Educational practice Essay

In the United States, multilingualism is a crucial issue that moldiness be addressed. Although multilingualistism has no clear cut definition yet, Shenker (no date) pop the questions one stamp down definition of multilingualism. According to him, bilingualist children atomic number 18 are those who speak/ shake been spoken to in deuce (or more) speech communications in the home since birth and who are spoken to in only one or both of those both styles at shoal. (Shenker, no date).These children may excessively be spoken in one spoken communication at home but acquired (or is exposed to) a hour- phraseology when they start attending civilise. There is a common mis experience that bilingual children are more unsuccessful academic bothy than monolingual children. However, queryes salute that bilingual children digest captain performances than their monolingual counter furcates. Perhaps the first gear one to radically switch over this perception is the study don e call and Lambert in 1962.They conducted search regarding the premise that bilingualism ca characters retardation. However, their conclusion proved otherwise. They bring that experiences from dickens cultures provide bilingual children an advantage such as increased mental dexterity and superior ability to think abstractly than that experienced by monolinguals (Peal & Lambert, 1962). Other researches array an association between bilingualism and greater cognitive flexibility and awareness of phraseology (Cummins & Culutsan, 1974 Diaz, 1983 Hakuta & Diaz, 1984).Moreover, bilingual children were proven to pull in more effective controlled processes. Although their study was conducted among adults only, they chiefly concluded that controlled processing is carried out more effectively by bilinguals and that bilingualism assistants to stolon age-related losses in certain executive processes (Bialystok, Klein, Craik, & Viswanathan, 2004). Because of their greater cognitive flex ibility, bilingual children outperform their monolingual counterparts in virtually almost every overt including math.Nevertheless, bilingual children, including their parents, still do non choose the confidence to accept and interact with others. This is collect to a punishment in the early on 1900s where bilingual children are severely punished for speaking their home language. Although researches have found that bilingual children have greater cognitive flexibility than monolingual children, no(prenominal) has yet been undertaken investigating what practice earth-closet be employ in didactics bilingual children to interact with other people.Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine what tenet practice crowd out be apply in teaching bilingual children, in which they can improve not and their arrest of the project but also their interaction with other people. Statement of the riddle Mathematics is considered as one of the most difficult subjects to earn. Stude nts have bother holding the staple fibre computational skills to a more complex mathematics or science (Seceda & dela Cruz, n. d. ). Researchers argue that this difficulty in pinch the concepts of mathematics is due to most educators strict observation to procedure (Schoenfeld, 1988).Although there is a pixilated rise in students achievement scores in mathematics since the early 1980s (Seceda, 1992) showing that educators are successful in teaching basic computational skills to students, they have been less successful in teaching the students when to apply the skills they have taught (Dossey, Mullis, & Jones, 1993 Dossey, Mullis, Lindquist, & Chambers, 1988 Mullis, Dossey, Foertsch, Jones, & Gentile, 1991 Mullis, Dossey, Owen, & Phillips, 1993 Seceda & dela Cruz, n. d. ). Thus, it is important that educators should focus in teaching mathematics for understanding to students rather than in observing strict procedures.However, one must stock the fact that teaching for understand ing does not just engage the mainstream or volume students. As Seceda and Cruz emphasize that teaching for understanding concerns more in general all students including those with diverse social flat coats. It is believed that mathematics involves consider up to(p) use of position, curiously word problems (Seceda & dela Cruz, n. d. ). Due to this belief, it only follows that children who are perusing incline as a arcsecond-language (or second language learners) have difficulty in studying mathematics.In this context, the term bilingual children means students who are second-language learners. Most schools in the United States teach mathematics in a procedural manner. That is, when students solve a particular mathematical problem in an unconventional sort (the computations are not pre directed in the algorithm taught by the teacher), their solutions are mark incorrect and will be drilled further (Seceda & dela Cruz, n. d. ), until now though their solutions meant that th ey understand the problem but resolved to write their solution in their own behavior.In so doing, bilingual children, feeling that they cannot understand and cannot be understood, are be left out in classroom conversations. When teaching and learning is continued in this manner, this will eventually lead to the bilingual childrens failure in mathematics, adding to the conventional belief that bilingual children cannot consider in mathematics. Another consequence of teaching mathematics in a procedural manner is that children begin to perceive that mathematics makes no palpate (Seceda & dela Cruz, n. d. ).This perception will increase childrens capacity to understand something which is not sensible, not practical and not applicable using with the outside man (that is, realness outside the classroom). In this paper, the author investigated which commandal practice is scoop to apply in teaching mathematics for understanding to bilingual children. cardinal preceptal theories w ill be examined Pasks parley Theory and Landas Algo-Heuristic Theory. Furthermore, the study aims to find which practice can help students not just understand mathematics but to have confidence in resolution problems and in interacting with others. Research QuestionsThe study specifically aims to 1. compare Pasks Conversation Theory and Landas Algo-Heuristic Theory and 2. examine which one of these two is scoop up to apply in teaching mathematics for understanding to bilingual children. logical implication of the Study Results of the study will help educators find the best way to teach mathematics in which bilingual children will be able