A conversation in Japanese…• Onamae wa? • Robyn desu. • Doko ni sunde imasu ka?• Chatswood ni sunde imasu.• ???Nani ga suki? • Sushi ga suki • (tempura? karate? juudo? anime? sumo? )

Development of the bilingual childEDUC 373 9 September 2010 Dr Robyn Moloney

• All bilingual situations-• ESL students• Second language

learners (terminology?) • Heritage languages….

Overview today – a broad sweep of a huge field

• Perspectives: parents, teachers• Bilingualism and the brain• Bilingual babies• Aspects of bilingual acquisition, e.g codeswitching• Bilingualism in adolescence• Heritage speaker vs. learner• Multiliteracies• Bilingual education

We can see…

• Language/ bilingualism as a problem• Language/ bilingualism as a right• Language/ bilingualism as a resource(Baker 2006)

Important for all teachers:

• Respect, affirmation• Active inclusion of culture and language• Support for development in both languages

Bilingualism for fun: Cockney English

• While initially we couldn’t ‘Adam and Eve it’ (believe it), sharp-suited Guy Richie fans seeking a little legal ‘sausage and mash’ (cash) from ATM outlets operated by Bank Machine can now choose the cockney language option after inserting their card and punching in their personal ‘Huckleberry Finn’ (PIN).

Language is fun….– Q: According to Sigmund Freud, what comes between fear and sex? – A: Fünf.

• (German numbers - vier, fünf, sechs = four, five, six.)– Before the Battle of Normandy, two German spies have infiltrated the

Allied Headquarters. Before they can retire and radio to Berlin, they have to attend the officer's cocktail. One of the two spies goes to the barman and asks, in perfect English: • "Two martinis, please." • "Dry?" • "Nein, zwei!"

• (In German, drei (three) is pronounced quite like dry.)

Early research and negative attitudes

• Detrimental, muddle, retard progress, “no space”, unbalanced, even sinister, suspicious

Models, types of bilingualism

• Definition?• Simultaneous bilingualism• Sequential bilingualism• Many models of development, situations of

choice & privilege, no choice & no status• Deaf people are bilinguals with sign language

being a natural first lang, plus literacy(and oracy) in second hearing lang. Bilingual ed for deaf can be rich, strong form of bilingual ed.

affective and cognitive factors in development of bilingualism

• motivation factors (falling in love), • cross-linguistic factors (being influenced by the dominant

language and maintaining identity, being influenced by the pronunciation of the native speakers around you),

• educational factors (arriving as a child and receiving a formal education or arriving as an adults and slowly acculturating in informal language learning situations)

• and general cognitive factors (such as events impacting on an individual over a lifetime, time pressure, risk taking, establishing long term memory codes).

What does go on in our brains?

• Brain research- language areas• Penfield and Roberts, 1959• CPH-L2A , Critical Period Hypothesis for

second language acquisition - Lenneberg

Overview development

1. the young child and aspects of development Codeswitching, adolescence, heritage language learners

2. the benefits 3. maintain and enrich : provision in the community

and home

Development of bilingual babies

• Normal and natural• Differentiate and store• Babbling is language specific• Critical period• Brain research

http://www.bilingualbaby.eu/real-stories/ondrej

• Birth Decision • There are very good objective answers to make your baby learn two

or three languages. A personal perspective may be useful for you when you make your decision about the languages that you baby will speak.

• Age: 0 to 6 months • Sadly I spent the first three months of my son's life working so hard

that I did not see him more than one hour each day……..• Age: 6 to 12 months • Singing songs and waiting for the first word……..• Age: 1 year 6 months • Language used by Ondra is not mixed and depends on who is he

speaking to. • If child is ahead in one language • Sometimes my son Ondrej is ahead in Czech, the language of the

surrounding environment (majority language). He may learn a word in Czech when I am not there, or I fail to notice and provide an English equivalent. This happened twice recently.

