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BILINGUAL EDUCATION AND ARAB-AMERICANS.
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Discusses original purpose of bilingual educational programs as primarily for Spanish speaking children.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Discusses original purpose of bilingual educational programs as primarily for Spanish speaking children. Development of a transitional model not based on a pedagogical foundation. Deveopment of a new model of dual immersion that is based on neurological research. Court decision re: binlingual programs. Cites problems of bilingual education today. Centers on bilingual education in the context of the Arab-American community. ESL studies. Special needs of Arabic speaking children; lack of teachers proficient in Arabic and English.
Paper Introduction:
Bilingual Education and the Arab-American Community
Introduction
Bilingual education programs were initiated in the United States and intended to be “transitional in that their goal was to facilitate the rapid movement of non-English speaking students into mainstream classroom. Luisa Garro (p. 5) claims that these programs were created in the late 1960s and the early 1970s in response to legislation and court orders requiring schools to provide an education in a child’s native language. The transitional model was developed rapidly and without much pedagogical foundation.
A new model known as dual immersion is emerging in bilingual education (Garro, p. 5). This model is based on neurological research suggesting that the window of opportunity for lea
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Inthis doctoral dissertation, it was noted that Arab international transientstudents come to the United States in great numbers and, moresignificantly, the formal literacy experience in their native countriesvaries quite significantly among members of this minority group. Correct use of prepositions.It was found that the degree of deviation in these areas decreases withrespect to the amount of time spent in the United States and theeducational level of the speaker. Bilingual education ranges fromsubmersion, in which the student is taught completely in English, toseparatist in which the student learns in his or her first language andlittle emphasis is placed on learning English skills. 3718) further notes, such students encountersocial and learning challenges while undergoing strong and conflict-ladenacculturation and socialization processes.This researcher presented a detailed portrait of two learning environmentswhere the focal students spent most of their school time - an ESL classroomand a mainstream classroom. Wendy Schwartz (pp. Consequently, immersing young students, includingEnglish speaking children in a dual linguistic program provides thestudents with an opportunity to learn two languages virtuallysimultaneously. Paper presented at a conference on world Englishes today, Urbana, Illinois, March 31 - April 2, 1994. ED378832.Garro, Luisa. The National Association for Bilingual Educators (founded in 1975)has continually supported issues of equity, access, and program efficacy.It insists on excellence and has advocated for laws, guidelines, andfunding that would promote and ensure equity for all public school studentsin the United States (Black Issues in Higher Education, p. 254-269.Al-Mekhlafi, A.A. Perfective tenses. Transitionalprograms include classes in the first language while learning English andare ideally structured to move minority language students into mainstreamclasses within three years. It also indicates that ongoing English language instruction isintegral to the success of such a program.Summary and Conclusion Where bilingual education was once regarded as almost entirelyfocused on students whose first language was Spanish,globalization and the increased multiculturalism of the United States hasforever changed the shape of bilingual education and expanded its potentialpopulation to include Arabic speakers.What emerges from this discussion is the realization that Arab-Americanstudents have special needs and face special challenges in the Americanpublic school system. 3718.Anonymous. Bilingual education programs were mandated in the landmark case ofLau v Nichols (1974), in which the U.S. 72-76. "Parent Attitudes Toward the Principles of Bilingual Education and Their Children's Participation in Bilingual Programs." Journal of Intercultural Studies, April 2 , 21(1), pp. Arraf (pp. 7 -75) also comments that the Dearborn programhas revealed that the establishment of a strong partnership between homeand school is needed to facilitate English language mastery. 1994. LuisaGarro (p. 5). 254-256) points out that Arab-Americans are amongthe minorities who emigrated to the United States driven by the dream offreedom, tranquillity, and good fortune. A case study of two Arabic Limited English Proficiency (LEP) studentsin an American public school was conducted by Al-Mekhlafi (p. This has a potentially profound andultimately negative impact upon Arab-American students, who generally comefrom cultures with a strong sense of community pride and a belief in thevalue and worth of themselves as individuals and their cultures aslegitimate expressions of the human experience. 4. 