language and literacy development in their first language while learning a second language." [More] Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Literacy, Bilingual Education, English (Second Language)
(2010). Building an "Assessment Use Argument" for Sign Language: The BSL Nonsense Sign Repetition Test, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. In this article, we adapt a concept designed to structure language testing more effectively, the "Assessment Use Argument" ("AUA"), as a framework for the development and/or use of sign language assessments for deaf children who are taught in a sign bilingual education setting. By drawing on data from a recent investigation of deaf children's nonsense sign repetition skills in British Sign Language, we demonstrate the steps of implementing the "AUA" in practical test design, development and use. This approach provides us with a framework which clearly states the competing values and which stakeholders hold these values. As such, it offers a useful foundation for test-designers, as well as for practitioners in sign bilingual education, for the interpretation of test scores and the consequences of their use. [More] Descriptors: Sign Language, Bilingual Education, Deafness, Language Tests
(2009). The Role of Advocacy in Shaping Immigrant Education: A California Case Study, Teachers College Record. Background Context: Throughout United States history, immigrant education has been shaped and defined by political struggles over immigration, language rights, national security, and educational equity and access. Bilingual education has become the contemporary battleground for these struggles. In 1996, in California, a struggle ensued between supporters of bilingual education and the English Only movement, culminating in a public ballot initiative, Proposition 227, designed to end bilingual education. Purpose/Focus: This article explores the ways in which advocacy groups engage in efforts to protect immigrant students' access to, and inclusion in, schools, and how that engagement is shaped and seeks to impact on prevailing policies and ideologies. Design: This qualitative case study is based on historical records from the Proposition 227 campaigns, analysis of media coverage, and interviews, and was written as a reflective piece by a social scientist who was active in the campaigns. Conclusions and Recommendations: The battle over Proposition 227 was just one episode in a historically broader and deeper societal struggle between fundamentally different perspectives about the role of public schools in a diverse society. Although the explicit conflicts between English Only and bilingual education forces in California before, during, and after Proposition 227 were focused on English learner program design–the language to be used for instruction, materials, and credentialing–this was and is an ideological struggle. Advocates for bilingual education were unprepared for fighting this battle in the public arena of a ballot initiative. In the course of the Proposition 227 campaign, advocates drew lessons that informed a revised strategy: to shift the basic paradigm within which immigrant education is framed beyond the framework of civil rights and a compensatory program to redefine immigration schooling in an affirmative, additive 21st-century global vision. This has resulted in a renewed advocacy movement, illustrating the role that advocacy organizations play in adapting and reshaping the dialogues and policies over immigrant education. [More] Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Ideology, News Reporting, Immigration
(2012). Classroom Talk, Conceptual Change and Teacher Reflection in Bilingual Science Teaching, Teaching and Teacher Education: An International Journal of Research and Studies. This article examines a science teacher's use of and reflections on classroom talk in teaching a unit on genetics on a bilingual education programme. Constructivist, sociocultural and discursive psychological perspectives on conceptual change and classroom talk are reviewed. Data are drawn from three sources: preactive interview, video-recording of classroom interaction, and video-based postactive reflections. Detailed analyses of transcripts show that even when the teacher oriented to the constructivist strategy of eliciting students' views, there were missed opportunities to use a more dialogic approach. Implications for teacher education of science teachers in first and second language contexts are discussed. [More] Descriptors: Video Technology, Constructivism (Learning), Discussion, Classroom Communication
