BILINGUAL EDUCATION An international research perspective

1. BILINGUAL EDUCATIONAn international research perspective Richard JohnstoneEl Escorial: July 2010

2. OVERVIEW • Introduction • Outcomes • Concerns • Processes • Some concluding thoughts

3. PART ONE INTRODUCTION

4. PART ONE: INTRODUCTION • The variable picture of Bilingual Education success across the world • Two frameworks to organise one’s thinking • Factors and outcomes • Models of Languages Education at school

5. PART ONE: INTRODUCTIONVariable success of Bilingual Education across the world • Many successes based on good research evidence, as this presentation will show • But …… • In some parts of the world it has been abandoned, or considerably reduced, or has been hotly contested, for many reasons, e.g. • Rushing ahead too quickly before adequately staffed • Inadequate support for teachers (e.g. in L2 and in L2 teaching methodology) • Inadequate information for parents • Strong political or ideological or media opposition • …………………………….. others

6. PART ONE: INTRODUCTION Factors and Outcomes in Bilingual Education: A few examples only

7. PART ONE: INTRODUCTION Models of languages Education at school

8. PART TWO OUTCOMES

9. PART TWO: OUTCOMES Overview • General outcomes • Model 4 outcomes: • Subject + (More time per day) • Model 5 outcomes • Intensive (Occasional intensive periods) • Model 6 outcomes • Extended (CBLT / CLIL) • Model 7 outcomes • Partial immersion • Model 8 outcomes • Total immersion

10. PART 2 OUTCOMES General outcomes • Carleton Board (Canada, 1994) • All French Immersion models (EFI, MFI and LFI) produce functional proficiency in Immersion French in all four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. • These go well beyond what is achieved in the more limited Core French programme (i.e. in French as a school subject). • Moreover, EFI learners consistently outperform MFI learners who in turn outperform LFI learners.

11. PART 2 OUTCOMES General outcomes • Genesee review of published research (1987) • Early Immersion superior to Middle Immersion superior to Late Immersion but all forms of Immersion superior to conventional model of ML as school subject • EFI children lagged behind mainstream counterparts in L2 reading, spelling and written vocabulary in Grades 1-3, but they caught up thereafter. • Standardised tests of mathematics, science and English Language Arts showed that elementary schooling EFI had no negative effects in these areas

12. PART 2 OUTCOMES General outcomes • Lapkin, Hart & Swain (1991) • Compared Early with Middle Immersion in metropolitan Toronto across 4 boards and 26 classes • Early Immersion outperformed Middle Immersion in L, S, R , W French • EI were nearer to Native Speakers on all four measures • By Grade 8 the differences between the two groups were so significant that it would not be appropriate for the two groups to be merged.

13. PART 2 OUTCOMES Outcomes of Model 4: Subject + (Some additional time) CROATIA: Inputs to Model 4 • An agreed official project. Well supported by research group at Zagreb University (Djigunovich and Vilke, 2000) • Time • 45 minutes per day • Teacher education • Teachers trained to teach at PS and also trained in the ML (French or German or Italian or English) • Class-size • 15-20 per class • Early Reading & Writing • Introduced almost from the start in Year 1 (aged 6) • Conscious link made between first language and additional language • Key grammatical concepts learned in L1 in year 1 and then systematically transferred to learning Al in Year 3

14. PART 2 OUTCOMES Outcomes of Model 4: Subject + (Some additional time) CROATIA continued • Fluent, confident, accurate & creative in their use of the AL • English / German / Italian /French • Able to perform well in all four skills • L / S / R / W • High motivation for learning and using their AL • Clear development in the nature of this motivation from Year 1 to Year 3 • Teachers also highly motivated and gaining clear job-satisfaction

15. PART 2 OUTCOMES Outcomes of Model 5: Extended (CBLT/CLIL ……) FINLAND • Grades 1-3 at school in Finland • CLIL students (25% in EFL) compared with mainstream non-CLIL students • CLIL students language development was quicker • It was also different: After 1-word phase in Grades 1&2, suddenly full-blown sentences in Grade 3 • Mainstream pupils progressed through multi-word fragments but failed to produce full-blown sentences by end of Grade 5 • Three years of CLIL needed (Grades 1-3) for completion of implicit L2 development, leading to fine-tuning activities from Grade 4 onwards. (Järvinen, H-J., 2008)

16. PART 2 OUTCOMES Outcomes of Model 5: Extended (CBLT/CLIL ……) FINLAND • CLIL & non-CLIL pupils compared in Grades 5&6 • Mathematics and L1-Finnish • Results did not support the conclusion that the development of one’s mother tongue could be negatively affected through the use of foreign languages • But learning in CLIL can be so challenging that the maximal outcome of content learning is not always reached. • Affective factors influence learning situations differently in CLIL than in non-CLIL classes. Pupils in CLIL had relatively low self concept in foreign languages. • CLIL teachers should be aware of the possibility of a weak self-concept in foreign languages among CLIL pupils and pay attention to giving some positive feedback about the pupils’ knowledge of a foreign language (Seikkula-Leino , 2007)

