This annotated bibliography is reformatted and customized by the Center for Positive Practices. Some of the authors featured on this page include Genevoix Nana, Rosey Billington, D. Potts, Urszula Clark, Alena G. Esposito, Stephan Breidbach, Victoria I. Puig, Gilbert N. Garcia, Aintzane Doiz, and Megan Hopkins.
(2013). Dual-Language Education for Low-Income Children: Preliminary Evidence of Benefits for Executive Function, Bilingual Research Journal. This investigation is an initial examination of possible enhancement of executive function through a dual-language (50:50) education model. The ethnically diverse, low-income sample of 120 children from Grades K, 2, and 4 consisted of approximately equal numbers of children enrolled in dual-language and traditional classrooms. Dual-language students in Grades 2 and 4 performed better on a measure from the Trail Making Task requiring inhibition and rule-switching. The results indicate that the established benefits of bilingual exposure can be generalized across SES and ethnicity and can be acquired within the context of elementary school programs. [More] Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Low Income, Executive Function, Elementary School Students
(2010). The Acquisition of Spanish Vowels by Native English-Speaking Students in Spanish Immersion Programs, ProQuest LLC. Native-like pronunciation is necessary for membership into some social groups and to be considered a legitimate speaker of a language. Language immersion education aims to develop bilingual individuals, able to participate in multiple global communities, and while the lexical, syntactic, and sociolinguistic development of immersion learners is well documented, their phonological skills are not. This study set out to address this gap by investigating immersion learners' pronunciation of Spanish vowels, a sound class known to lead to a foreign accent, comparing the vowel productions of native English-speaking learners in one-way (foreign language) immersion and two-way (bilingual) immersion programs to those of their native Spanish-speaking peers and their teachers. A total of 85 immersion students participated in this study. A cross-sectional sample of students from each of the program/language groups was taken; students from each of four grade levels (first, third, fifth, and seventh) participated. Students completed an animal picture sorting task in pairs during which their speech was audio and video recorded. Up to twenty tokens of each of the five Spanish vowels, for a possible total of 100 tokens per subject, were isolated and examined via spectrographic analysis in order to measure first and second formant values. The tokens examined for each vowel were balanced for their occurrence in stressed and unstressed syllables. Students also completed a written questionnaire in order to gather data about extralinguistic factors (i.e., attitudes and motivation) that have been shown to influence pronunciation. The findings indicate that the vowel productions of immersion learners differ from those of native Spanish-speaking peers. In general, the vowel space of the learner groups is larger than that of the native speaker peer group. Over time, the number of differences between one-way NES learners and native speakers increase while the number of differences between two-way NES learners and native speakers decrease. This finding suggests that there may be an effect of program model; however, differences in the ethnic background and exposure to Spanish outside of school between the two learner groups may also play a role and thus make it difficult to attribute differences solely to the effect of program model. Differences in attitude between the groups do not reach statistical significance and do not correlate with more native-like vowel pronunciations. [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: Video Technology, Oral Language, Immersion Programs, Vowels
(2013). Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in Europe: Research Perspectives on Policy and Practice. Mehrsprachigkeit in Schule und Unterricht. Volume 14, Peter Lang Publishing Group. Content and Language Integrated Learning has received a strong tailwind in European educational and language policies. It is on the verge of becoming a mainstream phenomenon. However, an overly speedy implementation of "CLIL for all" might bear a number of risks for all groups of stakeholders. The purpose of this book is to link the growing empirical knowledge about the full complexity of CLIL to the current European educational and language policies. The articles collected in this volume contribute to a more systematic evidence base of CLIL that has frequently been called for at a European level. This bi-lingual volume (English/German) brings together authors from several European countries to present significant findings from recent CLIL research in the light of the developments in education policy. The four parts of the book focus on the reconstruction of learning processes, learner achievement, theory-driven investigations of the concept of CLIL itself, and critical reflections on the current "CLIL boom". Articles include: (1) CLIL: Complementing or Compromising Foreign Language Teaching? Effects and Perspectives of Education Policy Plans (Stephan Breidbach and Britta Viebrock); (2) Integrating CLIL with Other Mainstream Discourses (Peeter Mehisto); (3) "Mehrsprachigkeit" und "CLIL"–zwei unverbundene Konzepte in der europçischen Sprachen-und Bildungspolitik? (Bettina Deutsch); (4) Bilingual, offen, konzeptlos – Was Schulen mit reformpçdagogischen Bildungskonzepten zum fremdsprachlichen Lernen versprechen und nicht halten (Henriette Dausend, Daniela Elsner, and Jörg-U. KeÃüler); (5) Transnationalism in Education: CLIL Experience in Turkey (Ãñzlem Etus); (6) The Construction of the CLIL Subject Teacher Identity (Lauretta D'Angelo); (7) "Dealing with the Language Aspect? Personally, No." Content Lecturers' Views in an ICLHE Context (Francesca Costa); (8) Der Einfluss subjektiver Sprachlerntheorien auf den Erfolg der Implementierung von CLIL-Programmen (Julia Hüttner and Christiane Dalton-Puffer); (9) CLIL-Teacher