(2011). Intercultural Bilingual Education in Nicaragua: Contextualisation for Improving the Quality of Education, International Review of Education. For the past 35 years, various models of intercultural bilingual education (IBE) have been implemented in Latin American schools and adult education. While Spanish is the official language in Nicaragua, many indigenous languages, such as Miskito and Sumo-Mayangna, are also spoken–especially in the Atlantic coastal region. The Nicaraguan Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport recognises the need for a flexible curriculum that reflects individual local and regional linguistic and socio-cultural characteristics, through the use of mother tongue and second language learning. The contextualisation model applied in the Atlantic coastal region of Nicaragua is therefore based on the use of a languages strategy in preparing textbooks and basic technical materials with an IBE approach, as part of the process of improving the quality of education. Thus intercultural communication is enhanced, and the need to strengthen the systematic teaching of languages, differentiating between mother tongue, second language and foreign language, is recognised. As well as explaining the contextualisation process in detail, this article discusses the conceptual differences between intercultural bilingual education (IBE) and bilingual intercultural education (BIE). The paper concludes with several recommendations for the further development of BIE in Latin America. [More] Descriptors: Multicultural Education, Intercultural Communication, Textbooks, Bilingual Education
(2011). The Discourse of Transition: Teachers' Language Ideologies within Transitional Bilingual Education Programs, International Multilingual Research Journal. Transitional bilingual education (TBE), the most common form of bilingual education in the United States, is too often entrenched in a subtractive, English-dominant ideology. This article explores the conflicting language ideologies of teachers in TBE programs, posing the question, "In what way do TBE teachers' discourses reflect/reinforce and simultaneously confront/counter the ideology of the program model within which they operate?" The article draws on two datasets: interviews with 16 TBE teachers at 6 schools in a large, urban school district in Texas and participant observations; and interviews of 2 TBE teachers as they struggled to move their classrooms away from English dominance and toward a more balanced, additive bilingual space. Based on Bourdieu's conception of legitimate language and Bakhtin's conception of dialogue, the article argues that TBE teachers demonstrate a tension between their stated positive orientations toward bilingualism and the restrictive influences of what is termed the "discourse of transition" as they talk about their students, about their classrooms, and about their own decision-making in TBE programs. Essentially, teachers practicing under the structures of a TBE program struggle to simultaneously offer children a "transitional" and a "bilingual" education. [More] Descriptors: Urban Schools, Bilingual Education, Ideology, Bilingual Education Programs
(2009). Education, Ethnic Identity, and Acculturation as Predictors of Self-Esteem in Latino Adolescents, Journal of Counseling & Development. This study examines the self-esteem, acculturation, and ethnic identity of 150 Latino adolescents enrolled in either a bilingual or traditional education program. Bilingual education programs were established to ensure that academic failure was not the product of limited English proficiency. Grade point average (GPA), acculturation, and ethnic identity significantly predicted self-esteem for students in bilingual programs, whereas only GPA and acculturation significantly predicted self-esteem for students in traditional educational programs. [More] Descriptors: Ethnicity, Grade Point Average, Acculturation, Bilingual Education Programs
(2012). Instructional Variability in Bilingual Education Programs: Time of Year, Raters, and Content, Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness. There are many types of programs for Spanish speaking students in the US, with varying methods and goals. Some preliminary work suggests that bilingual classrooms may differ widely in instruction, even under the same program labels. However, there are few studies which have compared the extent to which various bilingual program models differ in actual instruction delivered. Directly measuring instructional practice however, is difficult and costly, involving the influence of time, raters, content, and programs (Raudenbush, 2008). The purpose of the current paper is to estimate the relative influence of these important sources of variance in classroom observations completed in a large quasi-experiment of bilingual education. [More] Descriptors: Bilingual Education Programs, Immersion Programs, Spanish Speaking, Educational Practices
(2010). Facing Bilingual Education: Kindergarten Teachers' Attitudes, Strategies and Challenges, Language Awareness. This article examines how majority-language teachers coping with additive education view their roles in a bilingual framework, how they perceive issues of culture and language in young bilingual children, and how they understand the term "bilingual education" in an L2 non-additive context. The study has been conducted in the context of pre-school bilingual education of second generation Russian-Hebrew speaking immigrants from the former Soviet Union in Israel. Using an ethnographic approach comprising observation, interviews and life histories, a set of behaviours and beliefs has been revealed, enabling us to compare approaches in two bilingual–Russian-Hebrew–kindergartens. This is discussed at both the micro- (teachers' reports) and the macro- (Israeli language and educational policies) level. [More] Descriptors: Semitic Languages, Bilingual Education, Foreign Countries, Kindergarten
