Transitional Bilingual Education Research Articles

Bilingual teacher candidates as policy appropriators in a previously anti-bilingual state

ABSTRACT This multiple case study explores the conceptualisations of bilingual education within the Massachusetts state policy, An Act Relative to Language Opportunity for Our Kids (LOOK Act), and teacher candidates’ experiences from a bilingual teacher preparation programme in Massachusetts. Data consisted of policy documents, semi-structured interviews, and memos. Overall, the LOOK Act primarily framed bilingual education as a remedial and commodifiable educational model. Specifically, the law referred to bilingual programmes as programmes that focus on promoting the acquisition of English language proficiency. At the same time, it distinguishes bilingual programme models from each other by referring to one model, dual language education, as an academically rigorous programme and to transitional bilingual education as a temporary programme solely for English Learners. Teacher candidates described how the above orientations toward bilingual education were present in their coursework and teaching experiences. They also critiqued the rigid communicative approaches that the LOOK Act established for families and bilingual programmes. This study’s implications include (a) further investigation of teacher candidates’ negotiation of governmental educational policies throughout their transition as practicing teachers, and (b) teacher education programmes’ integration of opportunities for teacher candidates to examine and make sense of educational policies.

The Literacy Development of English Language Learners in Transitional Bilingual Education Program

The Literacy Development of English Language Learners in Transitional Bilingual Education Program

Mother tongue reading materials as a bridge to literacy

Children whose mother tongue is different from the language of instruction at school face additional challenges developing literacy skills. One approach to this favours immersion in the language of instruction, while another favours a transitional period of bilingual education. This paper evaluates the impact of a primary school literacy intervention. In addition to multi-faceted literacy support, the programme included a component of transitional bilingual education for students whose mother tongue is not the usual language of instruction. Over two years, the intervention raised literacy scores in the language of instruction by ＋0.41 sd, and literacy in mother tongue for minority language speakers by ＋0.75 sd. Our findings suggests that a light-touch transitional bilingual component can support minority language literacy without crowding out acquisition of the language of instruction.

“What are you doing to us?!”: mediating English-only policies to sustain a bilingual education program

ABSTRACT Although U.S. schools that provide bilingual education typically must negotiate English-only policies and pressures to sustain their programming over time, little is known about what this entails at the individual school level. Our research examines in detail how the leaders of an elementary school in New York City with a Spanish-English transitional bilingual education program navigated a range of language education policies over a five-year period. We found that federal, state, and school district policy mandates for English literacy instruction during those years resulted in the imposition of English-only curricula on the school, which undermined its bilingual education program. We identified the following three stages in the school’s efforts to mediate those policies: (1) establishing a vision for biliteracy, (2) (barely) surviving English-only literacy reforms, and (3) restoring and advancing the vision for biliteracy. These findings shed light on the work of school leaders and educators to maintain bilingual education programs in U.S. schools and, in the absence of coherent language policies that truly support the implementation of bilingual education, highlight the need for school leaders and educators to establish a clear vision and receive ongoing targeted supports to be able to negotiate policy mandates.

From Pedagogies to Research: Engaging With Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families of Students With Dis/Abilities

For decades, educational research has focused on centering the experiences of children of color. From this research arose culturally relevant pedagogies (CRPs) and culturally sustaining pedagogies (CSPs). However, as countless teachers focus on developing more inclusive classroom practices, the cultural needs of parents continue to be ignored. One reason for this is that, while being manifestations of funds of knowledge, CRP and CSP are rooted in the classroom and not the home. As such, there is a need for culturally sustaining research that supports/affirms parents. This article presents how testimonios gathered in Spanish with Spanish-dominant mothers serve as counter-narratives to research that positions them as disengaged. The article also features the ways in which mothers subvert attempts to minimize their parental presence. A preliminary framework for culturally sustaining research is also shared. Participants included 10 Spanish-dominant Latinx mothers from a large immigrant community in New York City. Mothers qualified for inclusion if their child (a) attended a local public elementary school, (b) was in Grades 2 to 6, (c) was classified as having a disability, and (d) was classified as an English language learner by their school. Qualifying children were receiving services in one of three special education settings: bilingual inclusive classrooms, transitional bilingual special education, or monolingual inclusive education. This study employed a combination of qualitative research methods and consisted of two phases. During the first phase, 10 mothers took part in two narrative interviews. For the second phase, three focal mothers, chosen from the larger sample, took part in ethnographic case studies consisting of five additional interviews, two home observations, one communal recollection, and sharing of artifacts. (a) Mothers of emergent bilinguals labeled as disabled (MoEBLADs) are systematically excluded from their child’s education at both the school and district levels. (b) MoEBLADs internalize these experiences and fault themselves for their limited participation in their children’s learning. (c) MoEBLADs subversively make space for themselves in their children’s educational experiences by focusing on contributions they can make outside of school. Research about MoEBLADs typically frames them as unwilling to support and/or incapable of supporting their children academically, signaling that many of the deficit-grounded perspectives MoEBLADs encounter in schools are also present in research. Researchers must address how the language of research contributes to the reinforcement and maintenance of deficit-grounded perspectives calling for a need to shift from inclusive research to culturally sustaining research.