to understand and apply outside the classroom. In general, results of the study will help in finding the best way to teach children who are confine side proficient in such a way that these children can understand and apply the lessons with other activities.Moreover, the study will help teachers trail their students with confidence. Overview o f the Paper In Chapter 2, a review of literature is provided. In this chapter, the definition of bilingualism is discussed. Researches undertaken on bilingual childrens cognitive development are provided. thusly bilingual education is defined according to literature. Historical cover chargeground on the evolution of bilingual education (1800s-1900s) is also provided. The author also discusses emotional, lingual and academic issues bilingual education is concerned with. Mathematics education is also discussed in this chapter.Theories applied in mathematics teaching are discussed. task solving is given importance in the discussion on mathematics education. Cognitive background information on addition, subtraction multiplication and form is also given which provides as basis for the word problems given to the participants of the study. Finally, in this chapter, researches done involving mathematics and bilingualism are provided. Chapter 3 provides the theoretical framework used in the study. The first part discusses Pasks Conversation Theory and the second part discussed Landas Algo-Heuristic Theory.Chapter 4 provides the methodology used for obtaining the results needed. This section explains the research design the study used. Sample, sample backcloth, procedure and data collection and epitome are discussed. The sample and sample setting for the study is discussed in the first part. In the second part, the author explained the procedures done from the pre-assessment stage to the classroom setting to the last assessment stage. The third part discussed how the data was collected and analyzed. In Chapter 5, results obtained from the experiment are discussed.The students scores obtained in the pre-assessment, addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, and final assessment examinations are shown in the first part. In the second part, results from the wonder are discussed. Finally, Chapter 6 concludes the paper. The first part summarized the main findings discussed in Chapter 5. The second part gives recommendations for the teachers on how to teach mathematics for understanding to bilingual students. The third part provides limitations for the study as well as recommendations for future researches that can be carried on from this study.CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE Bilingualism Bilingualism has no trenchant definition yet but Shenker (no date) provided a definition in footing of young children. According to Shenker (no date), bilingual children are are those who speak/have been spoken to in two (or more) languages in the home since birth and who are spoken to in only one or both of those two languages at school. (Shenker, no date). These children may also be spoken in one language at home but acquired (or is exposed to) a second-language when they start attending school.Bilingual children were perceived to have less opportune situations than monolingual children. This perception was radically changed in 1962 by Peal an d Lambert. Peal and Lambert (1962) conducted a research regarding the premise that bilingualism causes retardation. Their study reached the conclusion that experiences from two cultures provide bilingual children with greater benefits than that experienced by monolinguals such as increased mental dexterity and superior ability to think abstractly (Peal & Lambert, 1962). Other researches prove that bilingual children have superior performances than their monolingual counterparts.Researches show an association between bilingualism and greater cognitive flexibility and awareness of language (Cummins & Culutsan, 1974 Diaz, 1983 Hakuta & Diaz, 1984). Moreover, bilingual children were proven to have more effective controlled processes. Although their study was conducted among adults only, they in the main concluded that controlled processing is carried out more effectively by bilinguals and that bilingualism helps to scrub age-related losses in certain executive processes (Bialystok, Kl ein, Craik, & Viswanathan, 2004).Bilingual Education despite having more researches proving that bilingual children provide greater than (or at least at the same level as) the monolingual children, there is constant debate whether to provide bilingual children with bilingual education or programs that focus uniquely on acquiring English. Bilingual education is the teaching of all subjects in school using two dissimilar languages English and Spanish or Chinese depending which is the autochthonous language of the student. DefinitionAccording to Ovando, Combs and Collier (2006) bilingual education is not a single uniform program or a consistent methodology for teaching language minority students. Bilingual education includes a number of different program models with a number of clear goals. Other programs may promote the development of two languages for bilingualism and biliteracy charm others use the students first language so that students may better learn English. slightly b ilingual education programs preserve an indigenous or heritage language as an ethnic, cultural, or community resource.There are programs that aim to make up students into the mainstream of society (Baker 2001). Thus, as Cazden and Snow (1990) stress, bilingual education is a unsubdivided label for a complex phenomenon since not all programs necessarily concern the balanced use of two languages in the classroom (Baker, 2001). (Throughout this paper, the terms L1 and L2 to relate the childs language, L1 for their native language and L2 for the language they are acquiring. )The innate connection between language and culture brings bilingual programs to include diachronic and cultural components associated with the languages being used. As Ulibarri (1972) says In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was make flesh. It was so in the beginning and it is so today. The language, the Word, carries within it the record, the culture, the traditions, the very bread and butter of a pe ople, the flesh. Language is people. We cannot conceive of a people without a language, or a language without a people. The two are one and the same.To bash one is to know the other (p. 295). Historical Background Discussing the historical background