Bilingualism and Bilingual Education in California (San Diego: home, transfer, movies)

[Sarah Janina]

Hey everybody
I'm a university student currently writing a thesis on 'Bilingualism and Bilingual Education in California'.
In addition to basic facts, I would also like to include personal opinions.
So I was wondering if you could shortly comment on what you personally think about bilingual education, if you are concerned yourself or anything else that might contribute to my work.
Thanks a lot for your effort in anticipation!
Sarah

P.S.
If you don't want to write something freely, you may as well answer the following questions:

1. Do you consider yourself bilingual? If so, what languages do you speak?

2. How often and with whom do you speak what language(s)?

3. Have you been placed in a bilingual education program at your school? If so, at what age did you start and for how long did you take part in it?

[Bulldogdad]

Do I at least get a free coffee out of this?


Spanglish

Everyday

No. I learned both English and Spanish at home before starting school. We continued to use both languages today many decades after my birth.
Once I started school my Parents ensured I was never enrolled in an language program other than English until 7th grade. Then I was allowed to study grammatical Spanish to enhance my proficiency utilizing my second language, Spanish.

I was a SSL student instead of an ESL student.

[Brenda-by-the-sea]

The main controversy seems to be over what one perceives to be the educational goal. Those who see functional bilingualism as the ultimate goal favor bilingual education. But those who primarily value high proficiency in English question the demonstrable success of bilingual education. In theory, promoting literacy in the first language should pay dividends in L2 development as well. In actual practice, it often doesn't work out that way. In fact, we're much less likely to use the term "bilingual" these days to characterize a person who has advanced levels of proficiency in two languages. "Bilingual" is starting to become a euphemism for a kind of language handicap for students with low levels of global language proficiency.

What we see all too often in the schools are students who are bilingual with regards to BICS put have no significant CALP in either language. Since they can't communicate well in higher language functions like compare-and-contrast, analyze, synthesize, defend a point of view, etc. they can't pass their classes and their state exams no matter which language they take them in. As a result, bilingual students have statistically high dropout rates when grouped as a class.

Something I've noticed in my own classes is that Russian students tend to lag far behind their Mexican and Central American counterparts in attaining pragmatic conversational communication in English. But they ultimately tend to reach higher levels of success in school because their former education garnered in Russia starts to kick in once they get to intermediate levels of proficiency in English. It does for the Latin American students too -- if they have any formal education to transfer -- but more often than not, their prior preparation is not at U.S. grade level even without the language barrier. My conclusion? What are presumed to be deficits in linguistic development often turn out to be deficits in cognitive development. And that's a much more difficult problem to remediate because a critical window of brain development may by now already be closed.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by Brenda-by-the-sea

The main controversy seems to be over what one perceives to be the educational goal. Those who see functional bilingualism as the ultimate goal favor bilingual education. But those who primarily value high proficiency in English question the demonstrable success of bilingual education. In theory, promoting literacy in the first language should pay dividends in L2 development as well. In actual practice, it often doesn't work out that way. In fact, we're much less likely to use the term "bilingual" these days to characterize a person who has advanced levels of proficiency in two languages. "Bilingual" is starting to become a euphemism for a kind of language handicap for students with low levels of global language proficiency.

What we see all too often in the schools are students who are bilingual with regards to BICS put have no significant CALP in either language. Since they can't communicate well in higher language functions like compare-and-contrast, analyze, synthesize, defend a point of view, etc. they can't pass their classes and their state exams no matter which language they take them in. As a result, bilingual students have statistically high dropout rates when grouped as a class.

Something I've noticed in my own classes is that Russian students tend to lag far behind their Mexican and Central American counterparts in attaining pragmatic conversational communication in English. But they ultimately tend to reach higher levels of success in school because their former education garnered in Russia starts to kick in once they get to intermediate levels of proficiency in English. It does for the Latin American students too -- if they have any formal education to transfer -- but more often than not, their prior preparation is not at U.S. grade level even without the language barrier. My conclusion? What are presumed to be deficits in linguistic development often turn out to be deficits in cognitive development. And that's a much more difficult problem to remediate because a critical window of brain development may by now already be closed.

