Becoming Biliterate: A Study of Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Education

by Perez; Bertha

• ISBN13: 9780805846782
• ISBN10: 0805846786
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-09-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This book describes the development process and dynamics of change in the course of implementing a two-way bilingual immersion education program in two school communities. The focus is on the language and literacy learning of elementary-school students and on how it is influenced by parents, teachers, and policymakers. Perez provides rich, highly detailed descriptions, both quantitative and qualitative, of the change process at the two schools involved, including student language and achievement data for five years of program implementation that were used to test the basic two-way bilingual theory, the specific school interventions, and the particular classroom instructional practices. The contribution ofBecoming Biliterate: A Study of Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Educationis to provide a comprehensive description of contextual and instructional factors that might help or hinder the attainment of successful literacy and student outcomes in both languages. The study has broad theoretical, policy, and practical instructional relevance for the many other U.S. school districts with large student populations of non-native speakers of English. This volume is highly relevant for researchers, teacher educators, and graduate students in bilingual and ESL education, language policy, linguistics, and language education, and as a text for master's- and doctoral-level classes in these areas.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xi
Preface	p. xvii
Acknowledgments	p. xix
Introduction	p. xxiii
Language and Literacy Education of Mexican-Origin and Mexican American Children	p. 1
Schooling of Latino Spanish-Speaking Children	p. 4
Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Education	p. 11
Bilingual and Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Research	p. 15
This Study	p. 22
The Community, School Context, and Students	p. 25
The San Antonio Context	p. 26
Restructuring Bilingual Programs	p. 31
School Profiles	p. 36
Student Population	p. 38
Language Distribution	p. 40
Conclusion	p. 43
Leadership and Parents	p. 44
Informing Parents and Parents' Concerns	p. 44
Developing Parent and Community Leadership	p. 54
The School-Based Leadership	p. 56
Parents and Community Members Influencing Learning	p. 58
School Board Support	p. 60
Conclusion	p. 60
Oral Language Practices	p. 62
The Sociolinguistic Environment	p. 64
Teacher-Student Communication	p. 66
Instructional Language	p. 77
Conclusion	p. 82
Developing Literacy	p. 85
Literacy Perspective	p. 89
Spanish Literacy Learning	p. 92
Literacy Transfer	p. 108
Literacy Resources	p. 113
Conclusion	p. 114
Academic Biliteracy	p. 116
Biliteracy Program	p. 117
Guided Reading, Literature, and Spelling	p. 123
Writing, Hybridization, and Bidirectional Influences	p. 127
Conclusion	p. 139
Testing Pressures and Student Outcomes	p. 141
Early Assessment	p. 142
The TAAS and Accountability	p. 143
Literacy Assessment	p. 149
Aprenda and ITBS Comparisons	p. 151
The Tejas Lee and TPRI	p. 155
Language Assessment	p. 156
Special Needs Students	p. 160
Testing and Middle School Planning	p. 160
Conclusion	p. 161
Teachers' Role and Impact	p. 162
Teacher Demographics	p. 163
Teacher Ownership of Program	p. 165
Teachers and Language Distribution	p. 167
Teacher Accountability	p. 168
Professional Development	p. 169
Participation and Role of Support Personnel	p. 172
Teachers' Stance Toward the Study	p. 175
Conclusion	p. 175
Politics, Policy, and Theory	p. 177
Reassessment and Recommitment	p. 179
Language, Identity, and Hybridity	p. 181
Biliteracy Development	p. 184
Implications	p. 188
Research Methodology	p. 193
References	p. 207
Author Index	p. 219
Subject Index	p. 223
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