of bilingual education in the United States indicates that there is a alternate(prenominal) pattern with regard to language policies and programs (Korschun, 2006). Furthermore, studying the origins of bilingual education helps to understand its present undertakings and its future effectiveness. There are few references that account the history of bilingual education. In this paper, I rely predominantly on Ovando et als account of the history of bilingual education.The 1800s. Contrary to the common perception in the United States, schools in the United States use for focusing quaternate languages other than English during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Because of the increasing establishments of homesteads of different grou ps of different languages and countries of origin in US territories, a general sense of geographical and psychological openness existed. Some communities were self-sufficient and agrarian based while some were ethnic pockets in urban areas (Ovando, 1978b).According to historical records, some(prenominal) schools in the nineteenth century, both existence and private, used languages other than English for precept. In fact, during this century, following the annexation of the Territory of New Mexico, a schools curriculum may use either Spanish or English or even both as medium for instruction (Leibowitz, 1971). In 1900, at least 600,000 children in US received part or all of their schooling in German in public and parochial schools (Crawford, 2004 Ovando &Wiley, 2003 Kloss, 1977 Tyack, 1974). many another(prenominal) an(prenominal) other states passed laws providing for schooling in languages other than English (Crawford, 1992, 2004).Some public schools provided bilingual or non- English-language instruction during the second half(a) of the nineteenth century. The 1900s. Between 1900 and 1910, over 8 million immigrants were admitted to the United States majority of which came from Europe (Stewart, 1993). Because of this, the struggle for magnate to control institutions became imminent. One solution to this power struggle focused on schools. This solution came in the form of Americanizing all immigrants. By 1919, 15 state laws had been passed calling for English Only instruction (Higham, 1992).During the first half of the twentieth century, more schools already implemented the English dominant instruction which was impelled by many factors such as the standardization and bureaucratization of urban schools (Tyack, 1974), the need for national unity during the two world wars, and the desire to centralize and solidify national gains around unified goals for the res publica (Gonzalez, 1975). In fact, from World War I to the 1960s, language-minority students w ere severely punished whenever they used a language other than English in the classroom, or even on the playground.This policy continued until the 1950s resulting to an enormous loss of many indigenous languages (Crawford, 2004 Ovando & Wiley, 2003). The consequence of this action is still visible today. The ambivalence of language-minority parents toward bilingual education reflects fears that their children will be punished for using a language other than English (Arias & Cassanova, 1993). The early 1920s saw yet another(prenominal) restrictive immigration laws. These immigration laws, passed by the US congress, created a national-origins quota system. These exceedingly restrictive laws discriminated against eastern and southern Europeans and even excluded Asians.This resulted to fewer numbers of virgin immigrants while second-generation immigrants dropped the use of their native languages. Moreover, bilingual education disappeared for nearly have a century in US public schools (Crawford, 1992a). Indigenous groups whose add was eventually assimilated into the United States suffered even more repressive experiences. They endured more difference than any other language-minority groups. From the 1850s to the 1950s, native Spanish speakers in Texas and California were taught in English Only instructions while Mexican Americans in Texas segregate to other schools.This discrimination only stopped when segregation was ruled illegal. nevertheless though the US government initially recognized the language rights of the Cherokees in an 1828 treaty, records show that many other American Indian groups suffered an oppression of their native languages and cultural traditions which also applied to the Cherokees during that period. In 1879, American Indian children were sent to boarding schools, where they were punished for using their native language.As mentioned earlier, this resulted to the loss of languages of many indigenous groups. In North America, 210 out of 3 00 original languages remain. In the United States, it is only 175. Of these languages, only 18 are still being passed on to the children, namely, Hawaiian (in Hawaii), Siberian Yupik, Central Yupik (in Alaska), Cocopah, Havasupai, Hualapai, Yaqui, Hopi, Navajo, Tohono Oodham, western sandwich Apache, Mescalero, Jemez, Zuni, Tiwa, Keresan, (in Arizona and New Mexico), Cherokee (in Oklahoma), Choctaw (in Mississippi) (Krauss, 1996).Reyhner (1996) emphasized the importance of stabilizing and restoring indigenous languages Many of the keys to the psychological, social, and physical survival of humankind may well be held by the smaller speech communities of the world. These keys will be lost as languages and cultures die. Our languages are joint creative productions that each generation adds to. Languages contain generations of wisdom, going back into antiquity.Our languages contain a significant part of the worlds companionship and wisdom. When a language is lost, much of the knowledg e that language represents is also at peace(p) (p. 4). Aside from the fear of severe punishment, this repression of non-English-languages also resulted to the lack of foreign-language skills among the US populace. This became ostensible when the need for military and civilian effect who were proficient in many languages during World War II. Because of this, a radical change happened.US personnel returning overseas helped convince the government of the importance of multiple language resources (Pena, 1976a). The United States increasing need to compete for international status and power, influenced by the cold war mentality and the Soviets launching of Sputnik, led to an increasing need to expand their foreign-language skills. In 1958, the National Defense Education Act was sanctioned providing federal money for the expansion of foreign-language teaching.