Profiles of Second Language Learners in Bilingual Education: A Comparative Study of the Characteristics of Finnish and American Students

The purpose of this comparative study is to profile second language learners by exploring the factors which have an impact on their learning. The subjects come from two different countries: one group comes from Milwaukee, US, and the other from Turku, Finland. The subjects have attended bilingual classes from elementary school to senior high school in their respective countries. In the United States, the subjects (N = 57) started in one elementary school from where they moved on to two high schools in the district. The Finnish subjects (N = 39) attended the same school from elementary to high school. The longitudinal study was conducted during 1994-2004 and combines both qualitative and quantitative research methods. A Pilot Study carried out in 1990-1991 preceded the two subsequent studies that form the core material of this research. The theoretical part of the study focuses first on language policies in the United States and Finland: special emphasis is given to the history, development and current state of bilingual education, and the factors that have affected policy-making in the provision of language instruction. Current language learning theories and models form the theoretical foundation of the research, and underpin the empirical studies. Cognitively-labeled theories are at the forefront, but sociocultural theory and the ecological approach are also accounted for. The research methods consist of questionnaires, compositions and interviews. A combination of statistical methods as well as content analysis were used in the analysis. The attitude of the bilingual learners toward L1 and L2 was generally positive: the subjects enjoyed learning through two languages and were motivated to learn both. The knowledge of L1 and parental support, along with early literacy in L1, facilitated the learning of L2. This was particularly evident in the American subject group. The American subjects’ L2 learning was affected by the attitudes of the learners to the L1 culture and its speakers. Furthermore, the negative attitudes taken by L1 speakers toward L2 speakers and the lack of opportunities to engage in activities in the L1 culture affected the American subjects’ learning of L2, English. The research showed that many American L2 learners were isolated from the L1 culture and were even afraid to use English in everyday communication situations. In light of the research results, a politically neutral linguistic environment, which the Finnish subjects inhabited, was seen to be more favorable for learning. The Finnish subjects were learning L2, English, in a neutral zone where their own attitudes and motivation dictated their learning. The role of L2 as a means of international communication in Finland, as opposed to a means of exercising linguistic power, provided a neutral atmosphere for learning English. In both the American and Finnish groups, the learning of other languages was facilitated when the learner had a good foundation in their L1, and the learning of L1 and L2 were in balance. Learning was also fostered when the learners drew positive experiences from their surroundings and were provided with opportunities to engage in activities where L2 was used.

Closing the summer learning gap for vulnerable junior kindergarten students

Under current academic calendars across North America, summer vacation creates a significant gap in the learning cycle. I t has been argued that this gap actually decreases student achievement levels over the course of the summer. In a synthesis of 39 studies Cooper, Nye, Charlton, Lindsay, & Greathouse (1996) indicated that summer learning loss equaled at least one month of instruction as measured by grade level equivalents on standardized test scores whereby children's test scores were at least one month lower when they returned to school in the fall than scores were when students left in the summer. Specifically, Cooper et aI., (1996) found that the summer learning loss phenomena may be particularly troublesome for less advantaged children including those with speech and language delays, children at-risk for reading disabilities, children from lower socio-economic backgrounds, and children learning English as a second language. In general, research illustrated clearly that the summer learning gap can be particularly problematic for vulnerable children and furthermore, that literacy skills may be the area of achievement that is most affected. A foundational pillar to this research project is including primary caregivers as authentic partners in a summer literacy program designed to support their children's literacy needs. This pillar led the research team to use the Learning Begins at Home: A Research-Based Family Literacy Program Curriculum designed by Antoinette Doyle, Kathleen Hipfner-Boucher, and Janette Pelletier from the Ontario Institute for the Studies of Education. The LBH program is designed to be flexibly adapted to suit the needs of each individual participating family. As indicated by Timmons (2008) literacy interventions are most powerful when they include authentic family involvement. Based on this research, a requirement for participating in the summer literacy program was involvement of a child and one of their primary caregivers. The participating caregiver was integrally involved in the program, participating in workshop activities prior to and following hands-on literacy work with their child. By including primary caregivers as authentic partners, the research team encouraged a paradigmatic shift in the family whereby literacy activities become routine within their household. 5 Participants in this study were 14 children from junior kindergarten classrooms within the Niagara Catholic District School Board. As children were referred to the program, they were assessed by a trained emergent literacy specialist (from Speech Services Niagara) to identify whether they met the eligibility requirements for participation in the summer program. To be eligible to participate, children demonstrated significant literacy needs (i.e. below 25%ile on the Test of Preschool Early Literacy described below). Children with low incidence disabilities (i.e. profound sensory impairments, severe intellectual impairments, developmental disabilities, etc) were excluded as participants. The research team used a standard pre- and posttest design whereby all participating children were assessed with the Test of Preschool Early Literacy (Lonigan et aI., 2007), and a standard measure of letter names and sounds. Pretests were administered two weeks prior to the commencement of the program and the first set of posttests was administered immediately following the program. A second set of posttests was administered in December 2009 to measure the sustainability of the program. As a result of the program, all children scored statistically significantly higher on their literacy scores at the post-program assessment point immediately following the program and also at the Dec-post-program assessment point. These results in general indicated that the summer family literacy program made an immediate impact on the emergent literacy skills of participating children. All participating children demonstrated significant increases in print and phonological awareness as well as their letter sound understanding.

