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Effects of bilingualism in the classroom
Arguments against bilingual education
The significance of bilingualism
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An Assessment of Learning Disabled Bilingual Students
When speaking of the learning disabled, bilingual student, one must consider some dimensions to the issue of assessment within a particularly specialized light. This special population reflects both the learning disabled (LD) and the bilingual student. For purposes of this discussion, it is presumed that most all members of this specialized segment are Hispanic. This is largely the case within a practical context, although as the literature points out, pre-considerations must be afforded for bilingual education (students) Ñ as well as those members of the Hispanic community who reflect a variety of backgrounds, including Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Cubans, etc. To this extent, it is the view of this author that the challenges for the bilingual, learning disabled, and special education educator are particularly complex. To begin with, it is important to look at the many variables that exist within the aforementioned components. These components include English as a Second Language (ESL), the extent to which Hispanic students speak English at home, the extent to which Spanish speaking students speak Spanish at home, the extent to which parents are involved or assume an active role in this overall effort, and finally the impact this has on teaching the learning disabled in a classroom setting Ñ and more specifically Ñ when employing the assistance of a translator. It is the view of this author that, too often, curriculum-based assessment is hampered with some biases, to which extent it is the aim of this author to address some of these. David P. Dolson (1985) offers us some insight into the importance of these relationships, stating that the most essential factor between academic achievement and scholastic performance on the part of the Hispanic child is directly related to the effect of Spanish home language. He challenges an assumption by many educators that Hispanic students from Spanish language homes do less well in schools than Hispanic students from primarily English speaking homes. The direction of the difference on each of ten scholastic variables indicates that students from additive bilingual homes have a conspicuous advantage when compared to counterparts from subtractive bilingual homes.
The importance of this finding is highlighted to a number of conclusions, which may be constructed on the basis of the data made available (1985). Based upon personal and practical experience, it has been the observations of this author that definitive controversy and even disagreement exists and is centered around various approaches to the academic advancement of the learning disabled, bilingual student.
During this examination, the administration did not take into account that Serge was not proficient enough in English to fully comprehend the test. Serge was tested in English for the majority of the questions and was unable to successfully answer them due to his language barrier. When Serge was placed into the third-grade class, he had just gone through a traumatic experience wand was undergoing both a cultural and language shock. These events should have played a more prominent role in his assessment. Moreover, Serge was not correctly identified as learning disabled, because of the language barrier present in these tests. Since he was tested in mainly English, it was not that he was disabled, it was because he lacked the understanding of the English language. As specified by Salend and Salinas (2003), in their six recommendations for multidisciplinary teams, students should be assessed in both their native and secondary languages. These results should then be compared in order to determine results (Salend & Salinas, 2003,
Zapf, Hubert. “Entropic Imagination in Poe’s ‘The Masque of the Red Death’.” College Literature 16.3 (Fall 1989): p211-218. Literature Resource Center. Web. 19 March 2012.
Hairston, C., & Lockett, P. (1987). Parents in Prison: New Directions for Social Services. Social Work , 162-164.
Education is the key to individual opportunity, the strength of our economy, and the vitality of our democracy. In the 21st century, this nation cannot afford to leave anyone behind. While the academic achievement and educational attainment of Hispanic Americans has been moving in the right direction, untenable gaps still exist between Hispanic students and their counterparts in the areas of early childhood education, learning English, academic achievement, and high school and college completion.
Poe sets the scene by detailing the horrendous plague that is ravishing the unnamed country. After the disease has killed half of the population of the country, Prince Prospero decides to invite 1,000 of his friends, who are healthy, into seclusion with him in a castle. The location of the abbey is not named either. The absence of the location of the country or abbey makes the reader feel that the story could happen anywhere and makes it more personal. The name of the main character, Prince Prospero, also helps with the setting. Prospero, obviously, implies wealth, prosperity, and a fortunate place in the hierarchy of the system. While most of the country is dying, the Prince wants to lock up himself and his friends and forget the chaos occurring in the outside world. This is the foolish idea of a wealthy person who thinks his status in life and his money can save him from the plague. The s...
Each line, every detail seems to tie into a deeper meaning that carries the reader throughout the story alongside the narrator and partygoers, all the while laden with hints and deeper meanings that progress rapidly toward the awaiting “horror” of death. With the introduction of the story alone, Poe has already set the stage with the background on the horrifying “pestilence” and its effects on the human body. By aptly naming it the “Red Death,” Poe is already conjuring images of the gruesome, painful deaths of history’s great plagues, particularly the black death which nearly shares its name, as well “the redness and the horror of blood” (Poe 438). It is here that the story takes a turn with the introduction of Prince Prospero himself, momentarily placing thoughts of the Red Death on the
When a person becomes a parent, their role in life undoubtedly changes. The person must become a teacher, a guide, and a helping hand in the life of the child. Research has shown that there is a distinct connection between how a child is raised and their overall developmental outcome. John Bowlby’s attachment theory emphasizes the importance of the regular and sustained contact between the parent-infant or parent-child relationship (Travis & Waul 2003). Yet, what happens when the only physical contact a child can share with their parent is a hand pressed on the shield of glass that separates the two? What happens when the last memory of their mother or father was from the corner of their own living room as they watched their parent become handcuffed? In 2007, there was an estimate of approximately 1.7 million children of incarcerated parents in the United States (Poehlmann, Dallaire, Loper & Shear 2010). Of those 1.7 million children, 58% of those children are under the age of 10, with the mean age being 8 (Travis & Waul 2003). The children of incarcerated parents are often moved from one family and one school to the next. The child must cope with this issue in home and in school, and may find it especially hard to cope with during school. Schools, however, can be a safe place for these children. This research explored the psychological effects of parent incarceration on the child, the school-based problems that occur as a result, and what educators can do to support children of incarcerated parents.
