How to Develop Balanced Biliteracy in Language Minority Children

1. Education 702.22 Fall 2010 Romina G. Ladner How to Develop Balanced Biliteracy in Language Minority Children

2. Table of Contents Introduction • Statement of the Problem Slide 3 • Review of Related Literature Slides 4- 6 • Method Slide 7- 8 • Statement of Hypothesis Slide9 • Bibliography Slide 10- 11

3. Statement of the Problem The coexistence of different cultures has formed what we call today a multicultural society. In this society, bilingualism is a rule and not an exception. Our schools and classrooms reflect this multicultural society where most language minority students face the problem of losing their linguistic and cultural identity in the process of acquiring a second language. By the end of elementary school, most language minority students do not posses balanced biliteracy.

4. Review of Related Literature Articles on Bilingual Program Effectiveness: • “Strong forms of bilingual education frequently lead to biliteracy.” (Baker, 2006, p. 255) • “The greater the amount of L1 instructional support for language minority students, combined with balanced L2 support, the higher they are able to achieve academically in L2.” (Collier, 1989, p. 205) • “When the focus of the program is on academic enrichment for all students, with intellectually challenging, interdisciplinary, discovery learning that respects the values students’ linguistic and cultural life experiences as an important resource for the classroom, the program becomes one that is perceived positively by the community, and students are academically successful and deeply engaged in the learning process.” (Thomas; Collier, 1997, p. 59)

5. Review of Related Literature Articles on Different Instructional Approaches: • “Thehispanic in theUnitedStatesisunder a constantlinguistic and cultural agression and therefore in danger of losingnotonlyhislanguagebuthis cultural identity.” (Ada, 1976, p.65) • “What is needed is to find as many ways as possible to open up implementational spaces for multiple languages, literacies, and identities in classroom, community, and society.” (Hornbergen, 2002, p. 188) • “ By exposing students to the varied works of writes from all over the world, you’ll help them develop a lifelong respect for contributions that people from different cultures have made to America.” (Morales-Nadal, 1988-1990, p. 202)

6. Review of Related Literature Articles on Biliteracy and Empowerment: • Ada, A. F. (1992). Biliteracy for personal growth and social participation. The article refers to the oppression of the native language and culture in many different schools and the importance of maintaining cultural identification in order to gain social representation and power. She also mentions how to organize the curriculum and the learning environment in order to facilitate growth in literacy in both Spanish and English. • Cummins, J. (2003) Biliteracy, Empowerment, and Transformative Pedagogy. The author argues that biliteracy should be part of the educational reform in order to promote critical literacy and teach students to read not only the word but to “read the world.” • Cummins, J. (1986) Empowering minority students: A framework for intervention. The author presents a framework for empowering minority students through cultural/linguistic incorporation, community participation, pedagogy and assessment.

7. Method • Participants: This study reports on data gathered at a Public School in 2009. The class observed was a second grade dual language class composed by 21 students. • Observations, test reports, reading levels, and informal assessments will be compare during this year.

8. English and Spanish Reading Levels Spring 2009

9. Statement of the Hypothesis There is a need to implement a strong bilingual program that supports minority language student to develop both languages equally. There is a need to find new strategies for instruction that are interactive, meaningful, and raise the cognitive level in all classrooms.

10. Bibliography • Ada, A. F. (1992). Biliteracy for personal growth and social participation. In Pérez,B., & Torres-Guzmán, M. (Ed.), Learning in two worlds: An integrated Spanish/English biliteracy approach. New York: Longman, xi-xiii. • Ada, A. F. (1976). Desarrollo lingüístico y vivencia cultural a través de la literatura infantil. [Language development and cultural awareness through children's literature] Journal of the National Association for Bilingual Education, 1, 1, 65-71, May 76. ERIC # EJ136628, from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ136628&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ136628 • Baker, C. (2006). Education for bilingualism and biliteracy. In Foundations of bilingual education and Bilingualism (11, pp 228-258). • Collier, V. (1989). A Synthesis of studies examining long-term language minority student data on academic achievement. From http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=20000000000&q=academic+achievement+bilingual+classes+collier+v+1989 • Cummins, J. (1986) Empowering minority students: A framework for intervention. Harvard EducationReview (56, pp 18-36)

11. Bibliography Continued • Cummins, J. (1999-2003) Biliteracy, empowerment, and transformative pedagogy. From: I Teach I Learn http://www.iteachilearn.com/cummins/biliteratempowerment.html • Ernst-Slavit, G.; Mulhern, M. (2003) Bilingual books: Promoting literacy and biliteracy in the second-language and mainstream classroom. From Reading Online http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=ernst-slavit/index.html • Hornbergen, N.H. (2002). Multilingual language policies and the continua of biliteracy: An ecological approach. Language Policy, v1 n1. March, 2002. • Morales-Nadal, M. (1988-1990) “Literature and the language minority child: A multicultural perspective.” In Ambert, A. (Ed.), Bilingual Education and English as a Second Language: A Research Handbook. Publisher: Garland Pub., 1991. • Thomas, W. P.; Collier, V. P. (1997). School effectiveness for language minority students. NCBE Resource Collection Series, No. 9. December, 1997. ERIC # ED436087, from http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED436087&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED436087