english-only or bilingual instruction?. they’re young! they will learn quickly and easily
TRANSCRIPT
English-Only or Bilingual Instruction?
They’re Young!
• They will learn quickly and easily.
The Language Learning Myth
• Younger learners are better than adult learners.
• Not true - young learners usually have better learning environments.
• Adults are better at grammar.
• Young learners are better at pronunciation.
Early Bilingual Programs
• The US – 1700 to 19602
• Miami Florida - 1960s
• “Mother tongue” – initial reading instruction
• 1974 – Lau vs Nichols (US Supreme Court)
• English Only – Arizona & California
Bilingual Programs
• T.B.E.
• Bilingual immersion
• Dual Language Instruction
National Literacy Panel (2003)
• August & Shanahan (2006) conclude ".... by and large, for language-minority children, word-level components of literacy (e.g., decoding, spelling) either are or can be (with appropriate instruction) at levels equal to those of their monolingual peers" (p. 13)
National Literacy Panel
• ".... this is not the case for test-level skills, like reading comprehension, which rarely approach the levels achieved by their monolingual peers" (p. 13).
• second language oral proficiency is significant in second language literacy development.
National Literacy Panel
• "Language-minority students who are literate in their first languages are likely to be advantaged in the acquisition of English literacy" (p. 17).
• ".... language-minority students instructed in their native language (primarily Spanish in this report) as well as English, perform on average, better on English reading measures than language-minority students instructed only in their second language (English in this case)" (p. 17).
Which Approach is Superior?
• Unfortunately, it seems clear that the claims that one instructional approach is superior to any other appear to be founded on limited or questionable evidence.
What is Your View?