This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices. Some of the authors featured on this page include H. Douglas Adamson, Casey D. Cobb, Alberto M. Ochoa, Virginia Diez, Catrin Norrby, Joel Dworin, Ma Rong, Rosann Tung, Ester J. de Jong, and Joan T. Feeley.
(2011). Uniformity and Diversity in Language Policy: Global Perspectives, Multilingual Matters. This book brings together current research by leading international scholars on the often contentious nature of language policies and their practical outcomes in North America, Australia and Europe. It presents a range of perspectives from which to engage with a variety of pressing issues raised by multilingualism, multiculturalism, immigration, exclusion, and identity. This book contains three parts. Part 1: Language Policy at the Official Level, contains: (1) Language Policy and Citizenship in Quebec: French as a Force for Unity in a Diverse Society? (Jane Warren and Leigh Oakes); (2) Do National Languages Need Support and Protection in Legislation? The Case of Swedish as the "Principal Language" of Sweden (Sally Boyd); (3) Language Policy and Smaller National Languages: The Baltic States in the New Millennium (Uldis Ozolins); (4) Language Policy in Australia: What Goes Up Must Come Down? (Paulin G. Djite); and (5) Regional Languages, the European Charter and Republican Values in France Today (Leigh Oakes). Part 2, Language Policy in Practice: Indigenous and Migrant Languages in Education, contains: (6) Breton Language Maintenance and Regeneration in Regional Education Policy Tadhg O hIfearnain; (7) Language Policy in Spain: The Coexistence of Small and Big Languages (David Lasagabaster); (8) Language Policy and Language Contact in New Mexico: The Case of Spanish (Catherine E. Travis and Daniel J. Villa); (9) Indigenous Languages, Bilingual Education and English in Australia (Gillian Wigglesworth and David Lasagabaster); and (10) Bringing Asia to the Home Front: The Australian Experience of Asian Language Education through National Policy (Yvette Slaughter). Part 3, Language Policy in Real and Virtual Worlds, contains: (11) Testing Identity: Language Tests and Australian Citizenship (Kerry Ryan and Tim McNamara); (12) Language as Political Emblem in the New Culture War in Northern Ireland (Diarmait Mac Giolla Chriost); (13) Language Policy and Reality in South Tyrol (Claudia Maria Riehl and John Hajek); (14) Addressing Policy on the Web: Netiquettes and Emerging Policies of Language Use in German Internet Forums (Heinz L. Kretzenbacher); (15) Language Policy in Practice: What Happens When Swedish IKEA and H&M Take "You" On? (Catrin Norrby and John Hajek); and (16) Regulating Language in the Global Service Industry (Deborah Cameron). An author index and a subject index are included. [More] Descriptors: Language Maintenance, Service Occupations, Language Planning, Citizenship
(2011). Spanish and the Church: Intergenerational Language Maintenance in a Hispanic Religious Community, ProQuest LLC. Spanish is being lost at an alarming rate in the United States, for most immigrant families within two to three generations of arrival. Previous research indicates that the third generation of Hispanic immigrants typically becomes English monolingual (Veltman 2000; Appel & Muysken 1987; Fishman 1978). This investigation examines the role the Church can play in supporting Spanish language maintenance. Based on interviews conducted in a Hispanic Church community with 48 subjects aged 13 to 80 years together with data on child language proficiency, it considers the ways in which religious or church factors interact with societal, community, and individual/demographic variables in order to support or impede Spanish language maintenance. Findings suggest that several church factors promote Spanish language maintenance, including identity, a perceived sense of cultural community, informal policy, and parishioner support for teaching Spanish. Also, the Church provides a venue for practicing the minority language and Church leaders and elders serve as models of Standard Spanish. However, other factors are detrimental to Spanish language maintenance. Changes in the demographic composition of the congregation over time have led to generational conflict between first- and second- and subsequent-generation immigrants. The groups differ in opinion regarding the relative importance of evangelism and preserving the Spanish language. With regard to societal and community level factors, these are not generally supportive of language maintenance. Perceptions of Spanish in the United States as a language of low cultural and economic status and negative attitudes toward bilingual education are especially detrimental. Amongst the individual/demographic variables examined, generation of immigration and age appear to be most strongly associated with language maintenance outcomes. Homes headed by first-generation, middle-aged and older immigrants had the most positive language maintenance outcomes. Homes headed by second- and subsequent-generation, younger immigrants had a greater likelihood of language loss. Both groups reported highly positive attitudes toward Spanish language maintenance. However, in the latter segment of the population positive attitudes do not appear to be closely associated with language supporting behaviors. Further findings indicate that SES (socioeconomic status) and exogamy also exert some influence on Spanish language maintenance. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: www.proquest.com/en-US/products/disserta… [More] Descriptors: Economic Status, Bilingual Education, Child Language, Immigrants
