The present study investigated the possibility of heritage language loss in
twenty students of Hispanic origin, selected from six second-grade classrooms in one
elementary school of a large district in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Ten students were
enrolled in Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE) classes and ten students were
enrolled in English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, during the academic year
2004-2005.
Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) in English and Spanish were measured over a
short-term progress monitoring period (i.e. sixteen consecutive weeks), and over a
long-term follow-up period (i.e. nine and twelve months later, respectively). To answer
the first research question on the amount and type of growth in English and Spanish
ORF demonstrated by the students over time, two main types of analyses were
conducted: a) time series analysis of group improvement trends, and b) Analysis of
Variance (ANOVA) on individual student slope coefficients.
Results from quantitative analyses revealed that both groups of students
improved in English reading over time. However, when considering the long-term
progress, the TBE group demonstrated a faster rate of improvement in English reading
when compared to the ESL group and also to their own Spanish reading. As for the ESL group, the students reached a plateau of performance in Spanish, indicating, at
best, minimal skills in the heritage language while continuing to progress in English.
To answer the second research question, regarding parents’ beliefs on
bilingualism and maintenance of the heritage language in their children, semistructured
Parents’ Interviews (PI) with open-ended questions were conducted.
Results from qualitative analyses revealed three major themes: Both sets of
parents believed in the connection between the native language and increased life
opportunities, the TBE parents affirmed the heritage language as symbol of their
cultural identity, and the ESL parents acknowledged their children’s native language
loss.
Findings from this study suggest that students instructed in their native
language in the early elementary years appear to have a better chance of maintaining
their heritage language over time, when compared to students instructed solely in
English.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-1305 |
| Date | 15 May 2009 |
| Creators | Sheffield, Mariagrazia Marzono |
| Contributors | Parker, Richard I. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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