Human Resource Management

4

Learning a Second Language

Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to accomplish the following objectives:

• Define simultaneous bilingualism and explain how it resembles first language acquisition.

• Describe how children learn a new language in the preschool or kindergarten setting, and describe the different programs available to foster bilingualism.

• Identify the cognitive benefits of bilingualism.

• Articulate principles for creating a language-rich classroom environment that will benefit all children.

• Discuss the similarities between first and second language learning in young children, and describe the major theoretical issues in second language learning.

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CHAPTER 4Introduction

Introduction

A typical day for Roberto begins when he tumbles out of bed and pads barefoot to his grandmother’s room. He climbs into her bed and begins to chatter about what he wants for breakfast—in her native language, Portuguese. She tells him to go get dressed, and he carries his jeans, a tee shirt, and mismatched sneakers in search of his father, whom he finds already in the kitchen. He tells his father that his grandmother is going to make breakfast after he’s dressed, and this he communicates in his father’s language, Spanish. Roberto’s mother comes into the kitchen and asks him, in Portuguese, which of the two colors of sneakers he wants to wear because he is going to school today, and he shouldn’t go with one black and one green shoe. When he gets to school, he will speak the language of the school, English. Roberto lives in Phoenix, and at age 4, he is fully trilingual. He is not alone among the children of Arizona, or of the United States, for that matter. But relative to the entire population of 4 year olds, he is rare—even though a significant proportion of the U.S. population speaks a language other than English, mono- lingualism is still the norm. That, however, is changing.

According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 20% of U.S. residents over the age of 5 speak a lan- guage other than English in the home. Current projections are that the number will grow to 40% during the next two decades; in some states, it already has. Most teachers will encounter children who speak a language other than English and who arrive in school with little or no English language ability. These children may require special attention since they have to accomplish two things at once: acquire all the skills and concepts appropriate to their age and grade level while simultaneously acquiring the English lan- guage. The good news for teachers is that second language learning in children bears a strong resemblance to first language learning. In other words, much of what we dis- cussed in Chapter 3 will be applicable here as we learn more about young children who are learning more than one language.

Globally, bilingualism is the rule rather than the exception. Most European and Asian children learn two or more languages and do so at a young age. It is thus somewhat sur- prising that, in the early years of the 21st century and given the Census data mentioned earlier, bilingual schooling is still relatively rare in the United States. But since bilingual- ism is the global norm, the wealth of research available on second language learning, both at home and at school helps us to understand the similarities and the differences between first and subsequent language acquisition

In Chapter 3, we looked at the influence of environment on first language acquisition and discovered that while environment is important, children overcome major obstacles to acquire language. We also learned that there appears to be a biologically based critical period during which language learning is optimized. These are themes to which we will return in this chapter, focusing on the broadest of environmental differences in second lan- guage learning, the home and the school. We begin by attempting to define bilingualism.

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CHAPTER 4Pre-Test

Pre-Test

1. Bilingualism

a. has a common definition. b. involves functionality in at least two languages. c. can be easy to clearly identify. d. applies to speaking at least two dialects.

2. Which of the following is not characteristic of two-way immersion programs?

a. They promote a positive view of the minority language by the English speaker.

b. They began in the 1990s. c. They enable children to learn from one another. d. The majority are Spanish-English programs.

3. Gray matter is NOT

a. responsible for intellectual activity. b. most apparent on the right side of the brain. c. denser in bilingual children younger than age 5. d. made up of brain cells.

4. Teachers should

a. focus on abstract and future situations. b. model and expand on correct language. c. correct language forms. d. explicitly teach language.

5. For most people, the easiest time to learn a second language tends to be

a. before age 5. b. during middle and late childhood. c. during adolescence. d. after puberty.

Answers 1. b. Involves functionality in at least two languages. The answer can be found in Section 4.1. 2. b. They began in the 1990s. The answer can be found in Section 4.2. 3. b. Most apparent on the right side of the brain. The answer can be found in Section 4.3. 4. b. Model and expand on correct language. The answer can be found in Section 4.4. 5. a. Before age 5. The answer can be found in Section 4.5.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.1 What Is a Bilingual?

4.1 What Is a Bilingual?

First, let’s look at definitions of some important terms. What is bilingualism? Bilin-gualism refers to the ability to speak two languages, and bilinguals are those who do so. This definition raises important questions. How much language ability is enough? If you know how to speak in French, but cannot read French, are you bilingual? In other words, would we consider any of the following to be bilingual?

a. someone who is able to read French but speaks only English; b. a person who can read Italian and translate Italian text to English but cannot un-

derstand or produce oral Italian; c. the child who comes to English-language preschool not speaking any English but

is obviously able to understand most of what is spoken to him. d. the child who grows up in a home where more than one language is spoken and

who learns to communicate in both languages from birth. e. the child born to a Mandarin-speaking mother and a Portuguese-speaking father,

who also has an English-speaking caregiver from birth, and who is able to com- municate with each of these people.

Except for the child in (d), who would be considered a bilingual under any definition, there are no clear answers in these hypothetical cases, given the definition provided. So let us consider a more useful definition. For our purposes, a good working definition of bilin-

gualism is the ability to function in an age-appropriate manner in more than one language. Those people described in (a) and (b) are not, therefore, bilinguals, while the child in (c) is. Even though that child may not have yet demonstrated speaking abil- ity, he is functioning in an Eng- lish language environment in a manner appropriate to his age. The child in (e) is also a bilingual by virtue of being a trilingual— in other words, we use the term bilingual to refer to anyone able to function in more than one language.

Throughout the chapter, the terms second language learning and second language acquisition are used interchangeably. Some

theorists make a distinction, labeling as acquisition the learning that happens in very young children who acquire a second language in the same way they acquire the first. These same theorists argue that language learning requires a conscious attempt to learn

These parents speak two languages with their baby. By the time he gets to preschool, he will be able to function in both English and Spanish.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.1 What Is a Bilingual?

patterns or rules and is more typical of what older children and adults do in a formal set- ting (Krashen, 1981; Lightbown & Spada, 2006). For our purposes, it is more useful to talk about the environments in which children become bilingual. We will begin with children who acquire two languages at home.

Many children learn two or more languages at home. Consider Min, the child of a bilingual mother and a monolingual father. Min was exposed to both Mandarin and English from birth. Her first 20 words or so were pretty much evenly divided between Mandarin and English. A truly simultaneous bilingual, Min is essentially acquiring two first languages. If Min were growing up in China or Europe, her accomplishment would not be unusual or remarkable. In North America, although she is not unique, she is exceptional. Children such as Carlo present the more typical kind of simultaneous bilingualism. Carlo’s parents both speak English, but his mother is the daughter of Italian immigrants and his father’s family came from Argentina. For the first three years of his life, his Italian-speaking mater- nal grandmother cared for him three days a week while his mother worked. She spoke Italian to him almost exclusively since she was uncomfortable with her ability to speak English. His paternal grandmother, who spoke Italian and occasionally Spanish with him, cared for him two days a week. When he began preschool at age 4, Carlo’s English was judged to be native-like in fluency, and his vocabulary appeared to be typical of any child his age. He was also comfortable in Italian, although after a few weeks in an English- language preschool, he started to favor English.

