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Educating Instructors for Bilingual Programs

Educating Instructors for Bilingual Programs. Lyris Wiedemann Stanford University lyriswie@stanford.edu. Educating Administrators/ Teachers for Bilingual Programs: LSP?. Increased interest for foreign language ìn schools K-12 and at college level

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Educating Instructors for Bilingual Programs

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  1. Educating Instructors for Bilingual Programs Lyris Wiedemann Stanford University lyriswie@stanford.edu

  2. Educating Administrators/ Teachers for Bilingual Programs: LSP? Increased interest for foreign language ìn schools K-12 and at college level Increased number of dual-immersion programs in the U.S. Very specific needs: issues not faced by every language instructor

  3. Increased Interest in Foreign Languages in the U.S. 31% of elementary & 86% of secondary schools currently offer foreign/second language instruction (ERIC) Substantial increase in enrollments at college level (MLA)  Globalization: world is an increasingly smaller place

  4. Dual-Immersion Programs • Also known as “two-way immersion” (TWI) • Programs that integrate native English speakers and language-minority students for academic instruction • Goals: bilingual proficiency, high academic achievement, and cross-cultural awareness

  5. TWI Programs in the U.S. • 30 (1987) => 225 (1998) => 301 (2004) • Where: cities/states with sizeable immigrant populations (CA, AZ. TX, ) or university cities • Most typical combination: English/Spanish (also E/French, E/Chinese, E/Korean, /E/Navajo) • Mostly elementary school; middle/high school programs on the rise • Models: minority language dominant /balanced/ mid and high

  6. Some Advantages for TWI Over Traditional BE • Minority population • Also serves as model speakers • Is integrated with the dominant majority • Has its language validated • Dominant majority • Alternates being “the expert” with minority • Learns a more “real” variety of L2, along with “school” L2

  7. Some Advantages for TWI Over Traditional Bilingual Education (Cont.) Benefits both majority and minority involved Obtains more resources and investment It is “cohesive” rather than “divisive”

  8. What Kind of Instructors Do TWI Programs Need? • Credentialed elementary school teachers who can teach content matter in both languages • Ideal sources: members of bilingual community with balanced bilingualism, Peace Corps alumni, graduates from education-abroad programs • Middle/high school teachers of foreign languages whose competence is at Level 3 or beyond

  9. Some Findings Most teachers have taught in TWI classes for less than 5 years, which is different from the general population (Henke, 1997) Most teachers belong to bilingual minorities Most teachers have advanced degrees and bilingual credentials

  10. Some Answers from Administrators/Instructors in TWI Programs in California N=25 Interviews by telephone

  11. What Kind of Training Do Teachers of TWI Programs Need? • Linguistic training to enable them to perform at advanced /superior levels • Strong knowledge of inter and intra-cultural issues • Strong classroom management techniques • Abilities to create and design materials

  12. Challenges (Teachers) • Teaching content information in L2 • Making it easier for students from lower grades and parents to understand that acquiring a language takes time • Facilitating use of L2 by all students • Being responsible for creating most of the materials

  13. Challenges (Administrators) Tensions between regular and TWI programs within the same school Opposition to program by members of faculty of the district Finding and training appropriate faculty Dealing with parents’ concerns, specially in the first grades

  14. Some Advantages of Bilingualism • “Mental plasticity” or agility: bilinguals know that there is more than one way to solve problems (Dartmouth study) • Superior cognitive performance in several dimensions (Reynolds) • “One can have more friends” (a first grader in a TWI program -- CLAS)

  15. Some Advantages of Dual-Immersion Programs (Cont.) Students outperform monolingual children on standardized tests Students in dual-language schools did better than those educated in traditional bilingual education programs Students in dual-language schools did better than those educated only in English (CAL-14-year study, George Mason University)

  16. More information? Resource Guide Online: Two-Way (Dual) Immersion - Center for Applied Linguistics http://www.cal.org/resources/faqs/rgo ERIC’s search engine http://www.eric.ed.gov/searchdb

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