Language And Literacy Development In Bilingual Settings

Grounded in state-of-the-art research, this book explores how English language learners develop both the oral language and literacy skills necessary for school success. Chapters examine the cognitive bases of English acquisition, and how the process is different for children from alphabetic (such as Spanish) and nonalphabetic (such as Chinese) language backgrounds. The book addresses a key challenge facing educators and clinicians: identifying students whose poor English skills may indicate an underlying impairment, as opposed to still-developing language proficiency. Implications for diagnosis, intervention, and instruction are highlighted throughout.

Grounded in state-of-the-art research, this book explores how English language learners develop both the oral language and literacy skills necessary for school success. Chapters examine the cognitive bases of English acquisition, and how the process is different for children from alphabetic (such as Spanish) and nonalphabetic (such as Chinese) language backgrounds. The book addresses a key challenge facing educators and clinicians: identifying students whose poor English skills may indicate an underlying impairment, as opposed to still-developing language proficiency. Implications for diagnosis, intervention, and instruction are highlighted throughout.

This book offers a comprehensive report on a three-year, cross-cultural, critical participatory action research study, conducted in children’s homes and communities in Fiji. This project contributed to building sustainable local capacity in communities without access to early childhood services, so as to promote preschool children’s literacy development in their home languages and English. The book includes rich descriptions of the young children’s lived, multilingual literacy practices in their home and community contexts. This work advances research-based practices for fostering young children’s multilingual literacy and building community capacity in a post-colonial Pasifika context; further, it shares valuable insights into processes and complexities that are inherent to multiliteracy and cross-cultural research.

This is the first international and interdisciplinary handbook to offer a comprehensive and an in-depth overview of findings from contemporary research, theory, and practice in early childhood language education in various parts of the world and with different populations. The contributions by leading scholars and practitioners are structured to give a survey of the topic, highlight its importance, and provide a critical stance. The book covers preschool ages, and looks at children belonging to diverse ethno-linguistic groups and experiencing different histories and pathways of their socio-linguistic and socio-cultural development and early education. The languages under the scope of this handbook are identified by the contributors as immigrant languages, indigenous, endangered, heritage, regional, minority, majority, and marginalized, as well as foreign and second languages, all of which are discussed in relation to early language education as the key concept of the handbook. In this volume, “early language education” will refer to any kind of setting, both formal and informal (e.g. nursery, kindergarten, early childhood education centers, complementary early schooling etc.) in which language learning within a context of children's sociolinguistic diversity takes place before elementary school.

This book sets a high standard for rigor and scientific approach to the study of bilingualism and provides new insights regarding the critical issues of theory and practice, including the interdependence of linguistic knowledge in bilinguals, the role of socioeconomic status, the effect of different language usage patterns in the home, and the role of schooling by single-language immersion as opposed to systematic training in both home and target languages. The rich landscape of outcomes reported in the volume will provide a frame for interpretation and understanding of effects of bilingualism for years to come.

This book contains case studies relating the experience of bilingual children in various settings in New Zealand primary schools. The contexts include a Maori bilingual school, a Samoan bilingual unit, and mainstream classrooms which cater for immigrant and deaf children. Suggestions for educational policy, teacher development and research are made.

Understanding Language and Literacy Development: Diverse Learners in the Classroom offers effective supporting strategies to address the cultural and linguistic diversity of students in contemporary classrooms. Discusses learners with different linguistic abilities—infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence—by suggesting effective ways to reach them based on their strengths and needs Emphasizes language and literacy supporting strategies in a variety of everyday classroom settings Includes activities and questions to motivate readers to think and develop their own perspectives on language and literacy development Considers a variety of different language acquisition experiences, including monolingual, multilingual, and language impairment Discusses different types of literacies, including digital and hypertext Connects language and literacy development to identity and motivation to contextualize learning styles for pre-service teachers Supported by a companion website that includes additional resources such as PowerPoint presentations by chapter and a summary of relevant information from the Common Core K–12 English Language Arts Standards

`In its third edition...the author has included the latest research evidence relating to children aged from nought to eight. Her writing embraces the value of play, relationships, bilingualism and multilingualism in creating a rich language and literacy environment. Developing Language and Literacy with Young Children will appeal to a wide range of readers - practitioners, students, and their tutors, as well as parents and carers′ - Early Years Update ′Highly readable... Anybody working with babies and young children needs to have the knowledge that Whitehead clearly explains here′ - SureStart ′One of the many excellent features of this book is the way it tackles the issue of bilingualism in early childhood′ - Early Years Educator (eye) Praise for previous editions: `Marian Whitehead forces the reader to attend to the "voice of the child against the encroachment of inappropriate curriculum demands. Her total fascination for children′s language development captures the reader in an enthusiastic and informed voyage through "the most exciting and important aspect of human development - language in the early years′ - Early Years `This is an excellent read for all parents and workers with young children. The style of the book is friendly and accessible, with beautifully produced of photographs of children and indeed of their own work. Marian Whitehead is not ashamed to draw on her experiences as a grandparent, as well as highly competent theoretical researcher; she does both with competence and humour. This will prove an excellent source book for those involved in course design from childminders to university lecturers′ - Child Language Teaching and Therapy Looking at the most exciting and important aspect of human development - communication and language in the early years - this accessible book gives carers, parents, teachers and other professionals who work and play with young children a confident understanding of children′s communication and language development in the years from birth to age eight. The book examines the wide range of elements that are typical of all our communication and language activities: thinking, feeling, imagining, talking, listening, drawing, writing and reading. The author emphasizes the importance of children′s relationships and communications with the people who care about them, spend time with them and share in the excitement of their developing languages and their investigations of literacy. Taking a holistic approach, she covers: o early communication and language o the achievements of young bilinguals o the significance of stories, narrative and language play o the emergence of literacy in homes, early years settings and classrooms. ′This highly readable guide discusses how to help babies become competent communicators...Anybody working with babies and young children needs to have the knowledge that Whitehead clearly explains here′ - SureStart