Chapter Six: We Speak in Many
Tongues
English 694
Dr. Park
Ashlee Roberts
Chia-Chen Lin
Introduction
 Linguistic Diversity
 The U.S is the most monolingual society
 In the U.S., there is a stigma attached to speaking a language
other than English, particularly in public
 Linguistic diversity in U.S. is the responsibility of ALL
teachers
Language diversity and Multicultural
Education: Expanding the Framework
 Language diversity is a resource
 Language discrimination
 Language diversity in multicultural education
 Native language development
 Teacher’s responsibility to make the minority students to feel
comfortable
Viewing Bilinguals as a Resource
 In most countries bilingualism and multilingualism is the
norm
 In the U.S. monolingualism is believed to be an asset
 People who do not speak English well or with an accent are
treated poorly
 Ethnicities are seen as having a problem socially and
politically
Developing an Awareness of Linguicism
 Linguicism is defined as “ ideologies and structures that are
used to legitimate, effectuate, and reproduce an unequal
division of power and resources(both material and
nonmaterial) between groups that are defined on the basis of
language”.
 Many cultures are denied their rights to use their native
language.
 Students are denied the right to use native language and are
asked to speak English at home
The Role of Linguistic in Multicultural
Education
 Nieto says language is a cultural diversity, just like race, class,
and gender
 Language and cultural diversity are the most important roles
in bilingual education
Native Language and School
Achievement
 Loss of prior knowledge when your native language is
unavailable
 No learner is a blank slate
 Students who speak another language are viewed as
“handicapped”
 Knowing a language is a positive influence in learning
another language
Approaches Teaching Language
Minority Students
 We should recognize L1 skills when teaching the L2
 Bilingual programs are more effective than ESL alone
 Bilingual education is education that involves two languages
What Works with Language Minority
Students
 Benefits of native language development
 Students usually take 5 to 7 years to move from their native
language to English
 Bilingual educated students perform better than native English
speakers in many classes
 Bilingual educations promotes closer relationships
 Language and culture are important for academic achievement
Implications for Teaching Language
Minority Students
 Increase in minority language units are affecting all communities
 All teachers and schools need to share responsibility for minority
students
 Only 10% of teachers are certified for bilingual education
 -“1. All teachers need to understand how language is learned, 2.
Teachers need to develop an addictive perspective concerning
bilingualism, 3. Teachers and schools can learn to consciously
foster native language literacy”
All Teachers need to Understand How
Language is learned
 Comprehensive Input includes engaging students with cues in
their instruction.
 Many things influence the teachers knowledge of the student
 Teachers should participate in events that develop their
knowledge of language
Teachers Need to Develop an Addictive
Perspective Concerning Bilingualism
 English plus other language can make the U.S. stronger
individually and as a society
 “Encouraging students to use their native language and
cultural knowledge as resources for learning is frequently
more important than knowing the students languages.”
Teachers and Schools Learn to
Consciously Foster Native Language
Literacy
 Teachers should try to learn the language of one of their
students
 Minicucci’s analyzed many schools with minority students,
and found that all the schools shared characteristics
Conclusion
 “Language is one of the fundamental signs of our humanity”
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Juz3bQyMqBw
Discussion Questions
 How can we incorporate English into the student’s home
life, without taking away the benefits of native language use?
 As an educator how will you use bilingual education in your
teaching?
 Why is it accepted for students to learn a foreign language
for pleasure, when nonnative speaker’s languages are lost?