In bringing up a child bilingually…

• Simultaneous OPOL• Sequential• Situational• consistency• Shifting balance of L1/

L2- very few balanced bilinguals

• Sibling difference

Codeswitching

• “Sometimes I'll start a sentence in Spanish y termino en español"

(Poplack, The Bilingualism Reader, 2000) Not a negative, its a sign of fluency, valuable

linguistic toolDifferentiation- “I love you” …. “clean up your

room!”

Research on family languages in adolescence• Literacy ability- limited development • Limited range of emotional expression to express own identity and

development ?• HL keeps pace with their intellectual development? • Cognitive competence in the HL: lack of access to advanced and/or

technical vocabulary in adolescence can influence learners development and speed in HL (Cummins, 1984)

• Do not develop the full spectrum of sociolinguistic registers of the level of cognitive or academic literacy commanded by monolingual native speakers (Montrul, 2008)

• English is used in social interactions with peers and siblings, the language for thinking and learning (Merino 1983)

Recognised at school level as heritage language learners

• Children with 1 or 2 parents who speak non-English lang

• Typical patterns, K-6 limited vocab and literacy• adolescence- social factors• Often limited literacy, need formal study: become

HL learners• Need differentiation in teaching

Social justice? Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Indonesian• limited literacy and script development, without

formal schooling in L2 country.• Exclusion from regular course, criteria• Exclusion from Background speakers Course HSC,

designed for full literacy • No provision, “punished” for being brought up

bilingually; the right to study their language for the HSC?

• Grass-roots action, collection of data:- Board of Studies creating new level of courses in these languages 2010

Bilinguals are…?

1. Superior in divergent , creative thinking2. Can relate stories well3. eat their vegetables4. See that language is arbitrary (object + label)5. May have greater reading readiness6. Always do their homework7. Have better communicative sensitivity8. Are better behaved9. Have cross-language transfer skills10. Have intercultural skills11. Show flexible critical thinking12. Can order in foreign restaurants

Benefits in summary (all bilinguals)• Personal, emotional bond conceived in and through the

special nature of the culture as expressed in language, its stories, songs, rhymes, visual images.

• Portraits of bilinguals- Andre Makine- Le Testament Francais

• Conceptual: Different concepts, notions, sensitivities• Intercultural competencies- ability, skills in moving between

two languages and two cultures• developing an intercultural “third space”, from which the

child can make observations about both languages and cultures, both are visible and valued.

• Cognitive: Divergent thinking, Creativity, Literacy, metalinguistic, flexibility. Positive effects of L1 literacy on the development of literacy in L2 (Cummins,2001)

• nuit (French), Nacht (German), nacht (Dutch),nicht (Scots), natt (Swedish, Norwegian), nat (Danish), noc (Czech, Polish), ночь, noch (Russian), нощ, nosht (Bulgarian), ніч, nich (Ukrainian), ноч, noch/noč (Belarusian), noć/ноћ (Croatian, Serbian), νύξ, nyx (Greek), nox (Latin), nakt- (Sanskrit), natë (Albanian), noche (Spanish), nos (Welsh), noite (Portuguese and Galician), notte (Italian), nit (Catalan), noapte (Romanian), nótt (Icelandic), and naktis (Lithuanian),

English word? ……………………………• Sitara/Tara(Hindi),astre or étoile (French), αστήρ (astēr) (Greek), stella

(Latin, Italian), stea (Romanian and Venetian), stairno (Gothic), astl (Armenian), Stern (German), ster (Dutch and Afrikaans), starn (Scots), stjerne (Norwegian and Danish), stjarna (Icelandic), stjärna (Swedish), setare (Persian), stoorei (Pashto), seren (Welsh), steren (Cornish), estel (Catalan), estrella (Spanish) and Leonese, estrela (Portuguese and Galician) and estêre or stêrk (Kurdish)

English?...........................................• German Milch. But French lait and Spanish leche are less obviously

cognates of Ancient Greek γάλακτος (genitive singular of γάλα) , a relationship more evidently seen through the intermediate Latin lac , as well as the English word lactic and other terms borrowed from Latin. English?...................................................