Training at the University Level: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice (Petra Burmeister, Michael Ewig, Evelyn Frey, and Marisa Rimmele); (10) The CLIL Learning Experience: Strategies and Underlying Knowledge Employed by Limited English Primary School Students during Conceptual and Linguistic Comprehension (Irina Adriana Hawker); (11) Students' General English Proficiency Prior to CLIL: Empirical Evidence for Substantial Differences between Prospective CLIL and Non-CLIL Students in Germany (Dominik Rumlich); (12) Sprachlernprozesse im bilingualen Geschichtsunterricht (Ulrich Wannagat); (13) CLIL as a New Momentum for Learning? Reconsidering the Differences between Languages as Subjects and Vehicular Languages in Luxembourg Schools? (Marie-Anne Hansen-Pauly); (14) Deutsch als Fremdsprache fördern-ein Fall für CLIL? Sichtung empirischer Befunde in Belgien und Frankreich zu Einstellungen und Sprachlernmotivation im Zusammenhang mit "Content and Language Integrated Learning" (Katja Lochtmann and Vinciane Devaux); (15) CLIL Modules in the Mathematics Classroom–Reasons for Their Implementation and First Empirical Results–Andreas Bonnet/Christiane Dalton-Puffer: Great Expectations? Competence and Standard Related Questions Concerning CLIL Moving into the Mainstream (Katharina Prüfer); (16) It's Not CLIL That Is a Success–CLIL Students Are! Some Critical Remarks on the Current CLIL Boom (Almut Küppers and Matthias Trautmann); (17) Bili für alle? Ergebnisse und Perspektiven aus einem Forschungsprojekt zur Einführung bilingualer Module in einer Hauptschule (Götz Schwab); and (18) Generalisierbare sprachlich-diskursive Kompetenzen im bilingualen Unterricht (und darüber hinaus) (Wolfgang ZydatiÃü). [More] Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Multilingualism, Bilingualism, Bilingual Education
(2013). Swedish: The Swedish Language in Education in Finland, 2nd Edition. Regional Dossiers Series, Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning. This regional dossier aims to provide a concise, description and basic statistics about minority language education in a specific region of Europe. Aspects that are addressed include features of the education system, recent educational policies, main actors, legal arrangements, and support structures, as well as quantitative aspects, such as the number of schools, teachers, pupils, and financial investments. This kind of information can serve several purposes and can be relevant for policymakers, researchers, teachers, students, and journalists as the information provided assesses developments in European minority language schooling. This regional dossier can be used as a first orientation towards further research or as a source of ideas for improving educational provisions in their own region. The first edition of " Swedish: The Swedish Language in Education in Finland " was compiled in 1997, this second edition was compiled in 2012 and covers academic data for the 2010/2011 school year. This dossier contains a glossary, forward, an introduction to the region under study, and six sections dealing with a specific level of the education system. Sections eight to ten cover research, prospects, and summary statistics. A list of references and further reading is included. [For the first edition, see ED452719.] [More] Descriptors: Swedish, Foreign Countries, Second Language Instruction, Language Minorities
(2013). Globalisation, Internationalisation, Multilingualism and Linguistic Strains in Higher Education, Studies in Higher Education. One effect of the Bologna Declaration is that teaching staff and students are becoming more mobile, increasing linguistic diversity in the European Higher Education Area. This multilingual internationalisation is especially noticeable in bilingual universities such as the University of the Basque Country in Spain, where English-medium instruction is becoming more popular. In order to understand higher education multilingual contexts, it is essential to analyse the personal, social, cultural, political and economic struggles that surround the different languages in contact, while becoming critically aware of what this multilingualism implies. Through discussion groups in which different members of the community participated, we researched how the university community deals with the main issues surrounding the university's multilingual policy and practices. We shall address the concerns that different members of the community have expressed in this new context, and the interplay between Basque, a minority language, Spanish, the mainstream language and English. [More] Descriptors: Global Approach, International Education, Language of Instruction, English (Second Language)
(2013). Teachers' Memories of Schooling: The Sociocultural Injuries and the Mis-Education of Mexican Teachers in the Barrio, Journal of the Association of Mexican American Educators. Relying on life history and memory as methodology, this essay unearths the memories of schooling of five Mexican American teachers at a dual-language school in San Antonio, locating their memories of trauma within the history of language oppression and cultural exclusion in U.S. public schools. In re(membering) their schooling experiences as working-class, Spanish-speaking, racialized students in San Antonio's segregated Westside, teachers pointed to schools as the source of their miseducation and trauma and framed these experiences within a shared history of institutionalized language oppression and educational inequality. "Historias," semi-structured life history interviews, and "conocimiento"–reflexive and dialogical focus groups–reveal that teachers' memories of racialized cultural violence in schools are central to their personal and professional identity formation. As ethnic/race teachers with embodied knowledge of racialized cultural violence, they transform the culture of schooling for Mexican origin students as they move within the dialectic of domination and empowerment in their everyday teaching practices. [More] Descriptors: Teacher Attitudes, Equal Education, Educational Experience, Professional Identity
