(1993). The Influence of Peer Culture on Mexican-Origin Bilingual Children's Interpretations of a Literacy Event. Bilingual Research Journal, v17 n3-4 p71-98 Sum-Fall. Examines the oral and written interactions of bilingual Mexican-origin students during a dialogue-journal literacy event that spanned first and second grades. Discusses student interpretations of their dialogue-journal assignments in terms of the students' childhood interests, social purposes, and participation in peer culture. (SV)…
(1991). Involving Parents in Schools: A Process of Empowerment. American Journal of Education, v100 n1 p20-46 Nov. This 4-year study in a southern California school district examines parent involvement activities affecting about 100 families to encourage Spanish-speaking parents to participate more fully in their children's schooling. Unconventional activities validating families' social and cultural experience are more successful than conventional means of encouraging parent participation. (SLD)…
(1992). Issues in Second Language Curriculum Development: Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, v13 p3-23. Summarizes current theoretical and practical issues of second-language learning and teaching in the national curricula of Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei Darussalam. Postcolonial developments in each country influence the theory and practice of first- and second-language acquisition. Of importance also are the attitudes and expectations of teachers and students as well as official language policy. Contains annotated bibliography (26 references). (LET)…
(1995). Research into Practice. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, v9 n2 p167-70 Spr-Sum. Comments on the articles presented in this issue, discussing factors that influence the climate for learning. Ways that beliefs, past experiences, and cultural competence of adults may influence their ability to work collaboratively and support children's collaborative work are discussed, as are the effects of various adult interaction styles on children's developmentally appropriate interactive learning. (AA)…
(2000). Languages and Tribal Sovereignty: Whose Language Is It Anyway?. Theory into Practice, v39 n4 p211-19 Aut. Argues that the ways in which other languages, such as Spanish, have been dealt with in the schools, particularly in bilingual programs, should not be applied to Pueblo languages. Pueblo culture, history, and politics have evolved a different way of thinking about language and require different educational solutions. Partnerships between Pueblo communities and schools must be founded on mutual respect. (SM)…
(2000). The Education of Migrant Children in Michigan: A Policy Analysis Report. JSRI Occasional Paper No. 72. Latino Studies Series. A Michigan State University policy analysis class explored migrant education in Michigan through literature reviews and interviews with policymakers, teachers, and migrant children and their families. They identified four areas that need attention. First, people who understand the learning needs of migrant students should be recruited as teachers. Teachers who have the dispositions and ability to teach Latinos and other minority groups should be selected. Quality professional development should be available to teachers and aides instructing migrant children, and these teachers and aides should have knowledge of Spanish and English as well as pedagogies that allow self-regulated learning and critical thinking without devaluing diverse cultures. Second, family-school relationships can be strengthened through a "students as ambassador program" to facilitate teacher-parent communication. Third, technologies used in schools should be evaluated for cost-effectiveness,… [PDF]
(2001). Hispanic Education in the United States: Raices y Alas. Critical Issues of Contemporary American Education. This book portrays what works in creating better educational opportunities and effective school reform for Hispanic Americans, offering a reflection on the bicultural experience of minority groups in U.S. schools and showing how and why educational reforms must seek to build upon rather than downplay the native culture and language of minority students. The book includes stories from the author's life and from the experiences of other teachers and students. The 10 chapters examine the following: (1) "An Introduction to 'Raices y Alas'"; (2) "Culturally Diverse We Are, Equal and United We Are Not"; (3) "It Doesn't Have To Be 'Either/Or'"; (4) "Hispanics: A Growing Immigrant People"; (5) "Culture and Education: Seeds of the Individual and Collective Identity for Hispanics in Schools"; (6) "Educational Approaches–What Works for Hispanics: General Constructs and the Early Years"; (7) "Educational Approaches–What Works…
(1999). Indigenous Education and Grassroots Language Planning in the USA. Practicing Anthropology, v21 n2 p5-11 Spr. Indigenous literacy affirms indigenous identity; connects native speakers to the culture and each other; and stimulates other, more diffuse forces for language maintenance. Collaborative, grassroots Native language programs in the United States, New Zealand, Hawaii, Canada, and Puerto Rico are described. Immersion and literacy programs include oral language maintenance, development of writing systems, curriculum development, language reconstruction, and faculty training. (TD)…
(1994). The Cooperative Reading Project: A Collaboration with Teachers To Examine and Improve upon Cooperative Learning in Literacy Instruction. This paper presents some of the overall findings of the Cooperative Reading Project (CRP), a collaboration between six teachers in a bilingual Spanish/English elementary school and a team of university researchers to examine and improve upon cooperative learning literacy instruction. The CRP took a social constructivist learning stance toward cooperative learning as well as toward professional development of teachers. The project focused on teachers' thinking and its relation to their classroom actions and students' attitudes and learning. Teachers participated in ongoing, collaborative staff development meetings, and each developed a personal instructional refinement agenda. Data was gathered through teacher and student interviews, instructional observations, and a pre-, mid-, and post-intervention written assessment of student literacy strategy use and motivational orientation, using the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. The study found that students showed… [PDF]