Pre-school contributions to future achievements

This paper provides recent evidence about the beneÖts of attending preschool on future performance. A non-parametric matching procedure is used over two outcomes: math and verbal scores at a national mandatory test (Saber11) in Colombia. It is found that students who had the chance of attending preschool obtain higher scores in math (6.7%) and verbal (5.4%) than those who did not. A considerable fraction of these gaps comes from the upper quintiles of studentís performance, suggesting that preschool matters when is done at high quality institutions. When we include the number of years at the preschool, the gap rises up to 12% in verbal and 17% in math.

As escolhas das letras e caracteres na elaboração de enunciados em cartas e histórias em quadrinhos

Pós-graduação em Educação - FFC

Escolhas de letras nas primeiras escritas infantis: função e unidade no discurso

The article deals, initially, from a theoretical point of view, the concept of function in the perspective of Vygotsky (2001), and functional equivalence from the point of view of Smith (1989) and articulates them with the letter funcion in the construction of words in discursive statements. Taking as reference these concepts, it was analysed writings of a student in early literacy at a school in a countryside city in the state of São Paulo, in a situation of writing letters of personal correspondence, whose data were collected in 2009 in order to determine which letters are chosen by the student and why they are chosen to record the speech. The concept of function in Vygotsky and the functional equivalence of Smith (1989) used for the analysis of corpus, revealed that the student’s decisions are characterized by diversity sources and criteria, and rely mainly on the basis that a letter can have the constitution of the word, in the process of enunciation, regardless of their phonetic correspondence. The letter, used as a basis, would lose its status as strictly technical element to achieve the status of a unit of sense since is a constituent part of discourse.

O material didático para alunos surdos: a literatura infantil em libras

The reading of history is a fundamental part of early literacy for children as part of the goals for all children's education. The wheel of history or storytelling is an important moment of great help in the cognitive development of children, including a child with disabilities. Searching the accessibility of communication is that the present study aimed to make accessible in Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS) the book O Penuginha by Luiz Vitor Martinello. To facilitate the achievement of this objective, it was considered appropriate to develop a descriptive study following the methodology of qualitative research, to survey the literature on how learning takes place in the Portuguese language by deaf students. This study resulted in a DVD with video recording with the translation of the book O Penuginha in LIBRAS and the narration of the book in Portuguese. Therefore, this project became relevant as the paradigm of the twenty first century is the inclusion of all people in different scenarios and the school is one of the first places where the removal of barriers is essential

O desenvolvimento da memória na educação infantil: contribuições da Psicologia histórico-cultural para o ensino de crianças de 4 e 5 anos

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Material didático para alunos surdos: a literatura infantil em Libras

The storytelling is central to the early literacy of children, part of the objectives for the entire kindergarten. The story circle or storytelling is important and helpful in cognitive and emotional development of children, including the ones with disabilities. Seeking communicational accessibility, the aim of this work is to make the book "O Penuginha" by Luiz Vitor Martinello available in LIBRAS (Brazilian Sign Language). To facilitate the achievement of this objective, it was considered appropriate to develop a descriptive study following the methodology of qualitative research, to search for literature on how learning takes place in the Portuguese language by deaf students. This study resulted in a DVD with video recordings, the translation of the book "O Penuginha" in LIBRAS and the narration of the book in Portuguese. Therefore, this research is relevant because the paradigm of the twenty first century is the inclusion of all people in different scenarios and the school is one of the first places where the removal of barriers is essential.