Grosjean (1999)

• Change language, change attitudes, personality (Czech proverb : “learn a new language and get a new soul”)

• Research- finish the sentence• interpret ambiguous pictures differently

What do bilingual kids need? • L1, L2 Speaking, listening, reading writing skills• Other input: reading, DVDs, TV? other

speakers?• Adolescence, reading at appropriate interest

level• Non-fiction: reading for information - Maps,

atlases, websites for kids, news

Enrichment through writing

• Writing in 2 languages can be used as a tool for thinking

• Children can read in one language and write about what they read, in the other language.

• Use lived experience in one language to produce text in the other.

• creating a new and bilingual text.

How about classroom biliteracy?

• Home literacy working with school literacy.• new approach to literacy pedagogy that takes

into account both the cultural and linguistic diversity that is part of schools and society, and the range of information and multimedia technologies that create new text forms and new ways for communicating

• www.multiliteracies.ca• Year 4 examples bilingual books

Reports of research projects on this website of …

• Studies about how to (in a practical way) bring about the increased chance of children becoming biliterate– Infusing Dual language literacy through the library curriculum --

Cohen and Sastri

• Studies about the importance of harnessing students' out-of school literacy skills and communicative practices to support academic attainment through in-school multiliteracies pedagogy– Multilingualism, identities and multiliteracies: student and

teacher voices at Coppard Glenn

• “the development of biliteracy in individuals occurs along a continua in direct response to the contextual demands placed on individuals” (Hornberger, 1989, p. 281). Many different contexts, different degrees of achievement

• accessing literacy practices in two or more languages can– add more functions to a language, – widen the choice of literature for enjoyment, – give more opportunities for understanding different

perspectives and viewpoints, and – lead to a deeper understanding of history and heritage, or

traditions and territory. (Baker,2006)

Types of bilingual language education

• Two-way or dual language • Bilingual immersion• Partial immersion• Transitional• Additive/ subtractive • CLIL in European high schools

Australian context example

• Bilingual programs in Aboriginal languages

• 1972, bilingual programs created in 20 NT schools

• Australian Language Matters Vol 7 no.2 Apr 1999

• Dr Christine Nicholls, former principal at Lajamanu school in the Tanami desert

• School attendance grew from 65% to 90%• Link with self-esteem, brought adults into

school• Indigenous children in L2,3,4 far above

average, they often have 4 languages before 8 years old!

• Phased out 1999, alleged failure of kids to complete schooling, etc- other causes?

• Diverted funds to ESL teaching- what does this represent?

Still debating bilingual education…

• "Learning in Pitjantjatjara first helps our children to learn better. It helps them to learn English too. Our children who are good at reading and writing in Pitjantjatjara are also the same ones who are good at reading and writing in English.... The teachers will use Pitjantjatjara when teaching to help the children understand things. How can you tell us the teachers must use only English even if the children don't understand what they are saying?"]

Baker- bilingualism and special education • Bilingual children (ESL) are often over-represented in

Special Ed, being seen as having language deficit. • Bilingualism associated with lang disorders (e.g.

delay)• Special Ed children are served by variety of

institutional arrangements and services. Importance of bilingual special ed.

• Assessment of Biling children needs to include observation, not just testing, with awareness of cultural bias of tests.

6 alternative causes of special needs, learning difficulties in bilingual kids (Baker)

• Poverty, deprivation, mismatch between culture and approach of home/ school

• Standard of education (poor pedagogy, resources, etc)

• Monolingual School and attitude to English, L1/l2• Low self-esteem, anxiety• Interactions amongst kids in classroom, learning

ethos• Mismatch gradient of learning and ability level of

child.

Recall? –Cornell notes

• Bilingualism and the brain• Bilingual babies• Aspects of bilingual acquisition, e.g codeswitching• Bilingualism in adolescence• Heritage speaker vs. learner• Multiliteracies• Bilingual education• Over-representation of bilingual children in special

ed…(Baker)