ERIC Number: ED493763
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 320
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: ISBN-0-8058-2513-4
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
English-Only Instruction and Immigrant Students in Secondary Schools: A Critical Examination
Gunderson, Lee
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (Bks)
This book is for teachers, teacher educators, school and district administrators, policy makers, and researchers who want to know about literacy, cultural diversity, and students who speak little or no English. It offers a rich picture of the incredible diversity of students who enter secondary school as immigrants--their abilities, their needs, and their aspirations. The studies reported are part of a large longitudinal study of about 25,000 immigrant students in a district in which the policy is English-only instruction. These studies: (1) provide multiple views of the students' lives and their success in schools where the language of instruction differs from the languages they speak with their friends and families; (2) explore the students' views of teaching and learning; (3) describe the potential differences between the students views and those of their teachers; (4) look at issues related to students' views of their identities as they work, study, and socialize in a new environment; and (5) examine different reading models designed to facilitate the learning of English as a second language (ESL). Educators and researchers will find the descriptions of students' simultaneous learning of English and of academic content relevant to their view of whether instruction should be English only or bilingual. For teachers who view multicultural education as an important endeavor, this book may on occasion surprise them and at other times confirm their views. The author does not attempt to develop a particular political viewpoint about which approach works best with immigrant students. Rather, the objective of the studies was to develop a full, rich description of the lives of immigrant high school students enrolled in classes where the medium of instruction is English. The reader is left to evaluate the results. Following a preface entitled, Hopes and Aspirations, this book is divided into three parts. Part I, Background and Design, presents the initial chapters of the book: (1) Increasing Diversity and English and Academic Achievement; (2) Reading, Language and Immigrant Achievement; and (3) The Setting, the Population, and the Measures. Part II, Findings of the Studies, continues with the next chapters: (4) Demographic and Descriptive Findings; (5) Reading Models and Traditional Analyses; (6) Multiple Case Studies, Students' Views, and Secondary Achievement; and (7) One Immigrant--One Story. Part III, Conclusions and Implications, closes the book with the final chapter: (8) Summary, Conclusions, Speculations, Observations, and Conundrums.
Descriptors: Cultural Pluralism, Language of Instruction, Multicultural Education, Immigrants, Academic Achievement, Student Attitudes, English (Second Language), Literacy Education, Cultural Differences, Limited English Speaking, Secondary School Students, Longitudinal Studies, Student Characteristics, Teacher Attitudes, Identification (Psychology), Socialization, Adjustment (to Environment), Reading Instruction, Demography, Case Studies, English Only Movement
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 10 Industrial Avenue, Mahwah, NJ, 07430. Tel: 800-926-6579; Fax: 201-760-3735; e-mail: orders@erlbaum.com; Web site: http://www.erlbaum.com
Publication Type: Books; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: Students; Teachers; Administrators; Researchers; Policymakers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (Reading)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A