“Language Maintenance versus
Language of Instruction: Spanish Reading
Development among Latino and Latina
Bilingual Learners”
Authors: C. Patrick Proctor, Diane August, Maria Carlo, Chris Barr
Project 1
Summarized by
Paola Treviño
Introduction
Proctor, August, Carlo and Barr conduct a study of “101
Spanish-English bilingual Latino/a children in second
through fifth grade in three urban U.S. districts.”
According to the researchers “bilingualism is associated
with achievement in both cognition and generally
literacy, which are core components of academic
development.”
European
Immigration
Early waves of European Immigration have proven that heritage language loss
occurs through generations. Newly arrived immigrants maintain their native
language while learning some English. The first-generation children then take up
the English becoming the dominate language. While the heritage language takes a
backseat. Second generation children, lose most of the heritage language and
only have the last remnants of the language through their grandparents. The third
generation children have not almost completely lost the heritage language
becoming monolingual speaking English.
The generational language shift occurs in most new immigrant groups who
migrate to the U.S. With the many changes in our world technology and
globalization have impacted the way immigrants communicate between
countries. Heritage language loss is present to this day with younger immigrants
quickly learning English. A study conducted by Alba et al. showed the use of
English in the homes of Chinese, Cuban and Mexican immigrant children
significantly increased from first generation through third generation.
Benefits of Bilingualism
Effects on literacy, language and cognition and
socioeconomic status
Literacy: Native language literacy development does facilitate English literacy development.
If the child is strong in their heritage language they will develop strong skills in the English
language.
Language and Cognition: Bilingual children have proven to make metalinguistic insights
sooner and with greater depth than their monolingual peers. This means the learner’s
insight into the nature of the language allows the transfer of linguistic knowledge across
languages.
Socioeconomic status: Children of low socioeconomic status have been associated with
lower levels of school achievement. The children of this low socioeconomic status are also
linked to limited access to resources such as printed materials. Unfortunately, low
socioeconomic status is linked to family income and inability to obtain needed resources.
The Study
The researchers conducted a four year long longitudinal study of 101 students
from El Paso, Texas, Chicago, Illinois and Boston, Massachusetts. Three types of
instructional programs were used: English only, Spanish only and bilingual.
Three main research questions were explored:
1.
2.
3.
Does language of instruction promote or hinder English or Spanish reading
comprehension among bilingual students?
Are Spanish and English reading skills related to one another? If so, how? Do
these relationships vary as a function of language of instruction?
Do socioeconomic characteristics of the home lives of the children affect the
Spanish reading achievement of the students?
Data was collected five times during the study. The children were measured on
English and Spanish reading comprehension and Spanish oral vocabulary.
Results
Spanish Reading Growth:
• Students in the Spanish and bilingual groups outperformed their English
instructed counterparts in Spanish reading. Spanish instructed students
outperformed bilingual students. Overall the Spanish instructed students
outperformed the English-instructed students.
• English and bilingual instructed students were stronger English readers than
their Spanish-instructed counterparts. However, neither group differed
significantly from one another.
• Decreases in test scores did show decreases in Spanish reading over time for the
bilingual and Spanish-instructed students. This indicates that over time the
students in these groups were losing ground in the Spanish language.
• The English instructed group was significantly outperformed by both the
Spanish and bilingual instructed groups in Spanish reading gains. This also
results in the Spanish-instructed group to outperform their bilingual
counterparts.
Results
Spanish Reading Comprehension:
Spanish-instructed students outperformed both bilingual
and English-instructed groups when using English reading and
Spanish oral vocabulary to predict Spanish reading comprehension.
Socioeconomic Variables:
Variables of mother, father and household income
showed minimal, indeed negative, yet
nonsignificant, effects of SES on Spanish reading
comprehension.
Overall
As we’ve learned in class it is important for a student to be
strong in their native language and proficiently learn their second
language. We read in the article “The Astounding Effectiveness of
Dual Language Education for All” instruction given to the student is
very important. Bilingualism is associated with the achievement of
literacy of the student. In week two instructional approaches,
transfer across language had mixed feelings and reviews from the
researchers of “Teaching Struggling Readers Who Are Native Spanish
Speakers: What do we Know?” This article resulted in the conclusion
that learning in one language may not be transferred to another
language. The bilingual instructed students in the article summarized
were in fact losing their Spanish heritage language although being
taught both English and Spanish. The students need to be literate in
their native language to have positive outcomes when learning their
second language.
Reference
Proctor, C. (2010). Language Maintenance versus
Language of Instruction: Spanish Reading
Development among Latino and Latina
Bilingual Learners. Journal Of Social Issues,
66(1), 79-94