Becoming Biliterate : A Study of Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Education

This book describes the development process and dynamics of change in the course of implementing a two-way bilingual immersion education program in two school communities. The focus is on the language and literacy learning of elementary-school students and on how it is influenced by parents, teachers, and policymakers. Pérez provides rich, highly detailed descriptions, both quantitative and qualitative, of the change process at the two schools involved, including student language and achievement data for five years of program implementation that were used to test the basic two-way bilingual theory, the specific school interventions, and the particular classroom instructional practices. The contribution of Becoming Biliterate: A Study of Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Education is to provide a comprehensive description of contextual and instructional factors that might help or hinder the attainment of successful literacy and student outcomes in both languages. The study has broad theoretical, policy, and practical instructional relevance for the many other U.S. school districts with large student populations of non-native speakers of English. This volume is highly relevant for researchers, teacher educators, and graduate students in bilingual and ESL education, language policy, linguistics, and language education, and as a text for master's- and doctoral-level classes in these areas. Becoming Biliterate A Study of Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Education......Page 2 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 8 Foreword María Torres-Guzmán......Page 12 Preface......Page 18 Acknowledgments......Page 20 Introduction......Page 24 1. Language and Literacy Education of Mexican-Origin and Mexican American Children......Page 30 SCHOOLING OF LATINO SPANISH- SPEAKING CHILDREN......Page 33 TWO- WAY BILINGUAL IMMERSION EDUCATION......Page 40 THIS STUDY......Page 51 2. The Community, School Context, and Students......Page 54 THE SAN ANTONIO CONTEXT......Page 55 RESTRUCTURING BILINGUAL PROGRAMS......Page 60 SCHOOL PROFILES......Page 65 STUDENT POPULATION......Page 67 LANGUAGE DISTRIBUTION......Page 69 CONCLUSION......Page 72 INFORMING PARENTS AND PARENTS¡ ̄ CONCERNS......Page 73 DEVELOPING PARENT AND COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP......Page 83 THE SCHOOL- BASED LEADERSHIP......Page 85 PARENTS AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS INFLUENCING LEARNING......Page 87 CONCLUSION......Page 89 4. Oral Language Practices......Page 91 THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC ENVIRONMENT......Page 93 TEACHER ̈C STUDENT COMMUNICATION......Page 95 INSTRUCTIONAL LANGUAGE......Page 106 CONCLUSION......Page 111 5. Developing Literacy......Page 114 LITERACY PERSPECTIVE......Page 118 SPANISH LITERACY LEARNING......Page 121 LITERACY TRANSFER......Page 137 LITERACY RESOURCES......Page 142 CONCLUSION......Page 143 6. Academic Biliteracy......Page 145 BILITERACY PROGRAM......Page 146 GUIDED READING, LITERATURE,AND SPELLING......Page 152 WRITING, HYBRIDIZATION,AND BIDIRECTIONAL INFLUENCES......Page 156 CONCLUSION......Page 168 7. Testing Pressures and Student Outcomes......Page 170 EARLY ASSESSMENT......Page 171 THE TAAS AND ACCOUNTABILITY......Page 172 LITERACY ASSESSMENT......Page 178 APRENDA AND ITBS COMPARISONS......Page 180 THE TEJAS LEE AND TPRI......Page 184 LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT......Page 185 TESTING AND MIDDLE SCHOOL PLANNING......Page 189 CONCLUSION......Page 190 8. Teachers’ Role and Impact......Page 191 TEACHER DEMOGRAPHICS......Page 192 TEACHER OWNERSHIP OF PROGRAM......Page 194 TEACHERS AND LANGUAGE DISTRIBUTION......Page 196 TEACHER ACCOUNTABILITY......Page 197 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT......Page 198 PARTICIPATION AND ROLE OF SUPPORT PERSONNEL......Page 201 CONCLUSION......Page 204 9. Politics, Policy, and Theory......Page 206 REASSESSMENT AND RECOMMITMENT......Page 208 LANGUAGE, IDENTITY, AND HYBRIDITY......Page 210 BILITERACY DEVELOPMENT......Page 213 IMPLICATIONS......Page 217 Appendix RESEARCH METHODOLOGY......Page 222 References......Page 236 Author Index......Page 248 Subject Index......Page 252 The study has broad theoretical, policy, and practical instructional relevance for the many other U.S. school districts with large student populations of non-native speakers of English." "This volume is highly relevant for researchers, teacher educators, and graduate students in bilingual and ESL education, language policy, linguistics, and language education, and as a text for master's- and doctoral-level classes in these areas."--Jacket This work describes the development process and dynamics of change in the course of implementing a two-way bilingual immersion education program in two school communities. The focus is on the language and literacy learning of elementary-school students. "Becoming Biliterate: A Study of Two-Way Bilingual Immersion Education provides a comprehensive description of contextual and instructional factors that might help or hinder the attainment of successful literacy and student outcomes in both languages Antonio, a bright-eyed energetic kindergartner, attempted to engage Jessica in assisting him in finding pictures of fruits in old magazines. Bertha Pérez. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 207-217) And Indexes. Mode Of Access: World Wide Web.