Using Culturally and Linguistic Responsive and Translanguaging Pedagogy to Teach Science

More and more students in today’s secondary subject matter classrooms in America are bilingual ELLs (English language learners), a fast-growing student population in the U.S. public schools (National Center for Education Statistics, 2019). In New York City, about 50% of the total public-school students speak a language other than English at home and one out of every six secondary school students are an ELL (New York City Department of Education, 2019). Those ELLs are served by the three language programs: TBE (Transitional Bilingual Education program, mostly for middle and high school students), DL (Dual Language Program, mostly for elementary and middle school students), ENL (English as a new language program, formerly ESL, for almost all ELLs). In this article, I focus on bilingual subject matter instruction for high school students in the TBE program. Every day, the secondary ELLs in the TBE program attend subject matter classes taught by bilingual subject matter teachers using the bilingual education pedagogy.

Transition from Preschool to Standard One in Botswana Public Primary Schools

Purpose: This paper examines transition from Preschool to Standard One in the Early Childhood Education programme implemented in 2013 in Botswana public primary schools. 
 Methodology: The methodology employed in this study is the qualitative approach with multi-case study technique to investigate the implementation of the Early Childhood Education programme. Transitional Bilingual Education is used as the theoretical framework to benchmark the realities of transition from Preschool to Standard One classrooms. Data collection was done using open ended questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions and scrutiny of learners’ artifacts. 
 Results: The findings indicated that transition is not smooth due to the languages of instruction used at both Preschool and Standard One, learners who do not attend Preschool and lack of teacher aides in Standard One classes. The study concluded that there must be harmonization of languages of instruction at both levels to enable smooth transition. 
 Unique contribution to theory, policy and practice: Lastly, the study recommends compulsory Preschool learning for all young learners before entry into Standard One.

Perspectives and Paradigms of Bilingualism Concerned to Teaching and Learning in the Indian Education System

Bilingualism has been emerged as a familiar subject in the existing Indian scenario due to the distribution of multilingual culture in different geographical regions. Having proficiency in minimum two languages has been an indispensable necessity for all Indians. The English language has become a mandatory subject for all educated Indians. There is a paradigm shift in this regard, making all Indians essentially learn the English Language as a part of the three language system in Indian education. Different methods of teaching the English language is adopted in India. This paper focuses on all perspectives associated with the impact of bilingualism on teaching and learning of English in India, with a special emphasis on Transitional bilingual education. The ideology of guiding learners of the English language with a backdrop of bilingualism is duly highlighted.

Incorporating oral language assessment into MTSS/RTI frameworks: The potential of personal narrative assessment

ABSTRACT In Multi-tiered System of Support (MTSS) and Response to Intervention (RTI) models, the reading achievement of English Learners (ELs) is assessed multiple times during the school year to monitor students’ progress toward meeting grade-level reading standards. Most MTSS/RTI frameworks do not include a comparable system for assessing oral language development. The English Learner Oral Narrative Scale (ELONS) was developed as an informal, criterion-referenced instrument to assess the personal narrative skills of ELs (i.e., skills in recounting personal experiences). The ELONS was piloted with 28 third grade ELs in a transitional bilingual education program to describe participants’ personal narrative skills and to explore relationships between narrative skills and reading achievement. Mean scores were at the Advanced level for English global narrative proficiency and vocabulary, grammar, and fluency; mean ratings for oral comprehension and pronunciation were at the Advanced High level. Twelve of 28 ELs produced Spanish narratives of sufficient length to score. Mean global and subskill scores were at the Advanced level except for fluency (Intermediate level). ELONS global proficiency scores showed moderate correlations to state assessments of English language proficiency and English reading. Implications for oral language assessment in MTSS/RTI frameworks and future research directions are discussed.