17. PART 2 OUTCOMES Outcomes of Model 5: Extended (CBLT/CLIL ……) FINLAND continued • Implications for Teaching: • The CLIL classroom environment CAN trigger natural L2 acquisition • CLIL teachers need high level of L2 proficiency • Importance of: • Focusing on language as well as on content • Supporting accuracy as well as fluency, and of exploring deep meaning (e.g. content-specific concepts; higher-order thinking skills). • Challenging pupils’ comprehension • Creating opportunities for pupils to produce fairly elaborate stretches of expression, not simply 1or2-word responses.

18. PART 2 OUTCOMES Outcomes of Model 6: Intensive SCOTLAND • Background context for ML in upper secondary school • Low motivation for ML learning among students of age (15-18) • Worrying level of ‘drop-out’ as soon as ML study became optional • Even the highest level of attainments in national examinations did not satisfy the students • New Project: Virtual and Real Communities • 29 Secondary Schools across three adjoining local authorities • Special governmental funding • Aim to establish a ‘Virtual Languages Community’ + Real Communities of learners, teachers, users, parents, local communities • French / German /Spanish / Italian / Norwegian / Scottish Gaelic

19. PART 2 OUTCOMES Outcomes of Model 6 (Intensive) SCOTLAND continued • Residential film-making weekends • Students made up their own dramas • Learnt how to make digitised films of the dramas which they had written and acted out • Students acquired ‘cool’ skills • Eventual trickle-down to younger classes • Immersion visits abroad • Annual gala dinner • Students, parents, staff and local and other guests • Film-presentations and awards • Summer schools • e.g. for Animation • Language Zone website • Resources for Teaching and Learning • Information for students and also for parents and the public • Blogs • Language Surgery (evenings) • Social networking • Podcasting, e.g. Special listening texts; 25 difficult verbs

20. PART 2 OUTCOMES Outcomes of Model 6 (Intensive) • SCOTLAND continued • Higher levels of: • performance in national examinations • uptake of foreign language learning in final years of secondary education • motivation for maintaining study and use of their foreign language • Students’ new sense of identity as members of three interlocking communities: Students in 29 Project schools The students’ school Partner schools abroad

21. PART 2 OUTCOMES Outcomes of Model 7: Partial Immersion USA • Thomas, Abbott & Collier (1994) • Fairfax County • Early Partial Immersion in Japanese / Spanish /French • Grades 1-3 • Compared with non-EPI pupils (carefully matched) • Mathematics and English Language Arts

22. PART 2 OUTCOMES Outcomes of Model 7: Partial Immersion USA continued • Mathematics Grades 1-3 • EPI children did as well as non-EPI in same schools • Better than County average (which was higher than national mean attainment) • English Language Arts • EPIs significantly outperformed the non-EPIs by end of Grade 2

23. PART 2 OUTCOMES Outcomes of Model 7: Partial Immersion CHINA • State primary school • Teacher-pupil ratio: 1-50 • Teachers: NNS • Grades 1-3 • 96 boys, 87 girls • Experimental Group • Early partial immersion 50/50 English/Mandarin • English: Moral education, art, music, PE, science 14 hours • Mandarin: Chinese R & calligraphy 10 hours + 6 hours math • Comparison Group • Conventional Mandarin-language education

24. PART 2 OUTCOMES Outcomes of Model 7: Partial Immersion CHINA continued • RQ1: • Are there significant differences between the scores of the immersion and non-immersion students on various measures of English literacy, vocabulary, and oral proficiency? • RQ2: • Are there significant differences between the immersion and non-immersion groups in Chinese character recognition?

25. PART 2 OUTCOMES Outcomes of Model 7: Partial Immersion CHINA continued • Research Question 1 • The immersion students scored significantly higher than the non-immersion students on the English word recognition, vocabulary, and oral language measures. • Research Question 2 • No significant differences between the two groups of children in their ability to recognize Chinese characters. • Although the English immersion children studied Chinese characters for the same amount of time as the non-immersion students, they were not exposed to the same amount of Mandarin as their non-immersion peers. (Knell et al: 2007)

26. PART 2 OUTCOMES Outcomes of Model 8: Total Immersion SCOTLAND Typical model of Early Total Immersion in Scottish Gaelic Almost all children from English-speaking homes P7GG G E E EMFL P6GG G E E EMFL P5GG G G GE E P4GG G G GE E P3GG G G GGE P2GG G G G G G P1GG G G G G G

