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Studies in Literature and Language Vol. 10, No. 4, 2015, pp. 124-128 DOI:10.3968/6865

Bilingual Curriculum Construction and Implementation of Preschool Education in Tibetan Areas

CAI Hongmei[a],*; LI Shanze[a]

[a]Faculty of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing, China. * Corresponding author.

Supported by The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (SWU1509359).

Received 11 December 2014; accepted 8 March 2015 Published online 25 March 2015

Abstract Preschool bilingual curriculum development is a hot issue of preschool education in ethnic areas of China. This study used in-depth interviews and observations, were studied in the bilingual education in 23 kindergarten Tibetan area. The purpose of the study is to understand the current status of preschool bilingual education curriculum development in Tibet area, so as to analyze the construction and implementation of preschool bilingual education curriculum .The study found, preschool bilingual curriculum construction in Tibetan areas has made remarkable achievements, such as the Tibetan cultural characteristics of thematic curriculums, the form of the game teaching methods, immersion language communication modes, and visual forms of parent participation in kindergarten education. The survey also found the problems of preschool bilingual curriculum construction and implementation, such as the content of the curriculum does not reflect the characteristics of Tibetan area, teaching methods ars unsuitable for children’s learning requirements. The researchers believe that, preschool bilingual education curriculum construction must correctly understand the special nature of bilingual education. The relationship between Tibetan culture inheritance and the development of education is coordinated, so that the quality of preschool education will be improved. Key words: Preschool education; Bilingual education; Tibetan culture; Bilingual curriculum

Cai, H. M., Li, S. Z. (2015). Bilingual Curriculum Construction and Implementation of Preschool Education in Tibetan Areas. Studies in Literature and Language, 10 (4), 124-128. Available from: http://www. cscanada.net/index.php/sll/article/view/6865 DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.3968/6865

Since 2010, the preschool education in Tibetan areas have received a lot of attention in the national education policy. The government issued special education policy and provided a large number of special funds for the development of preschool education. In 2011,the government of Qinghai Province implemented the special development of preschool education support programs in the Tibetan inhabited regions. Preschool education is free in these areas. The children were given education and living allowance of 3700yuan per year (education subsidy is 2200 yuan, living subsidy is 1500) (Wang, 2011). In 2012, K1 to K3 (there are 3 grades in Chinese kindergarten system) were made free in Tibet and it was the earliest area in China to have free preschool education. In 2014, fewer children in the Tibet area went to enter kindergarten and education subsidies were again raised. After the adjustment, the allowance of children in the Second District, Third District, Fourth District and border area was 2800 yuan (RMB), 2900 yuan (RMB) and 3000 yuan (RMB). (The announcement of the people’s Government of Tibet Autonomous Region, 2014) Unilingual education mode leads to the imbalanced development of bilingual abilities of children, which is not in line with psychological characteristics of children and rule of bilingual education（Wan & Liu, 2012). In fact, the Tibetan children are still in the weak position in the education development.

1. RESEARCH REVIEW The key factor of Tibet preschool education fairness is the development of bilingual education (Yan & Yao, 2010).

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CAI Hongmei; LI Shanze (2015). Studies in Literature and Language, 10 (4), 124-128

Since 2010, preschool bilingual education in Tibetan areas developed rapidly. The research related to bilingual education was first published in 2009, and the number of the research literature is increasing year by year.

Te a c h e r s a n d p a r e n t s n e e d t i m e t o a c c e p t t h e establishment of “the Tibetan language classes”, in the Tibetan population dispersion region. Some problems need to be solved: teachers do not speak the Tibetan l a n g u a g e , l a c k o f t e a c h i n g r e s o u r c e s , i n a d e q u a t e number of teachers; teachers are not trained in effective methods. Moreover, the teaching level of teachers should be improved, a good language learning environment should be created (Chen, 2009; Ba Sang, 2011). In Tibetan pastoral area, problem of insufficient number of teachers and the lack of educational resources need to be solved (Liu, 2012). Materials from real life should be used in bilingual curriculum in kindergarten. Bilingual kindergarten curriculum development objective is not clear, so that the children do not get actual benefits (Cai & Gadan, 2009). However, bilingual education policies are incomprehensively understood and misconducted by some teachers and in the same time, research into bilingual education fails to catch up with practices of bilingual education, which hinder the improvement of bilingual education quality (Sun & Wang, 2013).

The researchers believe that, the following suggestions can improve the quality of preschool bilingual education in Tibetan areas. Firstly, bilingual education goal should be consistent with the children’s age characteristics, c u r r i c u l u m c o n t e n t s e l e c t i o n f r o m t h e d a i l y l i f e experiences, the suitability of the curriculum resources construction. Secondly, the government should strengthen the planning and management of preschool bilingual education, the government should increase the investment for Preschool Bilingual Education and establish the policy guarantee mechanism of Preschool Bilingual Education (Yang & Jiang, 2014). Third, the government should expand the educational resources, increasing the number of preschool bilingual teachers, and improve the quality of bilingual teacher training.Preschool bilingual education should be changed to modern knowledge, but should also use traditional Tibetan culture organic integration(Xing & Li, 2013; Yao, 2014; Shao, 2014). Fourth, the kindergarten should pay attention to the creation of bilingual teaching environment and constructs the model of bilingual education in various forms (Wang & Sun, 2014).

The key to implement preschool bilingual teaching is to make the children love the Tibetan culture and language, keep the national characteristic, and develop children’s sense of identification with the national culture.

2. RESEARCH METHODS This study uses interview method and observation method, mainly aims at understanding the reality of preschool bilingual education of Tibetan area, analyzes the

positive and negative development of preschool bilingual education experience. Research on the interviews of the participants is the principal of the kindergarten, teachers, and parents, they come from 23 kindergartens (including 22 public kindergartens and 1 private kindergarten), and 8 preschool education managements. The basic situation of 23 kindergartens in Tibetan areas is shown in Table 1. Table 1 The Basic Situation of 23 Kindergarten

Location Scale

County Township Pastoral/ rural Large medium small

9 5 9 5 8 10 Note: Large scale refers to the number of children more than 200, more than 9 of the class. Medium size refers to the number of children between 100-200, the class number is 6-9. Small size refers to the number of children within 100, the class number is less than 6.

The study collected a total of 53 copies of the interview records, that come from 23 kindergarten the principal or vice principal, 12 preschool teachers, 12 parents of children for the interview in 12 copies, and 8 preschool education management. The study observed and recorded 12 cases of bilingual education.

3. ANALYSIS OF THE SUCCESSFUL E X P E R I E N C E O F B I L I N G U A L C U R R I C U L U M O F P R E S C H O O L I N TIBETAN AREAS The development of bilingual education of Tibetan area is in the initial stage, so the system of curriculum system has not been established. Most of the kindergarten has not formed a systematic, suitable environment for the development of children. However, there is also a part of the kindergarten to explore some effective methods in practice, those practices have an important role to promote the upgrading of the quality of bilingual courses.

3 . 1 C u r r i c u l u m C o n t e n t D e s i g n R e l i e s o n Excellent Traditional Tibetan Culture Y kindergarten is located in Western Qinghai province T County. Development of kindergarten curriculum has characteristics of Tibetan culture, such as Tibetan area geography, production and life, folk customs, history and culture, folk art, language and literature. National unity of content, the curriculum units such as, “beautiful pasture”, “shepherd’s life”, that reflects the geographical and production characteristics of Tibetan area. “The Tibetan name”, “Tibetan prayer flags”, “Aka Don Ba “, “The secret of Tibetan text”, that embodies the characteristics of Tibetan culture. “Making the milking pail”, “black yak tent”, “The sheep love little lamb”, that reflects the characteristics of Tibetan production tools. The teaching method of bilingual course for cosplay, self-experience. The course content is close to the lives of children education；the curriculum implementation method

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Bilingual Curriculum Construction and Implementation of Preschool Education in Tibetan Areas

accords with the characteristics of children’s learning, the content and teaching methods of the course are very fond of children. According to the results of the survey, in 2014,the children graduated from Y kindergarten, their ability to use two languages are the same which illustrate the effectiveness achieved some bilingual curriculum. As the director said: “In Y kindergarten, bilingual children’s ability of synchronous development. And they will be able to quickly adapt to primary school learning requirements. Moreover, these children enter primary school often served as class leader role, such as, monitor, Chinese curriculum representative.” (12/26/ 2014, director interviews records)

3.2 Immersion Language Communication Mode G County is located in the southern area of Qinghai province. G County kindergarten explores immerse characteristics of teachers and children’s language interaction model. That is in 1, 3, 5 such odd date, communication language can only use the Tibetan language; in the 2, 4, 6 such even date, communication language to use Chinese, and requests the teacher to reduce the use of the Tibetan language translation and interpretation of the situation of Chinese content. At the same time, the teacher also encourages children to obey the rules between language, ensure children infiltration single language environment in which one day, only to accept a Tibetan or Chinese language stimulation. The practice proved that, this kind of language communication is more effective than the original Tibetan and Chinese mixed use of language in an interactive way, more conducive to the development and expression ability of two kinds of children’s understanding of language.

3.3 Visual Form of Parent Participation in Kindergarten Education In 2013, the gross kindergarten enrollment rate from K1 to K3 reached 85% in T county. The findings from the interviews, the degree of satisfaction with the parents of T County of bilingual education is very high, which originates from the T implementation and the implementation of the county “to let the parents saw the child interaction in life and learning” kindergarten home system. Every day, children’s food and handicrafts have been placed in the window display to parents. Parents are invited to the kindergarten to participate in children’s games. In this way, parents can directly recognize the children in the kindergarten activities, and gradually realize the bilingual curriculum plays an important role in children’s language ability and academic development. So parents will support the children learning two languages, and parents and kindergarten cooperation to develop bilingual curriculum suitable for Tibetan children. The quality of preschool bilingual education has been improved. This conclusion is that the analysis of parent interviews, as the following example, “Every day I can see the children to eat food, participate in

various activities, etc.. I quite agree with the practice of kindergarten, which made me feel at ease for the education of my children.”

“My children learning good health behaviors in the kindergarten. Every day he brushing your teeth, washing face, washing hands before eating, love the clean and health, it is beneficial to the growth for child.”

“In the kindergarten, Chinese ability has been improved very quickly, my child four years old, have been able to use Chinese when he playing with friends .At the same time, his Tibetan language ability was not affected, he learned a lot of Tibetan folk story.” (12/ 26/2014, Y kindergarten parent interviews records)

4. ANALYSIS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION P R O B L E M S O F B I L I N G U A L C U R R I C U L U M O F P R E S C H O O L I N TIBETAN AREAS The 23 kindergartens in this study, 2 kindergartens in Naqu region of Tibet, the rest of the distribution of the six Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai province. Compared with the mainland, the seven areas in the natural geography, language and culture, society and economy are quite different, however there are 2/3 kindergarten curriculum system almost completely copy the kindergarten curriculum in the mainland.

4.1 Bilingual Curriculum Content Is Not Suitable for Tibetan Children’s Life Experience T h e s u r v e y f o u n d t h a t b i l i n g u a l c u r r i c u l u m implementation is based on the textbook, and these courses in the 90% is the basis for the preparation of the characteristics of the mainland. These materials include: Yanbian University Press published “The kindergarten curriculum development of multiple ability;” in 2010, Wuhan Press published “The children’s multiple functions of interactive course;” in 2010, the Yangtze River Press published “The Enlightenment kindergarten education reading book;” in 2011, Wenxin Press published “The multiple intelligence to explore the interactive game curriculum” in 2013, and so on. The content of this bilingual curriculum is mainly derived from the main culture. Geographical and ecological characteristics of Tibetan area, nomadic production, traditional folk stories, traditional game in Tibetan, and the Thangka art, that was rarely included in kindergarten curriculum content. Because the content of bilingual curriculum and children’s real life experience is not consistent, children’s understanding of course content is faced with many difficulties, so they don’t like bilingual teaching. This is an important reason why parents do not approve of their children entering kindergarten accept preschool bilingual education.

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CAI Hongmei; LI Shanze (2015). Studies in Literature and Language, 10 (4), 124-128

4.2 “City of the Bilingual Curriculum Standard” for the Orientation of Development in Agricultural and Pastoral Areas The 23 bilingual kindergartens belong to seven different administrative areas, and there are big differences in language, customs and habits. For example, as for Tibetan dialect area delimits, Naqu area in Tibetan and Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture belongs to the Tibetan dialect, while the rest belong to the Amdo Tibetan dialect. As for cultural system distinction, these seven areas belong to agricultural culture system and pastoral culture system, but only on the Tibetan Bilingual Curriculum teaching language are different. The kindergarten curriculum content, curriculum topics highly similar in city, rural and pastoral area, with similar to the mainland in kindergarten curriculum. We believe that the process of the development of preschool bilingual education in Tibetan areas in the kindergarten, the setting of curriculum system completely copy the city areas of the curriculum, this will make the traditional Tibetan culture and culture of human target is gradually weakened; it may have negative effects on the development of cultural diversity.

4.3 The Quality of Tibetan Curriculum Needs to Be Improved The survey found, Tibetan language curriculum in the 23 kindergarten content mainly from the translation of Chinese curriculum content, there is a huge gap between course content and pastoral children’s real life experience. In the bilingual kindergarten, children’s ability and cultural sense ability similar to the mainland children, and without significant difference. Therefore, the enthusiasm of parents to send children to kindergarten to learn in this way is still low, some children don’t adapt to kindergarten learning. Some parents believe that children under six years old are more suitable to live in the family. In the kindergarten environment, children cannot learn useful knowledge and experience (12/2/2014, parent interviews records).

