Creating a Culturally Relevant Environment for the African American Learner in the Foreign Language Classroom

Several developments have transformed the way the foreign language classroom looks, the role the teacher and the learner assume, and the approaches and strategies we use to teach and learn second languages. These changes stem from fundamental gains in the knowledge base of how second languages are acquired and learned as well as experimental inquiry into a variety of educational innovations such as cooperative learning, multiple intelligences, and the integration of technology into the classroom. Qualitative, quantitative, and action research have provided the foreign language profession evidence upon which to make informed decisions to build a classroom environment designed to optimize learning for all students. One area that requires further research and inqui1y is how teachers can meet the challenge of optimizing learning for students of color. Hancock (1994) points out that few African American students enroll in and continue foreign language study compared to students from other cultural groups. He observes that African American students tend not to achieve as well as other students, even when they do enroll in such study (p. 9). Brigman and Jacobs (1981) concur that those minority students who do study foreign languages at the college level are not performing as well (p. 376)

Large-Scale Neural Systems for Vision and Cognition

— Consideration of how people respond to the question What is this? has suggested new problem frontiers for pattern recognition and information fusion, as well as neural systems that embody the cognitive transformation of declarative information into relational knowledge. In contrast to traditional classification methods, which aim to find the single correct label for each exemplar (This is a car), the new approach discovers rules that embody coherent relationships among labels which would otherwise appear contradictory to a learning system (This is a car, that is a vehicle, over there is a sedan). This talk will describe how an individual who experiences exemplars in real time, with each exemplar trained on at most one category label, can autonomously discover a hierarchy of cognitive rules, thereby converting local information into global knowledge. Computational examples are based on the observation that sensors working at different times, locations, and spatial scales, and experts with different goals, languages, and situations, may produce apparently inconsistent image labels, which are reconciled by implicit underlying relationships that the network’s learning process discovers. The ARTMAP information fusion system can, moreover, integrate multiple separate knowledge hierarchies, by fusing independent domains into a unified structure. In the process, the system discovers cross-domain rules, inferring multilevel relationships among groups of output classes, without any supervised labeling of these relationships. In order to self-organize its expert system, the ARTMAP information fusion network features distributed code representations which exploit the model’s intrinsic capacity for one-to-many learning (This is a car and a vehicle and a sedan) as well as many-to-one learning (Each of those vehicles is a car). Fusion system software, testbed datasets, and articles are available from http://cns.bu.edu/techlab.Defense Advanced Research Projects Research Agency (Hewlett-Packard Company, DARPA HR0011-09-3-0001; HRL Laboratories LLC subcontract 801881-BS under prime contract HR0011-09-C-0011); Science of Learning Centers program of the National Science Foundation (SBE-0354378

Reading across Different Orthographies: Urdu, Arabic, Hindi and English

Research on relationships across literacy skills for multiple languages suggests the need for a complex framework that includes linguistic typology as well as cognitive and cultural variables (Schwartz, Geva, Share, & Leikin, 2007). Literature shows that bilinguals activate both languages they know for all linguistic tasks regardless of which language is being used at the time (Kroll & Bialystok, 2013). In that case, learning a third or any additional language is qualitatively different than second language (L2) acquisition. Findings for readers of Roman scripts demonstrate that L1 reading and L2 proficiency influences L2 reading (Cummins, 1979). The current research examined the learning processes for bilinguals learning English as their second language and one of three languages as their first language, Urdu, Arabic and Hindi. These languages were selected because they share either scripts (Urdu & Arabic) or linguistic typologies (Urdu & Hindi). No previous research has examined the effects of learning to read two or three languages where vocabulary, script, morphological and syntactic structures are either shared or dissimilar in terms of different components. Data are presented in three studies. The first study explored how Urdu-English bilinguals perform on L2 (English) word reading when they learn to read English prior to learning to speak English in Pakistan as compared to Urdu-English bilinguals in Canada who learn to speak English prior to learning to read English. The second study explored whether Urdu-English bilinguals take advantage of learning Arabic (similar script as in Urdu language) as another language simultaneously while learning to read English (as L2) over Arabic-English bilinguals. The third study compared Urdu-English and Hindi-English bilinguals in Canada whose oral languages are mutually intelligible. All language groups were compared to each other to determine which factors; shared script, vocabulary, or morphological structure has the strongest influence on second language (English) reading acquisition in these bilingual children. The findings of the first study showed different patterns for the Urdu-English bilinguals in Canada and in Pakistan. In Canada, there was transfer from L1 measures to L2 reading, while there was no transfer for the sample from Pakistan. The second study showed that the Urdu-English bilinguals had higher scores than the Arabic-English bilinguals on most measures across comparable locations. Therefore, it seems that Urdu-English speakers benefit from another language in similar script as their L1. The findings of the last study showed that L1 reading skills transfer to L2 only in alphabetic languages as compared to if L1 is an alpha-syllabic language in Urdu-English and Hindi-English speakers in Canada. The overall findings show effects of context of language learning and effects of L1 on variables related to English reading performance. They suggest that theories developed for English L2 learners in North America might not apply to English L2 learners in other linguistic contexts