For more than a century, researchers have been interested in how children like Min and Carlo become bilingual. A very early study by French linguist Jules Ronjat detailed the language learning of his son, Louis. From birth, Louis was exposed to his father’s native French and his mother’s German. Although both parents were bilingual (i.e., each spoke the other’s language), they each addressed Louis in their native tongue only. They were careful to keep the languages separated, so that the child would associate one language with one parent. According to Ronjat (1913), by the time Louis was 3 years and 5 months old, he was able to produce the phonemes of both languages correctly. He also learned the vocabulary and syntax of both languages without confusing the two languages. Other researchers in the century since Louis was a child have made similar observations: When the languages are kept separate, the child associates one language with one person and learns both equally well. The occasional mixing of vocabulary (e.g., using a French word in an English sentence) likely occurs because the child had no opportunity to learn it in the other language; it is not evidence of language confusion.

Children such as Min and Carlo require no special assistance in preschool. Because they have essentially acquired two first languages, they are not generally distinguishable from monolinguals. Some simultaneous bilinguals may not know some common vocab- ulary in English, having learned the equivalent words in their other language. But it is also true that some monolingual children will be unfamiliar with certain words used by teachers. Both groups will pick up the terminology quickly and without interven- tion, but teachers still need to know about simultaneous and successive bilingualism, because as we will see in Chapter 5, some researchers believe that bilingualism imparts certain cognitive advantages.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.2 Learning a New Language at School

4.2 Learning a New Language at School

Not all bilinguals have had the same experience as Min or Carlo. Many early child-hood educators encounter children whose language background is a mirror image to Carlo’s (i.e., their parents speak a language other than English, and they encounter English in daycare or playing with neighborhood children). If they are very young and if they are functioning comfortably in English by the time they begin prekindergarten at age 4, these children may also be considered simultaneous bilinguals. Prekindergarten teach- ers do not need to do anything other than provide a language-rich environment in order for these children to continue to acquire English.

Because there are many paths that lead to bilin- gualism, children will arrive at school with differ- ent levels of competence in each language (Bialy- stok, 2001). The children who are of most concern to teachers of young children are those at one end of this spectrum: those who will be successively (or consecutively) bilingual (i.e., who have a firmly established first language when they come to school but little or no communicative ability in English). Although they may still be very young, these children face the task of adding a language outside the environment of the home.

The Learners

For our purposes, school refers to preschool as well as kindergarten and later years—any orga- nized setting, including government-sanctioned home schooling. Children who learn a language before the onset of puberty are generally referred to in terms of early second language acquisition as opposed to the more general second language acquisition (SLA).

Early SLA is similar to simultaneous language acquisition, but there are differences. Hav- ing only one language to rely on, when children are thrust into an unfamiliar language environment, they quickly figure out that the first language won’t serve their needs. Typically, this stage lasts for a very short time and is followed in many children by a silent period, when they say little but are actively processing the language around them. Although they will have little to say, they will be learning the new names for objects and activities and how to talk about them.

Simultaneous bilinguals do not normally have the same experience. Having no other lan- guage to rely on, they jump right in and start talking. But early second language learners often need time to absorb the language around them before starting to vocalize. Following

Many parents see the benefits of bilingualism and enroll their children in dual-language education programs.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.2 Learning a New Language at School

the silent period, most of these children will acquire a few formulaic or “ready-made” phrases to use whenever they can. They may learn to say, “Yes, please,” or “No, thank you,” when asked if they want a snack or help with tying their shoes. They will sometimes use them incorrectly. For example, the child who answers the teacher’s polite request, “Will you please sit down?” with “No, thank you,” hasn’t quite mastered the pragmatics of the utterance.

Finally, children will begin productive use of the language, and at this stage the develop- mental errors may start to appear. The child who says shut the lights analogous with “shut the door” is demonstrating a rather common developmental error. The new language won’t be fully acquired at this point, but as time goes on and young learners gain more exposure to and experience in the new language, the developmental errors either disap- pear or change to resemble those made by native speakers of the same age. A 5-year-old second language learner who says, “I bringed it from home,” is making the same assump- tion about how past tense is formed as a native English speaker of the same age.

An important distinction between simultaneous and early bilinguals is the role of envi- ronment. The language of the home, where the child has already acquired one language, is largely rooted in the here and now. There are plenty of contextual clues to meaning. Children learn to talk as a way to participate in the family, and they typically want to talk about what is important to them—they learn the words for food, the names of their parents and their favorite toys, or to signal hunger or discomfort. They learn these very early because those are the meanings they need to make. For preschool children, language functions to get things done, to satisfy needs, to talk about themselves, to discover and to learn, to engage in make-believe, and, to some degree, to communicate information to others.

As they learn to function with language at home, children usually have a resident tutor; there is someone, an adult and sometimes an older sibling, to provide feedback. Even when an adult cannot understand a child, the feedback, “I don’t understand” or “Do you want this?” assists them to clarify meaning. A sibling, being closer in age and stage of development, provides a good model for talking about the things that children want to talk about. So what happens when they get to school? That depends largely on the kind of program the school offers.

School-Based Programs for Bilingual Learners

In general, the options available to assist children in becoming bilingual, some more suc- cessful than others, include immersion, two-way immersion, bilingual programs, shel- tered English, submersion, and pull-out programs.

Many factors lead school districts to experiment with and change the types of bilingual programs they offer—the shifting demography of the country; the reduction in school budgets; the availability of bilingual teachers. Also, even though there are broad catego- ries of programs described in the following sections, variations exist across the country in how these are actually implemented and for how long.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.2 Learning a New Language at School

Immersion For the past several decades, the Canadian government has sponsored a national program to educate children to speak both English and French. Immersion programs are those in which children are taught school subjects in an unfamiliar language for half the school day or more. What set immersion apart from other kinds of second language instruction was the exclusive use of French as the medium of instruction even though the children typically knew no French when they began. Teachers had to be bilingual because at first the children spoke only English. The teachers, however, always responded in French—unless there was a concern for safety—and had been specially trained to make their meaning clear using ges- tures, physical objects, and any environmental context available to them. Their French was

greatly simplified and appropri- ate to the age of the children in their classes. For children who began immersion in kindergar- ten, English was usually intro- duced in third, or fourth grade in some programs, and the amount of English was gradu- ally increased until English was used for approximately 60% of instruction in high school.

As might be expected, Canadian researchers have studied immer- sion students extensively. The students who began in the first five years of the program have now completed University, and they have been found to acquire a higher level of competence in French than those who stud- ied French in any other type of

program. Student attitudes toward French-Canadians are generally more favorable than their nonimmersion peers. Despite these generally positive outcomes, the program has not been an unqualified success, because their French language proficiency has not been “native-like.” That may be because their exposure to French has been almost entirely in a school setting.