4 . 4 E d u c a t i o n M e t h o d s W h i c h A r e N o t i n Accordance With the Learning Characteristics of Children Through the analysis of classroom observation, the bilingual curriculum implementation of Tibetan area does not meet the learning characteristics of preschool children. First, learning by rote is encouraged in Kindergarten. The game method, observation method and experience of school learning method, which is suitable for children to learn is not commonly used. Secondly, the interaction between teachers and children in Kindergarten Collective Teaching Activities in the teachers’ instruction or preserving the authority of the speech and behavior to occupy the absolute dominant. Third, the performance of the teacher evaluation based on the main children’s cognition of language, such as whether a child can count from 1 to 20, and for the children’s language ability development, social development and did not give enough attention.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Discussion Language has been the impact of his growth, thoughts, and feelings on any person from birth. In the development of the human, thought and language are in inseparable relationship. An important aspect of human language is the language that a nation of people united together (Needleman, 2004). Preschool bilingual education in Tibetan areas which operation in two languages and two cultures are the system will be inevitably affected by many factors and constraints, and show the characteristics of comprehensive and complexity. Limitations of the study are relatively less use of the method of data analysis. A comprehensive analysis of the characteristics of complexity of bilingual teaching in Tibetan areas needs to improve.

P r e s c h o o l b i l i n g u a l e d u c a t i o n a s a s y s t e m engineering, the balanced development of education in preschool and Tibetan culture inheritance, subjectivity and value orientation of education of Tibetan children education is the starting point and destination. Tibetan culture is a sign of Tibetan children’s identity and cultural life; every member of the Tibetan language is inseparable. It carries the culture itself is a children’s life style. The Tibetan language is rooted in the particular cultural soil of the Tibetan Plateau, in the Tibetan areas of preschool bilingual development process, only the curriculum and children’s social and cultural background of consistent, cultural heritage is possible, the development of bilingual education for children to have meaning. There are many similar problems in the rural area education of preschool bilingual education of Tibetan area, especially the rural area cultural continuity problems with consistency. In the present climate, mainstream culture also has significant diversity, such as urban and rural cultural differences, regional cultural differences that are reflected the cultural diversity. Mainstream culture also has significant diversity, such as urban and rural cultural differences. T h e r e f o r e , t h e r e s e a r c h e r s a n a l y z e d p r o b l e m s o f preschool bilingual curriculum Tibetan areas should be integrated to its particularity and universality, especially in dealing with the relationship between cultural factors and educational problems.

CONCLUSION Children in Tibetan area should be guaranteed a high- quality and free preschool education. The researchers believe that, for the purposes of preschool bilingual education curriculum development, the most important problem is to coordinate and handle the relationship between the two languages and cultures. The bilingual education of the Tibetan area should be based on the

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Bilingual Curriculum Construction and Implementation of Preschool Education in Tibetan Areas

development of preschool children’s education needs as the basis. The government, researchers, teachers and parents should work together jointly to build a preschool language education and cultural fusion of Tibetan Chinese bilingual curriculum system. Only in this way bilingual curriculum will meet the need of development of Tibetan children education, parent education cognition will get the correct guidance, and gradually form a rational expectation of children’s education so that the two culture systems will be in harmonious, synchronous development.

REFERENCES Ba Sang, Z. M. (2011). Study on relevant problems of preschool

bilingual education in Tibet (Master ’s thesis). Minzu University of China.

Cai, H. M., & GaDan, M. C. (2009). Study on Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture kindergarten curriculum. Contemporary Preschool Education, (02), 27-30.

Chen J. F. (2009). A Thorough Analysis on “The Tibetan Language Classes” of Kindergarten in Ethnic Minority Areas in Northwest—Individual Research in Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County Kindergarten (Master’s thesis, Northwest Normal University).

N e e d l m a n , R . , & S i l v e r s t e i n , M . ( 2 0 0 4 ) . P e d i a t r i c interventions to support reading aloud: how good is the evidence?. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 25(5), 352-363.

Shao, M. X. (2014). A case study of implementing Tibetan– Chinese Bilingual Instruction in Kindergarten (Master’s thesis, Southwestern University).

S u n , L . H . , & Wa n g , J . Y. ( 2 0 1 4 ) . T h e b o t t l e n e c k a n d Improvement Strategy—Taking X Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture as an example of China’s implementation of preschool bilingual education for ethnic minorities. China Education, (4), 43-47.

Wan, M. G., & Liu, H. J. (2012). On bilingual education for minority in China—From construction of policies laws and regulations to transformation of education and teaching model. Educational Research, (8), 81-87.

Wang, G. Y. (2011). Sanjiang education funds of Qinghai source region compensation. Chinese Education Newspaper, 05-29, First edition.

Wang, J. Y., & Sun, L. H. (2013). The model of bilingual education of minority pre-school and path in China. China Education, (5), 33-35.

Xing, J. L., & Li, X. L. (2013). A study on the present situation and problems of Tibet’s preschool education and the solutions. Journal of Tibet University, (12), 160-164.

Yan, Z. L., & Yao, W. (2010). The 50-year history of preschool education in Tibet. Journal of Northwest University for Nationalities, (4), 74-78.

Yang, F., & Jiang, W. H. (2014). The application of educational games in preschool education in Tibet exploration. Tibet Science and Technology, (2), 40-42.

Yao, J. J. (2014). A study on the training situation of bilingual teachers in Chinese and Tibeten. Journal of Education Institute in Jiamusi, (6), 306-307.

Encouraging Bilingualism in Early Childhood Education: A Focus on

the Development of Metalinguistic Awareness and Preservation of

Cultural Identity

Sarah Jin*

I. INTRODUCTION

The challenge for educators who aspire to being more than a cog in the wheel of social

reproduction is to create conditions for learning that expand rather than constrict students’

possibilities for both identity formation and knowledge generation and that highlight rather than

conceal the historical and current division of power and resources in the society.1

In 2004, more than twenty-five percent of children under age six in the United States

lived in households that spoke a language other than English,2 with that number continuing to

grow rapidly today.3 As a result of the massive influx of immigrants in the 1990s and 2000s, the

children of these immigrant parents currently constitute a substantial portion of the country’s

child population.4 Since the early 1900s, however, the United States has been inundated with

newcomers, sparking an increasing concern over immigrants’ ability to adapt to American

society, particularly with regard to language and intelligence.5 During this time, psychologists

developed various theories to explain immigrants’ poor performance on intelligence tests,6 one

*Juris Doctor Candidate, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Class of 2014. 1 Jim Cummins, Bilingual Education and English Immersion: The Ramírez Report in Theoretical Perspective, 16 BILINGUAL RESEARCH JOURNAL 91, 101 (1992). 2 HANNAH MATTHEWS & DANIELLE EWEN, EARLY EDUCATION PROGRAMS AND CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS: LEARNING EACH OTHER’S LANGUAGE 1 (2010). 3 RANDY CAPPS ET AL., URBAN INSTITUTE, THE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF YOUNG CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS 5 (2004). 4 Id. 5 Patrick Lee, Cognitive Development in Bilingual Children: A Case for Bilingual Instruction in Early Childhood Education, 20 BILINGUAL RESEARCH JOURNAL 499, 501 (1996). 6 Id.

2

of which suggested that proficiency in two languages created mental confusion and delayed

cognitive development.7

Though born in the first half of the twentieth century, this line of thought persists today

with regard to the early stages of education for bilingual children. Many children coming from

households that speak a language other than English begin their schooling as English language

learners (“ELLS”) or dual language learners.8 As part of the linguistic minority, these children

are faced with the task of learning the majority language – English – as a means to utilize the

educational opportunities provided.9 Though the method of most effectively educating children

with limited English ability has been an inconclusive discourse, the undisputed goal of many

programs is to help integrate these children into monolingual English classrooms.10

This Article explores this question of what is the most effective approach to early

childhood education for children whose primary language is one other than English. Part II

discusses perceptions of bilingualism held through history, and the definitions that exist today.

Part III.A then outlines the arguments made by opponents of bilingualism in early childhood

education and how they fail. Part III.B then discusses and concludes that bilingualism is a

necessary skill to encourage in early childhood education. Finally, Part IV goes on to explain

why rigid classroom instruction of linguistic education is insufficient, and proposes a more

comprehensive approach.

7 Id. 8 MATTHEWS & EWEN, supra note 2, at 1. 9 Lily Wong Fillmore, When Learning a Second Language Means Losing the First, 6 EARLY CHILDHOOD RESEARCH QUARTERLY, 323, 323 (1991). 10 Kenji Hakuta & Eugene E. Garcia, Bilingualism and Education, AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGIST, 374, 376 (1989).

3

II. PERSPECTIVES OF BILINGUALISM THROUGH HISTORY

In the first half of the twentieth century, environments exposing children to bilingualism

were thought to hinder their cognitive growth.11 Empiricists believed that bilingualism,

particularly in children, led to low levels of intelligence.12 Proponents of the hereditarian

viewpoint, like nativists Carl Brigham, Lewis Terman, and Florence Goodenough, stated that

immigrants were simply genetically inferior.13 Relying on immigrants’ poor performance on

intelligent tests, hereditarians maintained that intelligence was inherent and therefore,

immigrants were genetically and innately unintelligent.14

Monolingualism has traditionally been the standard, and bilingualism was viewed as a

social stigma.15 Children have often been deprived of bilingual education because of the “myth

of the bilingual handicap” – a belief that children who speak a language other than English fail in

school because of that linguistic difference.16 In the 1950s, however, studies began to examine

the cognitive aspect of bilingualism over the empirical or societal view, and “bilingualism” was

defined as the proficiency in two languages.17 Similarly, bilingualism in the context of early

childhood refers to children learning two languages during the first five years of their lives.18

Though the stigma has lessened in recent years, children who speak a language other than

11 Id. at 375. 12 Id. 13 Id. 14 Lee, supra note 5, at 501. 15 BEVERLY A. CLARK, FIRST- AND SECOND-LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IN EARLY CHILDHOOD 183 (2000). 16 Lee, supra note 5, at 513. 17 Id. at 503. This definition was followed by theories examining the relationship between thought and language, and eventually led to studies that showed positive effects of bilingualism. Id. 18 EUGENE E. GARCIA & STEVE MARTINEZ, MEXICAN AMERICAN STUDIES & RESEARCH CENTER’S WORKING PAPER SERIES, BILINGUAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE EDUCATION OF BILINGUAL CHILDREN DURING EARLY CHILDHOOD 3

(1981). “The definition includes the following conditions: (a) Children are able to comprehend and/or produce some

aspects of each language beyond the ability to discriminate that either one language or another is being spoken…(b)

Children are exposed ‘naturally’ to the two systems of languages as they are used in the form of social interaction

during early childhood…(c) The simultaneous character of development must be apparent in both languages. Id.

4

English at home are faced with the daunting task of learning English when they enter school.

Teachers are thus faced with the equally daunting task of determining first, whether or not to

encourage use of that language (“L1”) amidst instruction in English (“L2”) and if they decide to

do so, then how.

III. ARGUMENTS SURROUNDING BILINGUALISM IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

A. ARGUMENTS AGAINST PROMOTING BILINGUALISM

Much of the debate about bilingual education has centered on the method of teaching L1,

the language other than English spoken at home, with regard to how long and how much it

should be taught.19 At one end, proponents of bilingual education favor vigorous development of

L1 before introducing English, reasoning that it will establish the foundations in cognitive

learning that are necessary to learn a second language.20 This argument relies heavily on the fact

that this approach will enable children to more easily transfer the skills from L1 to L2.21

Opponents of bilingual education, however, argue for the instruction of English from the start of

children’s education with little use of L1.22 This particular approach is often implemented in the

form of English as a Second Language (ESL), teaching simplified English to help with

comprehension.23

It is also based in part on the concept shared by many opponents of bilingual education –

that practice makes perfect, expressed in the educational terms “time on task.”24 This argument

states that “time on task” is a major component in language acquisition, and therefore, immersion

19 Hakuta & Garcia, supra note 10, at 376. 20 Id. 21 Id. 22 Id. 23 Id. 24 Id. See also Cummins, supra note 1, at 93.

5

in English is the most effective way to learn the language.25 In conjunction with the “time on

task” argument, opponents of bilingual education claim that immersion in English will allow

language-minority students to quickly learn enough English to survive academically without any

more assistance. And further, they assert that this immersion should begin as soon as possible

since younger children can learn language better than older children.