(2013). Teaching Creole-Speaking Children: Issues, Concerns and Resolutions for the Classroom, Australian Review of Applied Linguistics. There are now significant numbers of children who speak a language other than English when they enter the formal school system in Australia. Many of these children come from a language background that is entirely different from the school language. Many Indigenous children, however, come from creole-speaking backgrounds where their home language may share features with the school language whilst remaining substantially different in other ways. What often makes this situation more challenging is the tendency to view creole, rather than as a different language, as a kind of deficient version of the standard language. Children entering the school system with a creole thus often encounter considerable difficulties. In addition, teachers who are not trained in teaching creole-speaking children may not recognise these difficulties. This paper explores some of these issues in the Australian context with reference to home languages such as Kriol and Torres Strait Creole (TSC) as well as minority dialects such as Australian Aboriginal English (AAE), and discusses possible resolutions. [More] Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Indigenous Populations, Creoles, English (Second Language)
(2013). A Pilot Study of Service-Learning in a Spanish Heritage Speaker Course: Community Engagement, Identity, and Language in the Chicago Area, Hispania. This article presents research findings from a pilot study of the use of service-learning in an intermediate-high class ("Spanish Language and Culture for Heritage Speakers") in the fall semesters of 2010 and 2011. Students reported gains in the areas of communication skills, dispositional learning, language, identity formation, and identification and solidarity with Latino communities of the greater Chicago area. The author argues that service-learning in this context not only serves the goals of the discipline of teaching Spanish language and Hispanic cultures, but that it is also potentially transformative for students. Service-learning engages with social justice education, as well as education for democracy, pointing the discipline in a promising direction as Latino student enrollments continue to grow in the years to come. [More] Descriptors: Service Learning, Pilot Projects, Spanish, Heritage Education
(2013). Re-Imagining Language, Culture, and Family in Foster Care, Early Child Development and Care. Nearly half a million children in the United States are currently being served by the foster care system. Infants and toddlers represent the largest single group entering foster care. While these very young children are at the greatest peril for physical, mental health, and developmental issues and tend to spend the longest time in the foster care system, little research has been done to explore their experiences and developmental outcomes. In the family described here, birth family members and foster family members of multiple generations partner with Early Intervention services to support a toddler living within the foster care system. [More] Descriptors: Foster Care, Child Development, Infants, Toddlers
(2000). Lessons from Research: What Is the Length of Time It Takes Limited English Proficient Students To Acquire English and Succeed in an All-English Classroom? Issue Brief No. 5. This document provides a brief overview of the results of the recent research and data synthesis funded by the U.S. Department of Education on effective educational approaches that promote the acquisition of English language arts and skills and grade-appropriate content for limited-English-proficient (LEP) students. This group, also known as English Language Learners (ELLs), is a prominent part of the broad population of at-risk young children and school-age youth. The purpose of this document is to inform policymakers and educators of the results of key education research that have implications for the following: the design of educational programs and assessments for LEP and other students placed at risk of educational failure; program placement decisions; and setting program participation time frames. This information is especially timely, given the number of state legislatures and local school districts engaged in systematic educational reform efforts–efforts expected to include ELLs at all levels of language proficiency. Two of the many issues related to the education of LEP students are highlighted: the amount of time that LEP students are permitted to receive special support, and the language of instruction. For each study reviewed, all the bibliographic particulars are provided as are key findings and detailed background information about this study. [More] Descriptors: Bilingual Education Programs, Cultural Education, Educational Change, Educational Research
(2002). South Tyrol: German and Italian in a Changing World, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. Discusses the language situation in South Tyrol in Switzerland where Italian and German have coexisted for centuries. Descriptors: Bilingual Education, Foreign Countries, German, Italian
(2013). Building on Our Teaching Assets: The Unique Pedagogical Contributions of Bilingual Educators, Bilingual Research Journal. This article examines the unique contributions that bilingual and bilingually credentialed teachers make to the instruction of emergent bilinguals in the United States. This mixed methodological study involved 474 teachers in Arizona, California, and Texas, which represent distinct language policy contexts. Results revealed that, irrespective of context, teachers' bilingualism and bilingual certification significantly predicted their reported use of practices that build on students' primary language as well as their prior knowledge and experiences. Given declining numbers of teachers completing bilingual credentials in English-only states, findings suggest that English-only policies are diminishing the supply of teachers with the potential to improve emergent bilinguals' classroom experiences. [More] Descriptors: Bilingual Teachers, Mixed Methods Research, Educational Policy, Language Planning
