What are the "basic principles" of bilingual education?

Send to the South China Morning Press, November 10, 2017

“Speaking in two tongues” (Nov. 8) begins with a statement of “well-established” basic principles of bilingual education: The statement seems reasonable, but does not include principles supported by theory and research, reported in a number of professional publications. Underlying these principles is the idea that we acquire language and develop literacy by understand what we hear and read, when we get “comprehensible input.”

For early bilingual programs in which second language acquisition is an important goal, a primary principle is to provide comprehensible input in the second language, first in the form of special language classes, and eventually in the form subject matter teaching, as soon as instruction can be made comprehensible. 

The second principle facilitates the first: Provide subject matter teaching in the primary language. This will make input in the second language more comprehensible. A child who has had math instruction in the first language will find math in the second language much easier to understand than a child who has not.

Third: Provide literacy instruction in the primary language. Literacy will develop more quickly this way and will transfer rapidly to the second language, even when the writing systems are different.

In a recent review of research, Professors Grace and David McField concluded that when these principles are satisfied, and statistical analysis is done correctly, the data shows that students in bilingual education acquire the second language (English in these studies) significantly faster than those in “immersion” programs, and the size of the effect was considerably larger than that reported in earlier studies.

Another important principle is the continuing development of the home language, which has been shown to have cognitive and economic advantages, and also allows the student to fully benefit from the wisdom of the heritage culture. 

It would be of interest to know whether the programs described in “Speaking in Two Tongues” are consistent with these principles. 

Stephen Krashen

Original article: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2118281/speaking-two-tongues

The value of vocational education

Sent to the Taipei Times  November 8, 2017

“Rethinking a university education” (Nov. 8) is right on target.  The university path and the vocational education path require equal amounts but different kinds of talent and dedication. Also, as the Times points out, society loses when we overemphasize the university path.

John Gardner, Former US Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare (1965-68), tried to warn us years ago: “The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.”

Stephen Krashen

original article: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2017/11/08/2003681858

Sloppy journalism from the National Post (Canada)

Sent to the National Post. 

Note: Conrad Black is the founder of the National Post 

Conrad Black’s “In response to failing test results, teachers’ federation proposes ending testing” (Nov 3) is a disaster on two levels.

First, the headline writer did not read the article carefully.  The writer calls a 7% drop in one subject in one grade over five years a “failing result,” without considering scores in other grades, or how many items wrong cause such a drop, or which kind of items caused the drop.

The headline writer also wrote that the union called for ending testing. The only quotes from the union in the article asked if the tests provide a fair assessment and suggested considering formative testing, not a radical move. 

Second, Mr. Black jumps to conclusions without evidence, claiming that discovery approaches to teaching are the same as not teaching, and that “the intelligence Quotient” of the population is declining. 

Black also asserts that we should decertify unions. The union is calling for study of the situation, and appears to be the only adult in the room in this discussion. 

Stephen Krashen

Professor Emeritus

University of Southern California

Original article: http://nationalpost.com/opinion/conrad-black-in-response-to-falling-test-results-teachers-federation-proposes-ending-testing

We shouldn’t blame speakers of English for failing to be multilingual.

Sent to the Guardian, November 7, 2017

Re: The Guardian view on languages and the British: Brexit and an Anglosphere prison (Nov. 3).

The cost of Britain’s failure to learn other languages (Nov. 6).

We shouldn’t blame speakers of English for failing to be multilingual. 

(1) Language teaching methods in the UK and other English-speaking countries are no worse than methods used elsewhere.  In fact, language education all over the world has failed to consider comprehension-based methods, shown repeatedly in the published research to be far superior and more pleasant than traditional grammar-based methods. (2) The best way to reach advanced levels in other languages has been shown to be pleasure reading.  It is very difficult to find affordable pleasure reading in languages other than English in English-speaking countries. 