In February 1991, the United States Department of Education released findings from an

eight-year study called the Ramirez Report, discussing education programs that would work best

to help Latino students succeed.26 The study compared the academic progress of Latino

elementary school children in three types of educational programs: (1) English “immersion” with

almost exclusive use of English; (2) early-exit bilingual, where Spanish was used for one-third of

the time for two years and thereafter phased out; and (3) late-exit bilingual with primary

instruction in Spanish for the first year, and then English for one-third of the time for the next

two years, half the time the following year, and about sixty percent of the time thereafter.27

The results from the Ramirez Report directly refuted the arguments made by opponents

of bilingual education.28 First, if the “time on task” argument were valid, the early-exit

bilinguals would have performed at a much lower level than English immersion students, which

they did not.29 Furthermore, the late-exit students were catching up academically to students in

the general population, despite the fact that they had received much less instruction in English

than those in the early-exit and immersion programs.30

25 Cummins, supra note 1, at 93. 26 Id. at 91. 27 Id. at 96. 28 Id. at 98. 29 Id. at 97. 30 Id.

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B. ARGUMENTS FOR BILINGUALISM

As reflected in the Ramirez Report findings, research has largely supported the benefits

of bilingualism in the classroom. When children who start school speaking L1 and continue to

hone those skills while learning L2, they develop a better understanding of language and how to

communicate effectively.31 Research also suggests that bilingual children are more flexible in

the way they think as a result of processing information through two different language

systems.32 A foundation in L1 allows for stronger development in literacy abilities when

learning L2 in school.33 In terms of cognitive development, bilingual children’s L1 and L2 are

interdependent, and the transfer across languages can go both ways.34 For example, when

children’s L1 is encouraged at school in the bilingual education setting, many of the concepts

and linguistic skills the children learn in L2, the majority language, can transfer to L1.35

Essentially, the two languages work together if the educational environment is conducive to it.36

Three psychoeducational principles provide the foundation for the arguments maintained

by proponents of late-exit bilingual education: (1) development of both languages promotes

children’s educational and cognitive development; (2) literacy-related skills are interdependent

across languages; and (3) while conversational abilities may be developed relatively quickly in

an L2, up to five years is typically necessary for children to achieve grade norms in the

academically-related aspects of L2.37 Considerable evidence demonstrates that acquisition of

31 Jim Cummins, Bilingual Children’s Mother Tongue: Why is It Important for Education?, 19 SPROGFORUM NR., 15, 17 (2001). 32 Id. 33 Id. 34 Id. 35 Id. 36 Id. 37 Cummins, supra note 1, at 95.

7

two or more languages promotes metalinguistic development.38 Bilingual children can transfer

the knowledge and skills obtained from L1 to their process of learning L2 without abandoning

those L1 skills.39

IV. PROPOSAL FOR A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO ENCOURAGING BILINGUALISM THROUGH

DEVELOPMENT OF METALINGUISTIC AWARENESS AND PRESERVATION OF CULTURAL IDENTITY

Effective implementation of bilingual education programs must consider how crucial the

early years are for children’s social, linguistic, and cognitive development.40 Despite the various

perspectives taken towards throughout history, bilingualism is embodied in various linguistic

shapes and forms, and subsequently represents vast linguistic diversity.41 However, the

linguistic domain composes only a small part of what bilingualism ultimately entails, which

includes the cognitive and social domains as well.42 As one researcher noted, “the acquisition of

language or languages coincides with identifiable periods of cognitive development within

significant social contexts.”43

“Banking education,” as coined by Paulo Freier, is a model of pedagogy where the

teacher instructs students and the students are limited in their scope of action to essentially

receiving instruction and memorizing information.44 Under this model, students rarely produce

any language since they are merely listening to the teacher’s instruction or responding with either

38 Id. 39 Mark R. Stewart, Phonological Awareness and Bilingual Preschoolers: Should We Teach It and, If So, How?, 32 EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION JOURNAL, 31, 34 (2004). 40 Lee, supra note 5, at 514. 41 GARCIA & MARTINEZ, supra note 18, at 2. 42 Id. 43 Id. 44 PAULO FREIRE, PEDAGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED 72 (Myra Bergman Ramos trans.) (2005).

8

non-verbal actions or recall statements.45 This method of teaching ultimately restricts students’

ability to freely create language and engage in complex learning.46

The “banking education” approach emphasizes academic skills that are incontrovertibly

crucial, but fails to take into account the importance of development in other areas, such as

physical, social, cultural, or emotional skills.47 The comprehensive approach proposed in this

paper takes into account the academic aspect of learning language, including phonological

awareness;48 however, educators can help children preserve their cultural identity and promote

use of L1 by providing positive affirmation and encouraging children to embrace the values

learned and words spoken at home. For instance, educators can communicate to bilingual

children that bilingualism is a valuable skill and a significant accomplishment by initiating

classroom projects that showcases the cultural and linguistic diversity in the classroom.49

Successful early education efforts are comprehensive, providing services in education, health,

mental health and family involvement.50

Children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds may experience

difficulties and discomfort in the classroom.51 Particularly if they are unfamiliar with English,

simply interacting in the classroom may be difficult due to lack of a mutual language.52 Children

who enter school with L1 and fail to maintain and develop that language as they are expected to

learn L2, may experience a loss of cultural identity and decreased contact with family members

45 Cummins, supra note 1, at 99. 46 Id. 47 MARIELA PAEZ ET AL., LANGUAGE AND LITERACY IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN 5 (2006). 48 Phonological awareness is the ability to process and manipulate the various sounds of a language. Phonological awareness is necessary for comprehending the alphabetic principle of a language and understanding the alphabet. Id.

at 1. 49 Cummins, supra note 31, at 19. 50 Matthews & Ewen, supra note 2, at 1. 51 PATTON O. TABORS, PBS TEACHERLINE, WHAT EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATORS NEED TO KNOW: DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE PROGRAMS FOR LINGUISTICALLY AND CULTURALLY DIVERSE CHILDREN AND FAMILIES 3 (2004). 52 Id.

9

who speak that L1.53 Rather than requiring educators to be proficient in the various languages

that they may encounter in the classroom, educators can utilize parents or caregivers in

encouraging L1 use while still teaching other skills, including L2. In some parent training

programs, professionals instruct parents or caregivers in techniques that they can use to support

language development in their children.54 Just as English-language instruction to children should

not base itself exclusively in the academic aspect of learning language, parent or caregiver

training does not consist of only written handouts or homework assignments.55 Rather, the

techniques focus on language facilitation strategies (e.g., modeling, imitation, responsive

feedback), and embrace various instructional methods (e.g., demonstration, coaching, role

playing).56 Family or caregiver involvement is vital in preserving and strengthening children’s

L1 and continuing cognitive growth, particularly if the children’s teachers do not speak every

child’s L1.

Studies have suggested that higher degrees of bilingualism are associated with higher

cognitive ability, metalinguistic awareness, concept formation, and creativity.57 Furthermore,

research on language use by bilingual children demonstrates that they are able to transition from

one language to the other, depending on the conversational context, a process known as code-

switching.58 Lev Vygotsky, one of the first philosophers to examine the effects of bilingualism,

asserted that bilingual children are able to view a language merely as one of many systems,

manifesting in their awareness of their own linguistic abilities.59 Moreover, their experience

53 Kathryn Kohnert, Intervention with Linguistically Diverse Preschool Children: A Focus on Developing Home Language(s), 36 LANGUAGE, SPEECH, AND HEARING SERVICES IN SCHOOLS, 251, 253 (2005). 54 Id. at 258. 55 Id. 56 Id. 57 Hakuta & Garcia, supra note 10, at 376. 58 Id. 59 Lee, supra note 5, at 510.

10

with more than one language system may lead to a better comprehension of “the arbitrariness of

language.”60 Similarly, another theory states that bilinguals, through learning two languages,

develop an understanding of the form and function of languages in general.61 Accordingly,

studies have shown that the interdependence of literacy-related skills across languages lead to

more development in conceptual abilities. The correlation between the skills in L1 and L2

suggest that these language abilities are “manifestations of a common underlying proficiency.”62

V. CONCLUSION

This paper first posed the question of whether or not bilingualism should be encouraged

in early childhood question. Research and various studies have demonstrated that it should be.

However, the question then is by what method should this approach be employed in the

classroom. While no definitive answer exists as to maximize and reach each bilingual child’s

educational potential in the classroom, this paper proposes a shift of focus from instructional

language and “banking education” to a more comprehensive approach involving parental or

caretaker involvement, interactive instruction across multiple mediums, and exploration of social

and cultural influences. Utilizing children’s existing language ability, in English or any other

language, to develop the metalinguistic awareness will allow them to learn a second language

while still maintaining the first language. This approach also considers familial and cultural

background and interpersonal relationships, creating an environment conducive to learning.

Providing not only the academic knowledge but also an environment conducive to learning, are

key to developing cognitive ability in bilingual children entering early childhood education.

60 Id. 61 Id. 62 Cummins, supra note 1, at 95.

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL)

The Influence of Teachers and Peers on Second Language Acquisition in Bilingual Preschool Programs Author(s): Ray Chesterfield, Katherine Hayes-Latimer, Kathleen Barrows Chesterfield and Regino Chávez Source: TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Sep., 1983), pp. 401-419 Published by: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3586255 Accessed: 06-02-2017 01:31 UTC

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TESOL QUARTERLY, Vol. 17, No. 3, September 1983

The Influence of Teachers and Peers on Second Language Acquisition in Bilingual Preschool Programs RAY CHESTERFIELD

]ubrez and Associates

KATHLEEN BARROWS CHESTERFIELD

Jubrez and Associates

KATHERINE HAYES-LATIMER

University of California, Los Angeles

REGINO CHAVEZ Juiirez and Associates

The interactional patterns of eleven Spanish-speaking preschool children enrolled in two different bilingual programs were observed over the course of one year. The programs were characterized by a majority of Spanish-speaking children in the classrooms at one site and of English-speaking children in the classrooms at the second pre- school. Consistent with the linguistic composition of the classes, teaching staffs were generally found to use a predominance of Spanish or English respectively in their classrooms. For all classrooms, language choices of individual children were examined. In classrooms where English-speaking children predominated, greater language proficiency was found to be more consistently related to the use of English with peers than with teachers. In classrooms where Spanish- speaking students were prevalent, on the other hand, interactions with the teachers in English were more consistently related to greater English language proficiency. Implications for the teaching of young children in a dual language environment are discussed.

The appropriate use of two languages by the teacher is generally considered to be a key factor in the implementation of bilingual education programs. This is especially true when the programs are designed for young children who are still in the process of acquiring both a first and a second language. It is often assumed that teachers in bilingual programs provide most of the input received by individual learners in their second language and that, generally, teachers' language use in the classroom will be relatively balanced. Such assumptions, however, ignore both the interactional choices made by the learners themselves and the linguistic composition of the students making up a given classroom.

This study examines the experiences of Spanish-speaking children

INFLUENCE OF TEACHERS AND PEERS ON SLA 401

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learning English in two preschools with markedly different ratios of Spanish- and English-speaking students. It is argued that the linguistic composition of the class may affect the overall language environment of the classroom as well as the relative importance of the interactions with teachers or with peers in the acquisition of English.

The few studies undertaken on the behavior of teachers in bilingual classrooms have generally focused on aspects of the teachers' language use. Studies such as those of Hughes and Harrison (1971) and the United States Commission on Civil Rights (1973) have dealt respec- tively with how much pupil talk in Spanish and English different teachers permitted and the disparities in teachers' use of positive responses in dealing with children of different ethnic backgrounds. Others (Townsend 1974, Zamora 1974) have compared the verbal and nonverbal interaction patterns of bilingual preschool teachers to those of assistant teachers. Similarly, Legarreta (1977, 1979) examined the differential use of Spanish and English by teachers implementing different approaches to bilingual education. Although all of these studies suggest a relationship between the type of program and children's language proficiency, none of these studies has explored the extent to which children's interactions with peers (as compared to those with teachers) are related to increased language proficiency.

Researchers using observational techniques have begun to study social interaction in bilingual classrooms. Shultz (1975), Phillips (1975), and Genishi (1976) have examined the phenomenon of language use in teacher-child interactions. These studies have found that bilingual teachers conducted formal instruction about equally in both Spanish and English; however, as a result of their use of English in non- instructional contexts, this language predominated in the classroom. Moll (1981) found that the verbal behavior of a single group of bilingual children who participated in reading lessons in Spanish and English in different classrooms was highly conditioned by their teachers' presuppositions about the children's competence. These presuppositions affected the teachers' subsequent organization of the lessons, despite the fact that the children were in the high ability group in both classrooms. While these studies have provided valuable insights into classroom interaction in structured lessons with specific children, they tell us little about the general language use of teachers in classrooms with different student populations or of the effect of interactions with teachers, as compared with peers, on the language acquisition of individual students.

The effects of naturally occurring social interaction on children's acquisition of a second language have been dealt with at least peripherally in a few studies. Bruck and Shultz (1977) found that the rules for peer-peer language use by Spanish-speaking children in a

402 TESOL QUARTERLY

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bilingual classroom differed from those used in a regular classroom. Although the findings of this study indicated that the use of Spanish in both types of classrooms by the two children making up the sample decreased over the year and provided some evidence on the language directed by the teacher to the individual children, the limited time periods in which data were collected did not allow investigation of the effects of such interactions. Fillmore (1976), in examining the condi- tions which facilitated or inhibited the learning of English among five young Spanish-speaking children, found the social aspects of language learning to be important since social skills enabled the learners to participate in situations where the new language was used. Although the author discussed the role of social abilities in the individual

differences exhibited among her sample in learning a second language, the experimental nature of the research, which paired English- and Spanish-speaking subjects, did not lend itself to a discussion of the effects of peer interactions in which speech partners are freely chosen, as in the naturally occurring activities of a bilingual classroom.