27. PART 2 OUTCOMES Outcomes of Model 8: Total Immersion Scottish Gaelic continued • National research commissioned by Scottish Government • Compare attainments at the end of primary school of pupils receiving Gaelic Medium Education with those receiving English Medium Education • That is: GME pupils compared with EME pupils in same schools and nationally • Science; Mathematics; English • GME pupils’ attainments: • Slightly behind in Science • Ahead in Mathematics • Well ahead in English

28. PART THREE SOME CONCERNS ABOUT BILINGUAL EDUCATION

29. PART THREE: CONCERNS • Concerns about early introduction of BE: • Will it undermine a child’s sense of national identity? • Will it interfere with their learning to read & write in their first/national language? • Concerns about key subject attainments in secondary school • In some contexts, lower than for examination performance in L1 • Concerns about command of L2 grammar • Fluent & confident, but lots of grammatical mistakes

30. PART THREE: CONCERNSInitial weaknesses in form-meaning connections • Harley (1991) • ‘It is clear that although immersion students demonstrate excellent understanding of language in context, this cannot be taken as firm evidence that they have correctly identified all the form-meaning connections involved. • They become adept at inferring global meaning, using clues in the surrounding discourse or in the external situation. • One example of the discrepancy between global comprehension and oral production is in their use of conditional forms. Grade 1 early immersion student are readily able to comprehend conditional sentences and can translate them into English, but years later in Grade 10, we find some students still have trouble with conditionals in their oral production.’ • Dicks (1994) found major errors in immersion learners’ command of the perfect and imperfect tenses in oral communication • Since then, much development and research has been focused on finding ways of helping immersion pupils to refine and gain greater control over their internalised language systems.

31. PART THREE: CONCERNSBrief responses • Concerns about early introduction of BE: • Will it undermine a child’s sense of national identity? • It will change it from what it would have been in a monolingual education, but the world is changing and our conceptions of what a child’s education is for ought to change also • Example from 14-year-old Spanish boy on the BEP: Feels more Spanish, not less Spanish • Will it interfere with their learning to read & write in their first/national language? • On the contrary, if R&W in both languages are properly introduced, it will enhance their bi-multi-literacy: e.g. BEP research in Spain, Gaelic research in Scotland ……. • Concerns about key subject attainments in secondary school • In some contexts, lower than for examination performance in L1 • This depends on having a teaching force that is confident and competent in the L2 and knowledgeable about how to teach intellectually challenging subject-matter in the L2. • Also depends on the national examinations being properly aligned with the curriculum • Concerns about command of L2 grammar • Fluent & confident, but lots of grammatical mistakes • Recent research shows that this is a problem which can be overcome. See next slides.

32. PART FOUR PROCESSES

33. PART FOUR: ProcessesThe nature of progression in language development • Mitchell (2003) claims that second language learning is • not like climbing a ladder; but is • a complex and recursive process with multiple interconnections and backslidings, and • complex trade-offs between advances in fluency, accuracy and complexity. • Pelzer-Karpf & Zangl (1997) found that children’s utterances seemed impressive in Years 1&2 • but then in Year 3 went through a phase of ‘Systemturbulenz’ in which their grammar control seemed to fall apart • when the cognitive demands of their tasks were raised to the point that temporarily their grammar-systems could not fully cope • But by Year 4 it sorted itself out.

34. PART FOUR: Processes Creativity and Accuracy • How to help learners become both creative and accurate in their spontaneous spoken output? • Lyster (2004) studied ‘form-focused instruction’ (FFI) and ‘corrective feedback’ (CF) with Grade 5 children. • FFI and CF were found to be more successful than an approach based on no-FFI and no-CF but tending to use recasts as implicit correction e.g. • T: What did you do yesterday • P: I go to the swimming pool • T: Oh, you went to the swimming pool ….. • He also found it useful to encourage pupils in ‘noticing’ particular formal features of the target language • This helped them develop an awareness of language and to refine their internalised language systems as they progressed

35. PART FOUR: Processes Recent developments in language-teaching pedagogy THEN…. NOW …. Varied Input (including ICT) + interaction Processing input Monitoring one’s own spontaneous output Transferring explicit knowledge of language concepts from first language Early introduction reading & writing, to complement listening & speaking Development of learner strategies, e.g. diaries, portfolios Praise plus corrective feedback, importance of ‘noticing’ forms • Dependence on limited range of input in the classroom, e.g. teacher, audio • Assuming children will develop implicit, intuitive knowledge of the additional language system • Initially Listening & Speaking before Reading & Writing • Lots of learning by heart, fun, songs, drama, games • Praise plus limited correction • Progressing through successive stages of a course

36. PART FOUR: PROCESSESL1/L2 alternation SWITZERLAND • Longitudinal study of CLIL in three Swiss primary schools in which German-speaking pupils received some 50% of their curriculum, especially mathematics, through the medium of Italian or Romansh. (Serra, 2007) • Of particular interest is the use of L1/L2 alternation as a metalinguistic device which also facilitates the processing of content. • Re-phrasings did not seem to interfere with learning • Children’s development of mathematics proceeded at the same pace and produced results which did not suffer in comparison with those in monolingual classes.