Reading across Different Orthographies: Urdu, Arabic, Hindi and English

Research on relationships across literacy skills for multiple languages suggests the need for a complex framework that includes linguistic typology as well as cognitive and cultural variables (Schwartz, Geva, Share, & Leikin, 2007). Literature shows that bilinguals activate both languages they know for all linguistic tasks regardless of which language is being used at the time (Kroll & Bialystok, 2013). In that case, learning a third or any additional language is qualitatively different than second language (L2) acquisition. Findings for readers of Roman scripts demonstrate that L1 reading and L2 proficiency influences L2 reading (Cummins, 1979). The current research examined the learning processes for bilinguals learning English as their second language and one of three languages as their first language, Urdu, Arabic and Hindi. These languages were selected because they share either scripts (Urdu & Arabic) or linguistic typologies (Urdu & Hindi). No previous research has examined the effects of learning to read two or three languages where vocabulary, script, morphological and syntactic structures are either shared or dissimilar in terms of different components. Data are presented in three studies. The first study explored how Urdu-English bilinguals perform on L2 (English) word reading when they learn to read English prior to learning to speak English in Pakistan as compared to Urdu-English bilinguals in Canada who learn to speak English prior to learning to read English. The second study explored whether Urdu-English bilinguals take advantage of learning Arabic (similar script as in Urdu language) as another language simultaneously while learning to read English (as L2) over Arabic-English bilinguals. The third study compared Urdu-English and Hindi-English bilinguals in Canada whose oral languages are mutually intelligible. All language groups were compared to each other to determine which factors; shared script, vocabulary, or morphological structure has the strongest influence on second language (English) reading acquisition in these bilingual children. The findings of the first study showed different patterns for the Urdu-English bilinguals in Canada and in Pakistan. In Canada, there was transfer from L1 measures to L2 reading, while there was no transfer for the sample from Pakistan. The second study showed that the Urdu-English bilinguals had higher scores than the Arabic-English bilinguals on most measures across comparable locations. Therefore, it seems that Urdu-English speakers benefit from another language in similar script as their L1. The findings of the last study showed that L1 reading skills transfer to L2 only in alphabetic languages as compared to if L1 is an alpha-syllabic language in Urdu-English and Hindi-English speakers in Canada. The overall findings show effects of context of language learning and effects of L1 on variables related to English reading performance. They suggest that theories developed for English L2 learners in North America might not apply to English L2 learners in other linguistic contexts

Supporting Public School Students\u27 Education and Adaptation to U.S. Schools while Celebrating Bilingualism

