10.2 Activities for Language Policy in Multilingual Classrooms
Hina Ashraf
Activities
The United States has rich linguistic diversity due to the large number of languages spoken in the country. Global transmigration and immigration have significantly shaped its multilingual ecology. While education in the United States is primarily in English, decentralized policies influence the experiences of multilingual learners. This allows schools to choose an educational theory and design a language policy that supports student academic achievements. These policies are reflected in both curriculum design and pedagogical practices.
Read excerpts from the Allen Jay Elementary School Urdu teachers’ interviews conducted by researchers at the Initiative for Multilingual Studies to learn about their English and Urdu learning goals. Then, attempt the suggested activities.[1]
Interviewer: Are your Urdu and English language learning goals aligned to the grade level expectations in both languages?
Grade 1 Teacher: Students who come to my class are far advanced in English. When it comes to Urdu, I spend a lot of time teaching them how to write letters, while in English they are ready to move to sentence level writing practices. Urdu has more letters than English, and they have to learn both half and full letters. So now my expectations are different from both languages. Because Urdu is their home language, I thought they would do better in Urdu, but now I feel only by the end of the year will they learn to read and write all their Urdu alphabet.
Grade 2 Teacher: Students in my class are able to perform above grade level test in their English vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing. They can also use adjectives in their writing. In Urdu, however, children in general are reluctant to write. I think they should be able to recognize words and be able write them independently. Often, I use 5-lettered words. The grammar, for example, teaching them about subject verb and object, and about nouns as well at grade 2 level. But I have to create materials myself.
Grade 3 Teacher: My students are advanced in English compared to Urdu though their home language is Urdu. Introducing them to the word bank has helped. I also use (online) Nearpod Urdu stuff. I want them to read and write a sentence in Urdu independently. For this year my goal is that they read and write full sentences in Urdu, and also do comprehension exercises in Urdu.
- What is your impression of the language learning experiences of the students and teachers?
- Should teachers redistribute the hours the district curriculum ascribes to each language? If so, how would you justify that redistribution?
“The DL model selected by our school leaders supports the needs of their respective school communities. Communities with native Spanish speaking, Urdu speaking or English language learner populations can benefit from the two-way DL model we are implementing since it promotes academic achievement through enrichment rather than remediation. Native English-speaking students also benefit from the academic rigor inherent in learning through another language.”
- Based on the excerpt, what is the school’s language policy? Is the partner language viewed as a problem, right, or resource?
- How do the school’s DLI goals reflect evolving U.S. language policy design?
- For a familiar under-resourced LCTL, what language policy design would you recommend in a DLI context?
- Note. All excerpts come from unpublished data from the ongoing project funded by the International Research and Studies Division, U.S. Department of Education, under Grant no. P017A230040. ↵
The language taught alongside English in dual language bilingual education programs. This can be the heritage or native language of some or all students. The partner language may be used in transitional bilingual programs aimed at increasing English language proficiency or in one-way or two-way dual language immersion programs to build proficiency in both languages. Some partner languages are more common in U.S. schools (e.g., Spanish and Chinese) than others (e.g., Arabic, Urdu, and Vietnamese).