Immersion programs in the United States are almost all intended for teaching a foreign language. According to the Center for Applied Linguistics, there are 239 such programs in the United States, more than 45% of which are offered in Spanish. Twenty-one other lan- guages are also offered, with French, Mandarin, Hawaiian, and Japanese being the next four most popular (Center for Applied Linguistics [CAL], 2011).

Immersion is not a practical choice for ESL (English as a Second Language) settings because there are too many differences in the conditions. The main difference is that the dominant community in immersion is not the language of instruction, whereas in pro- grams designed for ESL learners in the United States, the language of the school and the language of the community are the same. The following are other differences in the condi- tions of ESL teaching:

The Canadian government sponsored a national program to encourage all Canadians to be bilingual. All signage in Canada must be provided in both English and French.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.2 Learning a New Language at School

• Immersion is both elective and selective. Parents are allowed to choose whether to educate their children in French, and the choice not to do so has no particu- lar educational consequences other than the fact that the children will remain monolingual.

• There is competition for places in immersion programs across Canada because it is expensive—teachers have to be specially trained and fluent in both languages.

• All children in an immersion class are new to the language of instruction.

Recognizing these differences, some U.S. educators have adopted the structured immer- sion approach. This approach features English-only instruction in the content areas for two to three years before children transition into mainstream classes. The structured immer- sion program requires teachers to be bilingual or at least to have strong receptive skills in the children’s native language. Obviously, this approach will work only when all the children are from the same language background or if the teacher happens to know many languages. There are important lessons to be taken from immersion programs. Research shows that kindergarten children in immersion classes tend to focus on adapting to and understanding the schooling process and treat language learning as a secondary process (Tardif & Weber, 1987). In other words, they tend to mimic the first language process in a significant way.

Two-Way Immersion Two-way immersion programs integrate English-speaking children with language- minority children—usually Spanish—in an effort to promote academic achievement in both languages. Two-way immersion programs are also called two-way bilingual or developmental bilingual programs. Normally, students are integrated for 50–60% of the day at all grade levels, and there is a concerted effort to ensure that both content and lit- eracy instruction are provided to both groups of students in both languages (Howard & Sugarman, 2001). In practice, there is a fair amount of variability in how these programs are structured. The ratio of minority to English-language speakers varies in programs across the country, as does the language used for initial literacy instruction.

Two-way immersion programs began in the early 1960s, and there were only a very limited number of these programs until the 1990s. They have become popular because they are viewed as an effective way of maintaining and supporting the minority language while simultaneously building competence in English. Two-way immersion programs allow children to learn from one another, thus addressing the problem encountered in immer- sion of students being proficient in “academic” rather than more informal language use. Like immersion, two-way immersion helps in creating more positive attitudes in English speakers toward speakers of the minority language.

What immersion and two-way immersion have in common is the protection of two lan- guages, and to some extent, two cultures. In the case of immersion, the dominant lan- guage is spoken outside the school day, and in two-way immersion, both languages are spoken during the school day. Two-way immersion programs are still fairly rare and exist mainly in Spanish and English. There are also a few programs (six or fewer) for Manda- rin, Korean, French, and Japanese-English bilinguals. According to the Center for Applied Linguistics, only 10 of these programs nationwide are offered from kindergarten through twelfth grade (CAL, 2011).

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.2 Learning a New Language at School

Considering that the 2010 United States Census recognizes more than 14,000 public school districts in the United States, the number of two-way immersion programs—fewer than 400—is very small. There are many reasons, including demographics, cost, and the avail- ability of bilingual teachers. More common, but similar to two-way immersion, are bilin- gual or dual-language programs.

Bilingual or Dual-Language Programs Like two-way immersion, bilingual programs are intended to maintain children’s first language while adding English. The loss of the first language is a matter of great concern to many cultural groups and to parents. They have cause to worry; the introduction of English at school, together with the extreme dominance of English in the environment outside the school, does cause some children to lose proficiency in their home language. Loss of proficiency will be a particular problem if the parents do not make a special effort to maintain the first language in the home. Yet many do not because they believe that it is detrimental to the child not to have maximal exposure to English. Many school districts have instituted bilingual programs to help maintain the first language while simultane- ously providing an easier transition into English in the school. These programs fall into two basic categories—maintenance programs and transitional programs.

Maintenance bilingual programs are intended to protect the native language while intro- ducing English as the primary language of instruction. While they superficially resemble two-way immersion, maintenance programs are intended only for speakers of the minority language, while two-way immersion is intended for learners from both the majority and minority language. Maintenance bilingual programs are not widely available in the United States. Slightly more common and widely used in other coun- tries is the transitional bilingual program, which is intended to provide a smooth transition into English. Usually, the child’s home language is used during the early years of schooling and then the new language is gradu- ally introduced—the exact oppo- site to practice in immersion.

In the United States, there are two models of transitional pro- grams: the early-exit and the late exit. In early-exit bilingual programs, the goal is to help children attain the language skills needed to function in an

This boy is studying in a bilingual Vietnamese/English class. This program will help him gain academic proficiency in Vietnamese while he also gains proficiency in English.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.2 Learning a New Language at School

English-only classroom and to do so fairly quickly. Normally, such programs “provide some initial instruction in the students’ first language, primarily for the introduction of reading, but also for clarification” (Rennie, 1993). Instruction in the children’s first lan- guage is rapidly phased out, usually by the end of second grade if not earlier. In late exit programs, on the other hand, the first language is a medium of instruction for a longer time, usually through the end of elementary school. Even when children have attained a high level of proficiency in English, the first language may be the language of instruc- tion for as much as 40% of the time (Rennie, 1993). In this case, the program resembles two-way immersion, the difference being in the languages of the students participating. In immersion, students from both the minority and the majority, or target language, par- ticipate. In transitional bilingual programs, on the other hand, all the students are non- English speakers.

Sheltered English Programs Also called content-based programs, sheltered English programs may have students from a single language background or, depending on the demography of the school, may group together students from different language backgrounds. The focus in sheltered English is on content, so the teaching methods resemble those used in immersion. Such programs do not require bilingual teachers but do require that teachers be trained in special methods using gestures, visual aids, and simplified language to make meaning clear so that children simul- taneously learn language and content. There are no hard data on the number of sheltered programs in the United States, but they are far more common than two-way immersion or bilingual programs. They are also very common for older children and adult learners.

Submersion Submersion is not a formal program but rather the “default” when educators do nothing but place second language learners in mainstream classes without providing any supple- mental instruction. It is the sink-or-swim approach, and in some cases it may work. In others, it is disastrous, leading to frustration, dislike of school, and low academic achieve- ment, although most children will eventually learn English. Sometimes, it is successful with very young children who are able to adapt some of their first language acquisition abilities to acquiring the new language. Or it may work in an environment where there are other bilingual children who can help out. It is a high-risk strategy, however, and not recommended. If a district does not have the sufficient resources, or if the number of non-English speakers is too low to warrant the district offering one of the other types of bilingual programs, then a pull-out program may be the best option.

