Bilingual Students Research Articles

The Special Bilingual Education Programme in Cameroon: The Scientific and Technical Components in Question

Any teaching programme intends to train a specific type of citizens who able to answer a specific need of a country. It is for that purpose that the Special Bilingual Education Programme (SBEP) was launched in some Cameroonian secondary schools. That programme aims to train perfect bilingual students, and this goes in line with the promotion of bilingualism established by the Cameroonian government. This paper questions the marginalization/ ignorance of scientific and technical education within that programme which normally is supposed to consider all the components of education. The data was collected through questionnaires administered to 100 science students and 20 teachers of five bilingual secondary schools that host the Special Bilingual Education Programme. Another questionnaire was administered to 100 technical students and 10 teachers of three technical schools, making a total of 230 informants. The results revealed that the marginalization/ ignorance of scientific and technical components in the Special Bilingual Education Programme is a serious problem. Students who enrol in that programme and who ambition to continue with scientific studies are forced to leave it after the BEPC (Brevet d’Etudes du Premier Cycle) and the GCE- Ordinary Level examinations. Technical education students who want to be bilingual cannot enrol in that programme. This paper recommends that the government include the scientific and technical components into the Special Bilingual Education Programme to enable science and technical students to benefit from it.

Learning from a community bilingual classroom: Toward a translanguaging literacies pedagogy with Chinese American bilinguals

ABSTRACT Situated in the Midwest region of the United States, this study draws on translanguaging literacies to critically examine the discussions and sense-making that was taking place in a Mandarin-English bilingual community classroom between a Chinese bilingual teacher and three Chinese American bilingual students while engaging in discussions of language, culture, and history with children’s literature. Our findings demonstrate that the teacher carefully applied translanguaging literacies as deliberate pedagogy to help bilingual students understand language in the world, normalize linguistic freedom and respect, and critically make sense of their complex identities and histories with and through their entire linguistic repertoires.

Linguistic Features of Secondary School Writing: Can Natural Language Processing Shine a Light on Differences by Sex, English Language Status, or Higher Scoring Essays?

This article provides three major contributions to the literature: we provide granular information on the development of student argumentative writing across secondary school; we replicate the MacArthur et al. model of Natural Language Processing (NLP) writing features that predict quality with a younger group of students; and we are able to examine the differences for students across language status. In our study, we sought to find the average levels of text length, cohesion, connectives, syntactic complexity, and word-level complexity in this sample across Grades 7-12 by sex, by English learner status, and for essays scoring above and below the median holistic score. Mean levels of variables by grade suggest a developmental progression with respect to text length, with the text length increasing with grade level, but the other variables in the model were fairly stable. Sex did not seem to affect the model in meaningful ways beyond the increased fluency of women writers. We saw text length and word level differences between initially designated and redesignated bilingual students compared to their English-only peers. Finally, we see that the model works better with our higher scoring essays and is less effective explaining the lower scoring essays.

Exploring the roles of openness to experience, emotions, and proficiency levels in bilingual students’ happiness

Aims and objectives: Limited attention has been paid to whether and how bilinguals’ multiple language status is related to their well-being. Thus, this research aims to explore whether and how bilingual proficiency interacts with the relationships between personality, emotions, and happiness in bilinguals. Methodology: This study employed a survey questionnaire approach. Data and analysis: A sample of 277 bilingual college students in the United States participated in the project. Mediation and moderation analyses were conducted. Findings and conclusion: Results suggested that positive emotion fully mediated the relationship between openness to experience and happiness, and bilingual proficiency moderated the relationship between openness to experience and emotions. Originality: This study unpacked the link between openness to experience and happiness through mediators of different emotions. Importantly, this study highlighted the different moderating impacts of bilingual proficiency on the relationship between openness to experience and emotions. Implications: This study presents several implications related to positive language education practices.

