Making Connections: Biliteracy Instruction for Spanish-Speaking English Language Learners

Patrick Proctor & Claudia VargasBoston CollegeAmy Desmond

Waltham, MA Public Schools

‘Every inhabitaunt within saide towne indevor theym selfe to speke Englyshe, and

to use theym selfe after the Englyshe facion; and specyally that you, and every of

you, do put forth your child to scole, to lerne to speke Englyshe’

◦ Note to the people of Galway from Henry VIII discouraging the use of Gaelic, 1536 (Corcoran, 1916)

The English language is the common public language of theUnited States of America and of the Commonwealth of

Massachusetts. It is spoken by the vast majority ofMassachusetts residents, and is also the leading world

languagefor science, technology, and international business, thereby

being the language of economic opportunity…. Therefore it isresolved that: all children in Massachusetts public schools

shallbe taught English as rapidly and effectively as possible.

◦ Note to the people of California, Arizona, and Massachusetts from Ron Unz discouraging the use of any language other than English (MGL Ch 71A, 2002)

Question 2 in Massachusetts

Thoughtful research on bilingualism and second language acquisition

Language policy in the Netherlands

1) Provide supplementary Spanish literacy instruction to native Spanish speaking English language learners enrolled in a structured English immersion program.

2) Create a culturally-relevant curriculum designed to specifically meet the needs of the participating students.

Metalinguistic and metacognitive focus◦ Instruction that explicitly compares and

contrasts Spanish and English in their spoken and written forms, e.g. cognates (Nagy, García, Durgunoğlu, & Hancin-Bhatt, 1994; Proctor & Mo, 2009)

Breadth and depth of vocabulary instruction◦Semantic depth (Proctor, Uccelli, Dalton, & Snow,

2009)

◦Morphology (Kieffer & Lesaux, 2006) Culturally relevant pedagogy (Bartolomé, 1994;

Brisk & Harrington, 2007)

Note. Curriculum was not pre-set. Based on Tenet 3, themes and content were determined as we learned more about the students

Ninety minutes per week, once a week, for 16 weeks

Eight 4th grade Spanish-speaking English language learners enrolled in a structured English immersion classroom – Pilot students

Three Haitian and 1 Brazilian ELLs – Non-pilot students

School demographics: 70% Anglo, 16% Latino, 7% African American, 6% Asian

Spanish-Language Instruction Vocabulary instruction (20 mins)◦Vocabulary maps

Phonics/phonemic awareness (15 mins)◦Creapalabras

Discussion-based read alouds (30 mins)◦Papelucho

Group project work (25 mins)◦Dialogic interactions◦Sensemayá la culebra

Guided Reading Instruction:◦SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation

Protocol) Small group instruction.

◦Culturally relevant book selection for reading groups

◦Comprehension strategy instruction: predict summarize clarify question

Vocabulary Instruction:◦Reading Vocabulary Notebook◦ Debugging the text◦Text Features

Comprehension Strategy Instruction◦Reading Strategy Cards◦Margaret Bouchard: Sequencing, character

analysis, summary◦Subtexting

Relevant activities:◦Literacy Puzzles◦Word/Sentence Building◦ Just Right Books

◦Reading Response Journals◦Modifications related to English Proficiency Level◦Beginner students have native language reading

and writing options◦Buddy Reading: Allow students to buddy read and

think, pair, share◦ Independent reading (“Just let kids read!”,

Krashen).

Brisk and Harrington (2007) Interview Protocol◦Pre administration

Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey – Revised (WMLS-R; Woodcock, Muñoz-Sandoval, Ruef, & Alvarado, 2005). Letter-Word Identification, Picture Vocabulary, and Passage Comprehension subtests ◦ Indicators of decoding, expressive vocabulary,

and reading comprehension, respectively, in Spanish and English. Results are presented in standard scores, in which the norming sample mean is 100 with a standard deviation of 15.

* All names are pseudonyms. Data gathered using interview protocol from Brisk & Harrington (2007)

Freedom of speech◦Language of instruction◦Use of preferred language◦ Increased opportunities for expression and

understanding◦ Initiation of comments and relating to

personal life◦Use of Spanish to develop English skills◦Linguistic merging

◦Support parent involvement in the school by providing child care and flexible scheduling for parent activities. (Zeljo & Doctoroff, 2008)

◦Stresses of single-parenthood interacts with the immigrant experience

◦Awareness of a certain level of at risk for literacy development.

◦Provide support before the student follow behind his/her peers.

Change in student’s affect◦ Initially reserved behavior Increased

participation◦100% participation in final project◦Students volunteered to present project at

whole school assembly◦Typical in most classrooms

Preservation of heritage language – Nicolas Challenge and benefits of working in groups –

Karen Syntactic and grammatical differences across

languages- Nicolas Learning words in Spanish helps learning

words in English - Antonio