(2013). "This Is No French School": Language and Education Traditions in Primary Schooling in Cameroon — A Comparative Perspective, Research in Comparative and International Education. This study draws on the concepts of instrumental and expressive orders to analyse school practice in two Anglophone and two Francophone primary schools in Cameroon, and how micro processes of language socialisation in the schools studied instantiated Anglophone and Francophone education traditions and related to macro processes of systems of education. Using a multimodal method of data collection, including participant observation, focus group and individual interviews, the study adopts a vertical case study approach which corresponds to Bernstein's down-top data collection and analysis approach of research in schools, and draws its comparative stance from the contextualisation of studied cases as a microcosm of global education practice. The study considers the pupils, their classroom, their school, the language that they are socialised into, and the culture that it mediates as units of analysis, and participant observation as a research method into the social life of pupils and their school that seeks to gain an insight into the intricacy of studied phenomenon from the comparative perspective of the dialectic of the local and the global. [More] Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Elementary School Students, Language of Instruction, Interviews
(2013). Mediating Multilingual Children's Language Resources, Language and Education. The everyday reality of children's multilingualism is a significant resource for expanding students' perspectives on the world, but many questions remain regarding the negotiation of these resources in mainstream classrooms. Drawing on research from a long-term Canadian study of multiliterate pedagogies, this paper explores mediation of home language use in mainstream classrooms, the functions it performs in students' texts and the contribution of home language to students' academic development. Three very different student texts and the contexts for their production are used to illustrate (a) differences between the mediational properties of multilingual models and talk about the models; (b) the contribution of monolingual educators' to the students' efforts; (c) the transformation of home literacies into academic practices and (d) students' independent development of mediational tools. We argue more attention must be paid to pedagogic practices that capitalize on children's multilingual capacities if educators are to better support these students' growth as meaning-makers. [More] Descriptors: Multilingualism, Teaching Methods, Student Attitudes, Native Language
(2013). A Sense of Place: Variation, Linguistic Hegemony and the Teaching of Literacy in English, English Teaching: Practice and Critique. The ways in which literacy in English is taught in school generally subscribe to and perpetuate the notion of a homogenous, unvaried set of writing conventions associated with the language they represent, especially in relation to spelling and punctuation as well as grammar. Such teaching also perpetuates the myth that there is one "correct" way of language use which is "fixed" and invariant, and that any deviation is at best "incorrect" or "illiterate" and at worst, a threat to social stability. It is also very clear that the linguistic norms associated with standard English are predicated upon and replicate white, cultural hegemony. Yet, at the same time, there are plenty of literary and creative works written by authors from all kinds of different cultural, ethnic and linguistic backgrounds, including canonical ones, where spelling and punctuation are varied and championed as a sign of creativity. In the world beyond school, pupils are also surrounded by variational use of written language, especially in public displays such as shop signs, writing on mugs and t-shirts, posters, graffiti and so on, which link language to place. Equally, the voices we hear in entertainment and public broadcasting, far from being homogenous, celebrate diversity in Englishes. The homes and backgrounds of pupils in our schools, including their linguistic backgrounds, may also be very different either in terms of a different variation of English or languages spoken other than English. Since the emphasis is usually upon "correct" and "fixed" ways of teaching writing in English, it has often been difficult for teachers and pupils to reconcile the kind of English taught in school as the "correct" way and thus, by definition,all others as "incorrect." However, narrow definitions of linguistic "correctness" are becoming increasingly difficult to uphold given that the public spaces with which we are surrounded are peppered by examples of variational use in writing. Recent sociolinguistic research into variation points to an increasing fluidity of linguistic use, especially when it comes to public displays of writing, particularly in media such as newspapers, websites, shop signs, TV channel logos and so on. Linguistic variability can thus be seen as a resource in creating unique voices and marking allegiance to, for example, a particular place and culture. Such research is indicative of the fact that variational use of English, far from being "incorrect" or "illiterate", is increasingly being drawn upon creatively to mark a place identity. It also points to a shift in our conceptual thinking about language(s) and varieties from being perceived as static, "fixed", totalised and immobile to being thought of as dynamic, fragmented and mobile, with the focus upon mobile resources rather than immobile languages. At the same time, the teaching of literacy centres upon the teaching of linguistic norms of spelling and grammar as "fixed." There is a tension then, between creative expression of linguistic use often linked to place and those linked to standard English. This article explores those tensions and discusses the implications and possibilities for the teaching of English and literacy. [More] Descriptors: English (Second Language), Second Language Learning, Literacy Education, Spelling