The same author (Fillmore 1980) has examined the relative use of English by teachers and students in a monolingual English and a bilingual classroom in which Chinese students predominated. She found that English was generally used in both classrooms and that her subject child in each classroom was acquiring English. Although the author suggested that a balance of English and non-English-speaking (NES) children in the classroom was necessary for the non-native speakers of English to learn to speak the second language, the predominance of Chinese speakers in both classrooms under observa- tion did not allow her to examine the influence of different ratios of

students on individual children's performance. In a subsequent study, Fillmore (1982) argues that in situations

where teachers organize classroom activities to allow NES children to interact with their peers, English-speaking children, where available, can serve as a resource in their classmates' second language acquisition. Although she suggests that the linguistic composition of the class may influence the role of teachers and peers in providing input in English, she does not empirically examine the interactions of individual learn- ers. Our own findings (Barrows Chesterfield et al. 1982) of consistently high correlations between the use of English with peers and increased English language proficiency among Spanish-speaking preschoolers lend support to Fillmore's contention about the value of peer interac- tion in learning a second language. As our study was limited to classrooms in which English-speaking children predominated, how- ever, it told us nothing of the effect of the linguistic composition of the class on the importance of interacting with peers.

The above studies show that social interaction is an important factor

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in the learning of a second language. None, however, provides a systematic investigation of the nature and effect of individual contact in different classroom settings.

In the present study, we investigate the linguistic composition of bilingual preschool classes as it influences the language use of teachers and the verbal interactions of individual students. In addition, the relationship between the conversational partners of a sample of children in classes of different linguistic composition and the increased second language proficiency of those students is explored.

METHODOLOGY

The classroom social interaction of eleven Spanish-preferring' chil- dren (eight males and three females), referred to throughout the text as target children, all between the ages of 42 and 50 months, was investigated. Six of the children were enrolled in a preschool in Corpus Christi, Texas; the remaining five attended a preschool in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At the time of the study, both of the schools served lower income families and each was implementing a similar bilingual curricu- lum.

The principal data collection strategy was that of participant obser- vation, in which researchers trained in the techniques of naturalistic inquiry in the classroom provided written fieldnotes on the verbal and nonverbal behavior of individual children and audiotaped samples of speech throughout a school year. Focused observations were made of the children at each site three times during the school year-Novem- ber-December,2 February-March, and April-May. Children were ob- served on randomly selected days for specific amounts of time until the total amount of observation time approximated that of a normal preschool day.

Data collection combined the strategies of time and event sampling; specific contexts (mealtime, independent play, transition, large or small group) were randomly sampled, and each child was observed for amounts of time proportional to the percentage of time devoted to

1A child's preferred language is defined as that which the child uses most often with teachers and peers in a variety of classroom situations. This was determined for all children in the classroom through a rating form used over a two-week period at the beginning of the school year prior to the focused observations of the sample children. The concept of language preference, rather than the traditional language dominance classifications of Spanish/English monolingual, Spanish/English dominant, and balanced bilingual, is used here as young children in a bilingual setting are often in the process of acquiring two languages and may call upon either depending on the situation, the context, and the actors involved. The term preference is not intended to suggest a conscious language choice on the part of the children.

2 Owing to a series of fieldtrips and vacations related to the holiday season, the total observation time was somewhat shorter during this observation period than during subsequent ones. Thus, relative frequencies are used to determine language use patterns.

404 TESOL QUARTERLY

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a particular activity in the school day. For example, if large group activities took place for 30 minutes and small group activities for 50, the researcher would observe a child in those activities for time samples of three and five minutes, respectively, until the daily total was reached. The researcher noted the time at which an observation began and then proceeded to describe the behaviors of the designated child and his or her verbal interactions with others. Note was made of any transitions in activities occurring during the observation period and of the time of such transitions.

After each day's observations, the observer rewrote the rough notes taken in the classroom and coded them. Given the focus of the study on the relationship of language proficiency to the target children's productive abilities and language use, only utterances of the target children were coded. All utterances, regardless of whether or not a target child initiated an interaction, were coded for type of interaction (child with peer(s), child with teacher, child with him/herself, and ambiguous-to no one in particular, or with a group of mixed language preference), language used by the target child (Spanish, English, language mixing), context (mealtime, independent play, transition, large or small group), and the language preference of the "non-target" child or addressee interacting with the target child. An utterance was defined as a statement containing a complete message or thought, the boundary of which was indicated by speakers' pauses. Single words uttered in response to questions, including yes and no, were regarded as utterances since the context of the discourse provided the complete message. In the case of language switching by the target children, the language in which the majority of words in the utterance appeared was considered to be the chosen language.3 In addition, all of the utterances of the teaching staff, made either to the target child or to other children in the room, were coded for language use (Spanish, English, or language mixing).

Consistency in data collection and coding was maintained through a number of quality control procedures. Fieldworkers underwent a briefing session prior to each phase of fieldwork. These sessions provided a review of field procedures and notetaking and included coding exercises to insure consistency among fieldworkers. Research- ers were also provided with a field manual which complemented the briefing sessions by presenting guidelines for carrying out the field research and operational definitions of the phenomena to be studied. Finally, the supervisor of fieldworkers conducted parallel observations with the researchers during the fall and spring observation periods. These observations were coded individually for verbal and nonverbal

3 In 100% of the cases this matched the language preference of the target child.

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behavior and an acceptable level of agreement (above .85) was found at both sites.

Using the codes, the language use of teachers in classrooms with linguistically different compositions of students was characterized for each classroom, and for each classroom type, the children's interaction patterns with teachers and peers were compared with the children's growth in English language proficiency. To investigate the influence of class composition on teacher language use, the relative frequency with which the classroom staff used English and Spanish was computed for each of the classrooms in which the sample children were located. In order to determine differing degrees of interaction with adults and peers, the relative frequency of each child's verbal interactions in Spanish and English was calculated for each of the three time periods. Language proficiency was assessed through use of the children's average mean length of utterance (MLU)4 in English. Random samples of the children's language production in each classroom context during the first and third data collection periods were used to calculate the MLU.5 Increase in language proficiency was determined by calculating the change in average MLU from the first to third observation periods. Rank order correlations were computed to examine the relationship between peer and adult interaction and the relative increase in English language proficiency of the children over the year.

THE RESEARCH SETTINGS The sample children at Corpus Christi were enrolled in three

bilingual classrooms. Each was staffed by a teacher and an aide, all but one of whom were bilingual. The Milwaukee sample was found in two bilingual classrooms, each of which had a bilingual teacher and two bilingual aides. Classrooms at the two sites were generally similar in that at each the daily schedule included two meal periods, small group language sessions, large group activities, independent play/work activi- ties, and outside play. At both sites, the structured activities of large and small groups were designed to encourage the use of both Spanish and English. Activities at both sites generally took place in one of a number of learning centers or areas set up around the rooms. The

4 Criteria for calculating MLU were those of Brown (1973). MLU was chosen as the measure of language proficiency as it permits an estimate of the syntactic diversity of individuals, such as the children in this study, who are at the earliest stages of language learning.

6 As is generally the case in studies of naturally occurring classroom discourse, our audiotaped samples were limited to structured small group activities. Consistent with various research studies (Cole et al. 1978, Wells 1979) which have shown that the MLU of young children and the functions served by their speech vary with the context in which the discourse takes place, most of the taped samples were short answers to specific questions. Thus, given the focus of the study on a variety of classroom contexts and the high inter-observer agreement found during the parallel observations at both sites, data recorded by hand were considered the most appropriate means of estimating MLU.

406 TESOL QUARTERLY

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major difference in the sites was that small group activities at the Texas site emphasized the separation of Spanish and English whereas those in Milwaukee encouraged concurrent use of both languages.

The linguistic composition of the classes at each site differed considerably. The three classrooms in Texas (designated A, B, and C) had populations of four, four, and five Spanish-preferring children and ten, eight, and seven English-preferring children respectively. Class- room I at the Milwaukee site had ten Spanish-preferring children and seven English-preferring children, while Classroom II contained nine Spanish- and seven English-preferring children.

RESULTS

As illustrated in Table 1, the linguistic composition of the class greatly influenced the overall language use by the classroom teaching units. English was the predominant language in all of the preschool classrooms at Corpus Christi. This language was used in at least 53 percent of a teaching team's utterances during each observation period and reached a high of 78 percent of all utterances during the third observation period in Classroom C. The relatively greater use of English in Classroom C at the second and third observations was a result of a monolingual English-speaking teacher replacing the original bilingual teacher at midyear. In Milwaukee, Spanish usage ranged from 45 percent to 61 percent of the utterances in Classroom I, which had the highest ratio of Spanish-preferring to English-preferring children. In Classroom II, on the other hand, the teaching team used more English than Spanish at each observation period. The extent of their English language usage, however, remained substantially below that at Corpus Christi. The relatively higher percentages of language mixing found at the Milwaukee site were a reflection of the emphasis given to concurrent translation and language switching in the small group language sessions at that site.

It might be argued that the greater use of English at the Corpus Christi site was indicative of the greater bilingual abilities of the Spanish-preferring children at that site rather than simply the composi- tion of students in each classroom. However, the relatively greater use of Spanish in both Milwaukee classrooms at the third observation period, despite the fact that it was found that the children had increased their second language abilities, would seem to negate this argument. An examination of the change over time in the language proficiency of the sample children, shown in Table 2, indicates that at the end of the year four of the five target children at Milwaukee were relatively more proficient in English than the two most proficient children in the Corpus Christi sample had been at the beginning of the

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TABLE 1

Relative Frequency of English, Spanish, and Language Mixing' by Classroom Teaching Staffs Over Time

CORPUS CHRISTI

Time 1 Timune 2 Time 3 Language Language Language

English Spanish Mixing English Spanish Mixing English Spanish Mixing Classroom A 58% 39% 3% 53% 46% 1% 60% 38% 2% Classroom B 63 37 0 63 30 7 56 40 4 Classroom C 62 33 5 72 25 3 78 20 2

MILWAUKEE

Time 1 Time 2 Time 3

Language Language Language English Spanish Mixing English Spanish Mixing English Spanish Mixing

Classroom I 41% 53% 6% 45% 45% 10% 33% 61% 6% Classroom II 43 35 22 52 40 8 48 47 5

'Language mixing indicates switching of languages within a single utterance.

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TABLE 2

Change Over Time in English Language Proficiency' of Sample Children

CORPUS CHRISTI MILWAUKEE

Period I Period III Change from Period I Period III Change from Period I-II Period I-III

Ricardo 5.1 +5.1 Javier - 4.2 +4.2 Carolina 2.6 6.2 +3.6 Ramona - 4.0 +4.0 Luis 2.5 4.5 +2.0 Roberto - 3.6 +3.6 Dolores 3.3 4.7 +1.4 Mario - 3.6 +3.6 Jesus 3.3 4.3 +1.0 Mateo - 2.7 +2.7 Jaime 2.6 3.4 +0.8

Indicated by the mean length of utterance (MLU).

2 - indicates that the child failed to speak the minimal number of utterances set for calculating MLU.

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year. Despite such relative proficiency, however, in both classrooms in which the Milwaukee children were found, the relative use of Spanish by teachers increased.

In general, the children at both sites exhibited similar patterns of development. Five of the six children at Corpus Christi, as a result of having started the year with some proficiency in English, exhibited greater proficiency in their second language at the end of the year than did the most proficient of the Milwaukee children. The target children in Milwaukee, as might be expected from their almost total lack of English at the beginning of the year, generally showed greater gains in their mean length of utterance than their Texas counterparts. In each group there was considerable variation in the degree of change. At Corpus Christi, two of the children, Ricardo and Carolina, exhibited relatively large increases of at least 3.6 in English MLU, whereas at Milwaukee four of the children showed such a pattern. The gains of Mateo at Milwaukee (2.7) and Luis and Dolores at Corpus Christi (2.0 and 1.4 respectively) were less dramatic, whereas Jesus (1.0) and Jaime (0.8) made the smallest gains. An analysis of the in-class language use patterns of these children serves to explain, at least in part, the variable increases of the sample children.

Table 3 presents the relative frequency of language use for each sample child over the preschool year. For most Corpus Christi children, there is an obvious change in the balance of Spanish and English used in the classroom. During the first observation period, the children's preference for Spanish was evident from the fact that, with the exception of one child," at least 60% of their verbal interactions in the classroom were in that language. By midyear, three of the six children were using a majority of English in the classroom. At year's end all but one child, Jaime, were speaking a predominance of English in the classroom.

Consistent with the general language environment of the Milwaukee classrooms, children at that site generally spoke more Spanish at the beginning of the year than did their Corpus Christi counterparts. With the exception of one child, Javier, who made the greatest gains in English proficiency at that site, all of the children continued to use a majority of Spanish at the midyear observation. By the end of the year, however, three of the five children were using a greater percentage of English than Spanish in the classroom. This occurred despite the fact that two of these children, Javier and Ramona, were in Classroom I, where teachers were using primarily Spanish.

6 Dolores, the one child who did not follow this pattern, was characterized as a shy child who had to be drawn out at the beginning of the year. The relatively low percentage of Spanish usage in comparison to her Spanish-preferring peers was probably due to her few utterances-a total of seven-during the first observation period.

410 TESOL QUARTERLY

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When the verbal interactions of the children are examined by conversational partner, it becomes clear that in spite of the open classroom environment designed to encourage child-child interactions at both sites, the majority of most sample children's speech was with teachers. In 75% of the individual observations, children interacted more frequently with the teacher than with peers. The patterns of these interactions, however, varied by site and over time. At Corpus Christi, four of the six children showed a trend away from using relatively large percentages of both languages with teachers at the first observation period to a predominance of English at the third set of observations. The two exceptions to this pattern were the children who showed the smallest gains in English proficiency over the course of the year.

At Milwaukee, with the exception of Javier, Spanish predominated in the interactions of all children with the teachers throughout the year. There was, however, a relative increase in the amount of English spoken with the teacher at each point in time for four of the five children, and the children exhibiting the greatest increases in English proficiency were generally those who interacted more frequently with the teacher in that language. Early in the year, teachers were the speech partners for most interaction in English at this site.

