Teresa's+Thoughts

Teresa's thoughts I am excited to know that Diane August and her colleagues have done so much research on the developement of literacy in second language learners. I was very impressed with August's introduction to //Developing Literacy in Second-Language Learners.// I believe the five domains the panel chose to investigate are appropriate and crucial to understanding the development of a second language. Looking at the development of literacy in language-minority children and youth, cross-linguistic and cross-modal relationships, socialcultural contexts and literacy development, instruction and professional development, and student assessment, is important to the understanding of the acquisition of a second language because we deal with English language learners on a daily baisis. Research has shown that different factors influence the development of a second language, and as a result, some people acquire a second language faster than others. Some people make the mistake of assuming that students that cannot communicate well are not very smart. Gardner's multiple levels of intelligence (1983), gave us the understanding to rethink our past perceptions of what constitutes as "smart". Being intelligent now means different things. Like Gardner, the panel attempted to demonstate through research that students possess intelligences that can be developed, with the help of teachers, to aquire a new language. The panel's research looked at the differences and similarities between a student's native language and the second language to be learned. They found that it is not enough to expose students to a second language and let them "sink or swim". There are many complex theories of language development that were carefully explored by the panel, and for this I am glad. Being a second language learner myself, and working with second language learners, I am very interested in the process. I agree with Catherine Snow that a topic as complex as second language literacy is a difficult one to understand. How well a student acquires a second language can depend on societal, familial, and individual factors. When students have a strong foundation in their primary language, they acquire a second language faster. Snow reported on studies that claim that students will transfer know ledge from their first language to the second language in specific domains. One example is that learning to spell in Spanish will generate skills that transfer to English. I agree with this claim because I have seen it done in my own classroom. "Carlos" is one of my 23 English language learners. He was born in Mexico and was educated there form K-2. He has good skills in Spanish. He has been in this country for two years now and is one of my top fourth graders. I have heard him spell words in English by pronouncing them in Spanish. Once during a written assignment, he spelled the word "people" by reading the word and pronouncing it as if it was a Spanish word. I believe he transfers knowledge of reading in Spanish to read and momorize the spelling of English words. He transfers a lot of his Spanish skills to English when reading and writing. His ability to comprehend is taking longer to develop, which agrees with Snow's report on findings that show that English language learners take longer to catch up on comprehension. I have also seen students who do not possess adequate skills in their primary language struggle with the most basic English skills. Our classrooms are diverse in student needs. Knowing how to best educate our students is a challenge, whether we understand their primary language or not. As educators I believe we have to try the best practices available to help our students succeed in a language that is not their own. I am looking forward to gaining useful knowledge from this report of the national literacy panel, that will help me better help my students.