Language, Culture, and Education: Challenges of Diversity in the United States

Cover
Half-title
Title page
Copyright information
Dedication
Table of contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Contributors
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction to the Immigrant Experience
	Main Goals across the Chapters in This Book
	Methodology and Perspectives
	The Ecology of Language in the Home, Education, and Society
Part I Immigration, Bilingual Education, Policy, and Educational Planning
	1 Political, Social, and Educational Challenges in the Struggle to Develop Bilingual Education...
		Introduction
		1.1 Bilingual Education as a Civil Right
		1.2 Impact of Immigration and Struggles for Bilingual Education
		1.3 Traditional Categorizations and Theoretical Frameworks in Bilingual Educational Programs
			1.3.1 Categorization of Bilingual Education Programs
			1.3.2 Structured English Immersion
		1.4 Limiting Access to Bilingual Instruction in Favor of English Immersion
		1.5 The Banning of Bilingual Education: English-Only Instruction in California
		1.6 Uninterrupted Banning of Bilingual Education in Arizona
		1.7 Reversal of Ban on Bilingual Education in Massachusetts
		1.8 The Current Landscape: School Testing
		1.9 Bilingual Education and Content Based Instruction
		1.10 Language Separation or Integration in Learning
		1.11 Creating Pedagogical Practices Unique to Bilingual Learners
		1.12 Conclusions and Discussion
	2 Distinguishing a True Disability from “Something Else”: Part I. Current Challenges to Providing...
		Introduction
		2.1 The Challenge of Distinguishing a Disability from “Something Else”
			2.1.1 The Possibility of Academic Gaps but No Disability
			2.1.2 Ways to Distinguish Academic Gaps Alone without a Disability
		2.2 What the Federal Law Requires to Identify a Disability
			2.2.1 Consistency of Disability Determinations in the United States
			2.2.2 Reasons for “High Incidence” Disability Categories
			2.2.3 Disproportionate Referral of Minority Students for Special Education
			2.2.4 Congressional Findings and Purposes Regarding Disproportionate Referrals
			2.2.5 Variability of Disproportionate Referral Rates
		2.3 Reasons for Disproportionate Referrals of Minority and Bilingual Students
			Cause 1: Perceptions of Identical Skills Changes with Race and Ethnic Variability
			Cause 2: Restrictions on Disability Evaluation Referrals
			ause 3: Over-Referral through Out-of-Date Assessment Practices
		2.4 Continued Use of Demonstrably Flawed Assessment Instruments
			2.4.1 Continued Reliance on a Flawed Approach to Disability Evaluations
			2.4.2 Current Legal and Evidence-Based Approach to Disability Evaluations
			2.4.3 The Problem with Norm-Referenced Tests to Identify Disability
		2.5 Racial and Ethnic Biases in Disability Evaluations
			2.5.1 Biases in Vocabulary Tests
		2.6 Linguistic Biases for Second Language Learners and Bidialectal Students
		2.7 Bias in IQ tests for Dual Language Learners
	3 Distinguishing a True Disability from “Something Else”: Part II. Toward a Model of Culturally...
		Introduction
		3.1 Considerations in Developing Appropriate Evaluation Approaches
			3.1.1 Linguistic Considerations
			3.1.2 Sociocultural Considerations
			3.1.3 Socioeconomic and Educational Considerations
		3.2 Gathering Data from Parent/Caregiver, Teacher, and Student
			3.2.1 The “Critical Questions” in the Parent/Caregiver Interview
				What Exposure Does the Student Have to Other Languages and Dialects?
				What Is the Parents’ Highest Level of Education?
				Is There a Family History of Speech-language or Academic Problems?
				Have There Been Any Significant Changes in the Family Structure?
				How Does the Student Compare to Peers or Siblings at the Same Age?
				Were the Student’s Language Skills Shown in the Evaluation Representative of His/Her Typical Skills?
				Is the Student Clumsy?
				What Are Ten Examples of the Student’s Most Advanced Communications?
