The proposed project is a curriculum to support families in raising their children to speak more than one language. It is also intended for the professionals who work with these families as caregivers, teachers, social workers, pediatricians, nurses and speech and language specialists. Course offerings would be adaptable to various audiences and time frames. Optional add-ons would be a manual for course participants and video clips to illustrate course points and strategies. The course could be developed for online or onsite delivery.
The proposed curriculum on multilingualism* is intended for both parents and professionals and has three interrelated purposes:
Rationale
- Has a positive effect on intellectual growth and enriches and enhances a child’s mental development (Baker & Hornberger, 2001; Bialystok, 1991; Chipongian, 2000; Diaz & Klinger, 1991; Hakuta 1986)
- Gives children greater sensitivity to language and a better ear for listening. Improves a child’s understanding of his/her native language (Bosch & Sebastian-Galles, 2001; Burns, Yoshida, Hill & Werker, 2007; )
- Gives children more cognitive strategies and more flexibility in their use of these strategies (Bialystok, 2001, Cummins, 1976, Hakuta, 1986)
- Helps children to have better selective attention; that is, enables them to filter out irrelevant information (Bialystok, 2001)
- Correlates with later success in literacy (Adams, 1990; Collier & Thomas, 1992; Cummins, 1989, Escamilla, 2000; Modiano, 1968, Rodriguez, 1988)
- Gives children the ability to communicate with people they would otherwise not have the chance to know (Weatherford, 1986), which may include their own family members
- When the child’s home language is different from the majority language, facilitates a positive cultural identity (Baez, 2002; Sterling, 2000, Zentella, 1997))
- Opens the door to other cultures and helps a child understand and appreciate people from other countries (Baker 2001)
- Gives a student a head start in language requirements for college (Weatherford, 1986)
- Increases job opportunities in many careers where knowing another language is a real asset. (Weatherford, 1986)
Many parents recognize the benefits of learning more than one language and hope their children can achieve that goal. They have many questions, however, about the best way to achieve it.
Immigrant and refugee parents are faced with decisions about whether and how to pass on or maintain their home languages with their children. In such families, children who are unable to speak their family’s home language may grow up separated from their culture and from significant family members because of their inability to speak their family’s first language. However, families who are adjusting to a new culture and way of life may face substantial barriers in their efforts to maintain their home language with their children.
The Department of Canadian Heritage reports that 47% of Canadian citizens are of an ethic origin other than British, French or native-born (2005). In 2004, Alberta received 16,474 immigrants, the fourth highest amongst the provinces. Over 85% of these persons landed in either Edmonton or Calgary and approximately half were between the ages of 25 and 44. (Alberta Human Resources, 2006) As the booming Alberta economy draws more and more young families, issues of multilingualism will inevitably increase.
Parents who are considering raising their child to speak more than one language ask such questions as:
- Will having two or more languages be confusing for my child?
- When is the best time to start my child learning another language?
- How do you maintain the home language amidst the influence of the majority language?
- How do I teach my child to be bilingual?
- Will learning two languages cause speech or language problems?
- If my child is having trouble communicating, should we use only one language?
Helping professionals such as teachers, pediatricians, public health nurses and day care staff may not understand the benefits of knowing more than one language and the best ways to support families in achieving this goal for their children. They may have difficulty assessing the child’s developmental progress if they lack knowledge about second language development. For example, speech pathologists ask, “How can we evaluate the child’s speech when we don’t know the language?” Speech difficulties that need intervention may be overlooked because they are attributed to the fact that the child is learning more than one language. Alternatively, the child’s development may be seen as delayed when it is, in fact, normal for children who are learning more than one language.
To date, there has been a high level of interest in workshops on multilingual development for nurses and speech pathologists. Parents’ stories and questions attest to the need for continued education in this area for themselves and for day care workers, teachers and others who work with children and families.
Because we live in an age of globalization and in a nation made up of many cultures and languages, the imperative for multilingualism is strong. Multilingualism has benefits for communities and society beyond those for individual children and families. It creates understanding among diverse peoples and communities, allowing them to find ways to live together respectfully and harmoniously. Achieving multilingualism, however, requires knowledge, commitment and perseverance from families as well as understanding and skill on the part of professionals working with the child and family. This course is intended to provide the foundation that will enable allow families and professionals to work together to support children’s multilingual development.
The Context of Multilingual Development
Drawing upon Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological framework for child development, the multilingual development of a particular child can be conceptualized as being influenced by, and influencing, the child’s family, community, professionals who work with the child, the institutions of society and the cultural beliefs and practices of that society.
There are factors at each level that influence the ability of families to raise their children to be multilingual. Recognizing influences at each level reveals entry points to supporting the efforts of families:
Course Objectives
The course is intended for professionals and family members and will have been successful if:
- Professionals who work in fields relating to language and culture have increased their understanding of their clients’ culture(s) and their awareness of issues such as
- the linguistic implications of speaking a minority language
- the process of learning a second (or third) language
- the advantages of multilingualism and multiculturalism
- Parents, grandparents and other relatives have strengthened their abilities to give their child the “gift of multilingualism” through
- Identifying the foundations of bilingualism and multilingualism and knowing how they can work to build these foundations
- Enhancing their ability to use “natural pedagogy” to encourage their child’s language learning
- Knowing when they can use planned educational experiences to support their child’s multilingual development
- Speech language pathologists and other specialists working with language will become better able to identify atypical language development in children who are being raised with more than one language, as will family members of these children.
Course Outcomes
When participants have completed the course they will be able to:
- Describe the general process by which individuals learn to speak a language.
