scholarly journals Ensuring Proper Competency in the Host Language: Contrasting Formula and the Place of Heritage Languages

2009 ◽  
Vol 111 (6) ◽  
pp. 1528-1554
Author(s):  
Marie Mc Andrew

Background Context In most immigrant-receiving societies, an important question, both for researchers and policy makers, has been the weighing of the relative efficiency of different formulas in the learning of the host language by immigrant students, especially the potential impact of specific services on social integration and the role of heritage languages. Purpose Objectives Research Question Focus of Study This article tries to go beyond the most conspicuous elements of these controversies to look at the variety of practices that different societies have adopted. Given the questions just raised, a specific focus is given to the degree to which such endeavors follow an immersion or specific services formula on the one hand, and to the role that they grant to heritage languages on the other. Five major immigrant-receiving societies have been chosen, and their choices regarding either issue are contrasted: Britain, two Canadian provinces (Quebec and Ontario), the United States, and Belgium (Flemish Brussels). Research Design To ascertain the extent to which transferable conclusions about best models and practices can be drawn from international comparison, evaluation research on the strengths and weaknesses of each of these formulas is reviewed, with a focus on their short and middle-term linguistic outcomes given the paucity of data on their long-term educational and social outcomes. In conclusion, we identify the minimum threshold of consensus regarding the policy and program conditions that foster a proper mastery of the host language by immigrant students without jeopardizing other dimensions of their school or social integration. Conclusion/Recommendations Three recommendations for policy makers can be drawn. First, flexibility and diversity of formula, both regarding the specific-services-versus-quick-integration dilemma and the place of heritage languages, seems a much better option than the one-size-fits-all model given the great variety found within the immigrant student population. Second, regardless of the model adopted, a fundamental winning condition lies in the recognition that the linguistic integration of newcomers is a collective responsibility and thus necessitates the establishment of close links between specific services, whenever they exist, and regular classrooms. Finally, research points to the necessity of focusing attention on schools and classrooms, especially pedagogical practices and teaching strategies, instead of being obsessed with models and formula.

2011 ◽  
Vol 113 (4) ◽  
pp. 811-830
Author(s):  
Adrienne D. Dixson

Background/Context The Supreme Court's June 2007 decision on the Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No.1 (PICS) provides an important context for school districts and educational policy makers as they consider the role of race in school assignment. The PICS decision has been described as essentially “undoing” the 1954 Supreme Court decision in the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case that ended de jure racial segregation. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study Given the rhetoric that education in the United States is the “great equalizer,” this conceptual article considers how the PICS decisions impact notions of educational equity and self-determination for African Americans. Research Design This article provides a conceptual analysis of the PICS decision and educational equity. Conclusions/Recommendations The author recommends that despite the PICS decision, school administrators and policy makers continue to consider how race impacts school assignment to ensure that public schools are democratic institutions that are racially and educationally equitable.


Author(s):  
Kwangok Song

This chapter discusses how Asian immigrant communities in the United States cultivate Asian immigrant children's literacy learning in their heritage languages. Although the United States has historically been a linguistically diverse country, bilingualism has not always been valued and acknowledged. Strong social and institutional expectations for immigrants to acquire the socially dominant language have resulted in language shifts among immigrants. Concerned about their descendants' heritage language loss, Asian immigrant communities make organized efforts to establish community-based heritage language schools. Heritage language schools play an important role in immigrant children's learning of their heritage language and culturally appropriate ways of behaving and communicating. It has also been noted that heritage language schools encounter several challenges in motivating heritage language learners. Heritage language schools should be considered as complementary education for immigrant students because they take critical responsibilities to support immigrant students' language and literacy development in their heritage languages.


Author(s):  
Alan Cribb

This concluding chapter asks how health policy needs to change character in the light of the transitions and tensions reviewed in the book. The emphasis in health policy has to move more decisively from a delivery model to a deliberative model of healthcare; or, in other words, from an assumed model of ‘top-down’ service provision towards a more diffused and democratic model. Moreover, the philosophical transition explored in the book should, in part, be seen as a transition towards philosophy, because philosophical questions are now manifestly at the centre of healthcare debate and activity. The chapter then presents some substantive conclusions about the key balancing acts that need to be struck in shaping the future of healthcare, including the balance between the responsibilities of policy makers and professionals, on the one hand, and the collective responsibility of patients and publics, on the other.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1437-1460
Author(s):  
Anika Klafki

