Young monolingual children typically demonstrate frequent tense shifting during narrative development, whereas older children maintain a consistent narration tense. Therefore, inconsistent tense usage in older children could be an indication of overall limited language skills. However, information regarding tense use in bilinguals has been…

This manuscript draws from a 2-year multiple-case ethnography on the educational experiences of Mexican immigrant families with California middle schools. The article explores the influence of the political landscape and raciolinguistic ideologies surrounding the nature and implementation of a middle school dual language bilingual program, and it…

Teaching for cultural understanding has always posed many challenges regarding exactly what should be taught and how it should be presented. For instance: should students be taught a list of facts about another culture, which may lead to stereotyping? Should there be comparison between one's own and another culture, which may involve dealing with…

This study of 1,338 Spanish-speaking 1st graders examined contextual effects of bilingual programs on reading comprehension and the effect of language of instruction within these contexts. The study included 128 classrooms in 32 schools located in border Texas and in urban Texas and California. These classrooms used either English immersion or…

Although biliteracy plays a vital role in academic achievement, there has been little research on the unique needs of female and male English language learners. Becoming biliterate is a complex process, compounded by other variables such as 1st-language background, class, culture, and gender. Among these variables, gender has been the least…

This study investigated the motion event language children and their parents engaged in while playing a board game. Children are sensitive to differences in manner and path at infancy, yet adult-like motion event expression appears relatively late in development. While multiple studies have examined how exposure to parent speech generally relates…

Although the research literature regarding language growth trajectories is burgeoning, the shape and direction of English Language Learners' (ELLs) language growth trajectories are largely not known. This study used growth curve modeling to determine the shape of ELLs' language growth trajectories across 12,248 oral narrative language samples…

Growing numbers of schools are offering dual-language classes, where teachers split instruction between English and a second language. The numbers of dual-language-immersion programs have been steadily growing in public schools over the past decade or so, rising to more than 2,000 in 2011-12, according to estimates from national experts. That…

Preparing students as 21st century learners is a key reform in education. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills developed a framework that identifies outcomes needed for successful implementation of rigorous standards. The Dual Language (DL) program was identified as a structure for reform with systems and practices which can be used to prepare…

This article draws on qualitative data from two Spanish-English dual language elementary classrooms to explore how teachers in these classrooms made sense of the everyday practice of bilingualism. Methodologically, this study relied on participant observation, video recording, and semi-structured interviews. Conceptually, this article draws on the…

This study examined children's early literacy skills in both English and Spanish at entry to preschool to investigate the pattern of association among these skills and their families' home language and literacy practices. The participants were 392 primarily Latino immigrant (85%) families and their children. Mothers completed questionnaires about…

It is gratifying to see that the two Modern Languages Association (MLA) reports, "Foreign Language and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World" and "Report to the Teagle Foundation on the Undergraduate Major in Language and Literature," address important issues regarding the improvement of language teaching in the…

By examining the potential of purposefully implemented critical bicultural pedagogy (CBP) for student empowerment, this article responds to "Culture and Power in the Classroom: Educational Foundations for the Schooling of Bicultural Students" by Antonia Darder (Boulder, CO: Paradigm, 2012). Using a theoretical framework based upon…

"Critical race theory" and "standard language ideology" are employed as theoretical and analytical frames for conceptualizing and understanding the entry perspectives and experiences of some Vietnamese American pre-service teachers in US schools. Study findings from a qualitative case study approach suggest that race,…

The Bilingual Advantage draws together researchers from education, economics, sociology, anthropology and linguistics to examine the economic and employment benefits of bilingualism in the US labor market, countering past research that shows no such benefits exist. Collectively, the authors draw on novel methodological approaches and new data to…