37. PART FIVE CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

38. PART FIVE: Concluding thoughtsBEP (Spain) Evaluation: Examples of Good Practice strategies Examples of Good Classroom Practice from the BEP (Spain) evaluation • These were not conceived in the abstract but were derived from the prior observation of successful classroom performance by students and their teachers. GOOD GENERAL TEACHING STRATEGIES • Creates relaxed, focused and respectful atmosphere • Adapts material to suit different student need • Requires class to ask probing questions about peers’ presentations • Monitors progress sensitively • Steers students away from the anecdotal and guides towards underlying principles • Provides clear explanations • Asks questions which guide thinking but still pose a challenge • Prompts students to draw on their own latent knowledge • Encourages peer assessment & evaluation • Encourages students to work things out for themselves • Helps students clarify the consequences of particular processes • Constantly checks for understanding • Requires regular presentations by students to whole class • WITH INTEGRATED LANGUAGE FOCUS • Helps develop initial drafting skills, e.g. What do you need to take into account ……? • Expects high standards of pronunciation & spelling • Elicits precise use of language • Focuses on spelling distinctions, e.g. flour / flower • Helps students express particular relationships, e.g. The more …… the more ……; the less …… the less …… Dr Dobson will go into the relationship between successful outcomes and good classroom practice in detail tomorrow (Tuesday), with reference to the BEP (Spain) evaluation findings

39. PART FIVE: Concluding ThoughtsBEP (Spain) Key positive factors

40. PART FIVE: Concluding thoughtsProfile of a successful learner • Plans, practices, revises • Reviews, Self-assesses • Processes input, e.g. notices, guesses, infers, predicts • Seeks opportunities to use the additional language ‘for real’ • Seeks feedback: negative as well as positive • Relates learning & use of the additional language to the learning of other things • Uses reference material appropriately • Interacts and negotiates meaning, e.g. probes, seeks clarification • Offers help, seeks help • Takes personal responsibility • Is aware of and manages different types of discourse • Produces spontaneous as well as non-spontaneous output • Focuses on form as well as on meaning, at different times • Controls anxiety and uses this productively • Feels confident, self-efficacious • Seeks underlying pattern • Pays attention, focuses attention, sustains attention • Develops strategies, uses these and reflects on / revises them • Self-motivates, self-rewards, is curious and seeks challenges • …… Other?

41. References • Carleton Board of Education. (1994). French immersion update. Carleton Occasional papers, Series ii, Number 2. Ottowa: Carleton Board of Education. • Genesee, F. (1987). Learning through two languages: studies of immersion and bilingual education. Cambridge MA: Newbury House. • Järvinen, H-J. (2008). Research in CLIL. European Commission. Euro-clic: Bulletin 8 • Johnstone, R. M. , W. Harlen, M. MacNeil, R. Stradling & G. Thorpe (2000) The attainments of pupils receiving Gaelic-medium primary education in Scotland. Scottish CILT for Scottish Executive Education Department. • Johnstone, R. M. (2001). Immersion in a Second or Additional Language at School: evidence from international research. Report for the Scottish Executive Education Department. University of Stirling: Scottish CILT. • Johnstone, R. M. & R. McKinstry (2008) Evaluation of Early partial Immersion in French at Walker Road Primary School, Aberdeen. University of Stirling: Scottish CILT. • Lyster, R. (2004a). Differential effects of prompts and recasts in form-focused instruction. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 26, 399-432. • Knell, E., L. S.Siegel., Q. Haiyan., Z. Lun., P. Miao., Z. Wei & C. Yanping (2007). Early English literacy in Xi’an, China. The Modern Language Journal 91.iii, 395–417. • Mitchell, R. (2003). Rethinking the concept of progression in the national curriculum for modern foreign languages: a research perspective. Language Learning Journal, Winter 2003. • Peltzer-Karpf, A. & R. Zangl (1997). VierJahre Vienna Bilingual Schooling: EineLangzeitstudie. Vienna; BundesministeriumfürUnterricht und kulturelleAngelegenheiten., Abteilung 1/1. • Seikkula-Leino, J. (2007). CLIL learning: Achievement levels and affective factors. Language & Education 21.4, 328–341. • Serra, C. (2007). Assessing CLIL at primary school: a longitudinal study. International Journal of Bilingual Education & Bilingualism 10.5, 582–602. •  Thomas, W. P., V. Collier & M. Abbott (1993). Academic achievement through Japanese, Spanish or French. The first two years of partial immersion. The Modern Language Journal, 77, 2, 170-79