Predictors of Chinese reading in Chinese monolingual and Chinese–English bilingual children in Mainland China

AbstractThere is a growing number of children learning to read in bilingual environments, yet research on the uniqueness of reading acquisition in these bilingual children, particularly L1 majority bilinguals, is limited. With a sample size of 690 4th-grade students, this study investigated predictors influencing L1 Chinese reading in Chinese–English bilingual children (n = 345) attending Chinese–English bilingual schools in mainland China and made comparisons with their monolingual counterparts (n = 345). The results of a multi-group path analysis revealed both similarities and differences between the two groups. In terms of Chinese reading comprehension, word reading and linguistic comprehension were significant predictors for both groups, but their relative importance differed. While there was no difference in the predictive power between the two predictors in the monolingual group, word reading held a greater contribution in the bilingual group. Regarding Chinese word reading, both morphological and orthographic awareness emerged as significant predictors in the monolingual group, whereas in the bilingual group, only morphological awareness was significant, and the contribution of phonological awareness was insignificant in either group. These findings underscore the distinct relationship between reading and its predictive constituents in bilingual students when compared to their monolingual counterparts.

Tracing the History: Language Education Policy and Emergent Bilingual Learners in the United States

Since the passage of the 1968 Bilingual Education Act, the meaning, function, and connotation of bilingual education in the United States have undergone significant changes. In this article, the author outlines the evolution of U.S. language education policies for emergent bilingual learners since the 19th century. In particular, the article demonstrates the major waves and shifts of language education policies that either support or oppress the linguistic rights of language minoritized students, and captures how the changing social, political, and economic climate has shaped the nation’s response to language diversity. Importantly, reviewing the historical evolution of language policies not only echoes the importance of policy decisions in impacting bilingual students’ educational trajectories, but also informs future policy decisions in order to disrupt deficit positioning of bilingual communities.

Supporting Knowledge and Language Acquisition of Secondary Emergent Bilinguals through Social Studies Instruction

AbstractThis study examined the initial efficacy of World Generation (WorldGen), a Tier I social studies instructional approach for emergent bilingual (EB) students and their native English‐speaking (non‐EB) peers in Grades 6 and 7. WorldGen builds on prior research on instructional practices that have been associated with improved content knowledge and literacy outcomes for EBs in classes of students with varying English proficiency. Using a within‐teacher design, middle grades world history teachers' classes were randomly assigned to WorldGen treatment (17) or comparison conditions (16) for three to four approximately two‐week units. The student sample included 42% EBs. Students in the treatment condition (n = 373) scored higher, on average, on world history content (Hedges' g = 0.47) and vocabulary knowledge (Hedges' g = 0.41) than students in the comparison condition (n = 343) but no statistically significant findings were yielded regarding disciplinary literacy skills at the end of WorldGen instruction. Of primary interest, the statistically significant main effects indicated that world history content knowledge and vocabulary learning was similar for both current EB and non‐EB students in the treatment condition. The findings provide initial support for the use of the WorldGen instructional practices for improving content acquisition and vocabulary in general education social studies classes with students with a range of English proficiency. Furthermore, teachers perceived the WorldGen instructional practices and materials as providing the information and learning experiences necessary to support students in meeting grade‐level expectations.

Reading-Aloud as Complex Art, not Simple Activity: A Cautionary Tale, Part II

This article explores the nuanced art of reading aloud, positioning it as a complex, multifaceted practice rather than a mere activity. Drawing on a personal vignette involving a read-aloud session gone awry, the author, a literacy educator with a deep affinity for picturebooks and reading-aloud strategies, delves into the curricular and instructional implications of reading aloud. The discussion extends into a comprehensive review of literature across five major categories, including the significance of picturebooks and their role in engaging diverse readers like emergent bilingual students and special needs students. Through reflective analysis, the author shares insights on selecting picturebooks, employing effective read-aloud strategies, and the overall impact of reading aloud on children’s literacy development. Concluding with practical tips for educators and caregivers, the article underscores reading aloud as a sophisticated art that enriches the educational experience, advocating for its thoughtful integration into literacy instruction.

