In chapter 1, Freeman & Freeman introduce the terms Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) as set out by Cummins to describe English language proficiency amongst English Language Learners. Here the Freemans set the stage for the importance of helping English Language Learner’s (ELL’s) succeed academically. According to the Freemans a large number of struggling students are children of first- or second-generation immigrants; furthermore, data shows that one in five children in K-12 schools has at least one parent who was born outside the U.S. The more troubling part is that most of the children are entering our U.S. education system in grades 6-12. More poignant than the parents immigrant status is the high levels of poverty among this student population. According to 2002 reports, 60 percent of all Limited English Proficient (LEP) children came from homes with high poverty rates.
Furthermore, data shows that ELL’s are economically, ethnically, and linguistically isolated from mainstream students and their principals and teachers are less experienced. We know that according to Gee, this is particularly problematic because these students then lack the opportunity to have fruitful apprenticeships that can model dominant Discourse in order to develop fluency in a Secondary Discourse. Additionally, due to the marginalization of these students they lack the social capitol to develop their language acquisition and academic language.
The Freemans define academic English according to Goldenberg is:
“a term that refers to more abstract, complex, and challenging language that will eventually permit you to participate successfully in mainstream classroom instruction. Academic English involves such things as relating an event or a series of events to someone who was not present, being able to make comparisons between alternatives and justify a choice, knowing different forms and inflections of words and their appropriate use, and possessing and using content-specific vocabulary and modes of expression in different academic disciplines such as mathematics and social studies. (Goldenberg 2008, 2)”
Next the Freemans discuss getting to know the your students. In order to be effective schools need to identify the types of ELLs they serve and familiarize themselves with their needs. Next the authors provide several examples of ELLs in order to provide a examples of what a teacher might face in a classroom and facilitate identifying the adequate type of ELL.
I struggled with the next part of the text, the Freemans use Ogbu’s Classification of Immigrant and Involuntary Minority Students. Ogbu classifies minority students into two groups: immigrant and involuntary.
Immigrant minorities aren’t influenced by the attitudes and values of mainstream American society because they measure success according to their country of origin’s standards. They differ in language, good, customs, and clothing. Ogbu’s research found that these immigrant minorities could alternate their behavior between home and school, something that is also known as a negotiation in identity. Ogbu’s finding that alternating behavior between home and school is not something immigrant minorities find difficult is inaccurate and I’d be interested in reading his original research piece on this data. I’m interested in seeing if he reached this conclusion based off interviews, surveys, or assumptions about the negotiation process that takes place. As a first-generation immigrant student, I’ve got to say that there is nothing smooth, natural, or easy about alternating my behavior between home and school. I say this because I am personally interested in researching immigrant students language identity and the dichotomy created in the split of these two cultural worlds. This is especially disappointing considering this book was published not too long ago in 2009.
Involuntary minorities includes groups like African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and Native-Americans. Many of these groups have lived in the U.S. for generation and were highly affected by majority-group attitudes and success standards. These groups have secondary cultural differences in walk, talk, and attire that resulted from the cultures clashing. While I appreciated the Freemans clarification that, “not all involuntary minorities are gang members” I find the reference rather short sighted and offensive. The involuntary minority group, however, generally do not alternate behavior; they behave the same way at home as they do at school. Lastly, involuntary minorities have a lower academic attainment than immigrant minorities.
I have an issue with the Freemans ELLs and SELs Comparison; here the authors describe that Long-term English learners sometimes get some first-language support in early grades, “but those who receive bilingual education usually are transitioned to English after only a year or two because they appear to speak English well enough to handle the academic curriculum.” That is not bilingual education that is English Only at its best. True bilingual education is schooling in an English-language education system in which students with little fluency in English are taught, hopefully across-content areas, in both their native language and English. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bilingual%20education) A more effective form of bilingual education would be dual language education. Dual language education is: a form of bilingual education in which students are taught literacy and content in two languages. (http://www.dlenm.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=433:what-is-dual-language-education&Itemid=53) According to the Freemans, despite the different kinds of supports for ELLs in the early years, they do not have the academic language needed to understand classroom instruction or to read and write well in English. (Hmmmm...If only there was a better way...dual language education...http://youtu.be/pSs1uCnLbaQ.)
The Freemans close chapter 1 with a call to better prepare teachers for the challenges they face in teaching ELLs and SELs. When teachers are better trained on how to support these linguistically diverse students to on how to read academic texts, think critically, solve problems, and articulate what they’ve learned; they are better prepared to meet the needs of these struggling students.
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