Betsy Hammond
"New study finds bilingual ed. and all-English classes have equal results"
The Oregonian
April 09, 2010
URL: http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2010/04/new_study_finds_bilingual_ed_a.html
Topic: Bilingual ed. and all-English classes have equal results
Summary: This article is talking about an article posted on Education Week, which is about a study of bilingual education vs. English-only instruction for native-Spanish-speaking students in kindergarten through grade four. The study showed that "Children learn to read English equally well if they are taught only in English or in both English and their native language. " The researchers did an experiment with Spanish-speaking students in six schools in six different states, and they kept tracking those students for five years. Here is the link to the original article from Education Week: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/04/09/29bilingual_ep.h29.html?tkn=YNQFC6HetJi0aTKcdBwhjN79h76YLiVIOEPX&cmp=clp-edweek&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EducationWeekWidgetFeed+%28Education+Week%3A+Free+Widget+Feed%29&utm_content=Twitter
Intended audience: Educators
Key points: 1. Spanish-speaking students in six schools in six different states were randomly assigned in kindergarten to either a bilingual program or an all-English program, then kept in that program and tracked for five years.
2. That allowed researchers to even out all other potential differences in their educational experiences and draw conclusions solely about the Spanish-and-English versus English-only approach to teaching.
Relevance: Most people, including me, think that students learn English best and fastest when they are taught in English. Some might think that students need to learn to read in their native language first if they are to master advanced academic English. The study shows that these two thoughts are actually result the same.
That is really intersting. The school I work at tests students as they come in and based on the results either puts them in English or Spanish classes. For example a Kindergartener who is more proficient at Spanish starts his/her schooling in Spanish. However by third grade all the students in our school are in English classes. They still receive additional services but their classrooms are in English. I have always thought this was extremely beneficial. For one thing if they go home to a Spanish speaking household and need assistance with their homeowork and they are doing it in Spanish their parents would be likely to assist. Also the philosphy has been that getting them experienced in school without adding the pressure of learning the language too, will set them up for future success. Your article however seems to contradict this. I would be curious to read further about this. I am sure there is a lot more information available. Thanks for posting this. Keeps me thinking there is always another way/view.
ReplyDeleteI really like this discussion because I can see the argument in many ways. I think to my beginning years learning Spanish, and had the teacher not been willing to help us navigate using English, I would have been totally lost! I think it helps to use your native language as a tool to learn the basics of a second langauge.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, I can see that one's advancement might be stalled if they rely too much for too long on the native language. It can keep students from delving in and building confidence around dual language use.
Hi Tristin, one of my Chinese friends was taking Spanish class. But she dropped that class after her first time. She said it was so hard to listen to the teacher talking in Spanish the whole class process! As an ESOL, Chinese students learn English in both Chinese and English teaching way. Teachers will explain some grammar in Chinese. That makes it easier to learn English language. And I cannot imagine how to learn another language without any native language explanation. So I agree with the idea that put students in their native language speaking class, then put them in an English speaking class.
ReplyDeleteHi JK, I really like the way your school teaching students how to learn English. The article is not talking about which way to teach English is better, but the study shows that the results of both kind of teaching are the same. It is interesting to see the result.