An examination of the sample children's interaction with peers reveals that the children at both sites generally increased the relative frequency of their interactions in English with peers. With the excep- tions of Jaime, who spoke totally in Spanish even with English- preferring peers throughout the year, and Luis, who interacted primari- ly with Spanish-preferring peers throughout the year, all other children at both sites established a pattern of talking principally in English with peers. The increasing English proficiency of most children in the preschool classrooms was reflected by the fact that two of the children at Corpus Christi and all of those at Milwaukee addressed some of their Spanish-preferring classmates in English late in the year. While those children who exhibited the greatest increased English proficiency at Corpus Christi were also those who interacted most frequently in English with their classmates, this was not always the case at Milwau- kee. For example, Javier, the child who ranked first in increased English proficiency, ranked only fourth among the sample children in the relative frequency of his interactions in English with peers.

To determine more precisely the relationship between the frequency of verbal interaction with teachers and peers and growth in English language proficiency of children in classrooms having different linguis- tic compositions, the children at each site were ranked by change in English MLU from the first to the third observation periods. Spearman rank order correlations of this measure of language proficiency and

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TABLE 3

Relative Frequency of English and Spanish Use in the Classroom by Sample Children

CORPUS CHRISTI

Observation Interaction RICARDO CAROLINA LUIS DOLORES JESUS JAIME

Period Type Spanish English Spanish English Spanish English Spanish English Spanish English Spanish English PEERS'

Spanish Preferring 20% 0% 41% 0% 17% 0 0% 0%g 17% 0% 0% 0% English Preferring 0 0 0 6 4 4 0 14 0 0 57 0

I TEACHERS 20 40 35 18 26 22 43 43 61 17 36 7 SELF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 AMBIGUOUS' 20 0 0 0 26 0 0 0 0 6 0 0

TOTALS. 60 40 76 24 73 26 43 57 78 23 93 7 PEERS

Spanish Preferring 0% 0% 6% 0% 12% 12% 0% 0% 7% 4%g 13% 0%g English Preferring 0 42 0 13 0 4 23 8 4 7 0 0

II TEACHERS 23 27 23 35 28 32 27 19 48 26 60 3 SELF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 AMBIGUOUS 0 8 16 6 0 12 4 19 0 0 20 3

TOTALS 23 77 45 54 40 60 54 46 63 37 93 6

PEERS

Spanish Preferring 0% 0% 7% 5% 325 5% 0% 0% 12% 0% 13% 0%g English Preferring 0 53 0 29 0 11 11 19 0 12 8 0

III TEACHERS 7 27 12 33 5 42 23 37 23 12 64 8 SELF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 2 AMBIGUOUS 0 13 7 7 0 5 4 7 0 35 4 0

TOTALS 7 93 26 74 37 63 38 63 41 59 89 10

Indicates speech addressed either to a single child or to a homogeneous peer group of the indicated speech preference. 2 Refers to the child talking to him/herself.

3 Refers to speech directed to no one in particular or to a mixed group of Spanish- and English-preferring children.

STotals may not equal 100 due to rounding.

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TABLE 3 (continued)

MILWAUKEE

Observation Interaction JAVIER ROBERTO RAMONA MARIO MATEO Period Type Spanish English Spanish English Spanish English Spanish English Spanish English

PEERS'

SpanishPreferring 33% 0% 33% 0% 40% 0% 63% 0% 0% 0% English Preferring 0 0 0 7 20 0 0 0 9 0

I TEACHERS 56 11 60 0 40 0 37 0 82 9

SELF~ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 AMBIGUOUS' 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

TOTALS' 89 11 93 7 100 0 100 0 91 9

PEERS

Spanish Preferring 7% 0%Y 29% 7% 0%I 0% 18% 0% 3% 0% English Preferring 0 29 0 21 0 0 0 4 0 7

II TEACHERS 28 36 21 15 90 10 52 19 71 12 SELF 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 AMBIGUOUS 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 8 0 0

TOTALS 35 65 57 43 90 10 70 31 81 19

PEERS

Spanish Preferring O0 6% 6% 16% 10% 3% 15% 7% 6% 10% English Preferring 0 21 3 22 0 38 3 25 0 11

II TEACHERS 12 52 31 16 27 20 33 5 51 13 SELF 0 9 0 3 0 0 2 5 3 0 AMBIGUOUS 0 0 0 3 0 0 5 0 5 2

TOTALS 12 88 40 60 37 61 58 42 65 36

Indicates speech addressed either to a single child or to a homogeneous peer group of the indicated speech preference.

Refers to the child talking to him/herself.

3 Refers to speech directed to no one in particular or to a mixed group of Spanish- and English-preferring children.

4 Totals may not equal 100 due to rounding.

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measures of different types of classroom interaction indicative of the children's language choice patterns were then computed.

Children at each site were ranked on four measures of classroom

interaction with both peers and teachers. All measures represent aspects of the child's English language use with different speech partners. Two of the measures dealt with the child's general use of English with peers and teachers during the year. These measures were 1) percentage of English used (either with peers or teachers) out of the child's total verbal interaction for the year, and 2) percentage of English used with peers (out of all verbal interaction with peers) and percentage of English used with teachers (out of all verbal interaction with teachers) during the year. The remaining two measures focused on change over time in each child's use of English. These were 1) change in the total percentage of English used by each child (either with teachers or peers) out of all interactions, comparing the first to the third observation period, and 2) change in the percentage of English used by each child with teachers and change in the percentage used with peers out of all verbal interactions with each respective speech partner during the first as compared to the third observation period.

The results in Table 4 suggest that the relationship of verbal interaction with a particular speech partner to increased English proficiency is dependent to some degree on the linguistic composition of the class. At Corpus Christi, all measures of English use with peers correlated highly with increased proficiency in that language. Botli in terms of all verbal interactions and those verbal interactions solely with peers, significant relationships were found between the percentage of English used throughout the year and increased language proficiency (rho = .94 and .83 respectively). Similarly, increases in the relative use of English with peers in the classroom in general correlated significant- ly (rho = .83) with increased English language proficiency. Increases in the use of English solely with peers over the course of the year was also related to greater language proficiency, although not significantly so (rho = .70).

When the Corpus Christi children's verbal interactions with teachers were examined, less consistent patterns were found. There appears to be little relationship between greater English language proficiency and either the amount of English used with the teacher as part of the child's total classroom discourse (rho = .49) or change from the beginning to the end of the year in the percentage of all verbal interaction ac- counted for by interactions with the teacher in English (rho =-.14). This may be a result of the number of English language resources available to the children among their classmates. Given the limited access to the teacher, who had to divide her time among all of the children in the classroom, the children learning English as a second

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TABLE 4

Rank Order Correlations of Classroom Language Interaction Patterns with Increased English Language Proficiency

VERBAL INTERACTION IN ENGLISH WITH PEERS CORPUS CHRISTI MILWAUKEE

Use of English with peers as a percentage of the child's total verbal interaction for the year .94' .98* Use of English with peers as a percentage of all of the child's verbal interaction with peers for the year .83* .33

Change from Observation Period I to III in the percen- tage of the child's total classroom verbal interaction that is represented by interaction with peers in English .830 .37 Change from Observation Period I to II in the percentage of the child's interaction in English with peers only .70 .86

VERBAL INTERACTION IN ENGLISH WITH TEACHERS

Use of English with teachers as a percentage of the child's total verbal interaction for the year .49 .73

Use of English with teachers as a percentage of all of the child's verbal interaction with teachers for the year .90? .86 Change from Observation Period I to III in the percentage of the child's total classroom verbal interaction that is represented by interaction with teachers in English -0.14 .98? Change from Observation Period I to III in the percentage of the child's interaction in English with teachers only .77 .98?

"p .05

language were able to take advantage of their English-speaking classmates as their English proficiency increased. When the children interacted with the teacher, however, the use of English in such interactions was significantly related to increased English language proficiency (rho = .90). Similarly, increases over time in the use of English in the children's discourse with only the teacher were highly related to greater proficiency in English (rho =.77).

In the Milwaukee classrooms, where Spanish-preferring children predominated, a different pattern of relationships is apparent. Only the overall use of English with peers was significantly correlated with increased English proficiency (rho = .98). The lack of significant relationships on the other measures of peer-peer interaction may be a result of the relatively few English-preferring children in the class- rooms, which made access to peers as a resource more difficult than at the Corpus Christi site. Thus, in general, at the Milwaukee site teachers served as the primary resource for increasing English language pro- ficiency, as can be seen by the relatively high correlations on all of the

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classroom interaction measures. Relatively greater use of English with the teacher over time was especially related to increases in the children's English language proficiency. Both increased use of English with the teacher as part of the child's general classroom discourse and as a percentage of only those interactions involving the teacher were correlated significantly with increased English language proficiency (rho = .98).

DISCUSSION

The findings of this study suggest that the linguistic composition of a bilingual classroom, at least at the preschool level, can influence the teacher's use of Spanish and English in the classroom. Similarly, it would appear that the linguistic composition of the class influences the nature of classroom interaction and the relative importance of the teacher and peers in increased second language proficiency.

It was found that in classrooms where English-preferring children predominated, those children who used relatively more English with peers and who increased their English usage over time generally showed the greatest increases in English proficiency, as measured by mean length of utterance (MLU). In those classrooms where the majority of students were Spanish-preferring, children who showed the greatest increases in English language proficiency were those who used relatively more English over time with the teacher. These differences may be a result of the greater access all children had to English-preferring peers in the classrooms where such children pre- dominated.

Although more consistent relationships were found between chil- dren's interactional patterns with either teachers or peers and increased language proficiency depending on the type of classroom in which they were located, both conversational partners were resources for increasing language proficiency. In each type of bilingual preschool classroom at least one measure of classroom interaction with each

speech partner correlated significantly with increased English language proficiency. In addition, in both types of classrooms teachers were the partner for nearly all interactions in English early in the year.

IMPLICATIONS

Although the results of our research should be regarded as explora- tory, they do suggest a number of implications for the organization of learning experiences for young children in bilingual settings. While it is clear that a bilingual program will have multiple goals, the focus of the present study makes it appropriate to discuss only those implications related to the teaching of English.

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First, we have shown that regardless of the linguistic composition of the class, teachers are generally the only English language resource for limited English-speaking children early in the year. Thus, even in classes with a large number of children proficient in English, teachers should organize activities for limited English speakers in structured teacher-directed small group sessions which will provide them with sufficient vocabulary and grammatical structures to interact with their more proficient classmates in English.

Once limited English speakers achieve a minimal level of compe- tence, our results suggest that the linguistic composition of the class should be taken into consideration in determining the most effective means of facilitating these children's acquisition of English. In class- rooms where English-speaking children predominate, interactions with these children were found to be a factor in the acquisition of English by limited speakers of that language. Hence, teachers in such classrooms might promote peer interaction by structuring some learn- ing activities as cooperative tasks to be worked on by small linguistical- ly heterogeneous groups of children. Given the recent evidence on the effectiveness of peer teaching (Cooper et al. 1982), where a balance of limited English-speaking children and English-speaking children exists, children of different language proficiencies might be paired to work on individual tasks. In classrooms made up largely of limited English speakers, on the other hand, the children's second language develop- ment might be best facilitated through learning activities which emphasize adult-child interactions. These might be small group activi- ties directed by adults who interact individually with each child or adult-directed large group activities in which children are encouraged to answer individually or as a group in English.

The findings also suggest that the linguistic composition of the class may predispose teachers to use one language over the other. Three of the five children at Milwaukee went from using predominately Spanish to employing a majority of English in their verbal interactions, and all of the children at that site were relatively proficient in English at the end of the year. The teaching staff in both Milwaukee classrooms, however, actually increased their general use of Spanish and continued to use a majority of Spanish with most sample children. It would seem, therefore, that, at least for young children, ongoing assessment of children's language use in the classroom might assist teachers in designing learning activities that would take advantage of changes in children's language preferences.

Similarly, the dramatic changes in the language use patterns of a majority of the children at both sites suggest that classifications of children's language dominance based on tests administered outside the classroom may not reflect the reality of the classroom. It is likely that

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most of the children in this study would have been judged as Spanish dominant on the basis of their performance on standardized tests, even if these were administered late in the year. Such a designation would not, however, have reflected the language choices made by most of the students within the context of the classroom. This again points out the importance of using methods such as observation to assess children's language use over time and suggests that with young children in a dual language environment a conceptualization akin to our own language preference may be a useful means of classifying children.

Finally, it should be noted that the effectiveness with which either classmates or teaching staff were used as a resource for learning a second language depended on the individual child. Our study shows that the students who were least successful in gaining access to the available resources in their classrooms or who were least inclined to use English made the smallest gains in English language proficiency. Thus, teachers should be sensitive to the interactional choices made by individual children which may inhibit their use of English even in situations designed to promote interactions in the second language. An investigation of the socio-psychological variables that condition such choice was, however, beyond the scope of our research. U

THE AUTHORS

Ray Chesterfield is a Senior Associate with Juirez and Associates in Los Angeles and teaches courses in Educational Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has published extensively on informal education in both the classroom and in the home among minority groups of the United States and Latin America.

Kathleen Barrows Chesterfield, who holds an M.A. in TESL from the University of California, Los Angeles, is a Research Associate with the Los Angeles-based manage- ment consulting firm of Ju~irez and Associates. Her recent publications include articles in Language Learning (1982) and the Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences (1982).

