Language Acquisition Beliefs
Language Acquisition Beliefs
ELD/506
September 23, 2013
Wendy Sottile
Primary and Secondary Language Acquisition Although much lip service is paid to honoring and validating the mother-tongue of English language leaners, the fact remains that if the children of immigrants fail to learn to read and write fluent English quickly (usually within four or five short years), they are destined to populate lower-level classes. In addition, should they be lucky enough to graduate from high school, their language skills often restrict them to attending community colleges or trade schools. English language ability, or lack thereof, has become the predictor of success in the United States of America. In trying to avoid the appearance …show more content…
I grew up in South Africa in an English speaking household in an historically English province of the country. I attended English schools with other English-speaking students. However, starting from 1st Grade, all students were required to study Afrikaans (a derivative of Dutch). If students failed either English, Math or Afrikaans they were required to repeat the entire school year. At the same time, in the same city, Afrikaans speaking families were sending their children to Afrikaans schools where they were required to pass English classes. By the time I got to middle school, I was fluent in both languages and elected to attend a predominantly Afrikaans school. Once I got to high school, I switched back to the school of my choice, which just happened to be English. I graduated from college certified to teach Biology in both languages. It just so happened that the area I grew up in had fewer Afrikaans schools than English schools, but they were not in any way inferior. In other parts of the country Afrikaans schools were more numerous, but English was always a required subject and almost every South African can speak and read both languages fluently. (Black students at that time were required to learn in either English or Afrikaans and were denied mother tongue or bilingual education, which was definitely discrmination, similar to that faced by Hispanic immigrants to the United …show more content…
While completion of a second language class is required to get into most universities, English students are not required to write all their content driven subject examinations in a foreign language. Brown recognizes this discrimination in Principles of Language Learning and Teaching pg. 208 where he describes the English Only movement as “heavily funded by well-heeled right-wing organizations” and a “covert agenda of the ultimate devaluing of minority languages and cultures.” How is it that in a state like California, where Whites are now in the minority and Hispanics the majority, that English is the only acceptable language by which to measure a person’s intelligence? Why are there not schools where students can study Physics and Chemistry and Social Studies in Spanish? Why should such a school be considered inferior to an English school?
Whether children enjoy some cognitive or educational benefit from being bilingual seems to depend in part on extralinguistic factors such as the
ELD/506
September 23, 2013
Wendy Sottile
Primary and Secondary Language Acquisition Although much lip service is paid to honoring and validating the mother-tongue of English language leaners, the fact remains that if the children of immigrants fail to learn to read and write fluent English quickly (usually within four or five short years), they are destined to populate lower-level classes. In addition, should they be lucky enough to graduate from high school, their language skills often restrict them to attending community colleges or trade schools. English language ability, or lack thereof, has become the predictor of success in the United States of America. In trying to avoid the appearance …show more content…
I grew up in South Africa in an English speaking household in an historically English province of the country. I attended English schools with other English-speaking students. However, starting from 1st Grade, all students were required to study Afrikaans (a derivative of Dutch). If students failed either English, Math or Afrikaans they were required to repeat the entire school year. At the same time, in the same city, Afrikaans speaking families were sending their children to Afrikaans schools where they were required to pass English classes. By the time I got to middle school, I was fluent in both languages and elected to attend a predominantly Afrikaans school. Once I got to high school, I switched back to the school of my choice, which just happened to be English. I graduated from college certified to teach Biology in both languages. It just so happened that the area I grew up in had fewer Afrikaans schools than English schools, but they were not in any way inferior. In other parts of the country Afrikaans schools were more numerous, but English was always a required subject and almost every South African can speak and read both languages fluently. (Black students at that time were required to learn in either English or Afrikaans and were denied mother tongue or bilingual education, which was definitely discrmination, similar to that faced by Hispanic immigrants to the United …show more content…
While completion of a second language class is required to get into most universities, English students are not required to write all their content driven subject examinations in a foreign language. Brown recognizes this discrimination in Principles of Language Learning and Teaching pg. 208 where he describes the English Only movement as “heavily funded by well-heeled right-wing organizations” and a “covert agenda of the ultimate devaluing of minority languages and cultures.” How is it that in a state like California, where Whites are now in the minority and Hispanics the majority, that English is the only acceptable language by which to measure a person’s intelligence? Why are there not schools where students can study Physics and Chemistry and Social Studies in Spanish? Why should such a school be considered inferior to an English school?
Whether children enjoy some cognitive or educational benefit from being bilingual seems to depend in part on extralinguistic factors such as the