Nickajack Elementary School Gregory Barfield EdD Dual Language Immersion Program Specialist GregoryBarfieldcobbk12org Tonights Topics How does language proficiency in DLI mirror language development in infants and young children and how does this relate to how long language proficien ID: 751618
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Slide1Slide2
Dual Language
Immersion
Nickajack Elementary School
Gregory Barfield, Ed.D.
Dual Language Immersion Program Specialist
Gregory.Barfield@cobbk12.org Slide3
Tonight’s Topics
How does language proficiency in DLI mirror language development in infants and young children and how does this relate to how long language proficiency takes to develop in DLI students?
Q&A on DLI Proficiency
What will DLI be like in middle school?
Q&A on Middle School DLI ModelSlide4
Let’s Review What DLI Looks Like
Two Teacher Model-Immersion teacher and English Partner teacher
50% of academic instruction (math, science, social studies, Spanish literacy) occurs in Spanish
English Language Arts (including reading and writing) and Content Area Reinforcement
occur
in English
Language learning and content learning are integrated. Students learn new content while learning a new language.
The Spanish classroom is a 100% immersion environment; no English is spoken except by students as they learn the target language. In late kindergarten, students transition into speaking Spanish only.Slide5
DLI
programs are the most effective types of
learning for
nurturing bilingual/biliterate
students.
The Cobb
Dual Language Immersion program helps students to develop linguistic competence in both languages at the same time (listening, speaking, reading, and writing
).Slide6
Studying in two languages allows students to transfer knowledge and skills acquired in one language to the other.
Students feel
comfortable and successful in one language while
gradually
building the second language. Slide7
Fluency versus Proficiency
Is there a difference?Slide8
According to Wiki, language fluency is the degree to which one is fluent in a language. Someone is said to be fluent if they have a high level of
language proficiency
, most typically in a
foreign language
or another learned language, and more narrowly to denote
fluid
language use, as opposed to slow, halting use. In this narrow sense, fluency is
necessary
but not
sufficient
for language proficiency: fluent language users (particularly uneducated native speakers) may have narrow vocabularies, limited discourse strategies, and inaccurate word use. They may be illiterate, as well.
Native
speakers are often incorrectly referred to as fluent.Slide9
Fluency is basically one's ability to be understood by both native and non-native listeners. A higher level would be
bilingual
, which indicates one is capable of speaking in two languages, either having learned them simultaneously or one after the other.
In the sense of proficiency, "fluency" encompasses a number of related but separable skills:
Reading
: the ability to easily read and understand texts written in the language;
[2]
Writing
: the ability to formulate written texts in the language;
Speaking
: the ability to produce
understanding
of texts.
speech in the language and be understood by its speakers.
Listening comprehension
: the ability to follow and understand speech in the language;
Reading comprehension
: the level
of understanding the textsSlide10
DLI Students and Language Proficiency
In many ways, beginning DLI students are like infants and/or toddlers regarding language development. To understand this, let’s look at language development beginning with
from infancy through childhood. Slide11
AGE PERIOD
DEVELOPMENTAL ADVANCE
Prenatal
Functional maturation of
hearing
at about 5 months gestational age
Birth
Ability to
discriminate
sounds.
Transition to
breathing
.
Vocalization
begins.
Birth to 1 month
Reflexive stage
of phonetic development (cries, hiccups, belches)
2 to 3 months
Cooing
stage
4 to 5 months
Expansion
stage (Remodeling of vocal cords)
6 to 10 months
Babbling
stage. Vocalizations begin to reflect the ambient language.
11 to 18 months
Auditory discrimination
of speech is tuned to the ambient languageSlide12
AGE PERIOD
DEVELOPMENTAL ADVANCE
19 to 24 months
Possess
10 to 20 consonants
+ sufficient
phonetic ability
to learn
many new words.
25 to 36 months
Continued growth in phonetic inventory, along with
vocabulary and syntax.
Stuttering
is often first noticed at
about this age
3 to 4 years
Almost
all vowels
are mastered by this age, along with a number of consonants.
4 to 6 years
Closing in on phonemic mastery, with the
exception of fricative (noise) sounds
.
Teeth fall.
6 to 9 years
Phonemic mastery
typically
completed
, but
refinements
in speech production
continue
.
9+ years
Speech development
is
complete
, but developmental changes can be observed
(E.G., Voice change in adolescence)Slide13
Almost every human child succeeds in learning language.