(2011). Learning from Consistently High Performing and Improving Schools for English Language Learners in Boston Public Schools. Executive Summary, Center for Collaborative Education. The Massachusetts context for English language learner (ELL) education has evolved over the last decade, while the population of English language learners in Boston Public Schools (BPS) has increased steadily. During that time, a shift to "English Only" instruction meant that instruction in students' first language (L1) disappeared virtually overnight in K-12 public schools that were teaching ELL students with bilingual education. During the same year that Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) became the dominant mode of instruction for ELL students, the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests became used for school, district, and state accountability under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The MCAS tests also became high stakes tests for high school graduation. During the three years after the implementation of Question 2 and of MCAS as a high stakes accountability test, Limited English Proficient (LEP) identification, program participation, and outcomes plummeted (Tung et al., 2009). Since those sobering findings were released, the Boston Public School district has undergone numerous programmatic and policy changes, including the placement of new leadership, the School Committee convening of a BPS ELL Task Force, a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education with specific remedies spelled out, and the adoption of a new English learner education policy manual. Against this backdrop, and with the knowledge that many teachers and administrators within the Boston Public Schools were expert practitioners with ELL students and that many BPS ELL graduates succeed academically and professionally, the authors endeavored to document the practices in successful schools. This study uses mixed methods to answer the following research questions: (1) In which BPS schools were ELL students at intermediate to advanced English proficiency levels (MEPA levels 3 and 4 based on the pre-2009 scale) performing at a consistently high level or showing steady improvement during SY2006-SY2009?; (2) What were some of the organizational, cultural, instructional, professional development, and community engagement practices that the school's staff attributed to their success with ELL students during SY2006-SY2009?; and (3) Which of the organizational, cultural, instructional, professional development, and community engagement practices identified by school staff were shared among the selected schools? (Contains 2 tables and 4 endnotes.) [This paper was written with Eileen de los Reyes and Antonieta Bolomey. For the full report, "Learning from Consistently High Performing and Improving Schools for English Language Learners in Boston Public Schools," see ED540999.] [More] Descriptors: Effective Schools Research, Longitudinal Studies, Followup Studies, Public Schools
(2001). An Overview of the Preparation and Certification of Teachers Working with Limited English Proficient (LEP) Students. This study combined survey data with qualitative analysis to explore the preservice preparation of teachers of English language learners (ELLs). The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education disseminated surveys to member institutions and Web site users, examining the breadth and depth of preparation programs for such teachers. The National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education compared survey findings to its analysis of both state level bilingual education teacher licensure requirements and the content of courses required by institutions for degrees/licensure in bilingual education. Licensure and course requirements were categorized by areas of knowledge, revealing that while typically emphasizing the areas of pedagogy and cultural/linguistic diversity, linguistics received less emphasis at both state and institutional levels. There was great variance in how states mandated requirements for bilingual education teacher licensure, though state requirements did impact institutions' programming. Programs varied in the depth of their coverage of areas of knowledge, with bachelor's programs more likely to cover studies within an area of knowledge through a broad overview or survey course combining various topics within one course. Very few higher education institutions offered programs that specifically prepared bilingual education teachers. Even fewer required preparation for mainstream teacher regarding ELL education. (Contains 44 references.) [More] Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Diversity (Student), Educational Policy, Elementary Secondary Education
