Cultivating a Culture of Bilingualism: Evaluating a Home Language Arts Curriculum for SIFE

Lisa Auslander,Maggie Beiting-Parrish

doi:10.3390/languages6040170

Abstract

This study is a mixed-methods exploratory study of a Spanish Home Language Arts (HLA) pilot curriculum designed for Students with Interrupted Education (SIFE) as it was implemented across six different schools in New York State during the 2019–2020 school year before the onset of COVID-19. The focus of the study was to observe whether the HLA curriculum improved teacher practice in the increased use of the gradual release of responsibility and the curriculum-prescribed protocols. Another goal was to examine whether the use of the curriculum helped to improve student writing and bilingual literacy. A final goal of the study was to survey teachers on their perceptions of the curriculum, especially in how the lesson design fostered student engagement and collaboration with others. The results of the internal evaluation showed that the teachers improved in their practice, especially in the areas of gradual release and increased student time on task. The students were able to develop specific text analysis and writing skills using instructional protocols used in the home language and in English that were transferable across classroom contexts. In addition, the lessons encouraged students to leverage literacy skills and background knowledge in Spanish as a way to support learning new skills in both Spanish and English. Finally, the study showed that the use of the curriculum increased student engagement and collaboration in the classroom.

Highlights

Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE) and Newcomer English Language Learners are a unique group of students within bilingual education programs in the United States public education system
One of the design goals for this curriculum was to develop it in alignment with the team’s existing English Language Arts (ELA) and English as a New Language (ENL) curriculum in order to build in similar instructional strategies that could be leveraged across classrooms
The team drew upon existing research and literature about SIFE and English learners as well as surveys of Home Language Arts (HLA) teachers in the field to better understand the needs of SIFE in these classroom settings

Summary

Introduction

Students with Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE) and Newcomer English Language Learners are a unique group of students within bilingual education programs in the United States public education system. SIFE have diverse needs outside of the classroom that impact in-class performance, especially as compared to their same-age mainstream peers; they frequently need to work, take care of siblings or their own children, and have residual trauma and a host of other issues that may lead to disengagement or frequent absence from school (Auslander 2019). All of these factors taken together suggest that a culturally relevant curriculum is especially important for SIFE, both for encouraging translanguaging between the home language and English as the new language and for fostering an environment that is culturally responsive and sensitive to the needs of SIFE (Cioè-Peña and Snell 2015). The team drew upon existing research and literature about SIFE and English learners as well as surveys of HLA teachers in the field to better understand the needs of SIFE in these classroom settings

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion