Chapter One
DEVELOPING LITERACY AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS
I hate English! Mei Mei said in her head in Chinese.... In New York in school, everything happened in English. Such a lonely language. Each letter stands alone and makes its own noise. Not like Chinese. -Levine (1989), I Hate English!
Mei Mei, like millions of English language learners (ELLs) across the United States, comes to a new school environment in which a new language-English-is spoken. Like Jim in Will I Have a Friend? (Cohen, 1967), ELL children are also looking for friends at their new schools-and, in their cases, friends who share a common language with them. In many situations, it may be relatively difficult for an ELL child to find a friend who speaks the same language.
According to the U.S. Department of Education (2002), between 2001 and 2002 the total K-12 enrollment growth was 12%, whereas for students with limited English proficiency (LEP), the enrollment growth was 95%. In 16 states, there was more than 200% enrollment growth for LEP students between 1992 and 2002. In addition, between 2001 and 2002, the K-12 total enrollment growth for the three states with the largest K-12 enrollments-California (6.2 million), Texas (4.2 million), and New York (2.9 million)-was 10.5%, 17.6%, and -5.3%, respectively. The LEP students' enrollment growth in the three states, however, was 40.2%, 81.3%, and 44.3%, respectively. In these three states, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Hmong, and Korean are common native languages of LEP students.
Across U.S. schools, additional support for LEP students varies from self-contained bilingual instruction to self-contained English as a second language (ESL) instruction. Some LEP students receive pull-out ESL instruction, while others get push-in ESL instruction. The nature of the support for ELL children is affected by such factors as politics (e.g., Proposition 227 in California and Proposition 203 in Arizona; Gutierrez et al., 2002), budgetary cuts, the rapidly increasing number of ELL children with varied native languages, and the limited number of teachers who are prepared in the theories and pedagogy of teaching ELL children. It is likely that teaching the majority of ELL children, and in particular teaching them to be literate in English, has already or will soon become the responsibility of teachers in mainstream classrooms (Au, 2002; Neufeld & Fitzgerald, 2001).
Linguistic, Social, and Academic Challenges for ELL Children
What Do These Challenges Mean for ELL Children?
One may argue that all young children coming to school for the first time face the linguistic, social, and academic challenges that ELL children do. The challenges that ELL children experience, however, are unique. For many ELLs, the school environment may be the first place in which they are totally immersed in English with the absence of a native language. This excessive and sudden exposure to a new language can be frightening to young children. (We suggest to teachers of ELLs, "Just imagine that you, an adult, are in a place where an unfamiliar language is spoken and you are expected to understand it.") Furthermore, ELL children are expected and pressured to master, in a short period of time, the spoken English language, which native English-speaking children have taken years to develop (Ashworth & Wakefield, 1994). At school, ELL children must learn to speak and write a whole new language whereas their native English-speaking peers come to school to practice and improve their spoken English, as well as to learn the written language.
Although both ELL children and native English-speaking children make adjustments in order to become part of a new classroom community, the process of ELL children's becoming socially accepted by their peers is further complicated by their LEP status. Tabors (1997) has described this process as a "double bind" (p. 35). In other words, in order to be socially accepted by his or her English-speaking peers, an ELL child must be proficient in English and be able to communicate with his or her peers in English. In the meantime, the ELL child can develop his or her English proficiency only through communicating with his or her English-speaking peers. To put this another way, in order to communicate with peers, the ELL child needs to be accepted by his or her peers-and vice versa.
The academic challenges ELLs face are even more overwhelming. On top of trying to become part of a new classroom community, and learning to read and write in English (which is a new language to them), ELL children are also using English to learn in various content subjects. In other words, these children are expected to develop academic language while developing their communicative language. Cummins (1986) has referred to communicative language as basic interpersonal communicative skills (BICS) and academic language as cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP). BICS usually take ELL children 2-3 years to develop, while CALP requires 5-7 years for children to develop. The reason for this time difference is that children are usually exposed to a larger amount of communicative language than of academic language, both at school and at home. Some examples of BICS are talking with peers on the playground and understanding classroom routines. Examples of CALP include responding to a book that has been read and presenting a research report.
What Do These Challenges Mean for Teachers?
The linguistic, social, and academic challenges that ELL children face during their first few years of schooling are interrelated, complex, and overwhelming. Research has indicated that ELL children follow patterns and processes of language and literacy development similar to those of their native English-speaking peers, and that helpful instructional strategies for native English-speaking children can also be effective for ELL children (Barone, 1996; Freeman & Freeman, 2000; Hudelson & Serna, 2002; Perez, 1998). The unique linguistic, social, and academic challenges for ELL children, however, complicate these patterns and processes, and teachers need to take these challenges into consideration during literacy instruction for these children. Furthermore, teachers need to be knowledgeable about beginning stages of ELL children's language development. Figure 3.1 provides an overview of this development and can be used as an assessment form.
Coming to Know ELL Children
In order for teachers to become acquainted with children from backgrounds different from their own, Nieto (2002) suggests that teachers "need to make a commitment to become students of their students" (p. 217; emphasis in original). What this means is that teachers must learn about their students' cultural, linguistic, and academic backgrounds. Although most schools require parents of ELLs to complete a home language survey that includes children's native language and the medium of communication at home, the survey often fails to provide classroom teachers with information that is unique to ELL children. For example, two children who both speak Chinese, but in two different dialects, will have literally no common language to communicate with each other. If their teacher has learned only from the survey that both children speak Chinese, the teacher may not understand why these two children do not talk to each other in the classroom. Figure 3.2 lists the areas about ELL children's backgrounds that are often not included in a home language survey. Information about siblings and friends, for example, may come in handy when teachers are looking for someone who can translate. Furthermore, knowledge of an ELL child's native language-in particular, the similarities and differences between English and the native language-can help a teacher understand why the child has difficulty with certain aspects of oral and written English language (Cary, 2000).