7-1 .Zimmerman, L.W. 5. In the 26 elementary schools, five middle schools, and threehigh schools contained in the district, approximately 5, students areeligible for bilingual programming. "Bilingual Education: Si o no.?" State Legislatures, December 1998, 24(1 ), pp. Exhibit respect for traditional Arab attitudes and traditions and involving parents and families in educational and school-based social programs . Because of these factors, al-Khatab (p. 93-1 3.Suleiman, M.F. Results revealed a number of categories of motivation forstudying English along with gender-related differences in motivation. Several studies have been conducted to identify the difficulties thatmay well impact upon bilingual education for Arab-American students.Suleiman (pp. Developing bilingual programming which emphasizes translations of works originally appearing in Arabic to realize synergies between prior learning and future learningIt is Schwartz's (p. 5-7.Hirsch, Eric and Lays, Julie. With moreand more American public school students drawn from non-English speakingpopulations, the original emphasis on serving Spanish speaking children inbilingual programming has been expanded to include other groups. Malave, Ed., Annual Conference Journal, Washington, D.C.: National Association for Bilingual Education Conferences, 1993, pp. 72-76) believes that one of the major problems withbilingual education today is that it emphasizes the assimilation ofstudents into the mainstream culture, usually at the expense of their homeculture. Unless the teacher is from an Arabic background,the teacher generally (particularly in the elementary or middle schoolsetting) tends to be poorly informed with respect to the geographic,political, religious, and ethnic divisions which differentiate among Arabic-speaking students. 34-38.Arraf, Shereen. 1-2) reported on astudy which examined the English syntactic problems persistent in theperformance of educated Arabs living in the United States for an average offive years. "In Search of Equity for Arab-American Student Public Schools of the United States." Education, Winter 1999, 12 (2), pp. "A Qualitative Study of the Social and Learning Experiences of Two Arab LEP Students in an American School." Dissertation Abstracts International: Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences, May 1999, 59(1 -A), p. Given this general background, the remainder of this report willexamine bilingual education in the context of the Arab-American community.As Anisa Al-Akhatar (p. An issue that impacts upon bilingual education programming wasidentified by Wingfield and Karaman (p. "Arab-American Students in Public Schools." ERIC Digest, 1999, No. 95), incases where children are members of closely knit immigrant communities withstrong cultural and traditional orientations. When negative stereotypingis added to the very real acculturation issues faced by Arab-American andother minority groups, problems can emerge which negatively affecteducational achievement as well as socialization. The assessment of textbooks and materials to ensure the accuracy of the representation of Arabs and to ensure cultural sensitivity . Many bilingual teachers are poorly prepared to instruct Arabicspeaking students. This is a comment that applies equally toother minority language groups in the American public school system.Finding such content represents one of the very real challenges confrontingbilingual teachers, regardless of the minority linguistic groups that theyserve. Results indicated performance problems in the areas of: 1. 178-18 ) have pointed out that for Arab-American students in bilingual programs, curriculum content must berelevant to their own lives. 34). Arraf (pp. These issues will be discussed below.Bilingual Education and the Arab Community Al- Akhatar (pp. What this study suggests is that bilingual education for Arab-American students should begin at an early age and continuefor as long as is necessary to ensure that such students will acquirecompetency in all linguistic categories. It is also suggested that inclusion of parents and olderfamily members in the bilingual program could be extremely useful ineducating Arab-American students, due to the strongly collectivistorientation of members of this minority group. 24-28.Santos, S.L. This will invariably require an expenditure of effort on the partof teachers, school administrators, students, and their families. Supreme Court, ruling on federallaw in the Civil Rights of 1964 and the Bilingual Education Act of 1968,required that school districts take affirmative steps to overcomeeducational barriers faced by non-English speakers. "Teaching English to Arabic- Speaking Students: Cultural and Linguistic Considerations." In L.M. First, they come not from one country or culturalgrouping, but from 22 different countries in Southwest Asia and northernAfrica. Learning academic work in their own language allows limitedEnglish proficiency students to concentrate on academic concepts and avoidthe stress of being in a class in which they understand only a fraction ofwhat is being said and taught. 