Pull-Out Programs The pull-out program is, as the name suggests, designed to keep second language learn- ers in mainstream classrooms and then to withdraw them to specialized English language classes for part of the day. Ideally, students who are pulled out of their classes for ESL receive instruction that is supplemental to the content they are learning in the mainstream classroom. ESL teachers coordinate their instructional planning with classroom teachers to ensure that students receive the appropriate language support they need to function in the classroom. Most schools in urban centers will have one or more ESL teachers, but in smaller schools or communities with smaller immigrant populations, ESL teachers may

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.2 Learning a New Language at School

travel from school to school. Some schools have an ESL resource center, a drop-in center where second language learners can go for language materials or other supplemental assistance in English.

Knowing which program is right for which learner depends on many factors, some of them related to the characteristics of the student, as outlined in Choosing the Right Program: Stu- dent Characteristics, and some related to the resources of the school and district, as outlined in Choosing the Right Program: School Resources.

Choosing the Right Program: Student Characteristics

What is the best way to educate children whose first language is not English? Educators will have to consider the characteristics of the students.

What are the ages of the children?

It may be possible to integrate children from preschool through second grade into mainstream classes with only slight modifications to the instructional environment. Older children will require additional kinds of assistance, depending on other factors.

How strong is their previous academic preparation?

Some older children arrive with little or interrupted formal schooling, due to cultural or economic con- ditions in their home countries, while others arrive with a very high level of schooling. The former group will require special care. For example, if an 8-year-old arrives without having attended school and with no English, she cannot be placed in a kindergarten or first grade class, even though it might seem appro- priate for her educational level. She will need individualized intervention.

Are the children true beginners, or have they had some prior exposure to English?

Children who have been exposed to some English will generally find it easier to pick up the language than those who are true beginners.

Do all the children speak the same language?

If the children all speak Mandarin, for example, a bilingual or a two-way immersion program might be best, if the school district’s resources permit. If they come from different language backgrounds, the bilingual program would not be an option for all of them. Both groups, however, would benefit from a sheltered program.

In some schools, children spend part of the day away from their regular class to work with the ESL teacher on learning English words for colors, numbers, and other concepts.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.3 Bilingualism and Cognitive Development

4.3 Bilingualism and Cognitive Development

One of the hurdles second language learners encounter when they begin school in a monolingual setting is the mistaken belief on the part of some educators that bilingualism is an impediment. Such an attitude is apparent in the story of Ivan, the Trilingual, about a child who is currently enrolled in a fifth-grade class for gifted children.

Choosing the Right Program: School Resources

Which program is best for children with limited English ability? This will also depend on the school’s financial and personnel resources. Resources vary greatly across the United States and depend to some extent on the size of a community’s immigrant population.

Does the district have bilingual teachers?

Even in Miami with its significant Spanish-speaking population, there are not enough Spanish-English bilingual teachers to offer two-way immersion or bilingual programs.

Does the school district have experience with non-English speakers?

In the major urban centers, most schools have long dealt with the needs of bilingual learners. Others are in the learning process.

Do the teachers have an ESL certificate or endorsement?

Many states, including Florida, now require that certified elementary teachers have an ESL or bilingual endorsement, which usually involves specialized courses in ESL or bilingual education. In other states, such specialized professional development is available as an optional part of the initial teacher educa- tion preparation or as an add-on, usually a certificate.

Is the school able to dedicate classroom space for ESL programs?

If the school is suffering from declining enrollment, it may be possible to create a magnet program to draw students from other schools in the district for a transitional bilingual or sheltered program. On the other hand, if the school is overcrowded, school personnel will either have to find other programs in the area or create helpful environments within existing mainstream classes. Following the latter course will require that teachers have specialized training.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.3 Bilingualism and Cognitive Development

Ivan, the Trilingual

Ivan is a gifted student in the fifth grade. His teacher is convinced that Ivan does not belong in her class because he is “hampered by” his trilingualism. She believes that he needs to be moved to another pro- gram in another school.

Ivan is the son of Russian parents who moved the family to the United States when Ivan was 3. They have continued to speak Russian at home even though they live in Miami, where English and Spanish are the dominant languages. Ivan has also attended Hebrew school and is functioning in that language.

According to the teacher’s assessment, the child does not have an adequate vocabulary in English because his family persists in speaking Russian at home. The teacher was certain of her “facts” when she stated that there is only a finite number of words a child can learn or know at any given age, and that if space is being taken up in the child’s brain with Russian words, there won’t be space for the num- ber of words in English that a fifth-grade child should know.

Ivan may or may not be experiencing difficulty with English vocabulary. If he is, it is difficult to ascertain the reasons without having more information about the child and all the environments in which he functions. If there are problems, however, the reasons are almost certainly temporary and they have nothing to do with brain capacity. As we will see in the next chapter, the human brain has far more capacity for all kinds of learning than most people ever use.

Having two, three, or more languages does not mean that the brain has less space for any one of them. Psychologist Dr. Paul Reber makes an interesting comparison to the digital video recorder (DVR), basing his analogy on the number of neurons in the brain and the number of connections that each neuron is capable of making. For comparison, if your brain worked like a digital video recorder in a television, 2.5 petabytes would be enough to hold 3 million hours of TV shows. You would have to leave the TV running continu- ously for more than 300 years to use up all that storage (Reber, 2010). The brain can cer- tainly cope with several languages at once.

More than a century of research supports the positive benefits of bilingualism. Develop- mental psychologists, for example, have found “convincing evidence that bilingualism can have positive effects on abilities that are related to academic success” (Lightbown & Spada, 2006, p. 26). In particular, bilingual children acquire what is called metalinguistic awareness, which refers to a person’s ability to reflect on and ponder over language (i.e., to objectify it). A child who “knows” the word ball in the sense that she associates it with a spherical object used in play, has learned a word. But if she says that ball starts with the same sound as bottle, that ball has three sounds in it, or that ball rhymes with doll, she has demonstrated an awareness of language as language rather than just as a symbolic representation of a real world object. Simply put, bilingual children are more sensitive to language and aware of what it can accomplish, and this heightened sensitivity is an important skill for learning to read and write as well as acquiring additional languages.

There is also evidence that bilingual children possess a kind of cognitive flexibility that is rarer in monolingual children. Specifically, there is some evidence that they are generally better at convergent thinking, which refers to the ability to bring together different kinds of information to arrive at a solution to a problem. There is also evidence that bilingual

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.3 Bilingualism and Cognitive Development

children excel at divergent thinking, which refers to an individual’s ability to come up with multiple solutions to problems. Both convergent and divergent thinking are associ- ated with creativity. Divergent thinking yields a variety of options to a given problem, while convergent thinking leads the individual to analyze and choose the best or most workable one.