(1991). Teaching through Traditions: Incorporating Native Languages and Cultures into Curricula. Ethnocentrism has permeated the European-American educational establishment for nearly 500 years. Native students have been subjected to a barrage of assimilation tactics designed to destroy their cultures and languages. Only 206 Native languages remain (about a third of the original number), and about 50 of these are near extinction. Language destruction promotes cultural disintegration. Among the factors contributing to the poor academic achievement of Native students are cultural differences between home and school, ignorance of Native culture among school staff, differences in language and values between teachers and students, culturally based Native learning styles, and culturally biased testing. Community participation and community control of education are critical to developing culturally relevant curricula and making education responsive to Native students' needs. Communities and educators can draw on the experiences of other tribes that have developed successful programs… [PDF]
(1985). The Danger of Poison. Level R = El Veneno es Peligroso. [Nivel R.]. Designed by Project TEACH (Teaching Environmental Awareness to the Children of Harvest), the skill-sequenced curriculum unit was developed to teach 3- to 5-year-old migrant children about the benefits and possible hazards of pesticides. Prepared in both Spanish and English, the field-tested unit can be used as a separate teaching unit or integrated into regular mathematics and reading curriculum. The guide includes a list of symptoms of pesticide poisoning, an overview of Project TEACH, a teacher's guide for using pesticides safely, the readiness unit, parent's booklet, and 15 visuals. The teacher's guide contains four units that cover types of pesticides and their toxicity; federal and state pesticide laws; pesticide packaging, storage, and safety; and pesticide poisoning and treatment. Each unit includes a true-false test. The readiness unit provides 16 lessons planned around pesticide concepts. Lesson activities consist of practice in 50 readiness skills taken from the National… [PDF]
(1984). Issues in the Educational Progress of Black People. Educational progress for black people requires elimination of racial prejudice and discrimination against the poor. Several issues relating to the education of black people are discussed: (1) blacks continue to be incorrectly stereotyped as intellectually inferior; (2) historically, blacks suffered from discriminatory educational practices; (3) parents, friends, and relatives of some black students, as well as the students themselves, need to provide educational motivation because it is evident that achievement is possible despite the obstacles set up by others; (4) the academic environment needs attention–with efforts being made toward making learning as interesting and enjoyable as possible; (5) failing students should be retained until they learn a given grade level's material–past problems in this area have caused many students to be unprepared for high school and college work; (6) universities should be relatively flexible in their admissions policies, denying admission only…
(1983). Federal Service Mandates in Education: A Preliminary Assessment. This assessment of the effectiveness of federal service mandates in addressing equal education goals considers the effects and policy implications of existing and theoretical mandate types. The service mandate is a legal requirement (not contingent upon federal financial aid) that states or districts provide educational services satisfying federal standards to target groups of students. Following discussions of existing mandates to serve handicapped and limited-English-proficient children and theoretical attributes of mandates, fiscal and allocative effects of mandates on federal, state, and local budgets, distributive impact, and effects on services for target groups are discussed. An analysis of policy implications concludes that while service mandates are more certain in effect, more efficient in directing resources, and more easily monitored than federal grants, state and local budgets carry the financial burden of mandated services, and existing fiscal inequities are likely to… [PDF]
(1983). Heritage Language Education: A Literature Review. Research literature concerning the effects of incorporating the heritage languages of minority students into the regular school curriculum either as subjects or as mediums of instruction is reviewed. Program evaluations from Canada, the United States, and Europe consistently show that the use of a minority language as a medium of instruction for all or part of the school day entails no long-term loss in the development of academic skills in the majority language. There is also evidence that bilingual programs can both encourage minority parent involvement in their children's schooling and facilitate the development of minority students' academic skills. However, this pattern does not invariably emerge in the evaluation data, and further research is required to understand fully the complex interactions that appear to exist between language of instruction and a range of individual, educational, and social factors. Virtually no research data are available on the academic effects of… [PDF]
(1980). Bilingual Vocational Training with Trainers and Trainees: Concepts and Applications. This monograph explicates the techniques for bilingual skills training of adults and out-of-school youth that were developed in the bilingual vocational training program at Bullard-Havens Regional Vocational-Technical School in Connecticut. The first chapter deals with the problem-posing and questioning technique known as "concientizacion," which was developed by Paulo Freire and which has been used extensively in bilingual programs throughout the world. It focuses on the learning processes of codification, decodification, and recodification. Discussed in the second chapter is the technique of "capacitacion," which is a method for teaching visual English to vocational students that represents English word order rules in a manner that is systematized through question-words. Procedures are set forth for using tape and slide presentations and question-and-answer sessions based on the visual English method in bilingual vocational English classes. Concluding the… [PDF]