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Dual language pedagogy: asymmetry compensation.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

In a dual language classroom situated in a largely English-speaking school, the teacher in this study struggled to preserve the symmetry implied in the ideal form of the program design; that is, that the minority language (Spanish) would be as present and robust in the classroom as the majority language (English).

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Research and context

In the 1998-99 school year Larson Elementary (1), a K-5 school in a small eastern city in the US, implemented its first experimental dual language program, beginning with two kindergarten classrooms. Larson's Dual Language Program was not school-wide, but was housed within a school that used predominantly English instruction. Through classroom observation over the course of the school year (where I videotaped, audio-taped, and recorded fieldnotes) as well as periodic interviews with the teacher where she reflected on her challenges and pedagogical approaches, I studied the classroom of Dana, a native of Argentina who was fluently bilingual and had been teaching in a transitional bilingual classroom at Larson for several years. Dana and the other Kindergarten teacher (Marli) had the only dual language classrooms this year, although the program was designed to increase by one year every year until there was a dual language option that spanned the grade levels of the school (2).

Dana described a successful dual language approach as one of "designing instructional activities to promote desired interactions among the children." (1/6/98) (3). In this sense she allied herself with the general philosophy behind dual language methodology, which relies on social interaction among learners of both languages (Christian, 1994; Lambert, 1990). In interviews, Dana revealed that she advocated learning a language "in a contextual sense," a learning context she contrasted with the traditional classroom in which students may take Spanish for years but never be able to hold a conversation in Spanish. This theory is aligned with the dual language program design of teaching a language by teaching in that language, rather than teaching that language (Christian, 1994; De Jong, 2002). In this sense the program design relies upon the concept of immersion in a language, specifically immersion in both English and Spanish.

The cooperative and interactive nature of the dual language model holds a great deal of potential for empowering minority language speakers and their languages (Clark, Flores, Riojas-Cortez, & Smith, 2002; Romero, 1999). Nevertheless, particularly concerning the Spanish immersion element of the program, some studies indicate that this immersion is artificial and tends to fall short of the ideal (Collins, 1993). Potential risks to the ideal implementation of a dual language program can be asymmetry of language use and proficiency (Collins, 1998); (Amrein & Pena, 2000), lack of administrative support for teachers (Riojas Clark, 1995), and the higher status enjoyed by English in the broader American society (Shannon, 1995; Vald6s, 1997) (4).

Dana was very critical of the school administration, and seemed to become increasingly frustrated as the...

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