Another cognitive advantage to bilingualism that has special relevance to academic suc- cess involves selective attention, or the ability to focus on a particular aspect of a task and ignore others. Bilingual children are better than monolinguals at ignoring irrelevant or extraneous information (Bialystok, 2001).

Selective attention is controlled by a mental process called “executive func- tion.” “Executive function” refers to the general ability to coordinate the many distinct activities that must be integrated in order to carry out any goal-oriented task. It is thought to develop between two and five years of age and to continue improving through adolescence and young adulthood, but then it declines with age. (Pearson, 2008, p. 26)

Actual physical evidence exists to help explain why bilingualism has cognitive benefits. Specifically, bilingualism changes the brain. Brain imaging has shown that bilinguals have more and denser gray matter than do monolinguals. Gray matter consists of brain cells that are associated with intellect, particularly language, memory, and attention. The denser gray matter is most visible in children who acquire two languages before the age of 5, and it is most apparent on the left side of the brain, the one associated with language, although the difference is also apparent in the right brain (Hitti, 2004; Pearson, 2008).

The cognitive advantages of bilingualism appear to mani- fest themselves in reading abil- ity, which is, in turn, the best predictor of academic success. Researchers at the University of Miami demonstrated that bilingual children who learned to read in two languages scored better in second grade than their monolingual peers or bilingual peers who had learned to read only one language. In other words, children who learned to read in both Spanish and Eng- lish performed better in Eng- lish reading tests than either of the other two groups. More- over, the apparent advantage was still evident in fifth grade (Pearson, 2008).

This boy is learning to read in one of his two languages. Bilingual children who learn to read in both languages tend to do better academically than bilinguals who read in only one language.

Beau Lark/Corbis

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.4 Creating an Environment for Success

Returning for a moment to Ivan, his teacher can relax. She may be right, and Ivan’s Eng- lish vocabulary may be a little smaller than his English peers since he has also learned two other languages. It is not, however, because his brain has only limited capacity. Besides, he will catch up very quickly, as most children do, almost always by puberty (Mihalicek & Wilson, 2011). Still, it may be the case that Ivan is experiencing some difficulty with Eng- lish, and it would be a mistake to assume that acquiring a second language in the school setting is effortless and does not require teachers to make accommodations.

4.4 Creating an Environment for Success

Pearson (2008) envisions the simultaneous bilingual child in terms of two trees grow-ing side-by-side in a forest. Both trees are rooted in the same soil, they have indepen-dent roots and branches, but there can be some intermingling of roots and branches. Sarah, for example, has always used the French word couche for diaper even when speak- ing English to her father, probably because her Francophone mother was usually the dia- per changer. She would use gateau and cake interchangeably, mixing her languages in I want gateau. She used please before s’il vous plait or s’il tu plait whether she was speaking to her mother or her father. Other than these exceptions, though, Sarah seemed to keep her languages separate.

To continue Pearson’s analogy of the adjacent trees growing in the forest, it is important to note that in order for children’s two languages to be considered bilingual first language acquisition (Pearson’s term for simultaneous bilingualism), the two languages must be “planted” at the same time, at or near the time of birth (p. 81). She sees early second lan- guage acquisition as analogous to botanical grafting. The original tree is rooted in the soil, and then onto it another species of tree is grafted. Thus, the trunk and the roots are from the original tree, but the newly added second tree will share them, and the branches of the new tree will be intertwined with the original. According to Pearson, “The grafting image more neatly parallels the situation of second language learning in a school setting. The roots and trunk are clearly from the first language, and an outside agent—not the tree itself—initiates the learning” (2008, pp. 82–83). The challenge facing preschool and elementary teachers is creating an environment that allows the grafted tree to flourish.

When they begin school, all children are likely to encounter unfamiliar words and phrases. Whether they are monolingual children, simultaneous bilinguals, or just beginning their second language learning, they will also find that language functions differently in the school environment. At home, children’s thinking and language are directed toward the present: toward the real, concrete world. At school, there is a movement toward more abstract, academic language. Teachers spend more time talking intangibles—ideas and things that happened in the past. School language is used more for interpreting—rather than just informing—and for expressing logical relations. This will present additional challenges to children who are new to English. That is why environment is so important and why teachers have to pay special attention to their needs.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.4 Creating an Environment for Success

When planning language activities for young children, teachers should remember how children learned their first language. There is much in the environment that can be rep- licated or modified to create a productive environment for learning the new language. Although we will examine particular strategies for teachers in Chapter 10, the following are some general guidelines that relate to what we have learned in this chapter about the environments in which bilinguals are created.

• Don’t correct form. Children use language to create meaning, and that is their focus. Second language learners will make mistakes—they will use the wrong plural form or they will struggle with subject-verb agreement. These are devel- opmentally normal. But remember that first language learners do the same thing, and they eventually get it right without intervention. Unless the mistake affects the meaning or the child’s ability to communicate, leave it alone. Concentrating on the mistakes may cause the child to become frustrated and stop trying.

• Model and expand. If children hear the correct forms often enough, they will learn them. It isn’t effective to correct a 5-year-old’s, “I seed dogs,” but it is effective to model and expand by saying, “Oh, you saw the dogs playing? They were having a lot of fun, weren’t they?”

• Focus on the here and now. One of the reasons that immersion works so well is that teachers are well trained to use contextual clues including a great deal of object manipulation to make themselves understood. Objects, pictures, gestures, move- ment, and acting out verb meanings—all of these help to ground the language in the here and now and make learning easier for learners of all ages.

• To the degree possible, make language learning invisible. Again, to borrow from the lessons of immersion, the focus is on the content, not on the form of the lan- guage. Immersion teachers teach content using simpli- fied language, and while it is inevitable that children are aware that they don’t speak or have only limited knowledge of the language, their attention is not drawn to the forms they hear, but to trying to solve the puzzle of meaning.Rather than correcting her students’ mistakes, this teacher

models and expands in order to create a successful learning environment in her Creole, Spanish, and French classroom.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.5 First and Second Language Learning Compared

• Silence may be good, or not. Don’t assume that a child’s silence means that she understands. She may, but it is always best to rephrase and try again to elicit the response. On the other hand, it is not uncommon for beginning learners to go through a silent period during which they are listening and processing. Eventu- ally, they will speak.

These are very general guidelines, and they are based both on prior experience with sec- ond language learners and on what we know about first language learners. Most teach- ers of young children will have a variety of children in their classrooms—monolingual English speakers, bilingual children with different levels of competence in English, and some children who are true beginners in English. All of these learners have one thing in common: They have acquired a first language. Therefore, we conclude this chapter by examining the similarities and differences between first and second language learning

4.5 First and Second Language Learning Compared

With simultaneous bilinguals, both languages are acquired in the same way. There are, as we have seen, cognitive differences that exist in bilingual children because of bilingualism, but the processes they use in acquiring their two languages are the same—the same as each other and the same as those used by monolinguals. In succes- sive bilinguals, however, there may be differences, and most of these are associated with the age of the learner. The age of the learner is highly relevant for the following reasons:

• The experience of learning a first language means that second language learn- ers know more about what language is about and how it is structured. They are experienced in finding patterns in what they hear. Older children might experi- ence some temporary interference from the first language, but generally, the experienced learner is more efficient than the inexperienced and cognitively less well-developed first language learner.

