Many people share your concern that teaching children to read in their home language will harm their chances of being successful in English. I know it's hard to believe, but we have very credible research--as well as direct experience by many people--to suggest that is not the case. In fact studies have shown that learning to read in the home language (studies are mostly with Spanish-speakers, since that's where the biggest numbers are) usually helps boosts reading achievement in English. I'm not making a theoretical case… these are actual studies with actual children.
The reason that learning to read in your home language usually provides a boost to reading achievement in the second language is that it's easier to learn to read in a language you understand, then that knowledge of how to read transfers over to a second language. (Learning to read in your home language also strongly boosts your home language literacy skills, and there's some benefit as well to being bilingual and biliterate).
I believe the problem we've had in bilingual education in the US is that we've not done a very good job of (a) teaching ELD, in particular, accelerating children's English acquistion and (b) teaching academic content, esp. academic language, to high levels. We MUST do a better job of both of these, and there are many people around the country working on addressing these challenges. I completely agree when you say, "Enough of raising linguistically mediocre Latino children, who do not master either language."
But as to learning to read in your home language--in addition to, not instead of learning to read in English--the evidence is quite strong that it makes a positive contribution to becoming literate in English.
I'd be more than happy to discuss this further with you, via email or telephone. I will look for a reply from you here, or pls feel free to contact me directly at cgoldenberg@stanford.edu
Ms. Noboa-Castro, Many
Ms. Noboa-Castro,
Many people share your concern that teaching children to read in their home language will harm their chances of being successful in English. I know it's hard to believe, but we have very credible research--as well as direct experience by many people--to suggest that is not the case. In fact studies have shown that learning to read in the home language (studies are mostly with Spanish-speakers, since that's where the biggest numbers are) usually helps boosts reading achievement in English. I'm not making a theoretical case… these are actual studies with actual children.
The reason that learning to read in your home language usually provides a boost to reading achievement in the second language is that it's easier to learn to read in a language you understand, then that knowledge of how to read transfers over to a second language. (Learning to read in your home language also strongly boosts your home language literacy skills, and there's some benefit as well to being bilingual and biliterate).
I believe the problem we've had in bilingual education in the US is that we've not done a very good job of (a) teaching ELD, in particular, accelerating children's English acquistion and (b) teaching academic content, esp. academic language, to high levels. We MUST do a better job of both of these, and there are many people around the country working on addressing these challenges. I completely agree when you say, "Enough of raising linguistically mediocre Latino children, who do not master either language."
But as to learning to read in your home language--in addition to, not instead of learning to read in English--the evidence is quite strong that it makes a positive contribution to becoming literate in English.
I'd be more than happy to discuss this further with you, via email or telephone. I will look for a reply from you here, or pls feel free to contact me directly at cgoldenberg@stanford.edu
Claude Goldenberg