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Support for Native Language literacy includes sociopolitical as well as socio-cultural Identity arguments. While these two camps may occupy much of the debate behind in which languages children will learn to read, a greater emphasis on the Linguistic aspects of the argument is necessary. In spite of the political turmoil precipitated by this debate, researches continue to espouse a linguistic basis for this logic. This rationale is based upon the work of Jim Cummins (1983). SEQUENTIAL MODEL In this model, learners receive literacy instruction in native language until they acquire “a threshold” literacy proficiency. The transition into an ESL class is then made. BILINGUAL MODEL In this model, native language and English are simultaneously taught. The advantage is literacy in two languages as the outcome. However, teacher training must be high in both languages and in teaching ESL. COORDINATE MODEL This model posits that equal time be spent separately in both instruction of the native language and ESL instruction. The native language class however focuses on basic literacy while the ESL class focuses on listening and speaking skills. OUTCOMES Cummins’ research concluded that the development of competence in the native language serves as a foundation of proficiency that can be transposed to the second language—the common underlying proficiency hypothesis. His work sought to overcome the perception propagated in the 1960’s that learning two languages were two competing aims. The belief was that the two languages were mutually exclusive and that learning a second required unlearning elements and dynamics of the first in order to accommodate the second (Hakuta, 1990). The evidence for this perspective relied on the fact that errors in acquiring the second language were related to the rules of the first language (Hakuta, 1990). Clearly, how this Hypothesis holds under different types of languages such as Romance versus non-Western languages has yet to undergo research. While this hypothesis would thus support the Sequential Model, how robust this model under languages of diverse origins would threaten this logic. Another new development that has influenced the linguistic argument for bilingual literacy is the length of time necessary to acquire the second language. While previously children were believed to have the ability to learn a language within a year, today researchers believe that within and across academic settings, the time span is nearer to five years (Collier, 1992; Ramirez, 1992). An interesting outcome of studies during the early 1990s however confirmed that students who do successfully complete bilingual instruction perform better academically (Collier, 1992; Ramirez, 1992). These student exhibit more cognitive elasticity including higher analytic performance of abstract visual patterns. Student who receive bidirectional bilingual instruction where equal proficiency in both languages is required perform at an even high level. Examples of such programs include international schools and multi-national education schools such as French-American, Korean-American, and Swiss-American schools. Sources: Collier, V.P. (1992). A synthesis of studies examining long-term language-minority student data on academic achievement. Bilingual Research Journal, 16, 187-212. Gillespie, M. K. (1993). Profiles of Adult Learners: Revealing the Multiple Faces of Literacy. Tesol Quarterly, 27(3), Fall 529-533. Hakuta, K. (1990). Bilingualism and bilingual education: A research perspective. Occasional Papers in Bilingual Education. Washington, DC: Delta Systems & the Center for Applied Linguistics. Ramirez, J.D. (1992). Executive summary of the Final Report: Longitudinal study of structured English immersion strategy, early-exit and late-exit transitional bilingual education programs for language minority children. Bilingual Research Journal, 16, 1-62. http://www.literacyonline.org/products/ncal/pdf/TR9403.pdf |
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