Immersion Education in the Early Years

Tina Hickey, Anne-Marie de Mejía, Tina Hickey, Anne-Marie de Mejía

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• eBook ISBN: 9781317294245
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Bildung
• Subtopic: Bildung Allgemein

Worldwide, more parents are opting for immersion pre-schooling for their children in order to benefit from its linguistic, educational, and cultural benefits. This immersion can be either bilingual or monolingual, aimed at early second language learning, or at language maintenance – offering minority language children mother-tongue support and enrichment.

This book examines some of the key issues and policy concerns relating to immersion education in the early years. The term itself can be difficult in some political contexts, as can the differing outcomes noted by studies comparing monolingual programmes, and bilingual programmes for minority language children. The importance of training in immersion methodology for educators is discussed, as is the need to adapt preschool pedagogical practices to the immersion context, in order to provide optimal input for young language learners. One of the most pressing discussions surrounds differentiated provision – ensuring that the varying needs of children with language impairment, typical second language learners, and mother-tongue speakers with significant socioeconomic or linguistic disadvantages are all met.

Overall, the book explores the challenges currently facing the sector, particularly with regard to training and professional development for practitioners, and the provision of appropriate materials in less widely used languages. Given the documented benefit of high quality immersion pre-schooling, this book fulfils an urgent need to increase the recognition of the sector. This book was published as a special issue of International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.

Bilingual and biliteracy skills in young Spanish-speaking low-SES children: impact of instructional language and primary language proficiency

Kathryn Lindholm-Leary

Child and Adolescent Development, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA, USA

The purpose of this research was to better understand the bilingual and biliteracy skills of Spanish-speaking low-socio-economic status (low-SES) children who attended an English or a bilingual programme during preschool and kindergarten/first grade, and to determine whether their outcomes varied according to instructional language and primary language proficiency. Subjects included 254 kindergarten through second grade (ages 4–7 years) Hispanic students who were low-SES, spoke Spanish as their primary language, and who had parents with low levels of formal education. Results showed that these children entered preschool with very low levels of language and literacy skills in Spanish and English, but made excellent gains regardless of the language instructional programme they attended. Children in English vs. bilingual instruction had significantly higher scores in Spanish and English language and literacy skills at preschool entry than children entering bilingual programmes, but these differences disappeared by first or second grade entry, and children instructed in English showed deteriorating Spanish language scores. Finally, among children instructed bilingually in the early years, those who were Mostly Proficient in Spanish at entry scored significantly higher on the English language proficiency test than those who were Mostly Limited in Spanish. Results provide evidence for the advantage of bilingual instruction at preschool through first grade levels for low-SES language minority children.

Introduction

Little research has focused on the development of bilingual and biliteracy skills in young children of low-socio-economic status (low-SES) language minority groups attending preschool and early elementary programmes in a bilingual vs. English environment. This article will address this gap with research focused on the bilingual and biliteracy skills of low-SES Spanish-speaking children to determine whether their language and (pre) literacy outcomes are associated with language of instruction in preschool and then kindergarten and first grade. In addition, this research systematically examines a major gap in our understanding of children’s bilingual and biliteracy outcomes relating to the various configurations of instructional language from preschool through first grade (bilingual throughout, combinations of bilingual and English instruction). Finally, another gap this research addresses is to examine in young children the extent to which proficiency in the primary language is associated with proficiency in the second language (English).

Demographic contexts

According to National Center for Educational statistics in the USA (Planty et al. 2009) about 10.8 million school-aged children (or 20% of the total) spoke a language other than English at home, and 5% (2.7 million) spoke English with difficulty. They are currently the fastest growing population in the USA and the number of English Language Learners (ELLs) is expected to increase another 50% by 2025 (Passell and Cohn 2008). Hispanic children represent the largest number of children who speak English with difficulty (2.1 million).

The National Center for Education Statistics reports that children in Hispanic families are more likely to live in poverty, and they are less likely to have parents with a college degree and more likely to have parents with less than a high school education than other ethnic groups (Aud, Fox, and KewalRamani 2010). These are important demographic factors since research shows a strong link between child schooling outcomes and SES, including parent education (e.g. Aud, Fox, and KewalRamani 2010; Planty et al. 2009). For instance, SES is the strongest predictor of academic achievement throughout the K-3 grade spans (National Task Force on Early Childhood Education for Hispanics 2009). These risk factors of low-SES and parent education, combined with lack of proficiency in the majority language, can lead to a very shaky start at school entry for these children, which can negatively impact their future schooling success.

