Conversations with Mainstream Teachers:
What can we tell them about second language learning and teaching?

Elaine Tarone
Diane Tedick
University of Minnesota
etarone@umn.edu
djtedick@umn.edu

MinneTESOL Fall Conference
Keynote Address
St. Paul, Minnesota
Nov 10, 2000

Question 1:  Why do we need English as a second language or bilingual education?

"My grandfather came speaking no English and he did just fine without any special help. Why can't students just learn English on their own (the way my ancestors did)"?

• Many if not most immigrants in the past were literate in their native language; that is not the case today.

• Past immigrants may not have done "just fine". Limited language skills clearly limited life chances in the past. (Rothstein 1999)

• Many immigrants did have special help. Bilingual education has likely existed since the very beginnings of formal education - it is not a new or recent phenomenon. (Krashen 1999; Leibowitz 1971).

• There are many fewer jobs that require no or limited English today. Present-day lower level jobs (e.g. health worker, cashier) require at least minimal communication skills in English, the lack of which carries a social cost.

Question 2:  Why shouldn't we focus entirely on teaching English instead of trying to support the native language of immigrants?

"If immersion is the best way to learn a foreign language, why don't we just immerse immigrants in English?"

There is a difference between foreign language immersion programs and "submersion" (English-only programs for immigrants): the former provide native language support and the latter do not (Swain 1981; Cummins 1988).

"Why is native language maintenance important? Shouldn't we discourage use of the native language in school and at home to encourage learners to use English?"

1. English language proficiency ranges from oral social language to academic language. For academic language and literacy, it is not enough for children to just be exposed to the second language. While oral social English can develop with minimal classroom support, learners need structured support to acquire proficiency in academic English, and they need support in the native language for their cognitive development while they are developing academic English (Cummins 1984; 1988)

2. Academic writing is complex, ranging from relatively simple narratives to more complex expository text; teachers must not omit preparing students to deal with the more complex expository reading and writing tasks. (Peregoy & Boyle, 1997; Moss et al 19997; Routman, 2000).

3. Learners who don't understand may develop strategies for hiding their lack of comprehension (Adamson 1993). One study shows what happens to a third grade African child in a mainstream classroom with a caring teacher but no language support: she fails to learn to read, but learns excellent strategies for concealing what she doesn't know. (Platt & Troudi 1997)

4. Immigrant families should be encouraged to use the native language at home (Crawford 1997; Wong-Fillmore 1991).

5. Language programs that include native language support produce better results long-term.

   • Most research comparing programs with and without native language support have been too short-term.

   • An exception is Ramírez et al (1991), a study which shows that over time learners in programs with developmental native language support improved the most, nearly overtaking scores of native English speakers by 6^th grade.

   • Similar results are reported in Collier & Thomas (1999). [see p. 10 this handout]

"Why did so many Spanish-speaking parents vote to eliminate bilingual education in California, if it's such a great program?"

This question seems simple, but three other questions are subsumed in it.

1. Why is bilingual education under such attack in the U.S.?

   Bilingual education has been highly politicized. Also, there have been some bad bilingual ed programs in the country, with poorly trained or unlicensed teachers, some of whom could not speak or teach English well (New York Times Oct 30, 2000).

2. Why have Latino and other language minority parents supported efforts to eliminate bilingual education?

   Some have reacted to bad teaching in bilingual programs (see above).

   Polls and ballots in California were worded in such a way as to lead parents to think that bilingual programs would not provide English language instruction. (Krashen 1999)Polls worded differently get different results: members of the Hispanic communities are then supportive (see de la Garza et al 1992).

3. How can we explain the recent reports of improved student achievement since the elimination of bilingual education in California?

   First, we need to remember that current data are very short term, and that programs without native language support often show short-term advantages which are eliminated over the long term (see Collier & Thomas 1999).

   Second, other variables may be contributing to success: increased state aid, smaller class sizes and a phonics approach that corresponds better to standardized testing approaches being used.