(1975). The Massachusetts Story, Today's Education. The Massachusetts Coalition for Bilingual Education, made up of various organizations, worked to obtain passage of the first state legislation mandating and providing funding for bilingual education. [More] Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Educational Legislation, Educational Policy, Laws
(2008). Learner Outcomes for English Language Learner Low Readers in an Early Intervention, TESOL Quarterly: A Journal for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages and of Standard English as a Second Dialect. This study investigated the efficacy of Reading Recovery[R] (RR) with first grade English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools by examining the literacy outcomes of ELLs compared with their native English-speaking (NES) peers, who were also enrolled in RR. We also explored how ELLs' fall oral English proficiency levels were related to their spring literacy levels. Pre- and post-test measures included tests of text reading and phonemic awareness, because text reading is the broadest measure of reading ability and phonemic awareness is an important aspect of reading and oral English proficiency. Results indicated that 76.42% of NES and 69% of ELLs who had a complete program of intervention successfully achieved grade-level performance. These differences were statistically significant but the effect size was small. Overall, the differences between RR NESs and RR ELLs are not sufficient, when they exist, to warrant excluding ELL students from the RR intervention. In schools where students do not have access to bilingual education, Reading Recovery is an appropriate addition to the range of best-practice services available to ELLs. [More] Descriptors: Early Intervention, Phonemics, Bilingual Education, Reading Failure
(2007). Bilingual Education for China's Ethnic Minorities, Chinese Education and Society. The language of instruction is the medium through which knowledge is transmitted during the educational process. Because of this, the issue of what language the teachers use when giving lectures and what language is used to compile the text materials they adopt becomes a core issue in educational development for any multiethnic, multilingual country like China. In this article, the author discusses Chinese language as the "interethnic common language" of the people of China, changes in language utilization in China, issues regarding bilingual instruction in China's minority education, and the wishes of the masses concerning the choice of language of instruction among minority people. [More] Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Multilingualism, Language of Instruction, Mandarin Chinese
(2005). Language Minority Students in American Schools: An Education in English. ESL & Applied Linguistics Professional Series, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (Bks). This book addresses questions of language education in the United States, focusing on how to teach the 3.5 million students in American public schools who do not speak English as a native language. These students are at the center of a national debate about the right relationship among ESL, bilingual, and mainstream classes. Bilingual education has been banned by constitutional amendment in California and Arizona, and similar amendments are being considered in other states. This book places this debate and related issues of teaching standard English to speakers of nonstandard dialects, such as black English, within the larger context of language acquisition theory and current methods of language teaching. Adamson draws from the large body of sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic, and educational research, and on his own experience as an English teacher in the U.S. and overseas, to shed light on some of these controversies and on the cognitive, cultural, public policy, and practical issues involved in educating English language learners. Presenting all sides of the issues fairly, he offers a strong endorsement for bilingual and bidialectical education based on programs designed and administered according to the principles discussed in the book and supported by language acquisition theory and classroom research. A strength of the book is the inclusion of original research conducted in a middle school enrolling a majority of Latino students. This research contributes to the field of language education by providing a detailed description of how English language learners study content subjects. Examples from the study are used to illustrate a discussion of Vygotskian learning principles and the relationship between the students' home and school cultures. Following a preface, this book is organized into the following chapters: (1) A Personal Introduction; (2) First and Second Language Acquisition; (3) Language Teaching; (4) Standard and Vernacular English; (5) Learning in a Second Language; (6) School and Family; and (7) Bilingual Education. [More] Descriptors: Standard Spoken Usage, Second Language Learning, Teaching Methods, Public Policy
