The Relationship of Teachers’ Spanish Proficiency to Pupils’ Achievement

Abstract

To explore the relationship between teachers' proficiency in Spanish and their pupils' achievement, a test designed to measure the teachers' proficiency in Spanish was developed as part of a battery of tests for teachers in bilingual education programs -the CE RAS Teacher Tests for Spanish/English Bilingual Education. [Center for Educational Research at Stanford University -in addition to the Spanish proficiency test, the test battery includes tests on methods of teaching English and Spanish as a second language, methods of teaching reading in Spanish, and knowledge of southwest Spanish.]The report which follows summarizes efforts to establish the reli ability and validity of the Spanish Proficiency Test. The relationship of pupils' performances on standardized and criterion-referenced tests to their teachers' proficiency in Spanish was explored. Based on two independent studies, it appears that the relationship between pupils' achievement in Spanish and English and their teachers' Spanish proficiency is a strong one.In outlining recommendations for teacher training and the certifi cation of bilingual teachers, private and state agencies have suggested that potential teachers demonstrate their proficiency in the target language (see, for example, California State Department of Educa tion, 1974; Center for Applied Linguistics, 1974). The belief that teachers cannot teach what they do not know makes common sense. However, few attempts have been made to validate this view. This report will outline a systematic effort to establish the relationship between teachers' proficiency in the second language -Spanish in this case -and their pupils' achievement.

Notions of Grammaticality among Teachers of Bilingual Pupils

“…Ramírez and Stromquist (1979) found that teachers' knowledge about applied linguistics correlated significantly with pupils' learning of English as a second language. Teachers' proficiency in Spanish affected bilingual pupils' performance in language arts (Merino, Politzer, & Ramírez, 1979), and teachers' philosophy about reading greatly affected their methodology, particularly the manner in which oral reading errors were corrected among bilingual pupils in Wales, Spain, and the United States (Cortés, 1980).…”

Bilingual Education: Theories and Issues: Christina B. Paulston

“…The increasing technical sophistication in bilingual education has given us im ortant information about specific features in bilin ual proummins 1979;Dulay and Burt 1978;ishman and Keller 1982;Legaretta 1979;Lewis 1977;Merino, Politzer, and Ramirez 1979;Trueba and Barnett-Mizrahi 1979). However, we still cannot satisfactorily account for the contradictions and confusion that surround many of the central issues in bilingual education.…”