Question 3:  How do people learn second languages?

"How long does it take to learn English? When will the student be ready to move up a level? Be ready to get a job?"

How long it takes depends on the age of the learner, their previous literacy, the age of first exposure to English and the goals of instruction in the language program.

• How old are the learners?
• Are the learners literate in their native language?
• At what age did they begin learning English? What was their age on arrival in the U.S.?

Oral skills in a second language develop quickly, in as little as 2 years, but literacy-related skills in a second language seem to be much slower to develop (Collier 1989). Children who already are literate in their native language, and who are 8 to 12 years old when they enter English-only programs, take the least time -- 5 to 7 years -- to become literate in English and to catch up in mastery of content.

Similar findings in the Twin Cities; Bosher & Rowekamp (1998) find that the immigrant students who did best in U.S. higher education were those who had good native-language school backgrounds.

• What are the goals of instruction: oral skills and/or literacy skills? Literacy for survival, high school, or college? What kind of job: assembly-line, hotel worker, health care, secretarial, computer technician, college?

Too often the goals of instruction are too low: to get learners out of the language classroom and into either the workplace or the mainstream where there may be no support for language learning (Platt & Troudi 1997)

Type of job is also a factor. Some jobs require a restricted set of oral language skills: for example, hotel workers need to master a limited set of oral scripts for use face to face or on the phone (Gibbs 2000). Obviously it takes less time to teach enough English for assembly-line jobs than for a secretarial position, or a white collar job with upward mobility. Does the low level of English language instruction we provide put extra limits on the social mobility of our learners?

"At what age are students just too old to learn a second language?" & "How can students get rid of their accents?"

1. Research suggests that there is probably a biological critical period (or an upper age limit) for the acquisition of native like pronunciation of a second language (for physiological reasons), but certainly no such limit on the acquisition of the grammar or vocabulary (Scovel 1969, 1988). Older learners' memory limitations may slow down their acquisition of grammar and vocabulary, of course, but there is no indication that this is impossible for them if they are motivated (Treat, in progress). OF COURSE, acquisition of second-language literacy is a different matter; this can be quite difficult for older learners.

2. However, research also suggests that – in addition to any physiological restrictions – accent is a strong signal of group membership and the learner's identity. Some researchers have argued that accent is tied to acculturation. Adolescent and adult learners especially may not WANT to entirely get rid of their accents, since their accents are perfect signals of their identity. Retaining the ability to switch accents can also be useful for certain purposes. (Rampton 1996)

Question 4: How do you teach English as a second language?

"What do you do in your classes?"

The obvious answer to this question from mainstream colleagues is, "Come and see." Teachers learn an incredible amount by observing each others' classes. This is especially important in the case of ESL vs mainstream teachers; they should be observing each others' classes on a regular basis.

"How can you teach students English if you don't speak their language?"

For many years, the Direct Method of language teaching promoted the teacher's use of only the second language to encourage learners' use of the second language as well. Colleagues interested in reading about the Direct Method of language teaching will find a clear description in Larsen-Freeman (1986). Currently, Communicative Language Teaching is used, which also relies heavily on use of the second language in the classroom (see Brown 2001, p. 39-53 for a clear description of the principles of communicative language teaching).

This method has provided language teachers with techniques for providing comprehensible second-language input to learners: providing supportive nonverbal context, pausing, repeating, and watching for signs of non-comprehension.

But research also supports the strategic use of the native language in support of second language learning (see Lightbown & Spada 1999).

"How can you teach literacy to people who are not literate in their native language?"

See Adamson (1993); Moss et al (1997); Routman (2000)

(More on this from Hamayan at tomorrow's plenary!)

"How can nonliterate parents help their children with school work?"

(More on this from Hamayan at tomorrow's plenary!)

Adamson, H.D. (1993). Academic competence: Theory and classroom practice. NY: Longman.