(2008). Policies and Practices for Selecting Highly Effective Teachers for Alternative Certification Programs, Journal of the National Association for Alternative Certification. A dramatic shift in the past fifteen years in teacher education has been the move toward people beginning their teacher preparation later in life and in their academic careers. In response, the number of alternative certification programs has increased to reduce teacher shortages in critical content areas such as mathematics, science, bilingual education, and special education, as well as teacher shortages in rural and urban schools. This research report explores the independent and interdependent processes of teacher screening and selection and, explicitly, identifies existing literature that has addressed the relationship between pre-employment decisions and post-employment outcomes for predicting alternatively certified teacher success. In addition, recent scholarship is analyzed that pertains to the use of interviews in the teacher screening process, particularly in alternative teacher preparation programs, often described as alternative routes or pathways to teacher certification. Specifically, the report affords the reader an assessment of the relative importance of three interview protocols in the selection process as the mechanism of merit that transcends the usual qualifications of degree, grade point average and test scores to discern those life experiences and intrinsic beliefs that predispose an alternative certification candidate to be an effective teacher. [More] Descriptors: Alternative Teacher Certification, Teacher Selection, Employment Interviews, Experience
(1978). Teaching Spanish-Speaking Children to Read in New Jersey, NJEA Review. What kind of bilingual education was being offered in New Jersey's schools before the Bilingual Education Act? What should be offered? Descriptors: Basic Reading, Beginning Reading, Bilingual Education, English (Second Language)
(1988). Beyond the Rhetoric of Federal Reports: Examining the Conditions Necessary for Effective Bilingual Programs, Equity and Excellence. Federal reports are critical of bilingual education, but most reports and evaluations published on bilingual education are based on seven fallacious assumptions, here identified. Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Educational Research, Elementary Secondary Education, English (Second Language)
(2008). SEeIng through a Bilingual Lens: Structural and Ideological Contexts of Structured English Immersion in Three Massachusetts Districts, Journal of Educational Research & Policy Studies. In 2002, Massachusetts voters passed Question 2, a law similar to its predecessors in California (Proposition 227) and Arizona (Proposition 203) to replace bilingual education with structured English immersion (SEI) programs. Using Ruiz's (1984) framework for language planning as an analytical lens, this study examined how three Massachusetts districts resisted the monolingual ideology that characterizes laws mandating the implementation of English-only programs and addresses how local policies and practices conceptualized the mandated SEI program differently according to the specific implementation context. Since each district had been ideologically opposed to English-only approaches prior to Question 2, the language as right and language as resource orientations continued to influence the interpretation of SEI. As a result, SEI was positioned differently ideologically in relation to the law (the value of bilingualism versus English-only education) as well as structurally within each district (as part of a bilingual program sequence, as part of a world language program, self-contained). As a language policy, "SEI" therefore does not have a fixed meaning but will necessarily be socially constructed within each context by the beliefs, experiences, and histories of the individuals involved. [More] Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Monolingualism, English (Second Language), Bilingualism
(2011). Language Policy and Language Ideologies in Szekler Land (Rumania): A Promotion of Bilingualism?, Multilingua: Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication. This article discusses the problems related to the teaching of the state language, Rumanian, in the context of the Hungarian minority population in Szekler Land, Rumania, and the language ideologies connected to Rumanian on the basis of empirical research. On the one hand, it is argued that at present the methodology of state language teaching in Hungarian minority schools in Szekler Land disregards the linguistic needs of the minority Hungarian population and functions as an obstacle to developing Hungarian-Rumanian bilingualism for the Hungarian population due to the absence of context specific school curricula, textbooks and examination criteria that disadvantage students in learning the state language, Rumanian, in a Hungarian majority linguistic environment. On the other hand, the present article briefly presents the language ideologies of the Hungarian minority population in Szekler Land related to the state language. Data collection included the analysis of official documents on Rumania's minority language policy, the exploitation of the language policy view of academics and the empirical research conducted through the means of semi-structured interviews. The research