142, ED429144.Shin, Fay H. Not only do they encounter negative stereotypesheld by students and some teachers alike. Tense agreement 2. Thevast majority of students preferred ESL instruction in the United States tosimilar programs in their native programs and males expressed a higherlevel of motivation to master English than did females. In addition, thisparticular program has aggressively recruited and hired teachers who arethemselves fluent in Arabic and English, and created a curriculum whichallows for dual language immersion. Staff development for bilingual teachers in particular . Zimmerman (pp. 5) claims that these programs were created in the late 196 s andthe early 197 s in response to legislation and court orders requiringschools to provide an education in a child's native language. Themajority of such students are entered into American public schools withvery little or no English proficiency. As Zimmerman (p. When students whose parents donot speak English at home or have "limited English proficiency" are notin their bilingual classrooms, acquisition of English language mastery canbe complicated. Bilingual Education and the Arab-American CommunityIntroduction Bilingual education programs were initiated in the United States andintended to be "transitional in that their goal was to facilitate the rapidmovement of non-English speaking students into mainstream classroom. Works CitedAl-Akhatar, Anisa. 24). In the Dearborn, Michigan school system, one of the most promisingand prominent bilingual programs serving urban Arabic-speaking schoolchildren has been in place for some time. 93-94) points out that bilingual education methodologies remain controversial,but also notes that immigrant parents play a significant role in theirchildren's learning of a second language. Though research on whether dual immersion or traditional/transitionalbilingual education helps or hinders language acquisition is mixed, it isclear that the growing multiculturalism of the American public schoolsystem mandates continuing an emphasis on such programming. Atawneh (pp. They may lack adequate sensitivity to or knowledge ofArabic culture or academic subjects. 74) notes, an effective bilingual program shouldoffer the student an opportunity to learn English in a structuredenvironment. Further, participants who had studiedEnglish in an ESL environment appeared to do better on these tests thanindividuals whose acquisition of English was in a mainstream academic orprofessional setting. 3718). Congress passed the Equal Educational Opportunity Act, extending theSupreme Court's decision to all public schools (Hirsch and Lays, p. Subjects were 15bilingual Arabs and data were gathered in three tasks:a multiple choice test of verb forms; a translation task; and a picturedescription task. 261) contends thatArab-American students represent a special case in the context of bilingualeducation. 7). A new model known as dual immersion is emerging in bilingualeducation (Garro, p. Indirect questions and responses. A problem with bilingual education is that there is nonational curriculum or structure and there is a range of programs that fallunder a single umbrella category. As briefly noted above, there are some very significant linguisticdifferentials between Arabic and English. They also face acculturation andassimilation difficulties because their own culture emphasizes the sacrednature of Arabic and because Arabic is often the only or at least primarylanguage spoken within the home. Participants were 15 male and 17 female students fromdiverse Arabic-speaking backgrounds, all of whom had a minimum of 5 yearsof ESL study. "Bilingual Schooling That Works." Migration World Magazine, May 2 , 28(4), pp. Staff efforts to eliminate prejudice and discrimination . In point offact, the Dearborn Public Schools serve over 14,5 students representing24 languages and a large population of Arabic-speaking students from theMiddle East. Further, there may be a scarcity ofbilingual educators sufficiently fluent in Arabic and its many variationsto meet the needs of a minority groups that consists of many subgroupings. Thetransitional model was developed rapidly and without much pedagogicalfoundation. For bilingual educators, thisfurther supports the idea that bilingual programming in thesubmersion/immersion ESL classroom may be beneficial to ensure contentmastery. More often than not, however, theyare placed in classes according to their ages with English speakingstudents long before they develop the necessary linguistic abilities toperform appropriately. Although they may all speak Arabic and most tend toregard the language itself as having added prestige because it was thelanguage in which God revealed the message of Islam and the Holy Qur'an toMuhammad, Arab-Americans remain a multicultural assortment from countriesencompassing multiethnic, multi-racial, multi-linguistic, andmulticultural groups. Santos and Suleiman (p. and Suleiman, M.F. When they attend their English languageclasses, they will be better able to concentrate on that subject and asthey are eased into English-only classes, they will have the confidence touse their English skills and will be more socially comfortable in themainstream environment. 63-7 ) identified themission of the program as the preparation of students, in close cooperationwith their families, to become contributing citizens in a changing society.The program, known as the Bilingual and Compensatory Education Program, hasbeen characterized as providing a changing and flexible curriculum todevelop knowledge and a sense of responsibility. Relative clause construction. "No Matter How You Say It, Bilingual Education Is for Everyone." Blacks Issues in Higher Education, March 3 , 2 , 17(3), pp. They may be suspicious of any form offoreign influence, including political, economic, cultural, educational, orlinguistic influences. The Dearborn, Michigan School System appears to be anexcellent model that could be adopted in other school districts whereArabic-speaking students are becoming an increasingly numerous minoritygroup. ED392279.Wingfield, Marvin and Karaman, Bushra. 