Language Acquisition Beliefs
Language Acquisition Beliefs
ELD/506
September 23, 2013
Wendy Sottile
Primary and Secondary Language Acquisition Although much lip service is paid to honoring and validating the mother-tongue of English language leaners, the fact remains that if the children of immigrants fail to learn to read and write fluent English quickly (usually within four or five short years), they are destined to populate lower-level classes. In addition, should they be lucky enough to graduate from high school, their language skills often restrict them to attending community colleges or trade schools. English language ability, or lack thereof, has become the predictor of success in the United States of America. In trying to avoid the appearance …show more content…
of discrimination, requiring schools to teach in the medium of the English language is putting English learners at a distinct disadvantage. I am a strong advocate of bilingual education.
I grew up in South Africa in an English speaking household in an historically English province of the country. I attended English schools with other English-speaking students. However, starting from 1st Grade, all students were required to study Afrikaans (a derivative of Dutch). If students failed either English, Math or Afrikaans they were required to repeat the entire school year. At the same time, in the same city, Afrikaans speaking families were sending their children to Afrikaans schools where they were required to pass English classes. By the time I got to middle school, I was fluent in both languages and elected to attend a predominantly Afrikaans school. Once I got to high school, I switched back to the school of my choice, which just happened to be English. I graduated from college certified to teach Biology in both languages. It just so happened that the area I grew up in had fewer Afrikaans schools than English schools, but they were not in any way inferior. In other parts of the country Afrikaans schools were more numerous, but English was always a required subject and almost every South African can speak and read both languages fluently. (Black students at that time were required to learn in either English or Afrikaans and were denied mother tongue or bilingual education, which was definitely discrmination, similar to that faced by Hispanic immigrants to the United …show more content…
States). I think it is grossly unfair to expect Hispanic students to learn English, when English speakers are not required to speak Spanish.
While completion of a second language class is required to get into most universities, English students are not required to write all their content driven subject examinations in a foreign language. Brown recognizes this discrimination in Principles of Language Learning and Teaching pg. 208 where he describes the English Only movement as “heavily funded by well-heeled right-wing organizations” and a “covert agenda of the ultimate devaluing of minority languages and cultures.” How is it that in a state like California, where Whites are now in the minority and Hispanics the majority, that English is the only acceptable language by which to measure a person’s intelligence? Why are there not schools where students can study Physics and Chemistry and Social Studies in Spanish? Why should such a school be considered inferior to an English school?
Whether children enjoy some cognitive or educational benefit from being bilingual seems to depend in part on extralinguistic factors such as the
social and economic position of the child’s group or community, the educational situation, and the relative “prestige” of the two languages. Studies that show the most positive effects (e.g., better school performance) generally involve children reared in societies where both languages are valued and whose parents were interested and supportive of their bilingual development. As a high school teacher I meet daily with students who have given up. They “don’t get” school and certainly “don’t get” Biology or Chemistry! They see English-speaking students taking AP Biology classes while they are relegated to Life Science. Is this not also just another form of discrimination? As a classroom teacher, I try to connect with my EL students by learning about their language and culture. I also use a Spanish/English dictionary when preparing my lessons so that I can at least attempt to translate key words or phrases into Spanish for them, or to relate simple concepts in Latin to Spanish (such as monosaccharides and disaccharides: mono = uno, dios = dos, etc.). I know they are required to write the examination in English, but if they can at least understand the concept in their mother tongue they may have a better chance of success.
References
Brown, D. H. (2007). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (5th ed.). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.
ELD/506
September 23, 2013
Wendy Sottile
Primary and Secondary Language Acquisition Although much lip service is paid to honoring and validating the mother-tongue of English language leaners, the fact remains that if the children of immigrants fail to learn to read and write fluent English quickly (usually within four or five short years), they are destined to populate lower-level classes. In addition, should they be lucky enough to graduate from high school, their language skills often restrict them to attending community colleges or trade schools. English language ability, or lack thereof, has become the predictor of success in the United States of America. In trying to avoid the appearance …show more content…
of discrimination, requiring schools to teach in the medium of the English language is putting English learners at a distinct disadvantage. I am a strong advocate of bilingual education.
I grew up in South Africa in an English speaking household in an historically English province of the country. I attended English schools with other English-speaking students. However, starting from 1st Grade, all students were required to study Afrikaans (a derivative of Dutch). If students failed either English, Math or Afrikaans they were required to repeat the entire school year. At the same time, in the same city, Afrikaans speaking families were sending their children to Afrikaans schools where they were required to pass English classes. By the time I got to middle school, I was fluent in both languages and elected to attend a predominantly Afrikaans school. Once I got to high school, I switched back to the school of my choice, which just happened to be English. I graduated from college certified to teach Biology in both languages. It just so happened that the area I grew up in had fewer Afrikaans schools than English schools, but they were not in any way inferior. In other parts of the country Afrikaans schools were more numerous, but English was always a required subject and almost every South African can speak and read both languages fluently. (Black students at that time were required to learn in either English or Afrikaans and were denied mother tongue or bilingual education, which was definitely discrmination, similar to that faced by Hispanic immigrants to the United …show more content…
States). I think it is grossly unfair to expect Hispanic students to learn English, when English speakers are not required to speak Spanish.
While completion of a second language class is required to get into most universities, English students are not required to write all their content driven subject examinations in a foreign language. Brown recognizes this discrimination in Principles of Language Learning and Teaching pg. 208 where he describes the English Only movement as “heavily funded by well-heeled right-wing organizations” and a “covert agenda of the ultimate devaluing of minority languages and cultures.” How is it that in a state like California, where Whites are now in the minority and Hispanics the majority, that English is the only acceptable language by which to measure a person’s intelligence? Why are there not schools where students can study Physics and Chemistry and Social Studies in Spanish? Why should such a school be considered inferior to an English school?
Whether children enjoy some cognitive or educational benefit from being bilingual seems to depend in part on extralinguistic factors such as the
social and economic position of the child’s group or community, the educational situation, and the relative “prestige” of the two languages. Studies that show the most positive effects (e.g., better school performance) generally involve children reared in societies where both languages are valued and whose parents were interested and supportive of their bilingual development. As a high school teacher I meet daily with students who have given up. They “don’t get” school and certainly “don’t get” Biology or Chemistry! They see English-speaking students taking AP Biology classes while they are relegated to Life Science. Is this not also just another form of discrimination? As a classroom teacher, I try to connect with my EL students by learning about their language and culture. I also use a Spanish/English dictionary when preparing my lessons so that I can at least attempt to translate key words or phrases into Spanish for them, or to relate simple concepts in Latin to Spanish (such as monosaccharides and disaccharides: mono = uno, dios = dos, etc.). I know they are required to write the examination in English, but if they can at least understand the concept in their mother tongue they may have a better chance of success.
References
Brown, D. H. (2007). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (5th ed.). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.