presented in this article is part of the international LINEE ("Languages in a Network of European Excellence") Project, work package number 9, called ("Inter") regional Case Studies of Multilingual Education, which set out to survey and analyze educational practices in multilingual settings in four regions: Bolzano/Bozen (Italy), Vojvodina (Serbia), Transylvania (Romania) and "Felvidek" (Slovakia). Data sources included 95 digitally recorded semi-structured interviews with NGO representatives, school principals, language teachers and students from the Hungarian-populated regions of Transylvania and analysis of official documents on minority education. The minority secondary schools investigated are located in two bilingual counties of Szekler Land and have the minority language as the language of instruction either partly or entirely. Based on the findings, my assessment is that bilingual education in Szekler Land does not contribute to the achievement of Hungarian-Rumanian bilingual competence of minority individuals due to unsuccessfully designed and badly implemented state language teaching methodologies. [More] Descriptors: Language Planning, Textbooks, Language Attitudes, Teaching Methods
(1974). Bilingual Education in the United States. Bilingual education is defined here as instruction in two languages, one of which is English as a second language, and the other the native language of the pupils. Bilingual education is also noted to include a cultural component whereby students are taught about the history and culture of their own civilization as well as those of their adopted country — the U.S. Among the topics discussed are: the status of bilingual education in the world; the need for bilingual education in the U.S., the official status of bilingual education in the U.S. (financial aid and legal support); target audience of bilingual education in the U.S.; the aims of bilingual education; approaches to bilingual education (maintenance vs. transitional programs); instructional staff in bilingual education; bilingual instruction in subject matter other than language; format and content of lessons; the role of ESL in bilingual education; an example of a lesson integrating ESL with science in bilingual education; history and culture in bilingual education; teacher preparation (language, culture, history, and professional preparation); instructional materials; evaluation in bilingual education; and misinformation and problems in bilingual education (what bilingual education is not, unconscious factors that undermine bilingual education, and negative effects of bilingual education that are provided by federal funding). An appendix includes a socioeconomic profile of New Jersey's Puerto Ricans. Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Bilingual Schools, Bilingual Students, Bilingual Teachers
(2011). Listening to Graduates of a K-12 Bilingual Program: Language Ideologies and Literacy Practices of Former Bilingual Students, GIST Education and Learning Research Journal. This study investigated the language and literacy practices of five graduates of a Spanish-English K-12 dual language immersion program through semistructured interviews to understand the residual impact of thirteen years in a Spanish-English bilingual school program. Drawing from sociocultural theory, the interviews also sought to provide an understanding of the participants' specific social networks and uses of Spanish and cultural affinities. Transcripts of the interviews, which were 1-2 hours in length, were analyzed primarily for content related to language use, social networks, and cultural affiliations. Coding by general themes that emerged was done first, and then patterns within and across interview transcripts were identified and analyzed. The basic research question guiding this interview study was: What can be learned about the Spanish-English bilingualism and biliteracy of former students who attended a 13-year bilingual school program? Three main findings were: 1) All of the former students reported being bilingual and biliterate in English and Spanish; 2) Two prominent language ideologies in the everyday uses of Spanish by the participants were identified. One language ideology may be described as a functional language ideology, where Spanish was used primarily to accomplish only specific, limited kinds of communication with others. The other language ideology was one where linguistic and cultural affinities with native Spanish speakers were a key part of the participants' orientation and use of Spanish; and 3) The issue of who may be reaping the most benefits from the K-12 dual language immersion program arose through an analysis of the interviews, especially at the secondary levels, because of the relatively small numbers of Latina/o students that completed the program. The findings are significant because they indicate some of the strengths and limitations of K-12 bilingual programs in the U.S. Given that there has been very little research in this area, the study provides educators and researchers with important concerns in bilingual education program implementation, as well as areas for further research. [More] Descriptors: Literacy, Bilingualism, Coding, Spanish