Subject-specific and task-specific characteristics of metalinguistic awareness in bilingual children

Abstract

The relationship between bilingualism and metalinguistic awareness was explored in Puerto Rican Spanish- and English-speaking children. All subjects were from low-income backgrounds and were enrolled in a transitional bilingual education program in the United States. Two longitudinal studies were conducted. The first study examined the abilities to note and correct ungrammatical sentences in Spanish. Subjects were 104 children in first and second grade at the beginning of the study. They were followed over a period of 2 years. The second study looked at the ability to detect ambiguity in sentences, and to paraphrase the different meanings. There were 107 subjects who were in fourth and fifth grades, and were also followed over a 2-year period. The results from both studies indicated that native language proficiency as well as the degree of bilingualism affected metalinguistic awareness. The results also indicated that these effects interacted with the types of items in the metalinguistic tasks. This suggests that both subject-specific and task-specific factors are important in understanding the relationship between bilingualism and metalinguistic awareness.

Curriculum and Assessment Considerations for Young Children from Culturally, Linguistically, and Economically Diverse Backgrounds

“…The connections between primary-language proficiency and future academic success are well documented (August & Garcia, 1988;Bialystok, 2001;Galambos & Hakuta, 1988;Hakuta, 1986;McLaughlin, Blanchard, & Osanai, 1995); however, we do not know whether the focus on primarylanguage instruction in preschool constitutes a protective factor for children who will not have the opportunity to acquire initial literacy skills in their native or stronger language.…”

?Hispanic? children: Theoretical, empirical, and related policy issues

“…What has emerged is a relatively consistent picture of linguistic and cognitive development quite opposite to the view previously held. Instead of concluding that bilingualism is a detriment, this new set of data suggest that, among U.S. Hispanics, higher degrees of bilingualism are associated with higher levels of cognitive functioning (Cummins, 1979(Cummins, , 1981Galambos and Hakuta, 1988;Garcia, 1983a, Hakuta, 1986Hakuta and Garcia, 1989;Ramirez, 1985).…”

Débuts de la littératie, langue et culture : perspective socioculturelle

“…Cependant, les recherches tendent à montrer que les programmes destinés aux enfants de milieux minoritaires sont d'autant plus efficaces qu'ils soutiennent l'apprentissage de la langue maternelle. Les relations entre le niveau de développement de la langue maternelle et la réussite des apprentissages scolaires ont été assez bien étudiées (August et Garcia, 1988;Galambos et Hakuta, 1988;Hakuta, 1986). On ignore toutefois si, en mettant l'accent sur la langue maternelle à l'oral, on prévient les difficultés d'apprentissage chez les enfants qui reçoivent peu de stimulation à l'écrit dans leur langue maternelle.…”