Katherine Hayes-Latimer is a doctoral student in the Research Methods Department at UCLA. She has conducted extensive anthropological research among the Warao Indians in Venezuela and among minority groups in the United States.

Regino ChAvez, a Senior Associate with Juirez and Associates, is a Ph.D. candidate in the Sociology Department at the University of California, Berkeley. His most recent work has centered on early childhood language learning.

REFERENCES

Barrows Chesterfield, Kathleen, Ray Chesterfield, and Regino ChAvez. 1982. Peer interaction, language proficiency, and language preference in bilingual preschool classrooms. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 4(4):467-486.

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Brown, Roger. 1973. A first language: the early years. Cambridge, Massachu- setts: Harvard University Press.

Bruck, Margaret, and Jeffrey Shultz. 1977. An ethnographic analysis of the language use patterns of bilingually schooled children. Working Papers on Bilingualism 13:59-91. Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

Cole, Michael, John Dore, William Hall, and Gillian Dowley. 1978. Situation and task in young children's talk. Discourse Processes 1:119-176.

Cooper, Catherine, Angela Marquis, and Susan Ayers-Lopez. 1982. Peer learning in the classroom: tracing developmental patterns and consequences of children's spontaneous interactions. In Communicating in the classroom, Louise Cherry Wilkinson (Ed.), 69-83. New York: Academic Press.

Fillmore, Lily Wong. 1976. The second time around: cognitive and social strategies in second language acquisition. Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University.

Fillmore, Lily Wong. 1980. Learning a second language: Chinese children in the American classroom. In Current issues in bilingual education, James E. Alatis (Ed.), 309-325. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.

Fillmore, Lily Wong. 1982. Instructional language as linguistic input: second- language learning in the classroom. In Communicating in the classroom, Louise Cherry Wilkinson (Ed.), 283-296. New York: Academic Press.

Genishi, Celia. 1976. Rules for code-switching in young Spanish-English speakers. Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.

Hughes, B. E., and Helene W. Harrison. 1971. Evaluation report of the bilingual education program: Harlandale independent school district; San Marcos independent school district. Harlandale, Texas: Southwest Texas State University.

Legarreta, Dorothy. 1977. Language use in bilingual classrooms. TESOL Quarterly 11(1):8-16.

Legarreta, Dorothy. 1979. The effects of program models on language acquisition by Spanish speaking children. TESOL Quarterly 13(4):521-534.

Moll, Luis. 1981. The microethnographic study of bilingual schooling. In Bilingual education technology, Raymond Padilla (Ed.), 430-446. Ypsilanti: Eastern Michigan University.

Phillips, J. M. 1975. Code-switching in bilingual classrooms. M.A. thesis, California State University, Northridge.

Shultz, Jeffrey. 1975. Language use in bilingual classrooms. Manuscript, Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Townsend, Darryl R. 1974. A comparison of the classroom interaction patterns of bilingual early childhood teachers. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas, Austin.

United States Commission on Civil Rights. 1973. Teachers and students: differences in teacher interaction with Mexican American and Anglo students. Report V: Mexican American Study. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Wells, Gordon. 1979. Variation in child language. In Language development, Victor Lee (Ed.), 382-409. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Zamora, Gloria. 1974. A comparison of the nonverbal communication patterns of bilingual early childhood teachers. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas, Austin.

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Effects of a preschool bilingual family literacy programme

K AT H H I R S T University of Sheffield, UK

P E T E R H A N N O N University of Sheffield, UK

C AT H Y N U T B ROW N University of Sheffield, UK

Abstract This article reports a multi-method evaluation of a one-year small-scale preschool family literacy programme with bilingual Pakistani-origin families in the UK. The programme was implemented mostly through home visits and included provision of literacy resources, some postal communication and group meetings. The study was conducted in collaboration with the Sheffield REAL (Raising Early Achievement in Literacy) project. Take-up and participation were high (with significant involvement of older siblings) and no families dropped-out. Families’ views, obtained through interviews at the beginning and end of the programme, were extremely positive in terms of increased understanding of how to support their children’s literacy development, impact on their confidence and literacy achievements, and how they valued the programme. Outcomes for children showed significant gains over a control group. The family literacy programme was found to be both feasible and effective.

Keywords bilingual; family; literacy; parents; preschool

Introduction Although there have been many studies of preschool family literacy programmes, there has been relatively little research into those for bi lingual families (Hannon, 2003). The study reported here explored how a school can collaborate with families to enhance the literacy development of preschool children in the case of Pakistani-origin bilingual families in an inner-city community in the north of England. A family literacy programme was developed, implemented and then evaluated in relation to take-up,

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participation and drop-out, the programme teacher’s reflections, the views of mothers, and changes in measures of children’s literacy development compared to those of children in a control group. Interviews with mothers pre-programme, explored their views on why they chose to take part and their expectations of the programme. Pre-programme family literacy activities were also noted. Post-programme interviews enabled assessment of the impact of the programme on family literacy and mothers’ views of the programme.

Appreciation of the importance of literacy acquisition crosses many cultural boundaries and is seen by many as a means by which people can more fully participate in the literate societies of the 21st century (Auerbach, 1989; Blackledge, 2000; Delgado-Gaitan, 1996; Gregory and Williams, 2000). The sociocultural perspective on literacy learning, exemplified by Goodman (1980), who has referred to ‘the roots of literacy’, and Teale and Sulzby (1986) and Hall (1987), who have used the term ‘emergent literacy’, values informal literacy practices in the home and community such as writing greeting cards, shopping lists, reading television pages and values informal learning in purposive social situations. It is clear that not all literacy is learnt in school. In the home many young children are exposed, informally, to written language and its uses from birth, although there may be varying degrees to which parents become involved in their child’s own literacy development (Weinberger, 1996). Many studies have researched the effect of parental intervention (Hannon, 1995). Baghban (1984), Bissex (1980), and Schickedanz (1990) studied the effect on individual children while Heath (1983) studied family literacy in the homes of communities in the Carolinas.

Increasingly, the development of early literacy is being conceptualized as embedded in social and cultural practices (Auerbach, 1995; Crozier and Davies 2006; Feiler 2005; Moll and González, 1994; Purcell-Gates 2007). Learning to become literate is not ‘just’ a matter of acquiring certain skills but is also about participating in cultural practices of the home and community. The importance of the home in developing literacy practices is increasingly recognized as key (Anderson, 2000; Epstein, 2001; Parke et al., 2002). Parents are key in enhancing children’s literacy development (Edwards, 1993; Edwards et al., 1999; Greenhough and Hughes, 1999; Hannon, 1995). The influence of the home is important for all children, but for those who have multilingual experiences at home there is an even greater need for educators to be aware of home and community literacy experiences and the culture of the family (Auerbach, 1995; Duke and Purcell-Gates, 2003; Gillanders and Jiménez, 2004, Jordan et al., 2000; Purcell-Gates, 2007). Recent studies and documentation of practice

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demonstrate how literacy can be taught more effectively by making use of all the languages of pupils, rather than focusing on English alone (Conteh, 2006; Kenner, 2004; Zentella, 1997). Increasingly there is interest in the role of siblings and other family members in home literacy learning (Dyson, 2002; Gregory, 1998, 2001; Gregory and Williams, 2000).

Despite this range of research, interest in young bilingual children’s developing literacy and the roles of their families and communities in supporting their development, there remain gaps in our knowledge. The study reported here is apparently the first to evaluate the effects on young children’s literacy of a family literacy programme with Pakistani-origin bilingual families. The programme was broadly similar to that used by the REAL (Raising Early Achievement in Literacy) project, reported by Nutbrown et al. (2005). It used a framework for preschool intervention (ORIM) of providing ‘opportunities’, ‘recognition’ by parents of their children’s achievements, ‘interaction’ by parents and practitioners, and ‘models’ of literacy, to be explained later.

The bilingual programme was implemented in the children’s home language (Mirpuri Punjabi) and English, and in some cases, Urdu. (The Mirpuri Punjabi dialect of the rural areas of Pakistan, spoken by many families in this study, is rarely encountered in a written form.) The aim was to support children’s literacy development, that is their knowledge, skills, understanding and enjoyment in reading, writing and key aspects of oral language. There was no privileging of one language over another in the implementation of the programme. Bilingual approaches were used in whichever combination was appropriate for the children, with the children often taking the lead in deciding which language was used at any point. Similarly, parents chose to speak in whichever language they wished to use and bilingual support facilitated this. The programme was not designed to promote literacy only in English, or only in any one language. It was to support the development of early literacy development through English, through Urdu and through Mirpuri Punjabi – the use of a range of languages being the means by which that development of literacy was promoted. Thus, reported outcomes for children are outcomes in literacy knowledge, skills and understanding and not outcomes in the literacy of a particular language. Previous research in the community where the study took place (Hirst, 1998) suggested that families would welcome home/school collaboration. Hirst’s survey of family literacy in the homes of 30 preschool Pakistani children found that there was some preschool literacy activity in all homes and parents had high aspirations for their children’s education. This suggested that a programme to work with

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families to build on young children’s learning in the home and the community would be appropriate. This article reports the implementation and evaluation of such a programme.

Research setting: The school and the community The study took place in an inner-city Pakistani community in the north of England. The school was situated in a mixed residential area that included 19th-century stone and brick-built terraced and detached houses with some 20th-century semi-detached houses. There was a maze of streets containing high-density terraced housing. The area housed white British middle and working-class families as well as a small number of African Caribbean families and a large number of families of Pakistani origin, many of whom were related. Children in the area attended a large 100-year-old stone-built school for children aged 3–11 years. Eighty percent of the children were of Pakistani origin and 38 percent were eligible for free school meals (an indicator that these families were consid- ered to be on low income and entitled to state benefits). Further details of the families are reported later. The school was on a busy arterial road lined with shops selling Asian food, fabrics, craft materials and videos. The two local mosques were about half a mile away and the school dining room was also used as a ‘school mosque’ each day. Muslim children in the school attended one of the three mosques and attended Qu’ranic classes after school.

Rationale and research questions Certain features distinguished the families in this study from those in many other early literacy studies. These included multilingualism in the home, writing systems, religion and gender. Young children of Pakistani-origin may be exposed to as many as four languages: Mirpuri Punjabi, Urdu, Qu’ranic Arabic and English. Families may use different writing systems, for example, Urdu, Qu’ranic Arabic and English. Islam is an important part of the culture in many Pakistani families and therefore influences their lifestyle. There is a desire to learn to read Qu’ranic Arabic to enable partic- ipation in the religious ceremonies and prayers both at home and at the mosque. Most Pakistani children attend Qu’ranic classes either at the mosque or in a neighbor’s home. Traditionally there have been low academic expectations in some communities for girls but this now appears to be changing.

The study addressed two research questions:

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1. To what extent is it feasible to develop and implement a bilingual family literacy programme with Pakistani-origin families before children enter school?

2. What is the value of such a programme in terms of children’s literacy outcomes and parents’ views?

This article reports the development, implementation and evaluation of a programme.

Methodology Collaboration with the Sheffield REAL Project The study was undertaken in collaboration with the Sheffield REAL (Raising Early Achievement in Literacy) project, which developed a family literacy programme and evaluated it by a combination of qualitative and quantita- tive methods, including a randomized controlled trial (RCT). REAL project teachers worked in the home with parents of the programme group children for 12–18 months before school entry at age 5. The bilingual study followed the same basic approach as the rest of the REAL Project, includ- ing random selection and allocation to programme and control groups. There were two differences. First, the programme ran over a 12-month period (instead of 18 months) so visits and activities were fit into a shorter period of time. Second, the programme sought specifically to acknowledge and respect the Pakistani-origin families’ culture, religion, languages and writing systems by, for example, using bilingual books, arranging visits so that prayer times and festivals were not interrupted, and including and embracing children’s experience of mosque and mosque schools.

Ethical issues The study raised ethical issues. Critics of random allocation argue that studies which offer something believed to be good to one group and not to another are unfair, unethical or even immoral. Our response to this was threefold. First, it was believed that working with parents, using the methods in the study, would make a difference to children’s early literacy develop- ment – believed but it was not known. A study was needed to demonstrate the efficacy of such methods of working and to generate evidence that might be used in the future to influence policy, practice and professional development. Second, nothing was taken away from any child or family – all the children had their usual home and preschool/school experiences. It was only because of the study that some children – who were selected at

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random – participated in the programme. Third, where there is the poten- tial to demonstrate that programmes might be beneficial, not to carry out a randomized control trial (RCT) to generate the necessary evidence to demonstrate its effect could also be ethically questionable.

One possibility might have been to offer a ‘delayed treatment’ to the control group – giving families in the control group an opportunity to participate after the RCT was over. This was not possible due to limited resources and also, crucially, because by the time the study was complete children had entered full-time school and were of an age where a preschool programme would have been inappropriate.

Other ethical issues – anonymity, informed consent, well-being of participants – were attended to throughout the study. Decisions whether to change participants’ names were taken with each individual. All families had clear details of the programme, their commitment, and their right to withdraw at any point. At all times the programme teacher and bilingual assistant put the well-being of families before the interests of the study.

Selection of children and allocation to programme and control groups In line with selection procedures used in the REAL project, 16 Pakistani- origin 3-year-old children (8 boys and 8 girls) were selected at random from the preschool register. All children were assessed using the Sheffield Early Literacy Development Profile (SELDP) (Nutbrown, 1997). From the 16 children, 8 pairs of children were formed on the basis, first, of same gender, then on closeness of ages, and finally on closeness of SELDP scores. From each pair, one child was allocated at random (by the toss of a coin) to the programme group and one to the control group. The rows in Table 1 show the pairs and group allocation.