- Identify the benefits of learning more than one language and of maintaining home language.
- Describe how second language learning progresses at different stages of development.
- Identify strategies for use at home, day care and school to support multi-lingualism.
- Recognize typical and atypical development in children who are learning a second language and identify resources for support.
Deliverables
The core project is a 14 hour course with adaptations indicated for different time structures (e.g. for a 6 hour workshop) and for various groups (e.g. speech pathologists versus child care workers or teachers).
Deliverables could include any or all of:
- A literature review
- The course outline (course description, structure, handouts/texts, evaluation strategy)
- Course work including theory, readings and activities
- Evaluation tools
- A resource list
- Video clips (on CD-ROM) showing developmental stages and support strategies (optional)
- A manual for use by participants (optional)
- Adaptation for online delivery
All materials will be in plain language and attractively presented. The manual could be used as a stand alone document.
The Project Team
Lucero Vargas Almeida Is a registered speech language pathologist in Alberta [click here and here], Canada and specialist in occupational health. She has three multilingual children and frequently gives talks on multilingualism. She has twenty years of intensive and diverse experience as a speech language pathologist with Spanish speaking clients and ten years with English speaking communities and immigrant families in Canada . This experience has given Lucero diversified expertise and knowledge to draw on to develop and implement MultiLinguabilities programs. Lucero has developed strong assessment and creative problem solving skills, as shown in the development of various courses and prevention programs: “Hearing conservation, Voice prevention for teachers and public speakers and MAPP: Multilingual approaches for parents and professionals. She has also been involved with a number of projects at Multicultural Health Brokers Coop.
Douglas Mauricio Salegio Ramirez Holds a Ph.D, in Education from the University of Alberta . Mauricio and his wife are raising their children to be multilingual and know firsthand the joys and challenges of multilingual parenting. His M.Ed. theses culminated in a thesis entitled Stefan’s Bilingualism: Sharing an Experience in Two Language Parenting in a Mixed-Lingual Family in which he explored his young son’s developing bilingualism
Carole Massing Has a Ph.D. in Elementary Education (Curriculum and Instruction in Early Childhood Education) from the University of Alberta and is very involved in the field of early learning and care. She taught early childhood students at Grant MacEwan College and the University of Alberta for many years and now instructs in the Grant MacEwan Bachelor of Applied Human Service Administration program. She designs curriculum for online, distance and face-to-face delivery and has developed and coordinated a number of research and other projects.
Carole has worked extensively with the Multicultural Health Broker’s Cooperative over the past six years and, in the process, has gained first-hand knowledge of, and a deep appreciation for, issues of immigrant and refugee life in Alberta. She has developed an interdisciplinary cultural competence course for Grant MacEwan College and a basic counselling course for settlement workers for AAISA (Alberta Association of Immigrant Serving Agencies) , designed and delivered training in culturally competent care for child care workers for ARCQE (Alberta Resource Centre for Quality Enhancement), conducted a needs assessment for an employment program for immigrant youth, worked with youth leaders to develop a guide for youth leaders in immigrant and refugee communities and with home visitation workers to produce a guide on best practice in home visitation.
References
Adams, M. (1990) Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Champaign-Urbana, Centre for the Study of Reading.
Alberta Human Resources and Employment (2006, February). Alberta Profiles: Immigrants in the Labour Force. Retrieved January 7, 2007 from www.hre.gov.ab.ca/documents/LM/LM1-LFP_immigrants_profile1.pdf
Baker, C. & Nancy H. Hornberger (2001) (Eds). An introductory reader to the writings of Jim Cummins. UK: Multilingual Matters
Baker, C. (2001) Foundations of bilingual education and bilingualism. (3rd Ed) Multilingual Matters: UK.2001.
Baker, C. (2000). A parents' and teachers' guide to bilingualism. Multilingual Matters: UK. 2000.
Baez, B. (2002) Learning to forget: Reflections on identity and language. Journal of Latinos and Education, 1(2) 123-132.
Bialystok, E. (2001). Bilingualism in development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bosch, L. and N. Sebastian-Galles, 2001. Early language differentiation in bilingual infants. In J. Cenoz and F. Genesee, eds. , Trends in Bilingual Acquisition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 71 -93.
Burns, T.C., Yoshida, K.A., Hill, K & Werker, J. (2007) The development of phonetic representation in bilingual and monolingual infants. Applied Psycholinguistics 28: 455-474 Cambridge University Press
Chipongian, L. (2000, June) The cognitive advantages of balanced bilingualism http://www.brainconnection.com/topics/?main=fa/cognitive-bilingualism
Collier, V. & Thomas, W. (1992). A synthesis of studies examining long-term language minority student data on academic achievement. Bilingual Research Journal, 16(1-2), 187-212.
Cummins, J. (1989) Empowering minority students. Sacramento, CA: California Association for Bilingual Education.
Escamilla, K. (2000). Bilingual means two: Assessment issues, early literacy and Spanish-speaking children.
Research symposium on High Standards in Reading for Students from Diverse Language Groups: Research, Practice and Policy, April 19-20, 2000, Washington, D.C. Retrieved June 18, 2007 from www.ncela.gwu.edu/pubs/symposia/reading/5escamilla.PDF
Sterling, P. (2000) Identity in language: An exploration into the social implications of linguistic variation. Texas A&M University. Retrieved from http://www.tamu.edu.chr/agora/winter2000/sterling.pdf
Weatherford, H. J. (1986) Personal benefits of foreign language study. ERIC Digest. ED276305 Retrieved June 18, 2007 from http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-924/study.htm