		3.3 The Teacher Interview
		3.4 Clinical Interactions with the Student
			3.4.1 What Information Should Be Elicited
			3.4.2 Culturally and Linguistically Sensitive Evaluation Materials
		3.5 Dynamic Assessment
		3.6 Analyzing the Data for the Differential Diagnosis
Part II Bilingualism, Literacy Ecologies, and Parental Engagement among Immigrant Families
	4 Raising Children Bilingually: What Parents and Educators Should Know about Bilingualism in Children
		4.1 Advantages of Bilingualism
		4.2 Importance of Language Planning in Bilingual Families
			Juan Andres
			Camila
			Mark
		4.3 Strategies
		4.4 Interesting “Things” Bilingual Children Do with Language
			4.4.1 Vocabulary
			4.4.2 Code-Switching and Language Transfer
		4.5 Closing Remarks
	5 Language Acquisition in Emergent Bilingual Triplets
		5.1 Translanguaging and Funds of Knowledge in Bilingual Language Acquisition
			5.1.1 Translanguaging
			5.1.2 Funds of Knowledge
		5.2 Cultural Competence in Professional Interactions with Immigrant Families
		5.3 Specific Language Impairment in Bilinguals and in Twins
			5.3.1 Learning Two Languages and Vocabulary
			5.3.2 Specific Language Impairment in Bilinguals
			5.3.3 Specific Language Impairment in Twins
			5.3.4 Narrative Discourse in Children with SLI
		5.4 Vocabulary for Cognates and Narrative Abilities in Emergent Bilingual Triplets
			5.4.1 Method
				Participants and Their Background
					Tasks and Materials
					Procedures
			5.4.2 Results
				Vocabulary
				Narrative Samples
					Tania
					Tania’s Word-level Errors and Sentences in English
					Tania’s Word-level Errors and Sentences in Spanish
					Danny
					Danny’s Word-level Errors and Sentences in English
					Danny’s Word Errors and Sentences in Spanish
					Eddie
					Eddie’s Word-level Errors and Sentences in English
					Eddie’s Word-level Errors and Sentences in Spanish
			5.4.3 Ethnographic Observations of the Home and Family Dynamics
				The Mother Was Ever Vigilant of the Children
				The Mother Provided Structure and a Strong Sense of Family Identity
				The Mother Remained Engaged in the Children’s School Work
				The Father Provided Authority and a Strong Sense of Respect
				The Three Children Were Always Together
				The Children Spoke English Most of the Time, While Their Mother Spoke Spanish Most of the Time...
		5.5 Discussion
		5.6 Summary and Recommendations
		Appendix. Vocabulary Identification for Cognates in Spanish and English, Spanish only, and English only