Beyond English centrality: integrating expansive conceptions of language for literacy programming into IEPs

This article addresses the English centrality in reading policy, assessment, and instructional practices in the U.S. and its implications for the educational programing for emerging bilingual students (EBs) with disabilities. A recent review of the state of practice as it relates to EBs with disabilities reveals concerns that have endured for nearly six decades: biased assessment, disproportionality issues in special education, and teachers’ lack of understanding of language acquisition and students’ potential. These concerns demonstrate a need for the field to prioritize multilingual lenses for both the identification of and programming for EBs with disabilities. We propose attention to conceptions of language that expand beyond the structuralist standpoint that prevails in the current science of reading reform. We offer guiding principles for IEP development grounded in sociocultural perspectives when designing bilingual instructional practices, which can be applied to the educational programming for EBs with disabilities. Within a sociocultural view of bilingualism and biliteracy, language, and literacy are understood by multiplicities in use, practice, form, and function, in which all communicators draw from expansive meaning-making repertoires, whether in listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, and multimodally representing. By expanding conceptions of a student’s linguistic repertoire, we honor their use of language as one, holistic system in which their named languages plus a multitude of linguistic practices intersect and interact.

An investigation of teacher candidates’ ideologies towards emergent bilingual students

ABSTRACT This study examined how teacher candidates’ beliefs about language and ideologies towards emergent bilinguals (EBs’) are influenced by the number of bilingual and English as a second language methods (BEM) courses they complete, and if their perspectives further evolve as they spend time in field placements. A total of 293 pre-service teachers completed Fitzsimmons-Doolan’s 2011 language ideology dimensions survey at the beginning of an academic semester. At the end of the term candidates responded to three open-ended questions, and responses were analysed and categorised into three themes: what candidates need to know, what EBs’ academic needs are, and what a culturally relevant teacher preparation curriculum must offer. Findings suggest participants’ visions of schooling seemed to change after completing two or more BEM courses, and after reaching a 21–30 clinical hour scaffold working in an instructional capacity with EBs in K-12 schools.

Morphophonemic analysis boosts orthographic and semantic learning of academic words for Spanish–English bilinguals

BackgroundUpper elementary grade students encounter increasingly complex texts with abundant morphologically complex words. Despite the positive effects of morphology‐based vocabulary instruction, emergent bilinguals with limited word reading skills may need additional support.MethodsThis study investigated the effects of morphological analysis and morphophonemic analysis instruction on the orthographic and semantic learning of morphologically complex academic words. Fourth‐ and fifth‐grade Spanish–English bilingual students (N = 30) in the United States participated in two learning tasks. In learning task one, participants learned two sets of carefully matched derivational words under morphological and whole‐word learning conditions. In learning task two, the same participants learned two other sets of words under morphophonemic and whole‐word learning conditions. Each learning task included two learning sessions interweaved by meaning recall and spelling production assessments. Cross‐classified multilevel regression was used to assess the effects of intervention conditions, child and item predictors, as well as cross‐level interactions.ResultsFindings showed no significant difference in meaning recall and spelling measures between morphological and whole‐word conditions. Students performed significantly better in the morphophonemic condition than in the whole‐word condition for both meaning and affix spelling outcomes. The effect of morphophonemic intervention over whole word condition was stronger for younger students and words of lower base frequencies. Student meaning and spelling performance was significantly predicted by their word reading skills.ConclusionsMorphophonemic analysis instruction enhances word meaning recall and spelling of complex derivative words.