• Babies are born with more acute hearing than adults (Pearson, 2008, p. 103). Over time, their hearing acuity attenuates to adult levels. Superior hearing is part of the reason why younger children are better able to discriminate between indi- vidual language sounds and why they are superior mimics of the sound system. Second language learners will acquire the pronunciation of the new language faster and more accurately than children who begin after the onset of puberty.

• Babies go through a babbling stage during which they practice the sounds of their language without either the pressure or the ability to produce perfectly formed words. Older learners do not have this practice period, and their hearing will be less acute than infants. Nevertheless, their improved cognitive processing abilities will compensate.

• The “input” is different. For school-aged children, the first exposure to a new language may be at school. The language of the school differs in content and in purpose from the language of the home, and the older the learner, the greater the difference.

• The older the learner, the more experience he or she has in learning. Even after the first language is essentially established, children continue to learn, and all prior experience in learning is potentially beneficial. For educators, the issue is how best to take advantage of it.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.5 First and Second Language Learning Compared

At the heart of the issue of age is the critical period hypothesis (see Chapter 3). Is there a critical period for language learning, as some believe? Popular wisdom that holds that where language learning is concerned, younger is better, would appear to be true. But is it? For a first language, yes, it does appear that there is an “expire” date on the brain’s abil- ity to acquire language. But the preponderance of bilinguals in the world, many of whom learned the two languages sequentially, is a compelling argument against a critical period for second language learning.

The Critical Period and Second Language Learning

Toddlers appear to acquire their language—one, two, or more—with relative ease and seemingly without effort. Older learners, however, appear to struggle, and even when they become highly proficient, many do not acquire a perfect, native-like accent. Oth- ers stumble and falter and never manage to learn much of the second language at all. At first blush, it might seem that we can simply call upon the critical period hypothesis to explain why children under the age of 5 are so adept at learning another language, chil- dren before the age of puberty require more assistance but can become extremely profi- cient, and adults often struggle. But the fact that many adults do learn one or more new languages later in life suggests that the matter is far more complicated. Language teachers and researchers alike increasingly suspect “that whatever enables the child to acquire the mother tongue might not be lost forever, rather that it could be hidden somewhere among or underneath our other cognitive faculties” (Meisel, 2011, p. 1). If this is the case, then several questions arise:

• Why are some learners better able to access this capacity than others? • What is the role of language instruction, and what kind of instruction will stimu-

late this capacity? • What other “cognitive faculties” are involved in language learning? • How is the language acquisition capacity influenced by these other cognitive

faculties?

Because we cannot answer any of these questions with any certainty, formulating a coher- ent and adequate theory of second language acquisition is even more complicated than formulating one for first language. Although the environments may vary widely, with first language acquisition, we are talking about learners who are all the same age. The theoretical issue is to explain how and under what conditions the innate language capac- ity is activated. Second language learners, in contrast, are more diverse, impacted by the following:

• Age. We saw that some children effectively acquire two first languages, some are early simultaneous bilinguals, and some add a language much later. Many language learners are adults, so age and all the attendant life experience it brings with it is a major factor.

• Reasons for learning. Children acquire their first language or their second lan- guage, when it is the language of their community, with relative ease. But people have different reasons for learning another language, and these can impact not only the speed of their learning but what they ultimately learn.

• Place. Children surrounded by a new language in school pick it up easily. Learning a “foreign” language, however, in a classroom setting when the language of the

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.5 First and Second Language Learning Compared

community is a different one—as it would be for an English speaker learning Finnish in Cleveland, for example—brings with it another set of issues, all of which will impact the learner’s success.

• Method of instruction. As learners get older and have more experience of formal instruction, they respond differently to the ways they are taught. Some may be resistant to unfamiliar methods, and this, too, will affect their language learning.

When it comes to second language learning, young children do appear to have certain advantages. First, they have less to learn at a time when their brains are working hardest. Pearson (2008) notes that young children’s brains “are working twice as hard as adults’. The level of glucose they use rises until age two and then stays twice as high as adults’ until around age nine” (p. 102). The younger the child, the less there is to learn to reach age- appropriate proficiency. As an example, on average, a 4-year-old child has a productive vocabulary of around 800 words (Beauchat, Blamey, & Walpole, 2010, p. 18) and a much larger receptive vocabulary. While it has taken her four years to acquire those words, older students can learn that many words in a matter of weeks. But the goal of a 10-year-old lan- guage learner is not to sound like a 4-year-old. Second, the younger learner is less skilled in avoidance and less prone to worry about failure. Older learners, particularly adults, are very good at finding ways to avoid using an unfamiliar language, partly out of concern that they will get it wrong. Young children are less skilled at avoidance and are more likely to jump right in and use the new language, although there is often a silent period at the beginning of the process. Given the added advantage of the more-recent first language experience, younger learners would seem to have an advantage. It would be a mistake to conclude, however, that the ability to learn a new language is lost with age. Indeed, as we have seen, there are cer- tain advantages to age, the chief one of which is that experienced learners are better at learning. What is important for educators is to create the educational envi- ronments that are most likely to lead to success.

So are there any theoretical underpinnings on which we can base our approach to teaching a second language to young chil- dren? The answer is a qualified yes. Remembering that theories are not facts but represent an attempt to account for all the facts that we have about lan- guage acquisition, let us look at the main contenders.

There are different challenges that come with teaching older language learners. These high school Spanish students will be more skilled at avoidance than younger learners.

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.5 First and Second Language Learning Compared

Theoretical Perspectives on Bilingualism

Let us begin with a short history lesson. Before the 1960s, researchers assumed that first and second language acquisition were completely distinct processes. That assumption was not based on any empirical data, and researchers studying the two kinds of acquisition paid little attention to what those in the other camp were doing. It simply hadn’t occurred to them that there might be some similarities. Until the 1960s, both linguistics and psy- chology were disciplines whose research agendas were largely grounded in behaviorist learning theory, as described in Chapter 3.

Only after the constraints and restrictions of behaviourist psychology had been shaken off could the language sciences begin to understand lan- guage learning as a mental activity happening in the cognitive system of the individual. Chomsky’s (1959) famous and influential review of Skin- ner’s (1957) book “Verbal Behavior” is a milestone to the “cognitive turn.” (Meisel, 2011, p. 3)

The term cognitive turn refers to the shift in thinking that occurred as researchers began to view language as a cognitive event and the study of language acquisition as involving the study of the mind rather than behavior per se. This change in focus had a tremendous and liberating impact on the study of first language acquisition and, eventually, on second language acqui- sition, which was slower to shake the influences of behaviorist thinking. Meisel observes that behaviorism lingered in SLA because for many years, research had been dominated by for- eign language learning in classroom settings as opposed to second language learning in more natural settings. Most foreign language teachers were using techniques based in behavior- ism, and so there was little counter-evidence on which to build a new theory,

From a behaviorist perspective, the task of SLA would be to replace one set of habits (i.e., the first language) with a new set of habits, the language to be learned. The first language was seen as relevant only because it interfered with the second. Instructional techniques, thus, were designed as drills to instill the new forms and eradicate any imperfect ones that might be created. Learners were given passages of text to memorize to perfection, and relatively little attention was paid to meaning. Generations of learners learned sentences for which they would never have any use. Generations of learners completed majors in foreign languages without gaining fluency or conversational competence.