175) have pointed out that the vast majorityof ESL teachers of native Arabic speakers lack adequate preparation fortheir responsibilities. Shin (pp. Incorporation of Arab culture in multicultural courses and activities . For Arab-American students, whose home culturescan be radically oppositional to those of the United States, this kind ofprogramming may be desirable. Students in the ESL classroom as makinggreater strides in ESL course work and as experiencing fewer difficultiesin acculturation. The study was seen as significant because it reflected thefeatures that distinguish the Arabs' English as a performance variety thatdevelops where English is used as a foreign language. 175-18 .Schwartz, Wendy. Accordingly, bilingual education should adopt an ethic of caringin which greater sensitivity to the needs of bilingual students isincorporated. "Arab Stereotypes and American Educators." Social Studies and the Young Learner, March-April 1995, 7(4), pp. To achieve successful mastery ofadequate English language skills, these schools have been restructured tobecome more responsive to students in bilingual education through variousforms of individualization and the elimination of stereotypical labels suchas "slow" or "special need." Additionally, the Dearborn, Michigan programincludes intensive staff development that focuses on preparing teachers towork effectively with language minority as well as majority students. The Syntactic Features of English Spoken By Advanced Bilingual Arabs. 1993. Most such students find that unless they are geographicallylocated in urban enclaves where the population has a substantial Arab-American presence, bilingual educational programming is either unavailableor inadequate. Despite the fact that research supports dual immersionprogramming for students whose primary language is not English, traditionalprograms for non-English speaking students continue to predominate. These authors maintain thatnegative stereotypes of Arabs permeate American popular culture and thateducators, including those in bilingual settings, often betray their owntacit acceptance of such stereotypes. 3. 4) view that schools must recognize the Arab value ofcollectivism and should also employ a cognitive approach to help allow Arabstudents to honor their reluctance to discuss personal or familial matterswith strangers. This model is based on neurological researchsuggesting that the window of opportunity for learning a language is wideopen in early childhood. 1-4) reported on ways to provide Arab-Americanstudents with a supportive school environment while simultaneously assuringthat all students will enjoy an accurate and unbiased education about theMiddle East. 254) has commented, while most Arabic-Americanstudents speak Arabic intheir homes and as their first language, there are sharp variations in theinformal language used in different Arabic countries which furthercomplicates bilingual education programming for this particular studentpopulation. Recommendations provided for enhancing bilingual educationand mainstream programming include: . More andmore frequently, children requiring bilingual education programs arrive asnative speakers of Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Arabic, Russian, andother languages. In that same year, theU.S. This is particularly true, according to Shin (p. Arabic-speaking students should be given every possible opportunityto advance in terms of content mastery as well as the development of ESLskills. It is particularly important to recognize that ethnic Arabs regardArabic as a God-given language. What this then requires is the recognition that bilingualeducation must now address a diverse and heterogeneous population of morethan 3.2 million school-aged children (Hirsch and Lays, p. Despite these problems, there is a growing body of evidencesupporting the efficacy of bilingual education programming for this studentpopulation. Social vocabulary should be mastered prior to academicvocabulary. The issue of cultural sensitivity is definitely oneof the most critical concerns impacting upon bilingual educationprogramming. 63-95.Atawneh, Ahmad. They differ from other minoritygroups in several ways. A Study of Arab Students' Motivations and Attitudes for Learning English As a Foreign Language. "Bilingual Education As a Manifestation of an Ethicof Caring." Educational Horizons, Winter 2 , 78(2), pp. As Al-Mekhlafi (p. 1-14) employedqualitative and quantitative techniques to investigate Arab universitystudents' motivation for studying English as a Second Language (ESL),attitudes toward studying English and the English language, attitudestowards Americans and the United States, and future expectations for thestudy of English. Most are unaware of the vast majority of Arab orIslamic contributions to world culture, the role of Arabic and otherlanguages in the Arab culture, and salient differences between Arabic andEnglish (both linguistic andsociolinguistic). They are often from different religious denominations and faiths,including Moslems of different sects and Jews of different levels ofexpression of faith. Santos and Suleiman (pp. "The Bilingual and Compensatory Education Program of the Dearborn Schools, Michigan." READ - Perspectives, Spring 1996, 3(1), pp. 25).
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