Improving Second Language Vowel Production With Hand Gestures Encoding Visible Articulation: Evidence From Picture‐Naming and Paragraph‐Reading Tasks

AbstractThis study investigates whether audiovisual phonetic training with hand gestures encoding visible or nonvisible articulation features has a differential impact on learning second language sounds. Ninety‐nine Catalan–Spanish bilingual students were trained to differentiate English /æ/ and /ʌ/, which differ in the visible lip aperture and nonvisible tongue position, with training involving no gestures, gestures representing the lip aperture, or gestures representing the tongue position. Before, immediately after, and 1 week after the training, participants’ perception of the targets was assessed through a word‐identification task, and their production was tested through paragraph‐reading, picture‐naming, and word‐imitation tasks. Although all participants improved in perception and production, the lip hand gesture was more effective in adjusting lip aperture than the other two conditions in the paragraph‐reading and picture‐naming tasks. These results suggest that hand gestures encoding visible rather than nonvisible articulation features are more effective for improving second language pronunciation.

How Different Bilinguals Cultural Identification Influence Their Language Proficiency

This article investigates the relationship between bilinguals cultural identification and language proficiency and tries to find out the strategy to improve bilinguals language proficiency. It was written in a literature review format, summarizing ten articles about bilinguals, and comparing them to research the topic. The study mostly researches three bilingual groups: immigrants, heritage language speakers, and transnational students. Moreover, found that immigrants would either identify with both cultures or deny one of them. Their attitude toward the culture will also reflect their language proficiency; they either have balanced language proficiency in both languages or show a preference for one. For heritage language speakers, their cultural identification can be consolidated through involvement in a kind of cultural background; then, heritage language speakers would raise their willingness to improve their language proficiency of heritage language. Finally, the transnational students, if they can identify themselves as successful students, might hold more confidence to study the language and gradually get better proficiency. This article concludes with three directions to help bilingual people improve their language proficiency based on their cultural identification. This could be concluded as producing a better bilingual community, recommending HL speakers parents use more about their heritage language before their children, and helping bilingual students build the identification as successful students.

“(Not) the same as it was”: Parents’ and teachers’ perception of the impact of COVID-19 on a bilingual elementary program

This article examines teachers’ and parents’ perceptions of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and remote learning on the implementation of a Portuguese-English Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) program in an elementary school in the U.S. Drawing on the literature on language orientations and in/equity in DLBE, this study hones in on the results of two surveys, involving 66 parents and 18 teachers, conducted as part of a three-year mixed-methods project. Our analysis points to the contrasting perceptions of parents regarding the impact of COVID-19 on their children’s education. English-speaking parents believed that the benefits of DLBE such as foreign language learning diminished, leading some to withdraw their children from the program. In contrast, Portuguese-speaking parents expressed commitment to the program and vouched for its positive impact on their children’s learning of Portuguese and English during the pandemic. Teachers reported the negative impacts of remote learning on all students’ language learning, but Portuguese-speaking students were perceived as struggling more due to a lack of parental support. This study contributes to research on in/equity in DLBE by showcasing how varying perceptions of parents and teachers during a crisis can accentuate inequitable dynamics for racialized bilingual students and families.

Linguistically responsive formative assessment for emergent bilinguals: exploration of an elementary teacher’s practice in a math classroom

ABSTRACT This study explores the responsiveness of an elementary teacher’s support for emergent bilingual students by examining the connections between the teacher’s assessment expertise, formative assessment practices, and emergent bilinguals’ unique language needs in math classes. The study, which investigated the indicators that characterize a linguistically responsive and equitable formative assessment, included and prioritized the perspectives of emergent bilingual students. Primary data sources included classroom observations, teacher interviews, and student interviews. This study elucidates pedagogical practices that are beneficial for emergent bilinguals. It found that both emergent bilinguals and teachers generally agree on the best practices, including their understanding of the language support. However, at times, there is a discrepancy between what the teacher said and the support that emergent bilingual students need. This study contributes to a comprehensive understanding of what and how teachers should know and act for performing responsive formative assessments for emergent bilinguals. It has implications for further research and for teachers who work with emergent bilingual students in core content areas.