As can be seen from Table 1, the outcome of the allocation process was two groups of children very similar in terms of gender, age and mean SELDP scores.

Gaining access to families The first author (KH) was the programme teacher. She had previously taught in the school’s preschool unit and was known to some of the families in the community and school staff. Having gained permission from the headteacher, and in consultation with the preschool teacher, families were approached through the preschool with the aid of a bilingual assistant who later assisted the study as an interpreter. After selection of 16 families with children in the target age range, parents were asked if they would be willing to take part in a study. All parents were asked if they were prepared to be

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interviewed to establish literacy practices that were taking place in the home and allow their child to be assessed using a literacy assessment profile at the beginning and end of the programme period (again with complete freedom to withdraw at any time). Those allocated at random to the programme were asked if they would be prepared to participate in a 12- month home visiting programme on the understanding that they could withdraw at any time, working with the teacher and the bilingual assistant to enhance their understanding of their young child’s literacy development. The invitation was given in writing in both English and Urdu.

Take–up, participation, stop-out and drop-out Take-up (the number of families invited who accept the invitation) is an important part of the evaluation of any programme but is not always reported. In this study take-up was measured as the proportion of those invited to join the programme who actually did so. Participation (the degree to which families were involved) and drop-out (families leaving the programme before it was completed) were determined from programme records. Note was also taken of ‘stop-out’ (temporary withdrawal from the programme).

Assessment of children’s literacy Children’s literacy development was assessed pre-programme and post- programme using the SELDP (Nutbrown, 1997), which assesses children’s knowledge of environmental print, books, writing and letter recognition on a 60-point scale. The assessor asks children to engage in realistic and

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Table 1 Pre-programme scores

Programme group Control group

Age (in SELDP Age (in SELDP ID Gender months) score ID Gender months) score

1 F 46 19.5 9 F 46 22.0 2 F 44 24.5 10 F 45 26.0 3 F 43 21.0 11 F 43 26.5 4 F 43 19.0 12 F 43 22.5 5 M 45 26.5 13 M 45 32.0 6 M 45 22.0 14 M 45 19.0 7 M 44 13.5 15 M 43 13.5 8 M 41 21.0 16 M 40 16.0 Means 43.8 20.9 43.8 22.2

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meaningful literacy tasks, which include identifying print on household packaging, telling a story from pictures in a book, writing to a teddy bear. The profile is appropriate for children aged three to five years and was therefore suitable for pre- and post-programme testing. Population norms were not available for this measure but were not required as it was used only for comparisons within the study sample (pre-programme/post- programme, programme/control). Children were assessed jointly by the teacher and bilingual assistant in their preferred language, with the bi - lingual assistant interpreting as necessary. Children replied orally in whichever language they preferred.

The programme families Some children lived in relatively small nuclear families while others were in more extended families. Table 2 shows how the number of persons in the household varied from four to nine.

All the children had siblings. Four children were the youngest in their families while four had both older and younger siblings. All the fathers, and one of the mothers, were in employment.

Working with programme families The programme was based on the ORIM framework (Hannon and Nutbrown, 1997) and aimed to promote parents’ awareness of how they could help to enhance their preschool child’s reading, writing and related oral language (see Figure 1) by providing opportunities for their child’s literacy development, recognizing their child’s achievements, interacting with their child and being models of literacy users. The bilingual assistant worked alongside the programme teacher.

Parent interviews Parents’ views of their experiences and participation in the family literacy programme were obtained through interviews carried out by the programme teacher assisted by the bilingual assistant. Most of the older siblings who participated in the programme were not interviewed. In one case, however, because the older sibling had had a leading role in her family’s participation, she was interviewed with her mother. By adopting a bilingual approach it was hoped that the views of participants would be more fully represented. The parent interview schedule was adapted from that used by Hannon et al. (2006) to take account of cultural and bilingual issues. Resources did not permit the employment of independent inter- viewers. The risk that parents would tell the programme teacher and her bilingual colleague what they thought they would like to hear was

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considered to be offset by the likelihood that the relationships established during the programme would permit more honest responses than would be given to a stranger – indeed, a stranger may not have gained access to the families.

Programme teacher’s journal The programme teacher kept a journal that included records of home visits and group meetings throughout the duration of the programme. Entries documented how parents responded to the programme, their comments, and the teacher’s observations of the children and their parents engaged in literacy activities. Coverage of the ORIM framework, plans for, and records of, home visits were also noted. Records were used to ascertain the number of home visits, books borrowed, group meetings attended and to identify key themes and aspects of parents and children’s literacy practices and responses to the programme.

The family literacy programme The 12-month programme was based closely on that of the REAL project (for details of content and practices, see Nutbrown et al., 2005) but with significant modifications to take account of the community in which it was implemented. It began with home visits and provision of literacy resources, followed by postal contacts and group activities. Once relationships were established with the families, group activities were introduced. Visits focused on the four strands of literacy identified in the ORIM framework (Figure 1): books, early writing, environmental print and key aspects of oral language. Group activities were not introduced until the programme teacher felt the families were ready.

Home visits by the programme teacher and the bilingual assistant Home visits were arranged with the families at approximately three-weekly intervals until children began mainstream school full time, just before their fifth birthday. Each visit focused on one or more of the literacy strands identified in Figure 1 (books, environmental print, early writing or oral language) but was flexible in adapting to the child’s interests during the visit. Parents, mostly mothers or on occasions, because they were present, older siblings, were encouraged to participate in the activity. Ideas for follow-up activities were given. Each visit started with a review of any literacy activities the family had been engaged in since the previous visit.

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The following extract is taken from the teacher’s journal after her first visit (with Shaheen, the bilingual assistant) to Adnan and his family:

This was the first visit Shaheen and I made to this family. There were three children in the family, Roseena (8-year-old girl), Waheed (6-year-old boy) and Adnan, the 3-year-old project child. The home language was Punjabi. The children and their father spoke fluent English. The mother also spoke English but was not as confident as the rest of the family. Shaheen knew the family well and I had met the mother when the middle child was in preschool. The visit was made at the end of the school day.

The focus of the visit was to discuss the project and to establish a friendly working relationship with an introductory focus on book sharing and opportunity for mark-making or drawing if Adnan so wished. As we entered the living room the two older children were sitting on the settee eagerly awaiting our visit. Adnan was clinging to mum and was very shy. We were made to feel very welcome. We exchanged pleasantries and

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Figure 1 The ORIM framework Source: Nutbrown et al. (2005).

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discussed the family’s celebration of Eid, which had just taken place. I took a soft toy ‘Spot the dog’, and a book about Spot from my bag. I read the story and all three children listened with interest. Adnan cuddled the toy but did not leave his mother’s side. Shaheen then read a story that featured an Asian family and the youngest child starting preschool. Mum said she did not read English but was learning to read Urdu. I suggested that both stories we had read could be shared with Adnan by talking about the pictures. Much to Adnan’s delight, Mum took the book about the Asian family and immediately shared it with Adnan in Punjabi. I said I would bring some children’s books next time that were written in both Urdu and English. Mum was pleased about that as she said that as well as helping Adnan it may also help her to read Urdu. Roseena picked up the Spot book and started to read it. Adnan moved over to her to listen. We left both books with the family with mark-making materials and paper. Mum said both she and the family would look at the books with Adnan and encourage Adnan to use the crayons, pencil and paper.

Aspects of the ORIM Framework covered in this visit Opportunities for book sharing were offered by the home visitors, the mother

and Roseena, the older sister. Recogniton by the mother of ways she could share a book with Adnan and of

his pleasure in her participation. Interaction by the mother and the older sibling in book sharing. Model. The mother was providing a model of sharing books through oral

language and the older sister provided a model as a reader.

Provision of literacy resources Each child was given a book bag containing writing materials, paper, scissors and glue at the beginning of the project and these were replenished as necessary. Children usually produced their bags at the start of each visit. Books were loaned on each visit and the parent and child were supported in choosing books, several of which were dual language, Urdu/English. Picture books enabled parents with few literacy skills to look at the books and talk with their children about the pictures. Other resources included familiar toys and materials from toyshops, supermarkets and local shops, such as magnetic letters, nursery rhyme snap cards and scissors, glue, fabric and paper to make puppets and homemade games. The aim was to provide resources that were easily available for parents to buy or to gather together from things they had in the home – not to loan equipment that was difficult for families to obtain for themselves. The home visitors acted as models of literacy users during the visits – engaging the children and at the

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same time sharing ideas with parents about how the resources could be used.

Postal contact It was decided to keep contact with parents and children mostly through face-to-face contact at preschool or over the telephone. Postal contacts, however, were also used for the following purposes: to respond to a request to change a visit if the parent could not be contacted at preschool or over the telephone; to maintain contact during school holidays; and to convey the concepts of environmental print and writing for a purpose to the child and parent.

Group meetings There were four group meetings spread over the 12-month duration of the programme as follows:

Month 4: Discussion of parents’ roles in providing opportunities, recogni- tion, interaction and models of literacy using extracts from video material (Nutbrown et al., 1997) showing families from many different cultures using a variety of languages to engage their children in home literacy activities

Month 6: Environmental print walk in local park

Month 9: Sharing books and writing (meeting in school)

Month 10: Environmental print/oral language (meeting in school)

These were attended by mothers who did not have experience of attend- ing meetings in school. So, by way of transition, the first two group sessions were held in less institutional, non-school venues. The first group meeting was held at the home of the programme teacher and the environmental print walk was arranged in the local park. On both occasions transport was provided. There were usually no older siblings present at the meetings but one older sister did go on the print walk.

Creating relationships and building confidence The programme started with home visits just after Eid, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, so discussion of the religious celebration was a good talking point in all the families. At the beginning of each subsequent session, time was allowed to exchange news and to review which literacy activities the child and family had been involved in between visits. Children varied in their confidence. The

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programme teacher had assessed the children in preschool, but was not well known to them. The bilingual assistant also worked in the preschool class in the school and, even though the children knew her well, four out of eight children were extremely shy at first, possibly because of the differ- ent circumstances in which they met her. One girl spoke only three words on the first visit to name her drawings. A boy took up to four visits before he fully joined in. Although he was very interested in observing the materials and activities from a distance and his older brother and sister were in the room as well as his mother, his shyness overcame him. As the programme progressed he gained confidence and fully participated.

Working bilingually with families The role of the bilingual assistant in the programme was essential. She acted as interpreter, communicated with the children and parents in their preferred language and scribed children’s words in Urdu. She also contributed to the activities bilingually and translated letters into Urdu where necessary.

The approach to the families was informed by some awareness of home and community literacy and the culture of families derived from a previous study in the community (Hirst, 1998), by some informal investigations (e.g. visits to three mosque schools, Hirst, 2001) and by close collabora- tion with the bilingual assistant. In practical terms this meant an openness to working in languages other than English, a valuing of scripts other than roman, recognition of emergent writing in non-roman scripts, making use of environmental print in Urdu and Arabic, appreciation of the role of literacy in religious and cultural practices, and a confidence that parents did value literacy in English as well as in other languages.

Initially some mothers felt they had little to offer due to what they felt were their limited skills in English. They appeared pleased to hear how the programme staff acknowledged that their literacy in another language was important and how they could offer opportunities, interaction, recognition of their child’s achievements and act as a model of literacy to their child through their own literacy activities. They also realized that their knowl- edge of English was greater than they thought when they went on an environmental print walk. Throughout the programme, the importance of the bilingual role of the family in young children’s literacy development was reinforced.

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Main findings Take-up There was 100 percent take-up by the eight families who were invited to take part in a programme. Parents were therefore indicating their willing- ness to collaborate with educators to enhance their child’s literacy develop- ment and indicating that they saw potential value in the programme. This mirrored the finding of the REAL Project (Hannon et al., 2005).

When asked why they had agreed to participate, all mothers said they thought the programme would help the child and/or the family, saying, for example:

I thought he would learn about reading and writing and we in the family would learn more how to help him too.

Drop-out and stop-out None of the families dropped out of the programme. Such commitment to the programme appeared to indicate that parents valued it highly. Many seemed disappointed to see the programme end and two had indicated that they would like it to continue when children were in school. Two mothers would have liked a similar programme for their older primary children. Again, this mirrors the participation levels of the REAL project (Hannon et al., 2006).

Two mothers needed to ‘stop-out’ of the programme for a while, i.e. to cease for a short time and re-enter. In both cases, the latter stages of pregnancy and birth of a child caused a ‘stop-out’ of 6–8 weeks. One of those families also had the disruption of extensive external and internal house repairs. Both mothers returned to the programme when their domestic circumstances settled down, which again showed their willingness to be involved in the programme.

Families’ involvement in the project Table 3 shows the number of visits, postal contacts, the number of group meetings in school attended by the mothers and those families which ‘stopped-out’ for a short period (affecting the number of meetings in which they took part but not necessarily the number of home visits).

As in any project that involves working with families, problems arose that meant visits had to be rearranged. These included bereavement, birth, major house refurbishment, illness and hospital visits. However, all mothers were eager not to miss visits entirely and arranged a more convenient date for visits. The postal contacts mainly involved communication during the school holidays as reported earlier. The low attendance at group meetings

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of some mothers was due to one having to work from home and the two who were pregnant attending occasionally. One family attended only one session suggesting, again, the effectiveness of home visiting as a way of working with families. Patterns of involvement were broadly similar to those of the REAL project where some families only attended one meeting but did not miss their home visits.

