1 / 42

BILINGUAL MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION

BILINGUAL MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION. Kathee M. Christensen Northern Illinois University April, 2004. Linguistic Diversity in the U.S. More than 325 languages used at home 175 American Indian languages Over 6 million children ages 5-17 speak languages other than English at home.

andrew
Download Presentation

BILINGUAL MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. BILINGUAL MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION Kathee M. Christensen Northern Illinois University April, 2004

  2. Linguistic Diversity in the U.S. • More than 325 languages used at home • 175 American Indian languages • Over 6 million children ages 5-17 speak languages other than English at home

  3. Cultural Diversity • Exists at the national and local levels • Requires that teachers view children “through a different lens.” • Creates a “win – win” situation in the classroom

  4. Culture • An historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, • A system of inherited conceptions (used to) communicate, perpetuate, and develop knowledge about and attitudes toward life. • Geertz, 1973

  5. Culture emerges through social interaction. • Typically, culture is shared by members of a family unit. What might be some consequences when a child and parent do not share all aspects of their cultural identities?

  6. Anthropological categories • “BIG” C CULTURE: surface aspects of a culture; readily apparent to casual observers • (e.g. “Belles Artes,” “food, fiestas and famous people, or gender, race, size, age) • “small c” culture: in depth knowledge and understanding of a culture; shared values (e.g. social practices, language, perspectives) • “No se deje dar gato por liebre!”

  7. Multiculturalism • Individual level • Self identified cultural components • Group level • Representation of several cultural identities • Attitude toward others (absence of ethnocentrism)

  8. How do you define yourself, culturally? • Family order • Place of birth • Ethnic/ cultural heritage • Gender • Deaf / hearing

  9. Gallaudet Research Institute data, December, 2003 • United States • Illinois

  10. Ethnic diversity in programs for children who are deaf

  11. Spoken/written languages in the home

  12. Children with Cochlear Implants

  13. Education • Controversy over which bilingual approach is “best.” • Successful programs make extensive use of additive bilingual AND immersion techniques (Thomas & Collier, 1996)

  14. Parallels between signed and spoken bilingual education • Attitudes of families • English-only programs • Value of heritage (natural, native) language • Shared responsibilities for concept formation (Tabors, 1997) • Potential for two-way bilingual education programs

  15. Legislation • Brown vs. Board of Education, 1954 • Equal access to educational opportunity • Bilingual education act, 1968 • Equal education for linguistic minorities • IDEA Amendments, 1997 • Assessment must be “in the child’s native language or other mode of communication.”

  16. Teacher Preparation • 75 CED certified DHH teacher preparation programs in the U.S. • 7 self report having a class that focuses on multicultural issues in deafness • 27 self report that multicultural issues are infused across the curriculum • 41 NR or no focus on the issues

  17. QUESTION: In our increasingly diverse society, where are teachers of children who are deaf getting the vital information that they need regarding multicultural populations?

  18. Supreme Court opinion on diversity in higher education • U. of Michigan decision: diversity prepares students for citizenship in an increasingly diverse workforce and society

  19. National Standards American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) ASL is one of ACTFL’s LCT languages ACTFL-ESL, K-12 standards ACTFL-ASL, K-12 standards in process

  20. National and regional organizations • NABE • CABE • CAID?? • Multicultural SIG has been eliminated

  21. Action research • Ethnographic studies in classrooms • Star Schools Project • Residential schools as research sites How do those in leadership roles within schools end up mediating between reform plans (systems and structures) and actual practices?

  22. Assessment • Access to the general curriculum • Linguistically biased assessment • Equal outcomes for graduation • Children “left behind”?

  23. TRILINGUAL EDUCATION • Videotaped series for Spanish speaking parents of deaf children

  24. What have we learned? • Philosophy • Language proficiency • Multiculturalism • Authentic assessment • Metalinguistics

  25. Clarification of Philosophy • CED standards now require a philosophy statement • Program selection data • Oral-aural • Comprehensive • Bilingual ASL-English

  26. Language Requirements in Teacher Preparation • Entrance and exit requirements for BOTH ASL and English • Addition of ASL Linguistics and Literature courses • What about other spoken and signed languages?

  27. Assessment • Qualitative methodology (e.g. NaVCA) • Multiple Intelligences theory (thematic curricula) • Observation of nonverbal cognitive behavior, e.g. problem solving • Observation of nonverbal and verbal communication acts

  28. M.I. assessment format

  29. Metalinguistics • Early awareness of bilingualism (e.g. word walls, story telling) • Natural and second language distinctions

  30. Technology • Polycom Via Video • ASL CDs for parents and others • Internet access at home and at school • Smart Board

  31. Collaborative Action Research • Children who are deaf with families who do not speak English or sign ASL • Children who are deaf in balanced settings with children who are hearing (Day care, Preschool, K-1) • Star Schools Project

  32. Research at Rancho Sordo Mudo

  33. “I am concerned bout human dignity, people who are persecuted, threatened with destruction, the aborigines of Australia. Each minority has a unique life experience that must be taught to the large entities by which the world today tends to define itself.” • -Francois Cheng

  34. For further information: • http://www.rohan.sdsu.edu/~deafed/ • kchriste@mail.sdsu.edu

More Related