	6 Multilingualism in Chinese Families and Raising Their Children Bilingually: Fujianese Immigrants
		Introduction
		6.1 The Context for Fujianese Migration
		6.2 Transnational Families and Raising Children across Oceans
		6.3 Linguistic Diversity in Fujian
		6.4 Heritage Language Maintenance among Fujianese Immigrants
		6.5 Findings from Our Research in Working with Fujianese Immigrant Families
			6.5.1 Survey on Home Language Practices
			6.5.2 Semi-structured Interviews with Chinese Immigrant Parents
			6.5.3 Raising Children Transnationally: The Case of SC, a 5-Year-Old Boy
		6.6 Discussion and Recommendations
	7 Bilingualism in Korean-American Children and Maternal Perceptions of Education
		Introduction
		7.1 Koreans in the United States and Their Dissatisfaction with Education in South Korea
		7.2 Language Shift to English among Korean-American Children
		7.3 Parenting Perceptions and Teaching at Home among Korean Immigrant Mothers
		7.4 Findings from Our Research: Vocabulary, Mean Length of Utterance, and Mothers’...
			7.4.1 Method
			7.4.2 Results
					Communication Style
				Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary
				Sentence Length
				Comparison between Vocabulary and Sentence Length Scores
			7.4.3 Mothers’ Perceptions and Expectations about Bilingualism and Education for Their Children
			7.4.4 Language Outcomes for C2 (47 months) and C5 (53 months) after Three Years
		7.5 Discussion
	8 Transgenerational Bilingual Reading Practices: A Case Study of an Undocumented Mixteco Family
		Introduction
		8.1 Albino and Melissa: A Mixteco-Mexican Family
		8.2 Transgenerational Language Practices
		8.3 A Theoretical Foundation for Retrospective Miscue Analysis
		8.4 A Case Study of a Mixteco Father–Daughter Dyad
		8.5 Data Collection
		8.6 Translanguaging within Transgenerational Bilingual Reading Events
			8.6.1 The Bilingual Reading Context
			8.6.2 Graphophonic Knowledge of Words
			8.6.3 Word Knowledge
			8.6.4 Comprehension: Summarizing, Synthesizing, and Self-correction
			8.6.5 Personal Models of Reading
		8.7 Enacting Transformative and Transgenerational Biliterate Practices
	9 Parent Education in Latino Families of Children with Language Impairment
		Introduction
		9.1 Social Context
		9.2 Early Development and the Home Language
		9.3 The Role of Parents in Socially Mediating Language and Literacy
		9.4 Learning across Languages and Becoming Bilingual
		9.5 Methodology of Parent Workshops in Our Research
			9.5.1 What Parents Learn during Parent Education Meetings
			9.5.2 Language-Literacy Materials to Encourage Parent–Child Conversations
		9.6 Findings from Our Research: Children’s Vocabulary Gains across Languages, Improved...
			9.6.1 Method
				Participants in Early Literacy Groups
			9.6.2 Results
				Project Design
			9.6.3 Post-intervention Measures for Vocabulary
			9.6.4 Mothers’ Practices on Use of the Home Language and Early Literacy
		9.7 Discussion and Recommendations about Parent Education in Immigrant Families
Part III Cultural Perceptions about Disability, the Home Language, and Healthcare Alternatives among Immigrants
	10 Perceptions about Autism in Hispanic Immigrant Mothers of Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
		Introduction
		10.1 Cultural Influences among Hispanic Immigrant Families
			10.1.1 Cultural Perceptions on Speech and Language Development and Acculturation
			10.1.2 The Role of the Home Language in Social Development for Children with Language and Communication Disorders
			10.1.3 Understanding Immigrant Families from an Ecological Perspective of Human Development
			10.1.4 Summary
		10.2 How Hispanic Immigrant Mothers Experience Raising a Child with ASD
			10.2.1 Method
				Participant Mother–Child Dyads
				Findings from the Data
					Theme 1: Stigmatization, combined with lack of awareness about autism and a desire for social acceptance
					Theme 2: Preconceptions about developmental milestones and autism
					Theme 3: Mothers’ reluctance to use Spanish with their children with ASD
		10.3 Discussion and Recommendations
			10.3.1 Seeking Out Services
			10.3.2 Ambivalence about Using Spanish with Their Children
			10.3.3 Theoretical Interpretation of Findings
	11 How Early Childhood Interventions Endanger the Home Language and Home Culture: A Call to Value the Role of Families
		Introduction
		11.1 Early Intervention History and Overview
		11.2 Sociocultural Frameworks and Identities
		11.3 Growing Up with More Than One Language
		11.4 Listening to Early Intervention Families and Professionals
			11.4.1 Manolito
			11.4.2 The Disconnect between Family and Professionals
				Complexities in Language, Differences in Language Priorities, and Lack of Communication among Parents and Professionals
				Poorly Defined Family and Professionals’ Perspectives to Support the Children
				Professionals’ Limited Focus on Collaboration with Families
		11.5 Recommendations for Practice and Professionals
	12 A Critical Review of Cultural and Linguistic Guidelines in Serving Arab-Americans
		Introduction
		12.1 Arab-American Communities: Terminology and Group Identification
		12.2 History of Arab Immigration
			12.2.1 The First Wave: Immigrants from the Ottoman  Empire (1885–1945)
			12.2.2 The Second Wave: The Middle Eastern Brain Drain (1945–1967)
			12.2.3 The Third Wave: Religious and Geographic Diversity of Arab-Americans (1967–present)
		12.3 Modern Arab-Americans
			12.3.1 Countries of Origin and Geographic Concentrations
		12.4 Sociodemographic Characteristics
			12.4.1 The Workforce
			12.4.2 Race
			12.4.3 Religion
		12.5 Arabic and English within the Arab-American Population
		12.6 Arabic Competence of Arab-Americans and Diglossia
		12.7 The Arabic of Arab-Americans
		12.8 The English of Arab-Americans
			12.8.1 English–Arabic Contrastive Features
			12.8.2 Code-Switching or Alternating Use of Known Languages among Bilingual Arabic-English Speakers
		12.9 Critical Thinking and the Use of Resources on Arab-Americans
		12.10 Conclusions
	13 Building Home–School Connections within a Multicultural Education Framework: Challenges...
		Introduction
		13.1 Multiculturalism as an Educational Goal
		13.2 Origins of Multicultural Education in the United States
		13.3 Developing a Course on Multilingualism
		13.4 The New York City Public School System
			13.4.1 Weekly Parental Engagement Period
		13.5 The Course, Its Content, and the Preservice Teachers
			13.5.1 Self-reflection Process
		13.6 Preservice Teacher Observations before and after the Presidential Election
			13.6.1 Establishing New Forms of Communication with Parents
			13.6.2 Parents as Co-contributors in Developing a Unit of Study
			13.6.3 Understanding What Makes a Good Homework Assignment
			13.6.4 The Morning after Election Day
		13.7 Final Reflections and Conclusions
	14 Health and Alternatives to Healthcare for Mexican Immigrants in New York
		Introduction
		14.1 The United States, a Country of Immigrants
		14.2 The Health Situation of Mexican Immigrants
		14.3 Access to Medical Insurance and Social Health Programs
		14.4 Seeking Medical Attention: A Multi-pronged Approach
		14.5 Language and Cultural Barriers: The Crucial Role of Interpreters
		14.6 Alternatives for Medical Attention: Looking toward the Future
		14.7 Concluding Thoughts
References
Index