Let’s Create a Harmonious and Peaceful World through Quality Bilingual Education! Indigenous Tsotsil Children and Their Languages the Solution!

The purpose of this paper is to underline the implications that language endangerment has, not only for the speakers of a specific language, but for the entire world as losing a language involves the disappearance of cultural, spiritual and intellectual knowledge as well as cultural identity. Many indigenous languages in Mexico, for example, have been in danger as Spanish, the dominant language of the country, has put them at a disadvantage. Transitional bilingual education has been used to achieve such a goal. Since this has been the case, some indigenous communities have taken the initiative to work diligently to preserve and promote their native language and culture despite the sociopolitical, economic and educational pressures they face. An example of that is the Mayan Tsotsil community in Chiapas in southern Mexico. This paper offers a summary of the findings of the qualitative research study that was conducted to explore the situation of the Tsotsil language at a Spanish-Indigenous Tsotsil elementary bilingual school in Chiapas. Tsotsil children and their teacher show that it is possible to preserve and promote the Tsotsil language when working together as a community. It is concluded that quality bilingual education and inclusive schools can be great tools that can contribute to have a harmonious and peaceful world.

Scaffolds, signs, and bridges: Language ideologies and translanguaging in student-teaching experiences

ABSTRACTThis study examines preservice teachers’ (PSTs) experiences with language ideologies in clinical placements across an academic year. Using methods derived from phenomenology, it explores how PSTs constructed and contested language ideologies about translanguaging in dual-language and transitional bilingual education elementary classrooms. Findings show that PST discourse evidenced ideologies of translanguaging as a bridge for connecting languages, a scaffold for participation, and a sign of students’ linguistic expertise and understandings of content. Findings also suggest, however, that PST discourse evidenced ideologies of translanguaging as transgressive of language policies and norms. The study concludes with recommendations for supporting PSTs in clinical experiences through attention to curricular and dynamic approaches to translanguaging, as well as specific attention to language ideologies.

Ideologies of language among ELLs on the US-Mexico border: the case of a transitional bilingual programme

ABSTRACTThis article presents findings of a qualitative study about students’ language ideologies in a transitional bilingual education (TBE) programme located in the US-Mexico border. Although officially regarded as ‘TBE’, results show that both ideologies and practices resemble an English monolingual form of education where only the English language is valued and used for instruction. This qualitative study investigates the experiences of 4th grade EBs in this setting in which students appropriated monoglossic language ideologies and discourses of transition displayed by teachers and school district policies. However, students also displayed their agency when they actively sought spaces within and outside the school context to access their entire linguistic repertoire to communicate with friends and family. The complexity of students’ internalised ideologies of language and their performed ideologies became visible through observations and interviews conducted in this study.

Transitional Bilingual Education and Two-Way Immersion Programs: Comparison of Reading Outcomes for English Learners in the United States

Transitional Bilingual Education and Two-Way Immersion Programs: Comparison of Reading Outcomes for English Learners in the United States

The economic value of bilingualism in the United States

ABSTRACTGiven that bilingual education has been under assault for most of its modern existence in the United States, many bilingual educators have acquiesced to transitional bilingual education: the use of the primary language only until English is firmly established. While this placated some critics, the research now demonstrates that this is not in the best interest of the students. Although past research has found no real economic benefit for bilinguals in the U.S. labor market, the new research reviewed here comes to the opposite conclusion: Full literacy in another language brings substantial economic benefit. Moreover, the failure to nurture these linguistic skills in the children of immigrants exacts a cost to the earnings of these potentially bilingual/biliterate students.

The academic preparedness of Latino students in dual language and transitional bilingual education programs

ABSTRACTThis causal-comparative study analyzed the college readiness of Latino ELLs educated in two different bilingual education programs, Transitional Bilingual (TB) and Dual Language (DL), by examining science and mathematics scores on the nationally recognized college entrance exam, the ACT. A statistically significant difference was found in the performance of the participants in the areas of mathematics and science via a series of t-tests. The descriptive statistics report that DL participants had a 29.6% higher probability in science and a 15.2% higher probability in mathematics of being college ready, per the Texas Uniform Admission Policy. Over all, DL participants outperformed TB participants.