Language and literacy development in young immigrant children

Universal preschool, which is available in many other countries, has been hailed as a promising approach for closing the large achievement gap that divides children across ethnic, racial, linguistic and economic backgrounds (Frede and Barnett 2011; Haskins and Rouse 2005). While the achievement gap problem has received significant attention, it has been largely discussed with respect to the school-aged population. However, more educators are noting that the gap actually begins in the preschool years (Barnett and Hustedt 2003; Frede and Barnett 2011; Haskins and Rouse 2005). For example, in the Early Childhood Educational Longitudinal Study (ECLS), which is a nationally representative sample of kindergarten students in the USA, results show that already by kindergarten entry, there is a noticeable and significant achievement gap in reading and math readiness skills (West, Denton, and Reaney 2001). In addition, Spanish-speaking preschoolers begin preschool with low levels of phonological awareness, letter identification and emergent literacy skills in English, and they perform below monolingual children of the same age in both languages (Paez, Tabors, and Lopez 2007).

While many educational organisations and educators recognise the value of at least some primary language instruction in preschool, there is considerable pressure to promote English proficiency over primary language proficiency, with some states developing English language arts standards, but no accountability or professional development for teachers instructed in the primary language. The accountability for English language development and lack of professional development in other languages means that many Spanish-speaking or bilingual preschoolers experience English-only instructional approaches. Yet, research indicates that a strong first language can serve as an important foundation for the second language and can lead to stronger achievement and second language development at the preschool (Barnett et al. 2007; Espinosa 2007, 2009; Lopez and Greenfield 2004) and elementary and secondary levels (Genesee et al. 2006; Goldenberg 2008; Lindholm-Leary and Genesee 2010; Lindholm-Leary and Hernandez 2011; Lindholm-Leary and Howard 2008). Such research would suggest the importance of primary language or bilingual instruction in preschool.

However, Lindholm-Leary and Borsato (2006) and Lindholm-Leary and Genesee (2010), in large-scale reviews of the research literature on ELLs, also point out that research and evaluation studies conducted in the early years of a programme (grades K-3) typically revealed that students in bilingual education scored below grade level (and sometimes very low) and performed either lower than or equivalent to their comparison group peers. In contrast, almost all evaluations conducted at the end of elementary school and in middle and high school showed that the educational outcomes of bilingually educated students were at least comparable to, and usually higher than, their comparison peers. These findings would suggest that it might be difficult to detect any advantages of bilingual education at early grade levels. Yet, there are a few studies that show differences favouring preschool children educated in bilingual over English settings (Barnett et al. 2007; Espinosa 2007, 2009).

In addition, there is little information, especially focused on early learners, about the impact of moving children from one language of instruction to another (from bilingual to English or vice versa). Furthermore, while educators have lamented the attrition of the primary language among potentially bilingual youngsters who are instructed through English (Espinosa 2007, 2009; Hammer, Lawrence, and Miccio, 2008; Oller and Eilers 2002), there is little systematic research showing the impact of English or bilingual instruction on preschool children’s primary language development. Thus, it is important to add further clarity to this important research topic, as the findings can impact decisions made about language of instruction for children in the early primary grades.

The purpose of this study was to better understand the bilingual and biliteracy skills of Spanish-speaking low-SES children entering preschool through second grade. More specifically, this study focuses on the language and (pre)literacy outcomes in English and Spanish children entering preschool, kindergarten and first and second grades to address two important points: (1) whether language and (pre)literacy outcomes in the two languages vary according to instructional language; and (2) whether children’s language and literacy outcomes in English at entry to kindergarten, first and second grade are associated with level of Spanish language proficiency.

Methodology

Sample

The participants were 283 kindergarten through second grade students who had been enrolled in a bilingual or English-only programme in preschool (for children aged four years) and then kindergarten (for five year olds) through second grade. Of these children, 80 were kindergartners, 105 were first graders and 98 were second graders. There were slightly more males (54%) than females (46%). All of these children were Hispanic, low-SES, spoke Spanish as their primary language, and were identified as an English language learner at kindergarten entry. In addition, formal education was fairly low for the children’s parents, with 59% of parents having less than a high school education, 25% possessing a high school diploma, 14% having some college or technical training and 2% graduating from college.

From a parent survey of 106 parents in this sample (described below), parents were asked to provide their level of formal education to further clarify how much education parents in the lowest category (‘non high-scho...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Citation Information
• Notes on Contributors
• Introduction: Immersion education in the early years
• 1. Bilingual and biliteracy skills in young Spanish-speaking low-SES children: impact of instructional language and primary language proficiency
• 2. (Re)-introduction to French: four education models to revitalise an endangered group in Eastern Canada
• 3. Factors, processes and outcomes of early immersion education in the Francophone Community in Belgium
• 4. Swedish immersion in the early years in Finland
• 5. How deep is your immersion? Policy and practice in Welsh-medium preschools with children from different language backgrounds
• 6. Bilingual education for all: Latino dual language learners withlanguage disabilities
• Index