(2017). The Influence of Early Bilingual Education (English) on the First Language (Arabic) Literacy Skills in the Second Grade of Elementary School: Saudi Arabia, Journal of Education and Practice. In bilingualism there are rigorous arguments among researches on the inclusion of second language in early phases of L1 education. While some researchers support such inclusion, others advise that doing so might adversely affect the first language. In the context where this study was conducted (Saudi Arabia), despite the heated debate on introducing English to the Saudi primary schools, only few studies attempted to investigate the effect of teaching English from the first grade on the Arabic literacy skills. This research is a response to the lack of empirical evidence about the impact of learning a foreign language at a young age on L1 by investigating the effect of early bilingual education on the reading and writing (literacy) of Arabic (L1). The study was conducted on students from two Saudi elementary schools: a public school and a private school. The sample comprised 46 Arabic-speaking female students from grades two. The children were subdivided into 2 groups: 30 monolingual students and 16 bilingual students. The children took diagnostic tests to measure their linguistic development in their mother tongue. Over all, the results showed no negative impact on the reading and writing skills of Arabic if English is taught from the beginning of formal schooling. [More] Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Females, Diagnostic Tests, Native Language
(2012). Effective Reading Programs for Spanish Dominant English Language Learners (ELLs) in the Elementary Grades: A Synthesis of Research, Center for Research and Reform in Education. This review synthesizes research on English reading outcomes of all types of programs for Spanish-dominant ELLs in elementary schools. It is divided into two major sections. One focuses on studies of language of instruction, and one on reading approaches for ELLs other than bilingual education. A total of 14 qualifying studies met the inclusion criteria for language of instruction. Though the overall findings indicate a positive but modest effect (ES=+0.19) in favor of bilingual education, the largest and longest-term evaluations, including the only multiyear randomized evaluation of transition bilingual education, did not find any differences in outcomes by the end of elementary school for children who were either taught in Spanish and transitioned to English or taught only in English. The review also identified some proven and promising whole-school and whole-class interventions, including Success for All, cooperative learning, Direct Instruction, and ELLA. In addition, programs that use phonetic small group or one-to-one tutoring have also shown positive effects for struggling readers. What is in common across the most promising interventions is their use of extensive professional development, coaching, and cooperative learning. The findings support a conclusion increasingly being made by researchers and policy makers concerned with optimal outcomes for ELLs and other language minority students: Quality of instruction is more important than language of instruction. (Contains 2 tables and 1 footnote.) [For the "Effective Reading Programs for Spanish Dominant English Language Learners (ELLs) in the Elementary Grades: A Synthesis of Research. Educator's Summary," see ED539713.] [More] Descriptors: Tutoring, Reading Programs, Minority Group Students, Bilingual Education
(2009). Bilingual Students Publish Works in ASL and English, Odyssey: New Directions in Deaf Education. The Kansas State School for the Deaf (KSD) is a bilingual school where American Sign Language (ASL) and English are used equally in the classroom and dormitory as the languages of instruction and communication. As a result, KSD has been part of bilingual education training through the Center for ASL/English Bilingual Education and Research (CAEBER) housed at Gallaudet University. The Center supplies pre-service and in-service training to teachers, schools, and universities that provide research-based bilingual education to deaf and hard of hearing students. In its eleventh year of bilingual education in-service training, KSD has successfully trained most of its personnel, including most or all classroom teachers, paraprofessional educators, school counselors, administrators, dormitory staff, the transition specialist, the audiologist, and the superintendent. As bilingual children and teens, KSD students deal with the acquisition and learning of two languages–ASL and English. The acquisition and learning processes follow the postulates of Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) set forth by Jim Cummins. The Bilingual Multi-Media Room (BMMR) is the place where KSD students strengthen their academic skills in both ASL and English. In this technologically sophisticated and dedicated environment, students work on video journals and writing projects as well as videotape oral presentations. This article describes how the BMMR provides students with opportunities to develop and refine their ASL and English skills. [More] Descriptors: Bilingual Students, English, American Sign Language, Special Schools