Naqvi, R., McKeough,A., Thorne,K.,
&Pfitscher,C.(2013). Dual-language books as an emergent-literacy resource:
Culturally and linguistically responsive teaching and learning. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 13(4) 501–528.
This article is about
reaching on the potentially effective teaching practice of dual-language book
reading in culturally and linguistically diverse elementary classrooms. The
authors have analyzed culturally and linguistically responsive teaching and
learning in dual-language book reading by conducting a 3-year research project
in kindergartens in Canada. The aim of the research was to identify
linguistically and culturally responsive teaching in DLB (dual-language books)
reading contexts and to document its effect on children’s linguistic,
metalinguistic and cultural engagement.
At first I was
attracted to the title of the article, because I am very interested in
dual-language teaching. I think teaching English language learners with DLBs is
a not new, but interesting enough idea to try out. And I was glad to read that
there are increasing numbers of DLBs in many languages. Among these books,
there are folk tales, children’s classics, popular picture books, picture
dictionaries and other nonfiction books. I have seen some of the Chinese
version of the popular picture books such as Guess how much I love you, The
very Hungry Caterpillar,and so on, but before reading this article I never
thought of using these translated version of books to teach English to English
language learners. I used to think that teaching a new language is to put the
children completely in an environment of that language, so they could learn to
think and communicate in that target language other than their first language. However, reading this article makes me think:
should teachers allow some space for ELL’s first language when exposing them to
English, especially for emergent language learners?
If the answer is yes,
then the practice can be tricky. Although I like the idea of using DLBs with
ELLs, I do not appreciate the method of practice in the research, in which
teachers and volunteer teachers read the DLBs in four languages: English,
French, Urdu and Punjabi with children. Though they claim that they only use
English and one other language in each session of reading aloud, I still find
the process of communication between the teachers and children very confusing.
In one session, the volunteer read Punjabi and the teacher read English off the
same book but different language. The volunteer reads Punjabi and some of the
kids who speaks Punjabi responded every now and then, in the meantime, the
English teacher stops and let the volunteer read most of the story and engage
with the children. I was so confused because I think this should be a dual
language class, but turned into a Punjabi class! It is also ridiculous that
sometimes the English teacher, who also speaks French, would interact with
French with children in the reading! I must say I cannot appreciate the
practice presented in the article, because it clearly excludes and confuses the
other children who do not speak Punjabi, and though the Indian kids who speak
Punjabi responded actively to the reading, they are deprived of the opportunity
to engage in English learning.
I
feel in order to make this DLBs idea work well with emergent English language
readers, to me, a more satisfying teaching practice could be created. Off the
top of my head, I would suggest using DLBs together but not in the same
session. Maybe teacher can use the other language (ex.Chinese) with children
first, and when they get a little familiar with that book, teachers could
present the English version with children, read it to them, compare it with the
Chinese version they know, expand their vocabulary through the comparison and
so on. Or even read the English version first, and send the Chinese version
home and let the parents read with the children. Anyway, I think I could use
more ideas and advice on the practice methods of teaching ELLs with DLBs!
To summarize, I like
the idea presented in the article that providing young linguistic-minority children
with multilingual literacy experience, in the form of read-aloud DLBs can
enable them to use their linguistic and cultural capital within mainstream
classrooms, however, I am not satisfied with the practice included
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