Avaliação do ler e do escrever de surdos pela língua brasileira de sinais

The use of Brazilian Sign Language (BSL) in the education of deaf people is guaranteed by Brazilian laws, but its adoption in educational policies requires an adjustment in terms of stimulus and response modalities. This study aimed at characterizing reading and writing performances of four deaf students who are BSL users and are in early literacy phases. The assessment was performed through selection tasks – signaling and writing – using an evaluation and teaching procedure that is usually adopted with hearing children. The results replicated data that has been documented in hearing children: performance was satisfactory in copying and identity matching tasks among pictures and graphic stimulus; performance was lower in reading and dictation tasks. Data show that investment targets regarding reading and writing teaching conditions programming require adjustments that are more related to the communication modality than to the teaching procedures.

O jogo como recurso viabilizador da aprendizagem no processo de alfabetização na educação básica

This work's aim was to verify the contributions of educational games usage as a teaching resource in alphabetization and literacy process during elementary school initial years. For this, there was a bibliographical survey on the topic, identifying Brazilian publishing on articles, dissertations and theses over the last ten years and what were the possibilities to use this feature of offering a more meaningful and playful learning to students, ensuring their learning processes. The results indicate that, although there are several themes that address the game and learning, there is little published concerning game and literacy. Overall, it is possible to affirm that games are features that enable the learning of reading and writing in early literacy process. Therefore, it is reiterated that games constitute resources that enable learning in the early literacy process and constitutes in a different activity, which mobilizes the child in a playful dimension to learning

Procedimentos do ensino da leitura no primeiro ano do ensino fundamental: concepções, estratégias e resultados

The theme of the reading in the first year of the literacy cycle has become recurrent in academic papers, research groups, discussion forums, conferences etc. and raised different positions depending on the theoretical framework with which it is studied. While it is granted that reading instruction this school year is to ensure the ability to encode and decode and learn and understand the meanings and the meanings of what we read. In this work, it formed a general objective to investigate how reading skills are being developed in the classroom and the strategies used to develop decoding and understanding of meanings. The question that formed the north to the survey was as follows: The strategies and procedures being used in the teaching of reading in the early literacy process develop the coding and decoding skills beyond the grasp and understanding of the meanings of ideas? The specific objectives were established: a) investigate how is the teaching of reading in the first grade of elementary school; b) identify the teaching strategies and the design of reading and reader that the teacher of the class has observed and relate it to the way he teaches; c) verify that the teaching of reading in the first year of the literacy process, develop the early reading skills, decoding, and favors the development of the apprehension and understanding of the meanings of what we read. The methodology included field research, from a qualitative interpretation approach and had as direct data source the natural environment in which the teaching of reading has been developed. The work then displays data results analyzed in the light of literacy concepts distinguished by Soares (2011), and reading by Silva (1983), Foucambert (1994), Solé (1998), among others. The results were extracted inferences and interpretations. It is hoped that this work raises in literacy teachers, reflections on the teaching of reading in the literacy cicle, in order to establish the...

Procedimentos do ensino da leitura no primeiro ano do ensino fundamental: concepções, estratégias e resultados

The theme of the reading in the first year of the literacy cycle has become recurrent in academic papers, research groups, discussion forums, conferences etc. and raised different positions depending on the theoretical framework with which it is studied. While it is granted that reading instruction this school year is to ensure the ability to encode and decode and learn and understand the meanings and the meanings of what we read. In this work, it formed a general objective to investigate how reading skills are being developed in the classroom and the strategies used to develop decoding and understanding of meanings. The question that formed the north to the survey was as follows: The strategies and procedures being used in the teaching of reading in the early literacy process develop the coding and decoding skills beyond the grasp and understanding of the meanings of ideas? The specific objectives were established: a) investigate how is the teaching of reading in the first grade of elementary school; b) identify the teaching strategies and the design of reading and reader that the teacher of the class has observed and relate it to the way he teaches; c) verify that the teaching of reading in the first year of the literacy process, develop the early reading skills, decoding, and favors the development of the apprehension and understanding of the meanings of what we read. The methodology included field research, from a qualitative interpretation approach and had as direct data source the natural environment in which the teaching of reading has been developed. The work then displays data results analyzed in the light of literacy concepts distinguished by Soares (2011), and reading by Silva (1983), Foucambert (1994), Solé (1998), among others. The results were extracted inferences and interpretations. It is hoped that this work raises in literacy teachers, reflections on the teaching of reading in the literacy cicle, in order to establish the...

