Running Head: INITIAL LITERACY IN MINORITY LANGUAGE 1

Initial Literacy in Minority Language

Maria Calero
University of St. Thomas
Dr. Cruz-Wiley
Bi-Literacy Strategies for Second Language Learners
Calero, Maria. Bi-Literacy Strategies for Second Language Learners. Journal 6 2

Why should schools teach English speaker’s initial literacy in the minority or partner

language when enrolled in a dual language or two-way immersion program?

Second Language learners in the US face the dual challenges of mastering English and

acquiring the academic skills and knowledge in the other language as well. School districts

encounter the challenge as well, of making the decision on which program to implement based on

the population they have, to achieve these goals.

In 1975, Lambert’s idea of additive bilingualism as the acquisition of the second language

without detriment, and Cummins with his principle “a common underlying proficiency (CUP)

model, in which the literacy-related aspects of a bilingual’s proficiency in L1 and L2 are common

or interdependent across languages added important discoveries to the foundation of different

bilingual programs.

Two-Way immersion programs serve Els who speak a common native language such as Spanish,

Vietnamese, French, Korean etc. along with native English speakers (Howard and Christian,

2002). For both groups of students, “the goals are to develop high levels of first and second

language proficiency, academic development, and cross-cultural understanding” (Genesee et al,

2006). The students are on heterogeneous groups and they receive instruction including Language

Arts in the non-English language” (Lindholm-Leary, 2005). For portions of the week, non-English

language speakers receive English Language Development (ELD) instruction and the English

speakers work on further English language development. While for other portions of the week, the

students are kept together and given English oral input through content areas (p.17).

There are two common types of Two-Way programs, 90:10 and 50:50 (90:10 model, 90%

of instruction in the primary grades is in the minority language, and 10% is English, with a gradual
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increase of English to 50% in the upper elementary grades. In a 50:50 model, instruction in the

majority language and the minority language is divided evenly at all grade levels).

What Research Proves

Lindholm-Leary’s (2001) results showed that “students in the 90:10 programs were more

likely to be fully proficient bilinguals, and they scored similarly in English reading and

mathematics achievement compared to students in 50:50 programs”. Based on these results and

two more bodies of research, students enrolled in a Two-way dual language program 90:10 will

benefit on receiving initial literacy in the minority or partner language because eventually

they will score much higher on literacy tests in English – and in their native language- than students

who has been provided literacy instruction largely or entirely in English (Ramirez et al, 1991;

Willig, 1985). Also, teaching them in the minority language will not place language minority

students at risk in their development of the two languages (Genesee, 1987).

The research demonstrates that the less socially prestigious and powerful language in a

society is the most subject to language loss (Pease-Alvarez, 1993; Portes & Hao, 1998; Veltman,

1988). To promote the prestige of the non-English language must receive more focus on the early

stages of an immersion program, like the 90:10 program, where literacy begin in the minority

language for all students.

There is another reason for promoting literacy in the non-English language from the

beginning that Lindholm-Leary (2005) discuss in the review: “Experts in dual language programs

note that students will often read for pleasure in the non-English language in First and Second

Grade, but that once they are able to read in English, they tend to read primarily in English. “If

children do not begin reading in the non-English language until second or third grade, after they
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have begun reading in English, they may never choose to read for pleasure in the non-English

language” (Lindholm-Leary’s, 2001). All those researchers proved why teaching in the minority

language is best for students enrolled in Two-Way Immersion programs.

Nowadays, these programs benefit considerably if teachers are very well prepared on

language learning strategies and structures that foster the biliteracy potential of minority languages

in U.S schools. Teachers implement those strategies to promote biliteracy, focusing on the

acquisition of specific aspects of language, such as vocabulary, specific grammatical forms, or

pragmatic patterns. Strategies such as, Crosslinguistic strategies, the bridge and bridging,

metalanguage, dictado, Lotta Lara, así se dice, proposed by Escamilla et al (2014), and Beeman

and Urow (2013) are effective practices that focuses on developing biliteracy and bilingualism

instruction in Two Way Immersion classrooms as well because the ultimate goal of all these

programs is for students to receive instruction in both languages strategically and in a way that

makes pedagogical sense. “The ability to read, write, speak, and negotiate life in more than one

language is deemed an attribute of well-rounded and highly educated people in any country”

(Escamilla et al, 2014. p.1).

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References

Beeman, K., & Urow, C. (2013. P.65). Teaching for Biliteracy: Strengthening Bridges between
Languages. Philadelphia: Caslon.
Escamilla, K., Hopewell, S., Butvilofsky, Sandra., Sparrow, W., Soltero-Gonzalez, L., Ruiz-
Figueroa, O., Escamilla, Manuel. (2014). Biliteracy from the Start: Literacy Squared in
Action. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon Publishing.
Genesee, F., Lindholm-Leary, K., Saunders, W., Christian, D. (2006). Educating English
Language Learners: A Synthesis of Research Evidence. New York, NY: Cambridge
Press.
Lindholm-Leary, Kathryn J, Ph.D. (2005). Review of Research and Best Practices on Effective
Features of Dual Language Education Programs. San Jose State University.
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