Participation levels Participation was rated on a five-point scale by the programme teacher and varied in extent and nature. As can be seen from Table 4, most families had a high rate of participation. The teacher’s rating was based on observations and reported involvement by families between visits and where appropri- ate, supported by evidence (e.g. the production of a piece of writing). Table 4 shows the participation levels of families and the definition of those levels.

Participation of families meant the participation of a wide range of family members – parents, at least one grandparent, siblings (from young siblings aged 2 who were involved to some degree in activities or book sharing, through to siblings aged 6–19 years who supported the child). Older siblings included seven girls in six different families and three brothers in three different families. In one family, the 14-year-old sister, Samaira was present at most home visits while her mother worked in the home as a sewing machinist making umbrella covers for a local manufacturer; the mother was involved between visits. Samaira’s involvement was key, as the following extract from the teacher’s journal illustrates:

Tasmin (four years of age) was the youngest of seven children, the next youngest being 14 year old Samaira. Samaira was involved in all the home visits and also between visits. She read stories and encouraged Tasmin to look at the

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Table 3 Number of home visits, postal contacts, attendance at group meetings and families where there was ‘stop-out’

Group meetings ID/gender Home visits Postal contacts attended (max 4) ‘Stopped-out’

1 F 14 3 3 2 F 9 3 4 3 F 13 3 2 4 F 9 3 1 Yes 5 M 14 3 3 6 M 10 3 4 7 M 10 3 4 8 M 14 3 2 Yes

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pictures and retell the story. She encouraged her mark making and acted as scribe. On one occasion, of her own initiative, Samaira showed us how she had made a book for Tasmin. In English, she had written ‘When I was a baby I was in a pram. Now I am 4. These are good for me . . . (she had drawn and written fish fingers, bananas apples). These are not good for me . . . (she had drawn and written sweets). She also encouraged Tasmin’s emergent writing in English, Urdu and Arabic.

I had loaned Tasmin a pack of nursery rhyme snap cards and nursery rhyme tapes, and Samaira later told us how Tasmin had learnt many of the rhymes. Tasmin was delighted to say the ones she had learnt. Samaira told us she had listened to the tapes in the car and she had read the cards to Tasmin. (Shaheen told me she was not aware of any children’s rhymes and songs in Punjabi. She thought that was one of the reasons children enjoyed learning them in English.)

Samaira also shared the notebook of follow-up activities with her teenage siblings. Her 19-year-old sister would also read to her and had spelt out Tasmin’s name on the fridge with magnetic letters.

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Table 4 Participation levels of programme families and older siblings

Level of participation

ID 1 2 3 4 5 Older siblings participating

1 ◆ 1 (sister age 8) 2 ◆ 1 (sister age 8) 3 ◆ 2 (sisters aged 14 and 19) 4 ◆ None 5 ◆ 2 (sister age 8, brother age 6) 6 ◆ 1 (sister age 16) 7 ◆ 1 (brother age 12) 8 ◆ 2 (sister age 10, brother age 12)

Notes: Participation levels (1 = low participation, 5 = high participation): (1) No participation by families either during or between visits. (Families welcomed the home visitors but did not engage in any literacy activities. Home visitors were sole participants with the children.); (2) Minimal participation by families. (Families welcomed the home visitors and participated to some extent.); (3) Participation by families during visits but none between. (Families welcomed the visits and took part during the visit but did not do follow up activities.); (4) Participation by families both during and sometimes between visits. (Families welcomed the visits and engaged in literacy during and sometimes between visits.); (5) Full participation by families both during and between visits. (Families welcomed visits, took part in all activities during and between visits, and were proactive in developing literacy activities of their own which they shared with the home visitors.) Source: Nutbrown et al. (2005).

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Although the mothers were generally the main participants, others contributing to the children’s literacy included: five fathers (one mini- mally), one grandparent and 10 older siblings (10 girls and 3 boys). Although the programme began by focusing on involving parents, and involvement of siblings and grandparents was not part of the original plan, the ethos of the programme was one of ‘fitting’ with families. Therefore it was appropriate to encourage sibling involvement where they showed interest. It is a finding of this study that extended-family participation was diverse, a feature not noted by Nutbrown et al. (2005).

Families’ views of the programme When interviewed about the value of the programme, all mothers offered very positive comments such as:

We learned different things with the project. It was good. It was enjoyable.

She asks me every day, ‘Is my teacher coming?’

One mother was very appreciative of the ideas and support offered by the programme teacher. She said:

I admire your work. You always brought something for him to do and then I got ideas. It’s been very, very helpful.

All mothers said they enjoyed their participation in the programme. When asked what it was like having a teacher visit at home, they all expressed appreciation and some added:

It was good. I liked it. I didn’t want to go in school at first. [This mother later attended most of the group meetings.]

I was very happy for you to come to our house and what we did with her made her more interested in wanting to do things.

One mother explained how she worked more with her younger daughter due to the visits.

It made me tend to work with my younger daughter. With my older daughter, sometimes we wouldn’t do anything at all but with her we’ve been doing something every week.

All the mothers When asked whether they felt the things they were involved in were too much like school, all the mothers replied, ‘no’. When asked whether they had experienced the programme as a pressure, all the mothers replied, ‘no’. When asked what made them stay involved in a year-long programme, all eight mothers had positive comments.

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The work you’ve been doing . . . the things that you’ve left me, and looking forward to the next visit. She liked you coming.

It was so nice. I was very upset when you stopped coming.

One teenage sister was determined to involve her other teenage siblings also. Referring to a notebook in which suggestions were made for follow- up activities after a home visit, she said:

I liked showing the notebook to all of them (other teenage siblings) so that they could all help.

In one family, in addition to the programme child, the two older siblings (aged six and eight years) were very involved in each visit. Their mother had this to say when the programme had ended:

All three children looked forward to your visits. You always brought something interesting and we learnt a lot.

Another mother compared a family literacy home-visiting programme to children being in school:

In school they just work with the children but at home you helped us to understand how to work with our children.

When asked the best thing about the programme, all mothers said ‘everything’ was good. Some mothers added:

It’s helped me a lot.

He learns so many things about reading and writing. I learnt too. I enjoyed you both coming.

We were involved in everything.

All mothers were in favor of the programme being offered to all families. As one parent said:

It’s helping families how to help their children.

When asked how other families might benefit from the programme, all mothers had something to say, including:

All the family got something from it and it helped him a lot with reading and playing games.

She didn’t do anything before. It’s made it easier for her to go to school. She’s settled really well and she likes it. It was hard for (older daughter) when she went – she didn’t like it.

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None of the mothers felt the programme was too much like school and none felt the project was a pressure. Overall, mothers’ views on participa- tion in the project were highly positive.

Mothers’ views of outcomes for children’s literacy All mothers believed that the programme had helped their child. One mother reported how it had helped her child’s communication skills as well as enhancing other areas of literacy. She said:

[It’s helped her] communication, she was very quiet, now she talks a lot. She’s learnt a lot about writing and looking at books.

A teenage sister reported:

It’s helped her a lot with reading, looking at pictures, learning rhymes and letters. It’s helped her a lot with her English. Mum doesn’t understand a lot of English.

Although this young child’s literacy development had been enhanced, it was likely that she would use English far more than Mirpuri Punjabi as her older sisters and brothers communicated most of the time in English except when they were talking to their mother. One mother reported:

It’s been good. He’s learnt a lot about reading and writing.

Mothers therefore believed that the programme had enhanced their children’s literacy development.

Mothers’ views on the effects of the programme on interaction The following comments indicate mothers’ views on the effects of the programme on their interaction with their child:

She never used to take much interest in books until I started reading more with her. I knew more what to do. I encouraged her with her writing.

We listened to the nursery rhyme tapes and video. I encouraged him to write and so did his older brother and sister. We shared the books much more. We learnt more about reading and writing different ways and how to handle the children. They all recorded themselves singing nursery rhymes.

Two mothers who had been educated in Pakistan said:

It was good especially for me because I haven’t been to this kind of school here.

I understand more now. I and the family didn’t do the things with my older son before because I didn’t understand as much.

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All mothers felt the family’s role in their child’s education was important and all were sufficiently aware to be able to explain to their child what use it was to be able to read and write.

Effects on measures of children’s literacy Children’s literacy achievements were assessed using the Sheffield Early Literacy Development Profile (SELDP) (Nutbrown, 1997) at the start of the programme and at the end of the programme (just before children started full-time school). The post-programme scores on the SELDP at the end of the term before the children started full-time school are shown in Table 5.

Table 5 shows the higher scores for the programme group compared to the control group. At the start of the programme, children in each pair had similar scores (Table 1), whereas at the end all but one of the programme children clearly had the higher score. The mean score for the programme group was 36.3, appreciably higher than that of the control group (25.3). Although the sample size was small, the difference in scores between the groups was significant by the Mann-Whitney U test, p = 0.015 (this despite the slightly higher mean pre-programme score for the control group reported in Table 1).

Another way to see the difference in scores is shown in the boxplot in Figure 2. The boxes represent the scores from the 25th percentile to the 75th percentile in each group, the line within each box represents the median score and the horizontal lines at the top and bottom of the whiskers represent the highest and lowest scores. (There were no outliers or extreme

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Table 5 Post-programme scores

Programme group Control group

Age (in SELDP Age (in SELDP ID Gender months) score ID Gender months) score

1 F 59 36.0 9 F 58 28.0 2 F 57 54.0 10 F 57 29.5 3 F 56 44.0 11 F 55 19.5 4 F 56 24.5 12 F 56 21.5 5 M 57 30.5 13 M 57 36.5 6 M 57 29.5 14 M 58 21.0 7 M 57 29.0 15 M 60 20.5 8 M 57 43.0 16 M 56 25.5 Means 57.0 36.3 57.1 25.3

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scores in either group so all 16 scores are represented in the plot.) Figure 2 presents a powerful picture of the gains made by the children in the programme group.

A further illustration of the impact on SELDP scores can be seen in Table 6.

Table 6 shows that, before the programme, the two groups of children were fairly evenly distributed across the 16 ranks. After the programme, the high rankings were mostly occupied by programme children with six programme children in the top eight (only three were in the top eight pre-programme).

Discussion and conclusion This article has reported the effects of a preschool bilingual family literacy programme which asked two questions:

1. To what extent is it feasible to develop and implement a bilingual family literacy programme with Pakistani-origin families before children enter school?

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Whether in programme

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2. What is the value of such a programme in terms of children’s literacy outcomes and parents’ views?

The study has demonstrated the extent to which it is feasible to develop and implement a bilingual family literacy programme with preschool children in Pakistani-origin families. It has also shown that parents valued the programme and their children benefited significantly from it in terms of measures of literacy.

In gauging the significance of the study it is important to consider both the limitations and the strengths of the research design. Two possible factors that might be considered limitations are the small-scale nature of the study and the power position of the project teacher as researcher. Though small- scale, the programme effect in the study was strong. Therefore, the sample size was adequate with measures effectively determining programme- control differences. Because of her former role as a teacher in the local school, the programme teacher was possibly in what Delgado-Gaitan (1990) has referred to as a potentially intimidating power position. By working closely with a member of the local community, working at good relationships and developing mutual trust, this was minimized.

Two strengths of the study are its multi-method evaluation and its bi - lingual approach. The experimental design involved a random selection of

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Table 6 Ranking of programme (P) children and control (C) children according to SELDP scores before and after programme

Before programme Rank After programme

C 1st P P C 2nd P

3rd P C 4th C

P 5th P C 6th P

P C 7th P C 8th

P P 9th P 10th C

P 11th C P C 12th P

13th C C 14th C

P C 15th C 16th C

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children from those in the target population and randomized allocation of children to the programme and control groups. This means that it is hard to attribute the considerable differences between the two groups at the end of the intervention period to anything other than the programme. As the programme did not teach children directly, differences in literacy develop- ment must be attributed to sociocultural changes in family literacy practices. The bilingual approach to the intervention, coupled with an appreciation of religious and sociocultural literacy practices in this commu- nity, and bilingual assessment made it possible to discover what children could do in literacy – whatever the language used.

A key finding from the study is that all programme families felt their involvement was beneficial for the child, and that the programme should be offered to all families with young children. As a result of the programme, families were further enabled to provide literacy opportunities, recognize their children’s achievements, interact with their children and provide models of literacy.

Of interest, too, was the involvement of siblings in the programme. The extent of sibling involvement was remarkable adding further to the conclusion that the project benefited the children and was valued, not just by parents but by other family members.

Findings show that such a programme is feasible and the value was in:

• the enhanced literacy achievements of the programme children compared to the control group children.

• mothers’ reported ability to contribute more effectively to their child’s early literacy by building on what was already happening in the home.

This study is unique insofar as it is apparently the first to focus on and evaluate a programme of working with Pakistani-origin families in their homes to enhance their preschool children’s literacy development. Previ- ously there have either been evaluations of preschool family literacy programmes for monolingual families or reports of programmes for bi - lingual families that have not been fully evaluated. This study has made a contribution to understanding the aspirations and capacities of bilingual Pakistani-origin families in fostering their young children’s literacy devel- opment. Bilingual family literacy work is not only feasible, but families respond positively and children’s literacy development gains are significant.

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Correspondence to: CATHY NUTBROWN, University of Sheffield, School of Education, 388 Glossop Road,

Sheffield, S10 2JA, UK. [email: [email protected]]

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