Interesting Brenda. I wonder however if it's really the students or simply the way we teach language in this country to begin with. Almost all EU countries for example make learning English mandatory I think by third grade or something. Most Europeans and Africans are bilingual at the least and many are multi-lingual and they seem to do just fine. Most Somali's I know in San Diego speak a minimum of three languages, Somali, Arabic and English.

Perhaps we should only think about bilingual education when we learn better techniques for teaching language in the first place.

[Snort]

Most Europeans and Africans are bilingual at the least and many are multi-lingual and they seem to do just fine.

This is not true.
The best speakers of English on the continent are the Danes because they listen to British radio and American tv programs. They also make it a point to learn English well, and that's what makes the difference. In Portugal, movies are in the original language with Portuguese subtitles, but their English language skills are still mostly crap. In Spain, everything is dubbed and they are probably the worst speakers of English in Europe. After the Danes, the Swedes probably speak the best English as a group. Norwegians and Finns are also relatively good, but few people reach a "bilingual" level. The rest of Europe is somewhere in between the Danes and the Spaniards....tending toward the lower end of the scale.

[Brenda-by-the-sea]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

Almost all EU countries for example make learning English mandatory I think by third grade or something.

Sure. In countries where the native language is something other than English, it is clear that English will be the second language that should be a part of early education when the brain is still plastic enough to assimilate new languages as "additional first languages." English has become the de facto lingua franca of global communication. It is now what Esperanto was supposed to have been.

But in English-speaking countries, only Canada can identify an idiom that should, as a matter of policy, be a universal second language: French. Not surprisingly, they, too, can show a high level of success in L2 development because Canadian kids learn French (or English if Québécois) at a young age. Here in the U.S., the preferences are always changing and many times regional. When I was young, French, German and Latin were emphasized. Then it became Spanish. Then it was Japanese. Now it's Russian and Mandarin, but it really depends on where you live. You just can't get a school board to agree on what L2 should be a universal requirement for kids in primary grades. So for the most part, we just wait on second language development until kids are old enough to choose for themselves (and too old to learn another language easily). The same problem exists is Australia, New Zealand and the U.K.

Mythological perceptions about the quality of domestic education aside, the U.S. is second to none in educational achievement in second language. We use the same pedagogical approaches and tools as the most advanced European and Asian educational systems and people come to U.S. language schools from all over the world to learn English. When students are good candidates for second language acquisition, the levels and rates of success are high. But a great many are not good candidates either because they immigrated here later in life after having missed critical windows of cognitive development in their homelands, or they come from families that do not foster a pro-educational culture at home. Intrinsic motivation is paramount. No amount of extrinsic motivation will substitute for its absence. You have to want it. The problem with the horse who refuses to drink cannot be solved by finding a better path for leading him to the water.

[Curmudgeon]

Two words: "Bah, humbug." There should only be two languages in California, English and bad English but trying hard to assimilate.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by Snort

This is not true.
The best speakers of English on the continent are the Danes because they listen to British radio and American tv programs. They also make it a point to learn English well, and that's what makes the difference. In Portugal, movies are in the original language with Portuguese subtitles, but their English language skills are still mostly crap. In Spain, everything is dubbed and they are probably the worst speakers of English in Europe. After the Danes, the Swedes probably speak the best English as a group. Norwegians and Finns are also relatively good, but few people reach a "bilingual" level. The rest of Europe is somewhere in between the Danes and the Spaniards....tending toward the lower end of the scale.

According to this we're both have way correct:

38% of EU citizens state that they have sufficient skills in English to have a conversation

English language in Europe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Snort]

38% of EU citizens state that they have sufficient skills in English to have a conversation

Yes, and they reported this in their own language. Having lived there for years, I call B.S. on that claim.
Are they including the 65 million plus in the British Isles? Still wouldn't be 38% of all Europeans.


I think I figured it out....38% of English language teachers in Europe can hold a conversation in English. That, I'd believe.

[CAVA1990]

Well part of the problem with some European countries is that even though English may be a mandatory aubject in school the kids don't get much opportunity to practice it with fluent English speakers. At least that's how some Italian friends of mine have explained why their English is somewhat lackluster.