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Dual Language Learning in the Early Years: Theory and Practice. Diane August Center for Applied Linguistics. Overvie w of Presentation. Preschool dual language programs
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Dual Language Learning in the Early Years: Theory and Practice Diane August Center for Applied Linguistics
Overview of Presentation • Preschool dual language programs • Three studies that shed light on the effect of school and home language use on children’s first and second language development • Research base that supports dual language programs • Future directions • Research and development
Preschool Programs: Dual Language Approach • Experimental study comparing the effect of monolingual immersion compared with dual language preschool programs (Barnett, Yarosz, Thomas, Jung & Blanco, 2007) • Three- and four year old children from homes where Spanish and English were spoken were randomly assigned to program type • Dual language program alternated between English and Spanish on a weekly basis by rotating children between classrooms and teachers • Classrooms in both conditions used the High/Scope curriculum, met high standards for teacher qualifications, ratio, and class size
Preschool Programs: Dual Language Approach • Findings • Children in both types of programs experienced substantial gains in English language, literacy and math, with no significant differences between groups • Among the Spanish-speakers, the dual language program produced large gains in Spanish vocabulary compared with the English program
Preschool Programs: Dual Language Approach • Experimental study comparing the effects English High Scope Curriculum, English Literacy Express Curriculum and Bilingual Literacy Express Curriculum (Farver, Lonigan, & Eppe, 2009) • Sample was 94 Spanish-dominant ELL pre-school children enrolled in a Head Start program in an inner-city school • Children were randomly assigned to three program types-High Scope (control), High Scope plus Literacy Express in English, High Scope plus Literacy Express with students beginning in Spanish and transitioning into English • Literacy Express curriculum • focuses on oral language, emergent literacy, basic math and science, and socio-cultural development • groups of 4-5 • three types of teacher-directed activities—shared reading, phonological awareness training, print knowledge activities • Children in the bilingual program transitioned into English after 9 weeks.
Preschool Programs: Dual Language Approach • Findings • Literacy Express children made significant gains compared to High Scope only children • English-only and transitional bilingual programs were equally effective for English language outcomes • Only the transitional model was effective for Spanish outcomes
Preschool Programs: Dual Language Approach • Experimental study comparing the effect of home story book reading in children’s L1 and English (Roberts, 2008) • Participants were 33 preschool children from low SES families • Home language was Hmong or Spanish • Two 6-week sessions of home combined with story book reading • 12 classic children’s storybooks with translations; no other modifications noted • Children assigned to one of two groups: • Primary language home reading/English school reading first six weeks; English home reading/English school reading second six weeks • English home reading/English school reading first six weeks followed by primary language chool reading/English school reading second six weeks
Preschool Programs: Dual Language Approach • Findings • Children learned a substantial number of words from the combined home and classroom reading experiences • Primary language home reading/English school reading as effective as English home reading/English school reading condition. • Family caregiver participation in the parent-support part of the program rose from 50% to 80% in the second session • Family caregiver English oral language skills and the number of English books in the home related to English vocabulary learning.
Dual Language Approach: Research Base • Transfer of skills from L1 to L2: if you know something in one language you either already know it in another language or can more easily learn it in another language (Cummins, 1979; Dressler, 2006) • Bilingualism itself does not interfere with academic achievement in either language (Yeung, Marsh, & Suliman, 2000) • Bilingualism has other probable benefits including cognitive flexibility (Nagy, Berninger, & Abbott, 2006; Galambos & Hakuta, 1988; Bialysotck, 2001) and improved family cohesion and self-esteem (Portes and Hao, 2002; Von Dorp , 2001). • , 2006).
Dual Language Approach: Future Directions • Important to buildi on effective L1 research • All programs did this • Major modification was L1 home and school use • Regardless of program type it is helpful to: • Provide first language support to very limited English proficient students • Additionally it is important to: • Scaffold instruction for ELLs (August & Shanahan, 2010) • Attend to teacher-student interactions (Dickinson, Darrow & Tinubu, 2008)
Dual Language Approaches: Future Directions • VIOLETS: a pre-school English language development program implemented in several counties in Maryland • Uses three-pronged approach to vocabulary development • Teach individual words • Immerse children in rich oral language environments • Develop word consciousness • Provides scaffolded instruction for ELLs • Findings indicate substantial gains in vocabulary for both ELLs and English proficient students in high poverty schools