Supporting Early Biliteracy in English‐Medium Classrooms: Initiatives for Family Engagement and Instructional Innovations

AbstractSince many bilingual students do not have access to bilingual education, this article illustrates how to collaborate with families and create instructional innovations to support biliteracy for all young bilinguals. The authors implemented a Biliteracy Jumpstart for 6 weeks at the beginning of school year culminating in Family Biliteracy Day with one linguistically diverse Pre‐K classroom.

Harnessing transnational funds of knowledge through translanguaging pedagogy: Insights from an Asian migrant teacher

ABSTRACT Drawing on the concepts of translanguaging and transnational funds of knowledge, this qualitative study explored the multilingual and mobile life and pedagogical approaches of Ms. Tao, an Asian migrant teacher working in a New York City public school. The findings reveal that Ms. Tao’s vast linguistic, cultural, and migratory experiences have shaped her firm translanguaging stance and strong commitment to translanguaging pedagogy. She employs various bilingual and transnational resources to strategically and deliberately circumvent the school’s strict monolingual policies and foster everyday translanguaging for bilingual students in her classroom. The findings of this study provide valuable implications for teacher preparation, bilingual education, and future research explorations of translanguaging pedagogies among migrant teachers.

Disciplinary skills are not enough: Resituating historical thinking within students’ racialized and linguistic experiences

ABSTRACT Background Drawing from research with 11th-grade history students, the authors illustrate how students’ racial/ethnic and language experiences influence their analysis of Mexican American discrimination. Latinx students’ experiences with white privilege helped them understand why 1940s Mexican Americans claimed whiteness to access better schools. However, students’ experiences with instruction for Emergent Bilingual (EB) students interfered with seeing language segregation as a proxy for racial/ethnic discrimination. Methods The first author collected three days of classroom field notes, conducted 15 student interviews, and collected 177 student work samples. The authors used a grounded theory approach to identify how students’ racialized experiences help or hinder their historical analysis. Findings The findings suggest that students’ racialized experiences interplay with the disciplinary concepts of contextualization and presentism. Our findings complicate how disciplinary concepts alone do not sufficiently help students analyze how systemic racism manifests differently across historical moments. Contribution This paper offers implications for how historical thinking skills can make space for students’ racialized and linguistic experiences. Incorporating raciolinguistic analysis in tandem with historical thinking skills can lead to more nuanced conversations in the classroom about race/ethnicity and language in the past and present.

The Motivation of Bilingual Students in Mathematics and Information Technology Education

This article examines what constitutes bilingualism in school. What is education for these students. What difficulties do bilingual students face in mathematics and information technology and whether teachers succeed in motivating them. Whether education is important to them and to what extent. Is attention paid to teaching bilingual students? The role of mathematics and information technology (IT) education for the integration of students in a bilingual environment?

The Difference between Bilingual Acehnese-Indonesian and Monolingual Indonesian Students’ Learning Behavior in EFL

This study was conducted in qualitative research aimed to discover the difference in learning behavior between bilingual Acehnese-Indonesian and monolingual Indonesian in EFL. The data of this study was obtained from the 7th grade at SMP Teuku Nyak Arif Fatih Bilingual School, Banda Aceh. The participants were five bilingual and five monolingual students. The data were collected through observation and interviews. The observation data was students’ learning behavior during English class and was analyzed in descriptive statistics (percentages). The interview data included transcripts of supporting information about the reason for the learning behavior displayed in the English classes. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed following Miles Huberman’s interactive model analysis. Furthermore, the results of this study showed that bilingual students showed less negative behavior in terms of competence motivation, attitude toward learning, and strategy/flexibility than monolingual students, but they were found to show the same amount of attention and persistence of negative issues along with monolingual students. Meanwhile, interview findings revealed that reason from both bilingual and monolingual students displayed those issues were mostly affected by internal factors and several external factors