Towards a Model for Predicting the Acceptance of Vernacular Literacy by Minority Language Groups

1990 ◽  
pp. 131
Author(s):  
Roland W. Walker
Keyword(s):  
Minority Language ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
Vernacular Literacy

scholarly journals The development of English grammar and reading comprehension by majority and minority language children in a bilingual primary school

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-442
Author(s):  
Anja K. Steinlen
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Language Background ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
Language Groups

Both for the first language (L1) and for all additional languages (L2 or L3), grammatical knowledge plays a vital role in understanding texts (e.g., Grabe, 2005). However, little is known about the development and interaction of grammar and reading comprehension in beginning foreign language learning, especially with respect to children with a minority language background. This longitudinal study, therefore, examined minority and majority language children’s English grammar and reading comprehension skills. The children attended a German-English partial immersion primary school and were tested at the end of Grades 3 and 4. As expected, we found grammar to affect reading comprehension but also reverse effects. Most importantly, the results did not reveal any differences between the two language groups, irrespective of the test. Therefore, immersion primary school programs seem to be suitable for minority language children, and these children do not automatically represent an at-risk group for foreign language learning.

Beyond Common Sense in Bilingual Education

1975 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen G. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Bilingual Education ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
Vernacular Language ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
The Status ◽  
Vernacular Literacy ◽  
Theoretical Issues ◽  
Initial Literacy ◽  
Single Statement

It is assumed that by now the widely known UNESCO statement about the value of vernacular literacy has achieved the status of “common sense” knowledge among those interested in the schooling of minority language groups. The term “common sense” here implies that although there is much that is sound in a common sense view, there is also the danger of oversimplification. Although strongly in favour of bilingual education, both educationally and in terms of the ethics of racial contact, I see a number of areas where an oversimplified approach to it can bring either some harm with the good or at least lessen the effectiveness of the use of the vernacular language in education. The “initial literacy in the vernacular” approach is not a panacea for all minority group educational problems. The article by Joy Kinslow-Harris (1968), probably the best single statement made on the value of vernacular education for Australian Aboriginals, was a profound call for a basic change in attitude towards the education of Aboriginals, and outlined sound starting procedures. While this paper strongly supports Kinslow-Harris’s statement, it wishes also to extend understanding of some important theoretical issues.

Immersion education: applicability for nonvernacular teaching to vernacular speakers

1981 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Merrill Swain
Keyword(s):  
First Language ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Second Languages ◽  
Background Structure ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
Immersion Education ◽  
Immersion Programs

The characteristics of “immersion” education as it is practised in Canadian contexts are described in this paper. Immersion programs are outlined in terms of their background, structure, methodology, and outcomes. It is suggested that to achieve the outcomes of immersion education found for majority language groups, some minority language groups may require a program in which initial education is in the first language, and which continues in both the first and second languages.

Informal bilingual teachers’ language practices and the consequences on pupils’ language choices in a situation of unequal bilingualism: The case of an Upper Sorbian education system

Multilingua ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-191
Author(s):  
Nicole Dołowy-Rybińska
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
German Language ◽  
Bilingual Teachers ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Language Practices ◽  
Language Choices ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
The Right

AbstractThis paper investigates how bilingual Upper Sorbian-German teachers who belong to the Sorbian speech community (Lusatia, Germany) introduce the minority language during German language lessons in an Upper Sorbian school. In Lusatia, as well as in Sorbian schools, bilingualism is not of equal character; minority language speakers are all bilingual while the German language speakers are not encouraged to speak Sorbian. The language policy of Upper Lusatia gives Sorbs the right to use their language in public life in principle but due to the strained Sorbian-German relations, language ideologies, and hostile attitudes towards the use of minority language in the presence of Germans Sorbs do not benefit from it in practice. The school language policy divides Sorbian-speakers from pupils of German-speaking families and keeps the teaching of Sorbian separate for both groups. Only during the last two years of school are all language groups mixed. Based on participant observation of and in-depth interviews with bilingual teachers during lessons with students of the 11th grade in one Upper Sorbian school this article discusses how teachers negotiate top-down language policy in their classrooms and, introduce bilingualism; and how their language choices affect students’ language practices.

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