AbstractModern federations are faced with the challenge of cross-state as well as cross-nation economic activities and with the ever-increasing mobility of society. This has not only promoted international law, but has also created the need for harmonized laws throughout federations within the competence areas of the states. Diverse laws within federal systems may increase transaction costs, cause delays, and lead to jurisdictional conflicts for nationwide or cross-state transactions. In order to preserve federalism, and therefore prevent an ever-advancing process of centralization, interfederal legal harmonization promoted by the states themselves is crucial. There are two distinct methods of legal harmonization of state laws: (1) harmonization by “Uniform Law Conferences,” which are in principle run by lawyers and thus independent, to a certain extent, from the influence of policy makers; and (2) harmonization by executive intergovernmental conferences. These two distinct models of interfederal legal harmonization will be analyzed and evaluated with regard to efficiency, compatibility with democratic principles, transparency, and accountability in a comparative legal study of the harmonization processes. This Article will scrutinize the federal systems of the United States and Canada, on the one hand, as well as those of Germany and Austria, on the other hand. The study will reveal that the efficiency of interfederal legal harmonization increases with the level of intergovernmental integration through the participation of government officials and their staff.


Author(s):  
Glenn D. Hook

This chapter explores the transition from demilitarization to remilitarization following Japan's defeat in war and foreign occupation from 1945 to 1952. It focuses on the external and internal pressures on security policy at crucial historical junctures in the process of remilitarization. By revisiting the early postwar period, the chapter looks at two contested views of security policy. These views revolved around the option of a security treaty with the United States, on the one hand, and unarmed neutrality, on the other. The chapter then addresses the external pressures on Japanese policy makers arising from the major historical juncture represented by the end of the Cold War. Meanwhile, the internal pressures involve the costs to Okinawans arising from the concrete manifestation of the alliance with the United States: the basing of US military facilities.


1990 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank M. Buscher

The recent revolutionary changes in Eastern Europe represent a mixed blessing for the United States and the western alliance as a whole. On the one hand, the West has had good reason to rejoice, witnessing the triumph of democracy and economic liberalism after more than forty years of Cold War tensions. On the other hand, the fall of the Eastern European communist governments in 1989, including that of the German Democratic Republic, once again brought the German question to the forefront. The Bush administration approached the issue of German reunification in a very cautious manner, insisting that a unified Germany guarantee the finality of its eastern borders and remain committed to the West. This caution clearly demonstrated the apprehension on the part of U.S. policy-makers that nationalism and the push for national unity might prove stronger than the German commitment to NATO and the western alliance.


2022 ◽  
pp. 66-80
Author(s):  
Kwangok Song

This chapter discusses how Asian immigrant communities in the United States cultivate Asian immigrant children's literacy learning in their heritage languages. Although the United States has historically been a linguistically diverse country, bilingualism has not always been valued and acknowledged. Strong social and institutional expectations for immigrants to acquire the socially dominant language have resulted in language shifts among immigrants. Concerned about their descendants' heritage language loss, Asian immigrant communities make organized efforts to establish community-based heritage language schools. Heritage language schools play an important role in immigrant children's learning of their heritage language and culturally appropriate ways of behaving and communicating. It has also been noted that heritage language schools encounter several challenges in motivating heritage language learners. Heritage language schools should be considered as complementary education for immigrant students because they take critical responsibilities to support immigrant students' language and literacy development in their heritage languages.


2009 ◽  
Vol 111 (6) ◽  
pp. 1476-1507
Author(s):  
Maurice Crul ◽  
Jennifer Holdaway

Background/Context This article considers the ways in which school systems in New York City and Amsterdam have shaped the educational trajectories of two groups of relatively dis-advantaged immigrant youth: the children of Dominican immigrants in New York and the children of Moroccan immigrants in Amsterdam. It describes the salient features of the two educational systems and the ways in which they structure opportunity for children of immigrants. In terms of public policy, the United States and the Netherlands have taken quite different approaches toward the integration of immigrant students: The Netherlands actively seeks to integrate students and provides additional funds and special programs, whereas the United States has taken a more laissez-faire approach. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study The article analyses available data on young second-generation Moroccan and Dominican youth and their school careers in two cities: New York and Amsterdam. It aims to look at the influence of institutional arrangements and the way that the educational system facilitates or hampers the educational integration of two highly disadvantaged groups. Research Design The article is based on available data on the Moroccan population in Amsterdam and the Dominican population in New York. This includes primarily the Dutch SPVA surveys and other local Amsterdam studies, and the Immigrant Second-Generation in Metropolitan New York (ISGMNY) study. Conclusions/Recommendations Both Moroccans in Amsterdam and Dominicans in New York show relatively low levels of educational attainment. Drawing on data from a number of studies of Moroccans in Amsterdam and on the ISGMNY study, the article shows that although differently structured, neither school system does an adequate job of serving disadvantaged immigrant students. It is interesting, however, that opportunities and impediments for the two groups are shaped differently and appear at different times in the school career. Successful practices in both countries show how extra investment of resources can increase equality of opportunity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 449-452
Author(s):  
Alan MacLeod ◽  
Nicola Spence