According to Cummins's (1989) interdependence hypothesis, to the extent that a child's native language and English share some underlying similarities, skills and strategies related to the native language can be transferred to learning in English, although the degree of transference will vary across different languages. For example, if a Spanish-speaking ELL child has mastered concepts about print in Spanish (an alphabetic language), he or she will probably grasp these concepts in English more easily than a Japanese-speaking ELL child will, because Japanese is a nonalphabetic language and does not follow the same directionality.
Learning about an ELL child's native language can start with the child's parents. Parents often appreciate a teacher's efforts to learn about their native language, which results in additional respect for the teacher (International Reading Association [IRA], 2001). Community members and international students in nearby universities and colleges can also be resources. Still other sources of information about ELL children's native languages are children's books written in one or several native languages. A website, the Center for the Study of Books in Spanish for Children and Adolescents at (www.csusm.edu/campus_centers/csb), provides information on children's books written in Spanish and in both English and Spanish. The Usborne First Thousand Words in Japanese (Amery & Cartwright, 1995) provides some background knowledge about Japanese. Hu Is a Tiger: An Introduction to Chinese Writing (Goldstein, 1995) describes the Chinese writing system and provides some examples of Chinese characters. In Table, Chair, Bear: A Book in Many Languages (Feder, 1995), accompanying an English label for an object on each page are the corresponding labels in 12 different languages (i.e., Korean, French, Arabic, Vietnamese, Japanese, Portuguese, Lao, Spanish, Chinese [Mandarin], Tagalog, Cambodian, and Navajo). Who Says a Dog Goes Bow-Wow? (De Zutter, 1993) invites readers to experience saying "Bow-wow" in 10 different languages. Finally, with a click of a mouse, teachers can gain access to various native languages on the Internet. One interesting and useful website is the Southern California Multi-Language Station (www.kscitv.com). Selecting 1 of the 14 languages on the homepage, readers will be able to read a description of a TV show in English and in a native language.
Learning about ELL children's native languages also allows teachers to experience the discomfort, anxiety, frustration, or lack of self-confidence that these children go through when they come to a school where English is the only language spoken. To sample these feelings, teachers can read the short paragraph in Figure 3.3 that is written in English and translated into Chinese; they can then jot down the similarities and differences they notice between English and Chinese.
Creating a Nonthreatening, Language- and Print-Rich Classroom Environment
Welcoming ELL Children
Creating a nonthreatening classroom environment (Krashen & Terrell, 1983) starts with a teacher's smile and interest in ELL children and their native languages. Importantly, on the first day of the school, the teacher welcomes all children and their parents with a smile, and pays close attention to the conversation in a native language between an ELL child and an adult or adults. Even though the teacher may not understand a word in such a conversation, paying attention to their communication (rather than frowning and walking away from the child and adults) sends a powerful message: The teacher cares about and respects each child, shows an interest in the language that the child is able to speak, and thus provides a welcoming environment!
In addition to welcoming smiles, a classroom needs to be an environment that is not totally unfamiliar and strange to ELL children. Many parents of young ELL children have noted that during the first few months of the school year, their children often feel lost and afraid, because they have lost control of the world that is familiar to them. This unfamiliarity can result from the absence of native languages, the massive presence of the English language, unknown classmates, and complicated classroom routines. To create a relatively familiar classroom environment for ELL children, teachers can ask parents to bring print materials or environmental print in a native language (e.g., menus, books, newspapers), as well as photos about the children's life experiences (e.g., family gatherings) or pictures reminiscent of the children's home countries or cultural experiences (e.g., holiday celebrations). All of these materials are posted around the classroom. Such materials not only help bring ELL children's familiar world to the classroom, but also provide native English-speaking children in the classroom with opportunities to learn about other cultures and languages (Au, 2002).
For some ELL children, a familiar world can exist only when they see their familiar objects. A teacher may need to allow an ELL child to bring an object (e.g., a stuffed animal, a small birthday present) that comforts him or her (in the same way that a cozy blanket makes a young child not afraid during the night). This special object may also become a faithful listener for the ELL child when he or she wants to speak a native language and later to practice speaking English. Each child's object can become the first show-and-tell item that holds special meaning.
Developing a Language- and Print-Rich Classroom
A nonthreatening classroom does not exclude the presence of language and print in both English and native languages. A language- and print-rich classroom provides ELL children with opportunities to become comfortable and familiar with English, and to explore its functions and conventions (which may share similarities with a native language). To create a language- and print-rich environment, teachers need to start at a personal level and then move on to a more academic level. Here are several suggestions.
Paste a picture of each child in the classroom next to the child's name label on the desk. At the beginning of the school year, English names do not make much sense to ELL children, but pictures do.
Post the first names of all children on the wall, and avoid last names. In some languages (e.g., Chinese, Korean), a family name or surname is not called a last name, as in English; it is written before the first name. It would be confusing to ELL children if both the last name and the first name of each child were listed. Alphabetize first names, so that the names can provide a point of reference while teaching letter names and sounds of the alphabet. Also, paste each child's picture next to his or her first name.
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Excerpted from Teaching Early Literacy by Diane M. Barone Copyright © 2004 by Diane M. Barone. Excerpted by permission.
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