Home Language Resources

[Hilda Bagnoli]

Theimportance of the issues goes beyond the sheer number of ELLs, however. It has been shown in numerous national studies and surveys that, on average, ELLs under achieve in comparison to their English-speaking peers in academic domains and that the achievement gap tends to increase the higher the grade level (e.g., Fry, 2007; Rumberger, 2007; McNeil et al., 2008). As we consider ways to help ELLs increase their academic achievement, then, it is clear that educators need all the resources at their disposal to meet these challenges.

Until recently, significant efforts were made to enhance the educational outcomes of ELLs by offering alternative forms of education that incorporate use of ELLs' home language (Genesee, 1999, for a review). These programs were justified on the grounds that educating ELLs in English only posed a triple threat to their educational success since it would require that they simultaneously:

However, in recent years, recent political and legislative initiatives that disfavor bilingual education have made these educational options difficult to access, despite evidence of their success (Goldenberg, 2009). Along with these politically-motivated changes, it would appear that educators and policy-makers no longer recognize the native language skills of ELLs as an important educational resource and, indeed, it would even appear that they discredit it having any role in the education of ELLs.

Second, in a study of ELLs in two-way immersion programs, Lindholm and Aclan (1991) found a significant positive relationship between individual student's level of bilingual proficiency and their achievement in math and reading in English. Furthermore, the students who were classified as "high bilinguals" were able to attain grade level results by fourth grade in English reading and by third grade in English math.

Third, a growing body of evidence from researchers around the world has shown that bilingual children exhibit significant cognitive advantages in comparison to monolingual children (e.g., Bialystok 2006; Chin & Wigglesworth, 2007; Kovaacs & Mehler, 2009). These advantages have been demonstrated in executive control processes related to selective attention and inhibition and monitoring of attention when, for example, children are engaged in problem solving.

Fourth, and finally, extensive research, again from around the world, has found that children who are learning to read in a second language are able to transfer many skills and knowledge from their first language to facilitate their acquisition of reading skills in the second language. The best evidence of this comes from studies showing that students with strong reading skills in the home language also have strong reading skills in their second language. Much of this work has been done on ELLs in the U.S. (August & Shanahan, 2006; Riches & Genesee, 2006).

What we see in the U.S., then, is a push for research-based policy but the creation of policies that contradict the research. Debate concerning the value of using ELLs' home language in specially-designed programs, such as two-way immersion, will undoubtedly continue, and so it should since it makes little educational sense to diminish U.S. students' opportunities to become bilingual in an increasingly globalized community.

In the meantime, teachers and students can't wait for these policy debates to be settled before deciding how or whether to draw upon ELLs' home language. The question arises how can schools and teachers, even those who are monolingual, act on evidence that clearly shows the personal, cognitive, linguistic and educational value of using the linguistic resources that ELLs bring to school. There is no simple or single answer to this question, but a number of options are worth exploring that, at the moment, are often overlooked and discounted. Cloud, Genesee, and Hamayan (2009, Chapter 3) offer a number of suggestions:

A hallmark of public education in the U.S. is respect for and appreciation of the individual skills and backgrounds of students as a foundation for furthering their education. Taking advantage of ELLs' home language resources is asking no more than the same respect and appreciation for this group of learners. At the same time, parents, teachers, educational leaders in local school districts, and politicians should discuss how best to provide all students in the U.S. with high quality educational programs that promote competence in additional languages. At stake is not only the competitiveness of individual students once they enter the work force but, indeed, the ability of the U.S. itself to compete in an increasingly multilingual and multicultural world.

Fred Genesee is Professor in the Psychology Department at McGill University, Montreal. He has conducted extensive research on alternative forms of bilingual and immersion education for language minority and language majority students. His current research interests also include language acquisition in pre-school bilingual children, internationally-adopted children, second language reading acquisition, and the language and academic development of students at-risk in bilingual programs. He is the recipient of the Canadian Psychological Associate Award for Distinguished Contributions to Community or Public Service and the 2-Way CABE Award of Promoting Bilingualism. Publications include:

Genesee, F., Paradis, J., & Crago (Eds.) (2010). Dual Language Development and Disorders: A Handbook on Bilingualism and Second Language Learning, 2nd Edition. Baltimore, Maryland: Brookes Publishing.

Cloud, N., Genesee, F., and Hamayan, E. (2009). Literacy Instruction for English Language Learners: A Teacher's Guide to Research-Based Practices. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

You have so many great resources. I am a graduate student and use your website often for my research. Your articles are always very good about listing its references but it would be really helpful if you could have a cite tool that helped out with making a reference to your articles. Just a thought.

You say that high bilinguals will achieve reading grade level results by by fourth grade. Can you tell me about writing and speaking? Can you tell me an average number of grade levels below all these areas? Thanks

Colorn Colorado is a national multimedia project that offers a wealth of bilingual, research-based information, activities, and advice for educators and families of English language learners (ELLs). Colorn Colorado is an educational service of WETA, the flagship public broadcasting station in the nation's capital, and receives major funding from our founding partner, the AFT, and the National Education Association. Copyright 2023 WETA Public Broadcasting.

Artwork by Caldecott Award-winning illustrator David Diaz and Pura Belpr Award-winning illustrator Rafael Lpez is used with permission. Homepage illustrations 2009 by Rafael Lpez originally appeared in "Book Fiesta" by Pat Mora and used with permission from HarperCollins.

Research shows that young DLLs are more successful in school and later in life when they develop strong language and literacy skills in both their home language and English. It also shows that becoming bilingual or multilingual has many benefits. The Office of Head Start Multicultural Principle 6 is based on these findings:

The multimedia materials below can help programs to identify DLLs. The materials also explain how knowledge and concepts learned in the home language transfer to English and what issues families of DLLs face. Discover basic strategies families and teachers can use to support home language development.

Families also must contend with young children who increase their English skills at the expense of their home language. Research has shown that emergent bilingual and multilingual children often move rapidly toward favoring the language spoken at school before they develop a strong foundation in their home language. This can lead to difficulties in communicating with their families, and it may impact future learning. To offset this tendency, emergent bilingual and multilingual children need to be exposed to all of their languages consistently to support both the maintenance of the home language and the development of English.

Mariela is a 41-year-old migrant worker who immigrated to the United States from Oaxaca, Mexico, looking for work and a better life for her family. She now works on a strawberry farm in Florida. Her 4-year-old daughter, Alicia, is enrolled in a local Spanish/English Head Start program.

Creating a culturally responsive and emotionally supportive climate for multilingual children and their families is vital for them to feel comfortable, accepted, safe, and connected to the learning setting. Teachers can partner with families to share their funds of knowledge in a variety of ways. For example,

One of the benefits of personalizing learning is the ability to offer students choice and agency around not only their pathway to mastery but also how they might demonstrate it. Choice enables students (whether or not they are EL students) the ability to take ownership of their learning and illustrate their understanding in a way that resonates with them. For EL students, this may involve leaning on their home language to show proficiency, or it could involve leveraging other skills (e.g., writing, drawing, acting). By offering opportunities and choice, students who are learning English have the chance to truly show their mastery of the content instead of just their language proficiency.

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Every bilingual student has a story to tell about language, culture, and identity. As a child growing up in New Jersey, my non-English speaking stay-at-home mom was communicating in her mother tongue--Italian--the only language she knew at the time. My father, on the other hand, was speaking to his five children in broken English while he was learning English through immersion on the job.

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