(3) It is even hard to get input in the language even when you are in the country where it is spoken. I am multilingual. I have spoken the language of the country in France, Spain, Mexico, Paraguay, Colombia, Germany, Austria, Israel, Ethiopia, China, and Taiwan.  In every country, I meet people who hear my accent and switch to English, often persisting even when it is obvious that I speak their language far better than they do English. “English Fever” is everywhere.

Semitic language scholar Wolf Leslau solved this problem when acquiring Amharic in Ethiopia. He would hire a taxi driver to take him somewhere in Addis Ababa, and converse with the driver in Amharic on the way. When the taxi arrived at destination, Leslau would say, “Now take me to …”, cheerfully paying the extra fare in order to get more Amharic input. 

Stephen Krashen

Professor Emeritus

University of Southern California

Readers think 1/2 of their pleasure reading would be considered to be "trash"

Dedicated adult pleasure readers feel that about half of what they read for pleasure would be considered to be “trash.”

Victor Nell (Lost in a Book, 1988) interviewed 32 dedicated pleasure readers, mean age 37.2.  All read at least a book a week for pleasure and relaxation (most read a lot more) (p.162).  Included in the interview was this question:

“If all the fiction I had read for pleasure only for the last 12 months were laid out for judgement by my high school English teacher and the head of the English Department at which I studied as an undergraduate, they would classify ___ percent as ‘trash’ that was not worth reading.”

The results: Mean = 42.65%. SD = 26.43  (page 242)

computers in the classroom?

"There's a growing technology … that permits us now to do in nanoseconds things that we shouldn't be doing at all." Gerald Bracey (2006)

Sent to the New York Times.

Baltimore County Public Schools, with a student population of just over 100,000, has committed $200 million to computer technology, about $2000 per student (“How silicon valley plans to conquer the classroom,” Nov. 2).

The Times’ claim that there is “little rigorous evidence” supporting the use of computers in schools is not quite accurate: There is evidence that the impact of computer technology is negative.  A large international study done by the Organization of Economic Development covering 36 countries found that adding computer technology resulted in lower student achievement, especially in reading. 

Researcher Jeff McQuillan concluded that “Researchers for more than two decades have failed to find any significant education benefits for loading up the classroom with more hardware bells and software whistles.” In contrast, McQuillan points out that there is a great deal of research showing that improving access to interesting reading material has a clearly positive effect on reading achievement as well as other subjects. 

Two hundred million dollars could add about 200 books per student in Baltimore County school and classroom libraries.

Stephen Krashen

Professor Emeritus

University of Southern California

Original article: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/03/technology/silicon-valley-baltimore-schools.html

Some sources: 

McQuillan, j. 2017. Books before bytes. Language Magazine 17(2): 38-41.

Carter, S., Greenberg, K., and Walker, M. 2017. Should professors ban laptops? Education Next 17(4).

http://educationnext.org/should-professors-ban-laptops-classroom-computer-use-affects-student-learning-study/

The core of successful reading programs: a strong school library

Sent to the Providence Journal, Nov, 4, 2017

I was very happy to be quoted by Rhode Island Teacher of the Year Tracy Lafreniere as saying that more reading is the way to become a good reader, but I need to comment on the goal of having 75% of third graders reading at a certain level: There is nothing magic about grade 3 (“Boosting reading proficiency is aim of RI education forum,” Nov. 2).

Reading proficiency at grade 3 does indeed predict reading proficiency later on, but reading at any grade is related to reading achievement at any other grade. The good news is that research confirms that readers can improve dramatically in reading at any age, including adulthood, if they have access to interesting and comprehensible reading material. The core of any successful reading program is a strong school library staffed with a credentialed librarian, which ensures access to the right reading material for all students. 

Stephen Krashen

Professor Emeritus

University of Southern California

Original article: http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20171102/boosting-reading-proficiency-is-aim-of-ri-education-forum

some sources: 

Krashen, S. and McQuillan, J. 2007. Late intervention. Educational Leadership 65 (2): 68-73.

Krashen, S. 2011. Need Children Read "Proficiently" by Grade 3? Some Possible Misinterpretations of the "Double Jeopardy" Study.  Language Magazine 11,2: 24-27.