This week (November 3, 2009) the local newspaper reports on the challenges of higher education institutions in attracting and retaining students in science and math. For several years, the number of students majoring in science related programs has been declining and the number of graduates in these areas is smaller every year.  In the area of education, the situation is similar. Very few students major in teacher education in math or science. The state offers fantastic incentives for students interested in becoming math teachers (New York State Math & Science Teaching Incentive Program) and the job opportunities in this area are great. Every year school districts across the country struggle to fill positions for math teachers. This is a unique opportunity for young professionals interested in making a difference in the educational system by getting more students interested in math and science in elementary and high school. Explore the options and think about this career.

Cristina Gomez-Asst. Professor, Department of Education

           In the past twenty-five years, demographic shifts have produced in changes in the student profile of our nation’s schools. While the presence of multilingual and biliterate children dates back to the earliest epochs of American educational history (Crawford, 2004; Kloss, 1977), school districts across the country have witnessed an increase in the number of heritage, bilingual, and second language learners. 

            Regrettably, our nation has failed to view our children’s diverse linguistic and cultural traditions as an American resource. On the contrary, a variety of deficit ideologies (Valdés, 1997) have fostered debilitating myths regarding the value of our citizenry’s bilingualism and biliteracy. In turn, false notions of linguistic deficiency have prompted the majority of school districts to adopt policies aimed at replacing the primary language of linguistically diverse learners with American English. At the same time, global institutions cite the necessity for multilingual and biliterate nations. Both domestic events and international trends demand the reconsideration of educational practices aimed at substituting one form of monolingualism with another. The realization of our nation’s biliterate potential remains an untapped source of strength, security, and pride within a population of children growing at five times the average rate of their peers (Menken & Antuñez, 2001).

Heritage, Bilingual, and Second Language Children in American Schools

            The quality and type of educational services provided for heritage, bilingual, and second language learners varies considerably according to school district (Hamayan, 1990; NCES, 2003). As a whole, these biliterate potentials comprise an underserved and misrepresented academic population. Many bilingual children are either denied essential instructional support or are staffed into remedial or special education programs (Hamayan, 1990; Baca & Cervantes, 2004; Halcón, 2001). Both actions fail to honor the instructional needs and civil rights of these students. 

            In those academic contexts where specialized instructional support is administered, the majority of programs seek to transition the child from home to school languages. By viewing a child’s primary home language other than English as a cultural mismatch or academic handicap, schools have implemented inappropriate, untenable, and harmful educational prescriptions (Thomas & Collier, 2002; Hamayan, 1990; de la Luz-Reyes & Halcón, 2001). Many parents appropriately fear their child’s attendance in school may result in the deterioration of familial and cultural bonds among a host of other ills (Wong-Fillmore, 2000).

Bilingualism & Education

            Contrary to myths of linguistic deficiency, psycholinguistic research has associated bilingualism with a multitude of cognitive advantages. When compared to monolinguals, bilingual individuals exhibit superior competencies in divergent thinking, creativity, metalinguistic awareness, and communicative sensitivity among other benefits (Baker, 2001). The longitudinal research of Thomas & Collier (1997; 2002) includes a multitude of findings significant to linguistically diverse families. Their research on bilingual program models established that after four to seven years in a dual language program, bilingually schooled students outperform their monolingual counterparts in all areas of academic achievement. The number of years of formal education in the primary language was identified to be the strongest predictor of second language student achievement (Thomas & Collier, 2002). 

            When provided grade-level instruction in their first and second languages, both resident and immigrant children challenged by low socioeconomic conditions achieved at high levels in their target or second language (Thomas & Collier, 2002). Enrichment bilingual programs, including 90%–10% and 50%–50% models were associated with the lowest percentage of student dropouts or pushouts. To date, these models remain the only programs enabling children to score at the 50^th percentile or higher on achievement tests administered in their first and second languages (Thomas & Collier, 2002). When implemented through high quality, well designed enrichment programs, the goal of biliteracy produces a myriad of benefits for linguistically diverse communities and youth.

My Research Agenda

            Toward this end, my research agenda is committed to realize three separate, yet integrated goals. First, I seek to further advance the sociocultural framework constructed by Lev S. Vygotsky as applied to educational and other meaning-making contexts. A Vygotskian approach affords educators and researchers the opportunity to move beyond binary, dichotomous perspectives to examine and resolve multidimensional aspects of current issues that confound progress in schools and society.   

            My second goal is to contribute to the literature on emergent biliteracy. While a plethora of scholars have been associated with the pedagogical aspect of biliteracy, researchers have only begun to establish a foundation for empirical research specific to the dual listening, speaking, reading, and writing of young children in two languages (Bialystok, 2001). I am intensely interested in how young children make meaning while acquiring listening, speaking, reading, and writing proficiencies in two languages. Indeed, my current book presents the semiotic portraits of two such meaning-makers. The academic publisher, Peter Lang, will be showcasing these children’s case studies in a book called Portraits in Emergent Biliteracy in the spring of 2010. My intention is to conduct subsequent research in this vital area to enhance limited understandings regarding the biliteracy acquisition of children between pre-school and third grade. 

            The third goal of my research agenda is to address the requisite for relevant, challenging, and linguistically appropriate instruction for native, heritage, bilingual and second language learners. Demographics suggest that by the year 2020, one-out-of-every-four public school students in the United States will be a second language learner. These statistics herald the creative re-education of all K-12 educators. The interface between our students and an ill-prepared teaching force demands research, practice, and policy by which parents, legislators, teachers, and administrators might more appropriately educate and celebrate linguistically diverse children. I am especially interested in the establishment, implementation, and assessment of dual-immersion, enrichment and alternative bilingual models. 

            At the macro level, I wish to contribute to the efficacy of these program designs through the identification of dynamics that guarantee their success. At the micro level, I am interested in examining and refining instructional approaches that integrate content area knowledge with language-literacy learning. I am currently analyzing three years of data using Echevarria, Vogt & Short’s (2004 ) Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP). The SIOP and other empirical means identify quantitative and qualitative trends and themes in regular classroom teachers’ mastery of specially designed academic instruction in English. 

Professional Objective

            In sum, my professional objective is to utilize teaching, service, and research to advocate for a more equitable, enriched, and superior education on behalf of all children and the educators that serve them. As a former Title VII fellow, I feel an obligation to the parents, families, and communities whose labor contributed to my own education. My hope is to expand the research base on behalf of culturally and linguistically diverse children with the aspiration that all children may one day be afforded similar opportunities.

Dr. Cathrene Connery, Dept. of Education - Nov. 5, 2009