“Although nearly 90% of children remain with their mothers when fathers go to prison, grandparents usually care for children when mothers are incarcerated” (Johnson & Waldfogel, 2002; Snell, 1994 as cited in; Poehlmann). This shows that the family structure is more drastically upset when the mother is imprisoned versus the father. This also shows that just losing one parent while staying in the same environment is easier to self-adjust back into equilibrium than it is to fully change and integrate into another household. While the mother is in prison, the child is now in the care of someone else and where that child is, is crucial to their development. This explains that a disrupt in family structure can impact a child’s skills that are necessary to a positive development, such as reading and math skills and the ability to focus in class to learn. Emily Durkheim’s structural functionalism theory can be used to further explain this topic. A child’s family is an organism, no matter that typicality of it’s makeup. Every person has a role in the structure and when a mother is incarcerated that disrupts the system and the children are moved into a new structure, the process towards equilibrium can be tough and in some cases detrimental to their development as they are exposed to more intellectual
Parental incarceration can affect many aspects of a child’s life, including emotional and behavioral well-being, family stability and financial circumstances. The growing number of children with an incarcerated parent represents one of the most significant collateral consequences of the record prison population in the U.S. Children who have an incarcerated parent require support from local, state, and federal systems to serve their needs. Kids pay both the apparent and hidden costs while their loved one serves out sentences in jail or prison.
“In recent years the Hispanic population in America has achieved status as the largest minority group in the United States surpassing African-Americans (Baker, p.438).” This sudden increase in the Hispanic-American population is monumental when looking at the past few hundred years when African-Americans held the spot as the largest minority group in the United States. Across the United States this sudden and unprecedented influx of primarily native Spanish speakers has become more visible in some areas than others. Due to the rapid growth and migration of this group it can be seen that many migrant children have not had the time or the opportunity to learn English well enough to achieve success at their particular grade level in the public school system. Many of these bright and eager to learn migrant students fall by the wayside upon entering the public school system. Due to the rapid increase in populations of migrant students in various parts in the United States it has become necessary for localized school systems to adopt and implement programs, utilizing assistive technology, to incorporate English language proficiency programs to help teach migrant students so that they might have a chance at achieving success and continuing to higher education taught exclusively in English.
The challenges of children who grow up with parents whom were incarcerated at some point in their childhood can have a major effect on their life. The incarceration of parents can at times begin to affect the child even at birth. Now with prison nurseries the impregnated mother can keep her baby during her time in jail. With the loss of their parent the child can begin to develop behavioral problems with being obedient, temper tantrums, and the loss of simple social skills. Never learning to live in a society they are deprived of a normal social life. “The enormous increase incarceration led to a parallel, but far less documented, increase in the proportion of children who grew up with a parent incarcerated during their childhood” (Johnson 2007). This means the consequences of the children of the incarcerated parents receive no attention from the media, or academic research. The academic research done in this paper is to strengthen the research already worked by many other people. The impact of the parent’s incarceration on these children can at times be both positive and negative. The incarceration of a parent can be the upshot to the change of child’s everyday life, behavioral problems, and depriving them a normal social life.
Bilingual education in public schools has been the topic of much discussion over the last several years. This discussion has been prompted due to the ever increasing numbers of Spanish-speaking persons emigrating to the United States, especially in those states that border Mexico--California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. What the debate seems always to overlook is our country’s other non-English speaking members. This country is now and has always been the “Melting Pot” for the world with persons emigrating to this country from most every country in the world; however, we commonly gear the focus of bilingual education toward our Spanish-speaking citizens.
From my experience, bilingual education was a disadvantage during my childhood. At the age of twelve, I was introduced into a bilingual classroom for the first time. The crowded classroom was a combination of seventh and eighth grade Spanish-speaking students, who ranged from the ages of twelve to fifteen. The idea of bilingual education was to help students who weren’t fluent in the English language. The main focus of bilingual education was to teach English and, at the same time, teach a very basic knowledge of the core curriculum subjects: Mathematics, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences. Unfortunately, bilingual education had academic, psychological, and social disadvantages for me.
The front doors of Chamberlain Elementary School in Goshen, Indiana are plastered with advertisements for GED courses for Spanish speakers and bilingual memos reminding parents of the upcoming parent-teacher conferences. Colorful posters in either Spanish or English, with the corresponding translation posted alongside them, deck the hallways. Over a third of the student body belongs to a linguistic minority group, with Spanish being by far the most common language. Thus, Chamberlain administrators and teachers face the daily challenge of meeting the needs of a diverse student body within the context of an English-speaking public institution. The school is well known throughout the area for its efforts in embracing diversity, projecting itself as a multicultural institution, and connecting with families regardless of their cultural background. However, in meeting the linguistic needs of its diverse population, Chamberlain falls sadly short. Volunteers or trained teachers pull students out of their classrooms for a brief lesson each day in English as a Second Language (ESL). Language minor...
This article presented interesting data on using dynamic assessment to diagnose bilingual children with language impairments. I leaned quite a few things from this article. One of the most important things I learned is that there is an overrepresentation of bilingual children in special education programs, specifically in elementary school. This is a problem that is likely a result of the standardized measures used to diagnose these children. I think that clinicians should be cautious when using standard measures, like the PLS-3, on bilingual children. This is important because we do not want to diagnose children with a language impairment simply because these measures are not appropriate for the bilingual population. Having learned this, I