COVID 19 has raised the profile of biosecurity. However, biosecurity is not only about protecting human life. This issue brings together mini-reviews examining recent developments and thinking around some of the tools, behaviours and concepts around biosecurity. They illustrate the multi-disciplinary nature of the subject, demonstrating the interface between research and policy. Biosecurity practices aim to prevent the spread of harmful organisms; recognising that 2020 is the International Year of Plant Health, several focus on plant biosecurity although invasive species and animal health concerns are also captured. The reviews show progress in developing early warning systems and that plant protection organisations are increasingly using tools that compare multiple pest threats to prioritise responses. The bespoke modelling of threats can inform risk management responses and synergies between meteorology and biosecurity provide opportunities for increased collaboration. There is scope to develop more generic models, increasing their accessibility to policy makers. Recent research can improve pest surveillance programs accounting for real-world constraints. Social science examining individual farmer behaviours has informed biosecurity policy; taking a broader socio-cultural approach to better understand farming networks has the potential to change behaviours in a new way. When encouraging public recreationists to adopt positive biosecurity behaviours communications must align with their values. Bringing together the human, animal, plant and environmental health sectors to address biosecurity risks in a common and systematic manner within the One Biosecurity concept can be achieved through multi-disciplinary working involving the life, physical and social sciences with the support of legislative bodies and the public.


Author(s):  
Yuri Morales López ◽  
Marianela Alpízar Vargas ◽  
Ana Lucía Alfaro Arce ◽  
Vicenç Font-Moll

The purpose of this presentation is to show elements associated to the study and analysis of pedagogical practices used by mathematics teachers, taking into consideration different approaches and conceptions derived from theories related to the role of the math teacher. The project highlights the need to use different strategies to analyze the processes occurring in the activities and tasks organized and implemented by the teacher. One of the main tasks in teacher training is to promote the capacity to noticing on the pedagogical activity, where noticing is understood as an inherent process to improve the quality of classroom management. In addition, different analysis models should be compared using examples and experiential practices and the different theories and research projects developed in this field related to this type of analysis. Knowing what happens in the classroom is a task inherent to the math teacher. For sure, if the teacher does not understand or is even able to perceive what is happening in the class, improvement actions are very difficult to implement. Consequently, math teachers must develop the capability of analyzing their pedagogical activity and the related elements. It is not about isolating variables and looking for causal relationships, but rather about understanding the teacher’s activity as the center of the multiple situations occurring in the classroom, which may be known more in depth, if the attention is focused on the organization, ordering, and execution of the tasks planned by the teacher. It must also be understood that the competence of analyzing mentioned here is not an isolated activity without an effect. Such analysis must be approached from an active perspective where scenarios are generated to mitigate complex situations or to value an approach different than the one happening in the classroom. Being aware that there are many aspects to analyze (most likely almost everything that happens is analyzable), we must take a stand on which situations are highly related to what happens in our classroom and which could eventually happen. With such a wide spectrum, some questions that need to be addressed are: What is important in the math education activity and who defines what is important? What elements are of interest to math teachers? How does the analysis conducted relate to the different models of the teacher's knowledge? How does our previous experience influence the assessments we make? How do we distinguish elements of interest to analysis? What is the relationship between reflecting and analyzing? At what stages of the teacher’s activity is an analysis required? What is the ultimate purpose of analyzing teaching activities? What competencies or skills are related to the analysis? What types of analysis are appropriate (content, cognitive, media, among others)? How can we balance the actions derived from the analyses we conduct? From all these questions the most important one that can guide the study of this reflection would be: What should be assessed in pedagogical activities and what is the objective of analyzing such pedagogical activities in math education?


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