A series of 34 case studies of ESL learners faced with challenging academic tasks was summarized by Adamson. Contains one of the best summaries of dual nature of proficiency (social vs school language) we've seen (p. 29). The most important finding "…is that when students are faced with material that is beyond their ability to comprehend, they develop ways of completing their assignments without understanding them, thus concealing their lack of understanding from the teacher." (p. 95)

Bosher, Susan & Jenise Rowekamp (1998). The refugee/immigrant in higher education: The role of educational background. College ESL 8,1:23-42.

Study finds that immigrant students who did best in higher education were those who had a good number of years of schooling in the home country, and good NL literacy skills.

Brown, H.D. (2001) Teaching by Principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy, 2^nd ed. NY: Longman.

Lays out the principles of language teaching in clear, accessible language that our colleagues in the profession of teaching should be able to understand.

Collier, Virginia (1989). "How long? A synthesis of research on academic achievement in a second language." TESOL Quarterly 23(3): 509-531.

Summarizes results of large-scale proficiency testing of academic and literacy skills, in a range of second language programs. Results show that oral skills in a second language develop quickly, in as little as 2 years, but literacy-related skills in the second language seem to be much slower to develop. Two crucial factors for immigrants seem to be whether they are already literate in their native language, and the age of their arrival in the U.S.

Collier, Virginia and Wayne Thomas (1999). Making U.S. schools effective for English language teachers, part 2. TESOL Matters 9, 5 (October/November) p. 1, 6.

Analyzes data from 23 school districts in 15 states since 1985, tracking long-term progress of English language learners in different kinds of school programs. Finds that long-term progress is best in programs providing long-term native language support. More information about this study can be found online in the following publications:

Collier, Virginia and Wayne Thomas (December 1997). School Effectiveness for Language Minority Students. NCELA Resource Collection Series, No. 9. Washington D.C.: National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language Instructional Education Programs

Thomas, Wayne and Virginia Collier (2002). A National Study of School Effectiveness for Language Minority Students' Long-Term Academic Achievement: Final Report Executive Summary. Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence.

A National Study of School Effectiveness for Language Minority Students' Long-Term Academic Achievement. (January 2003). Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence.

Crawford, James (1997). Best Evidence: Research Foundations of the Bilingual Education Act. Washington, DC: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education. http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/pubs/reports/bestevidence/index.htm
Summarizes census data and research on bilingual education.

Cummins, Jim (1984) "Language proficiency, bilingualism and academic achievement" (pp 130-151) Bilingualism and Special Education: Issues in assessment and pedagogy. San Diego, CA: College-Hill Press.

Cummins, Jim (1988) Second language acquisition within bilingual education programs. In L. Beebe (ed.) Issues in Second Language Acquisition: Multiple Perspectives. (pp. 145-166)New York: Newbury House.

Shows why it is not enough for children to just be exposed to the second language: they need structured support to acquire proficiency in academic English, and they need support in the native language for their cognitive development while they are developing academic English. Shows why submersion doesn't work.

De la Garza, R., L. DeSipio, F.C. Garcia, J. Garcia, and A. Falcon (1992) Latino Voices: Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban Perspectives on American Politics. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

A survey of the opinions of Latinos shows strong support for bilingual education programs. Contradicts the arguments of Unz supporters.

Gibbs, Tara (2000) Applying ‘genre analysis' to oral nonacademic discourse situations. Paper presented at the Linguistics Colloquium, University of Minnesota, Oct 6, 2000.

Hotel maids required to make phone calls to Housekeeping to pick up items left in the rooms consistently avoided them or miscommunicated while making them. The researcher found that they were using the wrong script to structure their calls. She taught them the correct, much simpler script, and documented clear success thereafter.

