Donna+Christian

Donna Christian President, Center for Applied Linguistics Senior Advisior for the National Literacy Panel By Kelly Baker

The Center for Applied Linguistics:
Dr. Christian, the current President of CAL, has been working with CAL for almost 35 years. There, her focus has been on the role of language in education, including issues of second language learning and dialect diversity. For more than 20 years, she has been involved in research, professional development, and technical assistance related to two-way bilingual immersion, including a study for the National Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence (CREDE), funded by the U.S. Department of Education. She is currently a senior advisor to CAL’s Heritage Languages Initiative, Biliteracy Research Program, and English for Heritage Language Speakers program. She serves on a number of boards, including the editorial advisory boards of the // Heritage Language Journal //and the // International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism //, Board of Directors of The International Research Foundation on English Language Education, and Advisory Board of the Hispanic Family Literacy Institute.

Research

 * [|Dual-Language Education for English Language Learners]//TESOL Quarterly//, Vol. 35, No. 4 (Winter, 2001), pp. 601-602
 * [|Two-Way Immersion Education: Students Learning through Two Languages] //The Modern Language Journal//, Vol. 80, No. 1 (Spring, 1996), pp. 66-76
 * [|Foreign Language Education: An International Perspective] //The Modern Language Journal//, Vol. 86, No. 4 (Winter, 2002), pp. 615-616
 * [|for All: Two-Way Immersion Education in the United States] Theory into Practice, Vol. 39, No. 4, Children and Languages at School (Autumn, 2000), pp. 258-266

**Publications**
// Dialects in Schools and Communities, Second Edition ////(with Carolyn Adger and Walt Wolfram, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2007); //// Educating English Language ////Learners (with Fred Genesee, Kathryn Lindholm-Leary, and William Saunders, Cambridge University Press, 2006); //// What Teachers Need to Know About Language ////(co-edited with Carolyn Adger and Catherine Snow, Delta Systems, 2002); //// Bilingual Education ( ////co-edited with Fred Genesee, TESOL, 2001); //// Profiles in Two-Way Immersion ////Education (with Chris Montone, Kathryn Lindholm and Isolda Carranza, Delta Systems, 1997). //// Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education ////(with Elizabeth R. Howard, Julie Sugarman, Kathryn Lidholm-Leary, and David Rogers) //// Two-Way Immersion 101: Designing and Implementing a Two-Way Immersion Education Program at the Elementary Level ////(with Elizabeth R. Howard) //// The Development of Bilingualism and Biliteracy from Grade 3 to 5: A Summary of Findings from the CAL/CREDE of Two-Way Immersion Education ////(with Christopher L. Montone, Kathryn J. Lindholm and Isolda Carranza) //

Abstract
Dr. Christian's research seems to be mostly focused on Two Way Immersion programs. This is of special interest to me because I have my daughter enrolled in a charter school in Long Beach that has just such a program. In the two research studies that I reviewed, Dr. Christian says that research points to the fact that the programs are effective in conserving the native language (L1) of minority language speakers, developing second language skills in native English speakers and enhancing cross cultural understanding and appreciation. This research validates what I have seen at my daughter's school and reaffirms the reasons I put her into this type of program.