Following Chomsky’s review of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior (see Chapter 3), researchers began to place more emphasis on cognition, and eventually SLA researchers began to look at their data from the perspective that the human mind might well use the same processes that had been effective in learning the first language in learning the second. Once they began to view language data from that perspective, the central question that they asked was different, and a new set of issues emerged, making the matter of theory construction a great deal more difficult. The central question that has guided SLA research for the past four decades has been what kinds of knowledge the second language learner brings to the task and whether and to what degree he has access to that same innate capacity (called a language acquisition device, or LAD, by Chomsky) as the young child. Instead of focusing exclusively on differences between first and second language learning, researchers, start- ing in the 1970s, began to look at similarities. One of the most influential series of studies showed that the order in which second language learners acquired English grammatical

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.5 First and Second Language Learning Compared

Morpheme Acquisition Order in Second Language Learners

As early as 1967, Pit Corder suggested that the errors that second language learners make bear a strik- ing resemblance to those made by children learning their first language. Over the next several years, researchers began to formulate hypotheses based on this notion.

In the early 1970s, researchers began to work from the hypothesis that the first and second language acquisition processes were essentially the same. These researchers went on to propose the creative con- struction hypothesis, that learners do not merely imitate what they have heard but actively construct their own rules, based on internal knowledge. They postulated that if children were learning a second language in the way that behaviorists claimed, then most of the errors they made could be predicted on the basis of their first language (i.e., interference errors). On the other hand, if they were using innate mechanisms, their errors would more closely resemble those made by first language learners.

The researchers studied the errors in the speech of 145 Spanish-speaking children between 5 and 8 years of age, using a measure designed to elicit particular grammatical morphemes such as past tense, plural, present progressive, and so forth. They found that only 3% of the children’s errors could be pre- dicted based on Spanish, 12% were unique to the child, and an overwhelming 85% were developmen- tal, meaning that they were the same ones English-speaking children make.

A year later, they replicated the study with 250 Chinese- and Spanish-speaking children of the same age, and this time they were able to establish an acquisition order for each of the two language groups and for the combined group. They concluded that the order of acquisition was virtually identical for the Chinese- and the Spanish-speaking children. Following is the order they found:

1. pronoun case 2. articles 3. present progressive 4. copula 5. plural -s 6. auxiliary 7. past regular 8. past irregular 9. long plural (e.g., -es as in breezes rather than -s as in cats)

10. possessive 11. third person regular

Nine of these were the same ones studied by Brown and by DeVilliers and DeVilliers (See Learning Grammatical Morphemes in Chapter 3). While the order was not exactly the same for the first language speakers and the second language speakers, what is compelling about these data is that second lan- guage learners seem to follow the same order, and that order is independent of their first language. These results and others using similar methods led Steven Krashen (1977, 1981) to formulate a natural order hypothesis, stating that second language learners acquire certain language structures in a predict- able order.

morphemes closely resembled the order in which first language children acquired them (See Morpheme Acquisition Order in Second Language Learners.).

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CHAPTER 4Section 4.5 First and Second Language Learning Compared

When the underlying assumptions changed and both researchers and teachers began to view the second language learning process as not unlike the first, the task of theorists changed as well. Now, their job was to discover the nature and characteristics of the human language capacity and how they are activated, reactivated, and constrained throughout life. In all likelihood, theorists will be working on these issues for many decades, assisted by research on brain and cognitive function as well as learning theorists. Because our primary interest here is learners in early childhood, we are able to view second language acquisition from the same theoretical perspectives addressed in Chapter 3. More spe-

cifically, theories of second lan- guage acquisition that focus on the cognitive dimension as well as the sociocultural context in which all language is learned offer the best hope for account- ing for what learners of all ages accomplish (Atkinson, 2011).

A Note for Teachers

If teachers had to wait for theo- rists to explain how language learning—or any learning— happens, then little would be accomplished in the classroom. Theory develops over time, and it gets added to as research methodology improves and, as we have seen, as the underlying assumptions change. But teach-

ers needn’t wait for the “final word,” on theory and not just because it will never happen; theory is not fact, after all. As Ellis has observed, “Teaching involves curriculum planning, designing lessons and then implementing and evaluating them. This is shaped less by teachers’ technical knowledge than by their practical knowledge of what is likely to work in their specific contexts” (2012, Chapter 11, para. 17). Teachers of young children have observed that the following methods are effective:

• creating a language-rich environment that includes language used for many purposes;

• using age-appropriate language; • using simplified language, gestures, and many concrete objects; • not teaching language per se, but providing many opportunities for language

learning and use; and • being attentive to any specific needs that may arise because of unfamiliarity to

the language.

For most early childhood educators, these principles are just common-sense guide- lines that they use with monolingual as well as bilingual children. Fortunately, they are also consistent with what theory is currently telling us (Meisel, 2011; Atkinson, 2011; Ellis, 2012).

Teachers must be aware that they are not only instructing but also creating an environment conducive for language learning.

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CHAPTER 4Post-Test

Conclusion

While there are many advantages to bilingualism and few if any disadvantages, it would be a mistake to interpret the material presented in this chapter to mean that bilingual children are always smarter or more creative than monolingual children. Bilingual children in American schools often struggle, not because of their bilin- gualism per se, but because not all schools and teachers are prepared to deal with their needs. Learning a new language and, for some children, a new culture, can be hard, even for young children. A central purpose of this chapter has been to make the point that educators must look beyond what may appear to be a deficit in language to the benefits that having two languages will confer and to understand that creating positive language environments will greatly assist all learners.

Post-Test

1. Which of the following would be considered bilingual?

a. An adult who speaks only Spanish but can read both English and Spanish. b. A child who can communicate with her French-speaking father and her ASL-

speaking mother. c. An adult who grew up in a French and German-speaking household who

speaks only English but can understand all three languages. d. An English-speaking adult who is enrolled in beginner Arabic classes.

2. The two types of transitional bilingual programs are

a. early-exit and late-exit. b. aggressive and passive. c. partial and total. d. independent and dependent.

3. Which of the following is not discussed as a possible benefit of bilingualism?

a. Improved convergent and divergent thought. b. The ability to focus on extraneous information. c. Greater selective attention ability. d. The ability to objectify language.