Krashen, Stephen (1999). Condemned without a trial: Bogus arguments against bilingual education. Portsmouth, NH, Heinemann. (110 pages)

Disproves 5 myths about bilingual education: (1) that most immigrants in the past have succeeded without bilingual education; (2) that the US is the only nation that has bilingual education; (3) that bilingual education failed in California; (4) that bilingual ed is responsible for the high Hispanic dropout rate; (5) that the public is against bilingual education. When surveys make clear that both English and the primary language are included in bilingual education, respondents support it.

Larsen-Freeman, Diane (1986). "The Direct Method", Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching (pp. 18-30). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Provides a clear description of an English as a foreign language class which uses the Direct Method, operating entirely in English, and discusses the principles which underlie this method.

Leibowitz, Arnold. H. (1971). Educational policy and political acceptance: The imposition of English as the language of instruction in American schools. Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse for Linguistics, cited in: Trueba, Henry T., & Barnett-Mizrahi, Carol. (Eds.). (1979). Bilingual, multicultural education and the professional: From theory to practice. Rowley, MA: Newbury House

Provides facts on the history of bilingual education in the U.S. Documents the existence of schools providing mother tongue support dating back to the 1800's. Offers an account of the political issues that surround bilingual education in U.S. schools.

Lightbown, Patsy and Nina Spada (1999). How Languages Are Learned, 2nd ed. Oxford, Oxford University Press. (192 pages)

An easy-to-read and up-to-date introduction to the findings of research on second language acquisition. Using questionnaires and surveys, helps teachers get in touch with their own beliefs about language learning and understand the principles behind different teaching methodologies and the degree to which those principles are supported by research.

Moss, Barbara, Susan Leone, & Mary Lou Dipillo. (1997). Exploring the literature of fact: Linking reading and writing through information trade books. Language Arts (October): 418-429.

Based on the fact that it is much more difficult for English language learners to read and write expository nonfiction in school contexts than to read and write narratives, this piece offers guidelines for choosing excellent nonfiction works to integrate into literacy programs.

Nunan, D. 1991. Communicative tasks and the language curriculum. TESOL Quarterly 25, 279-95.

A clear description of the basic principles which underlie communicative language teaching.

Peregoy, Suzanne & Owen Boyle (1997) Reading, writing and learning in ESL: A resource book for K-12 teachers (2^nd ed.). NY: Longman.

Offers clear research and theoretical grounding on issues related to the teaching of literacy to ESL learners. Documents the complexity of academic reading and writing, contrasting narrative and expository text and offers many pedagogical strategies.

Platt, Elizabeth & Salah Troudi (1997). "Mary and her teachers: A Grebo-speaking child's place in the mainstream classroom." Modern Language Journal 81: 28-49.

Describes a third grade child from Liberia who is mainstreamed in a U.S. classroom. Her teacher believes that Mary needs to be acculturated above all, so does not focus on either language or conceptual development. Mary's social language improves but her academic skills do not develop. The researchers conclude that second-language learners like Mary in mainstream classrooms need structured support from the teacher, scaffolding the development of academic language and cognitive skills.

Ramírez, J. David, Sandra D. Yuen, and Dena R. Ramey, Longitudinal Study of Structured English Immersion Strategy, Early-Exit and Late-Exit Transitional Bilingual Education Programs for Language Minority Children: Final Report, vols. 1 & 2. (San Mateo, Calif.: Aguirre International, 1991.

Over a four-year period, researchers followed the progress of more than 2,000 Spanish-speaking children in nine school districts in California, Florida, New Jersey, New York, and Texas. The objective was to compare the effectiveness of three distinct program models: "structured immersion" in English, early-exit (transitional) bilingual education, and late-exit (developmental) bilingual education. Over the long term, the late-exit bilingual students did best, nearly catching up to native-speaking peers by 6th grade.

Rampton, Ben (1996). "Youth, race and resistance: A sociolinguistic perspective." Linguistics and Education 8: 159-173.