We tend to take the process of language learning for granted, language seems like a
basic instinct
as simple as breathing or blinking.
In fact, it is the most complex ability the human brain will ever master.Slide14
Developmental course of language acquisition
Early
auditory development:
Beyond the basic level of auditory processing, infants appear to have a remarkable
capacity
to
record and store sequences of auditory events
.
Records input sounds
Replays them
Accustoms the ear to their patterns
Well
before learning
the actual
meanings
of these wordsSlide15
2
)
Early
articulation
Babbling
Cooing (Consonant/Vowel)
Drifts toward native language around the 1
st
birthdaySlide16
The forms of
early words often deviate
radically from the adult standard. Children tend to:
Drop unstressed syllables
, producing hippopotamus as
poma
.
Repeat consonants
, producing water as
wawa
.
Simplify and reduce consonant clusters
, producing tree as pee.
Slide17
3)
The first words
Based on three earlier developments:
Infant’s growing
ability to record
the sounds of words.
Ability to
control vocal productions
that occur in the late stages of babbling.
General
growth of the symbolic function
, as represented in play and imitation.
Slide18
THE PROBLEM IS-
So many simplifications occur at once that many words are difficult to recognize.
Slide19
4)
Word combinations
Child soon realizes the importance of combining
Predicates
(e.g. want, more, go)
Arguments
(e.g. cookie or Mommy)
Slide20
SPEECH
DEVELOPMENT (2-5 Years Old)
Begins to use
two word phrases
Initial emergence of past tenses
Begins to learn the social uses of
language
Begins to form subject–verb–object
sentences
Begins to tell narratives
Slide21
Child has to figure out how-
To join words together smoothly in production
Which words can meaningfully be combined with which
other words
This is also guided by earlier developments in comprehension.
Slide22
Language learning involves (1
):
Phonological development
Learn which sounds (phones) influence meaning.
These special phones are called phonemes and are the smallest meaningful sound changes in a language.
We are able to recognize all phonemes (around 200) and eventually our phonemic inventory narrows to match that of languages we are exposed to (45 sounds for English)
Semantic development
Learn to manipulate minimal units of meaning, called morphemes. Stems and affixes (prefix, suffix, infix) are two kinds of morphemes.
Slide23
Language learning involves (2):
Syntactic development
Learn the impact that the
ordering of meaningful elements
has on meaning. This is called
descriptive grammar
.
This is
NOT
what we
learn in school
, but rather
how people actually speak
. What we are taught in school is called prescriptive grammar.
Descriptive grammar
only
describes
the system of use;
prescriptive grammar imposes
(prescribes) a particular system
Pragmatic development
Learn the rules of use, including social rules, etc.
*
Meta-linguistic knowledge
This is linguistic knowledge about language: for instance, categorizing words a noun, verb, etc. This may not actually be necessary for language learning but is a common feature.
Slide24
Infants begin making sounds at birth. They cry, coo, and laugh…but in the first year they don’t really do much talking.
It could be argued that infants DO communicate with others but do not have language.Slide25
In fact, beginning DLI students can be like this when it comes to talking.
Students are exposed to a lot of language, mostly spoken, but some written.
They are given many opportunities to practice speaking Spanish by large group repetitions, songs, turn and talks with partner(s), and one-on-one practice with the teacher and/or para.
Some students, though, take longer to initiate conversation themselves. Some even go through what it is known as “the Silent Period.”Slide26
What Research Tells Us About Beginning DLI Students and Language Proficiency Development
Listening proficiency develops first followed by speaking.
Reading and writing proficiency take longer to reach higher proficiency levels.
It
may
take 1-3 years for
some
students to develop conversational language.
It
may
take 5-7 years for full academic language development.Slide27
Things to Think About
Native language development/acquisition in children takes a long time.
While dual language immersion is one of the best programs for students to develop language proficiency, it still takes a long time.Slide28
All DLI teachers will send home a Proficiency Report each spring to show his/her professional assessment of your child’s proficiency level in speaking, listening, reading, and writing.Slide29
Students progress from one proficiency level to the next in each skill (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) at different rates. Avoid comparing your student to other students. Slide30
Questions About Proficiency?Slide31
Middle School DLI
Middle school DLI will consist of two classes:
An advanced Spanish language class
and
A content class taught in Spanish
The content class will be decided in consultation with current middle school principals who would have DLI programs and middle school level assistant superintendentsSlide32
Questions About Middle School DLI?Slide33
Thank You for Inviting Me!