In this paper, the author discusses her experience with the service-learning program Ayuda y Aprende while taking Spanish 301 at Purdue University. Ayuda y Aprende is a service-learning program through the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, in which advanced Spanish students work with Lafayette and West Lafayette elementary school children of Spanish-speaking families to help them adjust to the English language and American school culture, as well as improve their Spanish. During the weekly visits, university students work with children individually and in groups to assist them with school tasks such as classwork and homework. There was also time for the university students to get to know more about their students, such as their different cultural traditions and their experience so far learning multiple languages and adjusting to a different culture. Throughout the visits, the Purdue students expanded their own Spanish vocabulary by learning new words from the children, which is significantly useful in advanced Spanish courses where a wide knowledge of vocabulary is expected. This program also allowed Purdue students to obtain a real-world experience of how children feel when living in an area with a culture vastly different from those of their prior communities. The author had the ability to discuss future career goals with the children, while also encouraging and celebrating their ability to learn and speak multiple languages. Overall, this program is a wonderful opportunity to connect Purdue Spanish students with their local bilingual community and allow children of the local community to feel welcomed and supported in their educational environment and proud of their bilingualism and cultures

Exploring the Mental Lexicon of the Multilingual: Vocabulary Size, Cognate Recognition and Lexical Access in the L1, L2 and L3

Recent empirical findings in the field of Multilingualism have shown that the mental lexicon of a language learner does not consist of separate entities, but rather of an intertwined system where languages can interact with each other (e.g. Cenoz, 2013; Szubko-Sitarek, 2015). Accordingly, multilingual language learners have been considered differently to second language learners in a growing number of studies, however studies on the variation in learners’ vocabulary size both in the L2 and L3 and the effect of cognates on the target languages have been relatively scarce. This paper, therefore, investigates the impact of prior lexical knowledge on additional language learning in the case of Hungarian native speakers, who use Romanian (a Romance language) as a second language (L2) and learn English as an L3. The study employs an adapted version of the widely used Vocabulary Size Test (Nation & Beglar, 2007), the Romanian Vocabulary Size Test (based on the Romanian Frequency List; Szabo, 2015) and a Hungarian test (based on a Hungarian frequency list; Varadi, 2002) in order to measure vocabulary sizes, cognate knowledge and response times in these languages. The findings, complemented by a self-rating language background questionnaire, indicate a strong link between Romanian and English lexical proficiency

The Effect of Inquiry Learning on the Academic Achievement and Bilingual Verbal Cognition of Young Bilingual Students

The issues that prompt this study are based on current research indicating the positive effects of inquiry learning on the cognitive development of children. The purpose of this case study was to understand the effects of inquiry learning on the academic achievement and bilingual verbal cognition of 5th grade bilingual students in a French/English dual immersion program. The treatment group of students completed research projects through a guided inquiry learning approach, while the control group experienced the traditional problem-solving research approach. Empirical findings reported a significant mean increase in mathematics achievement, bilingual verbal cognitive ability, higher motivation to learn and increased self-efficacy in the treatment versus the control group of students

New Languages of Schooling: Ethnicity, Education and Equality in Nepal

Mother-tongue education has remained a controversial issue in Nepal. Scholars, activists and policy-makers have, on the one hand, favored mother-tongue education from the standpoint of social justice. Against these views, others have identified this as predominantly groupist in its orientation and not helpful in an imagination of a unified national community. Taking this contention as a point of inquiry, this paper aims to explore the contested space of mother-tongue education to understand the ways in which people position themselves within the polarizing debates of ethnicity-based claims on education in Nepal. Drawing from the ethnographic fieldwork in mother-tongue education school, in this paper, I illustrate that the students made meaning in their everyday world by maintaining the multilingual repertoire that included their mother tongue, Nepali and some English; multilingualism was used as a strategy for mother-tongue education. I propose a notion of simultaneity to explain this attempt to seek membership into multiple groups and display of apparently contradictory dynamics. The practices in these schools, on the one hand, display inward-looking characteristics through the everyday use of mother tongue, the construction of unified ethnic identity and cultural practices. On the other hand, there were outward-looking dynamics of making claims in the universal spaces of national education and public places. The salience of these processes is the simultaneous membership to multiple groups, claims over public spaces and in the spaces of nationalism, hitherto associated with Nepali. This paper illustrates that contrary to the essentialist categories espoused in both nationalist discourse and ethnic activism, students in these school display affiliation to multiple languages and identities that were seen as neither incompatible nor binary opposites