Foreign accent is a signal of identity and group membership. Learners can choose the accent which best signals their identity. For example, in one study, adolescents of Asian descent put on strong Indian English accents when addressing Anglo teachers and adults; these code switchings constitute acts of resistance.

Rothstein, Richard (1999) "Revisiting bilingual controversies," TESOL Matters (April/May 1999) Also available on the Internet at http://www.tesol.org/isaffil/intsec/columns/199904-be.html

Reviews the facts about bilingual education in the U.S. "During the last great wave of immigration, from 1880 to 1915, very few Americans succeeded in school, immigrants least of all. By 1930, it was still the case that half of all American 14 to 17 year-olds either didn't make it to high school, or dropped out before graduating."

Routman, Regie. (2000). Conversations: Strategies for teaching, learning, and evaluating. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

A detailed volume that provides the theory and research behind whole language approaches to native language literacy instruction. Offers excellent pedagogical strategies for teachers, including those geared toward the reading and writing of academic, expository texts.

Scovel, Thomas (1969). "Foreign accents, language acquisition, and cerebral dominance." Language Learning 19: 245-253.

Scovel, Thomas (1988). A Time to Speak: A Psycholinguistic Inquiry into the Critical Priod for Human Speech. Cambridge, Mass., Newbury House Publishers

Research suggests that there is a biological critical period for the acquisition of pronunciation though not of the grammar or vocabulary. There does not appear to be any upper age limit on the ability to acquire a second language grammar and vocabulary, though memory limitations may slow down the much older learner (i.e., over 50). However, there does appear to be an age limit to the acquisition of a native-like accent in the second language. If learners are not exposed to the second language before they are past puberty, they will always have a foreign accent, just as Joseph Conrad did, even though he acquired unrivaled mastery of English syntax, semantics, and pragmatics.

Swain, Merrill (1981). "Bilingual education for majority and minority language children." Studia Linguistica 35(1-2): 15-32.

This paper shows that immersion programs for majority language children are much different from the "submersion" programs in English offered to minority language children. A submersion program (i.e., mainstreaming a child in an English-only classroom) does not provide support for the children's native language, while immersion programs do. In immersion programs, the teacher understands the children's NL (not true in submersion programs), and teaches them to read in their NL in grade 2 or 3 (not true in submersion programs). The goal of an immersion program is a bilingual child; the goal of a submersion program is a monolingual child. Studies in immersion and bilingual programs show that development of second language literacy skills is delayed until native language literacy skills develop.

Treat, Stephanie (in progress). "Second language acquisition and the older learner", M.A.-ESL Plan B Paper, University of Minnesota.

Reviews the literature on older learners' ability to acquire a second language, and the related literature on the processing abilities of older learners. Finds evidence that memory limitations may slow learners down, but that failing health and the increasing social isolation of seniors (with a concomitant loss of motivation) may provide much bigger barriers to success.

Wong-Fillmore, Lily (1991). When learning a second language means losing the first, Early Childhood Research Quarterly 6, 323-346.

Presents results of a study on language shift among language-minority children in the U.S. The children's loss of the primary language, when it is the only language spoken by parents, can be very costly to the children, their families and society as a whole. A crucial, and often-ignored, reason for this is that parents have lost the means to socialize their children, with a consequent breakdown in parental authority and of children's respect for their parents. These conditions obviously increase the risk factors for adolescents.

(NCELA) National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language Instructional Education Programs
http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/

CAL (Center for Applied Linguistics)
http://www.cal.org

TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
http://www.tesol.org

Collier, Virginia and Wayne Thomas (December, 1997). School Effectiveness for Language Minority Students. NCELA Resource Collection Series, No. 9. Washington D.C.: National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language Instructional Education Programs.

A chart showing the long-term differences in success among various programs for English language learners can be found on p. 53 of this study. Those programs providing native language support produced the highest scoring students by sixth grade; programs without that support produced higher scoring students in the first two years, but those success rates rapidly fell off by sixth grade.