Family Preservation Journal, 1998, Volume 3, Issue 2. (Entire issue)

Entire issue (large pdf file) Articles include: Getting to Know You: Psychoeducational Groups to Counter Social Isolation of Neglectful Mothers. Marianne Berry Intensive Family Preservation in Children's Mental Health: Predictors of Placement. Cathryn C. Potter An Innovative Family Preservation Program in an African American Community: Longitudinal Analysis. Patricia Ciliberti Chipping Away at the Monolith: Dispelling the Myth of Father Noninvolvement in Children's Early Literacy Development. Robert W. Ortiz

Impacto de un programa de alfabetización temprana en niños de sectores urbano marginales

Este trabajo tiene como objetivos contribuir al conocimiento del proceso de alfabetización temprana en español en niños de sectores sociales desfavorecidos, y analizar los resultados de la implementación de un programa destinado al desarrollo de habilidades y conocimientos relativos a la lectura y la escritura inicial. El tipo de intervención propuesta, surge del programa ECOS , ya probado en español, pero no replicado suficientemente en niños de edades preescolares. Se ha estudiado el impacto de la aplicación de dicho programa, destinado a niños de 4, 5 y 6 años de edad, pertenecientes a sectores en desventaja socio económica, que concurrían a jardines de infantes de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (Argentina). Esta tesis se enmarca en los modelos de investigación proporcionados desde la Psicología Cognitiva y la corriente sociocultural, y sustenta la hipótesis de que el presente programa incrementa, en mayor medida que la curricula escolar las habilidades de conciencia fonológica, el reconocimiento y escritura de palabras y textos, así como también las habilidades de comprensión y producción oral de textos narrativos, en el corto y mediano plazo. Su originalidad reside en la especificidad del programa seleccionado y en haber considerado de manera conjunta la evaluación de su impacto, a través de un seguimiento longitudinal, que permitió no sólo verificar la persistencia de sus efectos a mediano plazo, sino también las relaciones que guardan entre sí las variables evaluadas, el poder predictivo de unas sobre otras, el momento en el que se produce el impacto y sobre cuáles de las variables y el tamaño de ese impacto. La investigación se realizó comparando el desempeño de dos grupos de niños uno experimental en el cual se aplicó dicho programa y uno control. Al inicio de la investigación los niños fueron homologados en cuanto al estrato social de procedencia (identificado por el nivel educacional y ocupacional de los padres), a las características de los establecimientos educativos a los que concurrían y a la de los contextos alfabetizadores hogareños así como respecto de sus conocimientos y habilidades iniciales. Las variables a ser consideradas en la evaluación de los desempeños fueron las siguientes: habilidades de conciencia fonológica, conocimientos sobre material impreso y sobre el sistema de escritura, lectura y escritura de palabras de diferente longitud y complejidad, lectura de pseudopalabras, lectura y escritura de textos y comprensión y renarración oral de textos narrativos. Los niños fueron evaluados en cuatro oportunidades diferentes, comparándose los desempeños de ambos grupos en el transcurso de dos años y medio: Se aplicó un modelo de medidas repetidas y se calculó el estadístico Effect Size para todas las variables al finalizar la intervención y mediano plazo. Las conclusiones extraídas de esta investigación ponen en evidencia el impacto positivo del programa de intervención. A mediano plazo se verifica una diferencia promedio de alrededor del 30 entre los niños de ambos grupos, en los porcentajes de aciertos en las pruebas que evalúan las habilidades de conciencia fonológica, lectura y escritura de palabras y comprensión de textos

Sociedad, familia y aprendizaje. El papel de los contextos hogareños

En este trabajo se aborda el estudio de las relaciones entre sociedad, familia y aprendizaje. Particularmente refiere a las características del contexto alfabetizador hogareño de poblaciones carenciadas y sus repercusiones en las habilidades y conocimientos prelectores de sus hijos. Para examinar dichas relaciones, se seleccionaron aleatoriamente 62 niños de 4/5 años de edad y sus madres. Las madres fueron entrevistadas con una adaptación de una encuesta sobre contexto familiar alfabetizador (Whitehurst, 1992). Los niños fueron evaluados utilizando pruebas específicas que permitieran estimar la dimensión `alfabetización temprana'. Los resultados encontrados informan sobre una gran variabilidad en las prácticas y características del contexto hogareño de las familias examinadas y sobre conocimientos y habilidades prelectores infantiles muy incipientes. Las relaciones entre las dos dimensiones bajo estudio, si bien alcanzan significación estadística, muestran valores de bajos a moderados, circunstancia cuya interpretación se discute. Por último, la caracterización de los niños y de los hogares de donde provienen, tiene como finalidad última encontrar indicadores específicos que permitan diseñar estrategias de intervención adecuadas, oportunas y sistemáticas para la prevención de dificultades en el aprendizaje del lenguaje escrito en situaciones que pueden ser consideradas de riesgo