Parent Book Talk to Accelerate Spanish Content Vocabulary Knowledge

AbstractThis article bridges research to practice by summarizing an interactive content‐enriched shared book reading approach that Spanish‐speaking parents of preschool‐age children can easily use in the home to accelerate content vocabulary knowledge in Spanish. The approach was implemented in preschool classrooms using a transitional bilingual education model in Central Texas and in a Saturday Spanish heritage language school in the Midwestern United States. Spanish‐speaking emergent bilingual children from both lower and higher socioeconomic status backgrounds learned content‐related vocabulary via parent–child discussions of Spanish storybooks and informational texts organized by compelling science and social studies themes and topics. The authors provide recommendations for how teachers can support Spanish‐speaking parents' ability to develop informal knowledge‐building experiences through home‐based interactive book discussions in Spanish.

“School within a school”: Examining implementation barriers in a Spanish/English transitional bilingual education program

ABSTRACTThis article explores the ways that general education and bilingual teachers make sense of a Spanish/English transitional bilingual program housed at one elementary school in a Midwestern school district. An in-depth examination of perceptions and attitudes unmasks key factors regarding the implementation and interpretation of bilingual programs and how these factors impact school climate and the overall functioning of the program. Primary themes indicated that the use of specific terms, such as “school within a school,” exacerbated the sense of division between the general education and bilingual programs, adding to the challenges of achieving opportunities for bringing students together across programs.

Classroom-based English exposure and English Language Learners’ expressive language skills

This study examined the relation between Spanish-speaking English Language Learners’ (ELLs; 6.12 years; n=101) expressive language skills in English and their classroom-based English exposure. Using audio-recorded observations of Transitional Bilingual Education classrooms (n=21), measures were obtained of the quantity (number of words) and quality (lexical diversity, structural complexity) of teachers’ and students’ speech during English Language Development (ELD) instruction (blocked or integrated). Results showed that ELD-blocked instruction positively predicted ELLs’ language gains. Moreover, within ELD-blocked classrooms, the structural complexity and lexical diversity of teachers’ speech was positively related to ELLs’ language gains, as was the lexical diversity of students’ speech. Follow-up analyses revealed that a higher ratio of teacher-to-student words was associated with smaller language gains. These findings suggest that exposure to high-quality classroom-based English, together with opportunities for language interactions among teachers and students, promotes ELLs’ English development.

Effects of transitional bilingual education on Spanish-speaking preschoolers’ literacy and language development: Year 2 results

ABSTRACTYear 2 findings are reported from a longitudinal, experimental-control study involving 31 Spanish-speaking preschoolers (aged 38–48 months) randomly assigned to two Head Start classrooms. In Year 1, classrooms differed only in the language of instruction, with teachers using only Spanish in one classroom and only English in the other. In Year 2, an experimental transitional bilingual education (TBE) model was implemented, with English being gradually introduced in the TBE classroom until a ratio of 30:70 English-to-Spanish was achieved and Spanish being gradually introduced in the predominantly English (PE) classroom until a ratio of 70:30 English-to-Spanish was achieved. Year 2 results were consistent with Year 1, with the TBE classroom exceeding the PE classroom on all Spanish measures of language and literacy development and no significant differences favoring the PE classroom. Results also indicated that Year 2 trajectories were conditional on first-year effects, suggesting that sustained growth in dual language learner's early literacy may depend on early intervention among 3-year-old preschoolers.

English Language Learner Boys and Girls Reading and Math Achievement as a Function of Early-Exit and Late-Exit Bilingual Programs: A Multiyear, Statewide Analysis

We examined the reading and math performance of English Language Learner boys and girls in Grades 3, 4, 5, and 6 as a function of early-exit or late-exit transitional bilingual education program. Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills Reading and Mathematics scores of all English Language Learner boys and girls who were enrolled in either early-exit or late-exit bilingual education programs were analyzed for the 2008-2009, 2009-2010, and 2010-2011 school years. Results were not consistent across reading and math, across the 4 grade levels, and across the 3 school years. On the TAKS Reading test, 5 instances were present in which statistically significant differences were revealed for boys and 11 for girls. On the TAKS Mathematics test, 8 statistically significant results were revealed for boys and 6 for girls. These statistically significant differences were not consistently in favor of either the early-exit or the late-exit bilingual education programs. Moreover, the differences that were present reflected small to trivial effect sizes. As such, neither the early-exit nor the late-exit bilingual education program was demonstrated to be more effective than its counterpart.