4. Pearson’s (2008) use of bilingual first language acquisition is the same as

a. simultaneous bilingualism. b. serial bilingualism. c. sequential bilingualism. d. severe bilingualism.

5. Babies’ early-language babbling

a. hinders their ability to learn two languages. b. is similar to what we do in babbling later in life. c. allows them to practice the sounds of their language. d. includes pressure to perfect their phonemes.

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CHAPTER 4Critical Thinking Questions

Answers 1. b. A child who can communicate with her French-speaking father and her ASL-speaking mother. The answer

can be found in Section 4.1. 2. a. Early-exit and late-exit. The answer can be found in Section 4.2. 3. b. The ability to focus on extraneous information. The answer can be found in Section 4.3. 4. a. Simultaneous bilingualism. The answer can be found in Section 4.4. 5. c. Allows them to practice the sounds of their language. The answer can be found in Section 4.5.

Key Ideas

• Children who acquire two languages simultaneously are essentially acquiring two first languages.

• There is strong evidence that the innate language acquisition device continues to function until the onset of puberty, but it is most effective before the age of 5.

• There are more similarities than differences between first and second language learning in children under the age of 5.

• Children can learn a new language at any age. • Bilinguals have been shown to have greater cognitive flexibility, and there is evi-

dence that their brains differ from monolinguals’. • All children learn language in a language-rich environment. • Building a theory of second language acquisition is complicated by the many

variables associated with the learner—age, prior experience, other languages, reasons for learning, etc.

Critical Thinking Questions

1. Read the following dialogue between Claudette and her first-grade teacher. Which of the tree analogies appears to fit her best? (Does she appear to have acquired two first languages, or is she an early second language learner?)

Teacher: [Seeing Claudette in tears] What’s the matter, Claudette?

Claudette: Ça fait mal. Fall off swing.

Teacher: Where does it hurt?

Claudette: [Pointing to her knee] Ici.

Teacher: Your knee hurts?

Claudette: Oui, my knee me fait mal.

Teacher: Okay, let’s get you to the nurse. Do you want me to help you?

Claudette: No, thank you.

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CHAPTER 4Critical Thinking Questions

2. People who are divergent thinkers draw ideas from various sources to come up with multiple creative solutions to a problem. Often, the solutions are very differ- ent from each other. Divergent thinking is not, however, a monolithic cognitive process. Rather, it has four dimensions:

• Fluency refers to the number of different ideas one can produce. • Flexibility refers to the variety of ideas one produces. • Originality refers to how unusual are the ideas one produces.

• Elaboration refers to richness of detail in the ideas one produces (Prieto et al., 2006).

Although research generally supports the notion that bilinguals outperform monolinguals in tests of divergent thinking (Ricciardelli, 1992), it also seems to be the case that much depends upon how proficient one is in the second language, the degree to which one is also bicultural, as well as the age at which the second language was attained.

Consider the following task:

Figure 4.1

Look at this picture in Figure 4.1. Now, write down all the things this might be a picture of.

What kinds of responses would provide evidence for fluency? Flexibility? Origi- nality? Elaboration?

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CHAPTER 4Critical Thinking Questions

3. Two children, both age 7, are given a list of object names and asked to come up with as many uses for each object as possible within a limited period of time. Consider the following responses:

Child A

Cup drinking milk, holding flowers, putting pencils in, Daddy’s coffee

Hat keep head warm, keep head dry, wear to church

Horse ride, pet, run race, pull wagon

Fork eat food, move food, punch holes in stuff, dig in ground

Headband wearing on head, wearing like a necklace, keep a package closed, decorate a Christmas tree

Child B

Cup drink milk, eat soup

Hat wear outside, look pretty

Horse ride, pet

Fork eat, stick holes

Headband wear on head, hold hair back

Which do you think is the bilingual child and why?

4. What would you say to a parent who worried that speaking Russian at home with her child might impede his progress in English in kindergarten?

5. Locate and interview a bilingual speaker in your class or in your community and engage in a conversation for five to ten minutes. Try to find out the following:

a. At what age did the person begin to learn English? b. How does the speaker rate his or her own proficiency in English? c. Do you hear any “foreign” accent? d. Do you detect differences in word choice or sentence structure? e. How do you rate his or her general comprehension?

6. At the end of Chapter 2, you were asked the following question: English has 25 distinctive consonant sounds and 19 distinctive vowel sounds.

Most dialects of Spanish have only 16 consonant sounds and 5 vowels. Does this mean that Spanish-speaking children learn their sound system faster than English- speaking children? Defend your answer.

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CHAPTER 4Key Terms

Having read Chapters 3 and 4, has your answer changed? How?

7. Sarah, the child of a French-speaking mother and an English-speaking father, has been exposed to both languages since birth. She speaks only French with her mother and only English with her father. They live in an English-speaking com- munity. The following are examples of her language at age 3:

I don’t like dress green.

I can’t see. I’ll get my tabouret (stool).

I big girl. No couche (diaper).

What evidence of language mixing do you see? (Keep in mind that in French, the adjective often follows the noun.) What do these examples tell you about simulta- neous language acquisition?

Key Terms

bilingualism The ability to function in an age-appropriate manner in more than one language.

bilingual programs Language programs designed to maintain children’s first lan- guage while adding a second language, usually English in the United States. There are two types: maintenance programs are intended to preserve children’s first language in the school setting, and tran- sitional programs are intended to assist them in coping with English as a medium of instruction.

convergent thinking The ability to bring together different kinds of information to arrive at a solution to a problem.

divergent thinking Ability to come up with multiple solutions to problems.

ESL resource center A drop-in center in a school where second language learners can go for language materials or other supple- mental assistance in English.

early second language acquisition Used to describe children who acquire a second language before the onset of puberty.

immersion A carefully planned instruc- tional approach for children to learn a language that is not the dominant one of the community. Children are taught school subjects in an unfamiliar language for half the school day or more. (Compare to submersion.)

metalinguistic awareness Refers to a per- son’s ability to reflect on and ponder over language (i.e., to objectify it).

pull-out program Language program in which second language learners attend mainstream classes but are withdrawn for specialized English language classes for part of the day.

second language acquisition (SLA) The more general term referring to all second language acquisition, but particularly that which occurs after the onset of puberty.

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CHAPTER 4Web Links

Weblinks

For a directory of language immersion programs in U.S. schools, visit: http://www.cal.org/resources/Immersion/

This site offers a directory of two-way bilingual immersion programs in the United States: http://www.cal.org/twi/directory

selective attention The ability to focus on a particular aspect of a task and ignore others.

sheltered English programs Language programs that may have students from a single language background or may group together students from different language backgrounds and focus on content, with teaching methods resembling those used in immersion.

submersion A “sink or swim” approach, essentially doing nothing. Submersion is not a formal program but rather the default when educators do nothing but place second-language learners in mainstream classes without providing any supplemen- tal instruction. (Compare to immersion.)

two-way immersion Language programs that integrate English-speaking children with language-minority children in an effort to promote academic achievement in both languages.

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