Multilingualism, Multiculturalism, & MBE

1. Jennifer M. Worden Harvard Graduate School of Education February 11, 2011 Multilingualism, Multiculturalism, & MBE

3. Agenda for today • What we think we know • The U.S. Case • Doubly Damned (neuromyths) • Problems of Definition & Identity • MBE, Policy, and the big question

4. Scaffolding, and the Transfer of Knowledge across Generations

5. The Social Construction of Mind Vygotsky (1896-1934) Social Learning Theory We are essentially social beings Tomasello (1999) builds on this tradition, including connecting biology and culture.

6. Language as a cultural tool Bi- or Multilingualism is now the norm for large percentages of the global population, with estimates that as much as 2/3 of the world population speak at least two languages (Baker, 2006).

7. Kovelman, I., Baker, S.A., and Pettito, L.A. (2008). Bilingual and Monolingual Brains Compared: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Investigation of Syntactic Processing and a Possible “Neural Signature” of Bilingualism. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 20(1): 153–169.

8. What we think we know about Bilinguals/Multilinguals • Overall, meta-cognitive skills and meta-linguistic abilities tend to be more complex in bilinguals (Bialystok, 1988; Bialystok, 2001; Cromdal, 1999; Kotz, 2001;Ransdell, 2006). • Bilinguals are able to draw on greater meta-linguistic and meta-cognitive resources to transfer skills to other areas, in particular literacy. • These and other advantages appear to transfer beyond linguistic competence to other cognitive areas such as attention and memory(Bialystok, et al.,2009). • There is some evidence that the process of learning a second or third language increases and extends neuro-plasticity, allowing for increased cognitive flexibility and memory retention that extends across domains (Kovelman, et al., 2007, 2008; MacSwan & Rolstad, 2005; Mechelli, et al., 2004; Moreno, et al., 2008; Rodriguez-Fornells, et al., 2002).  

9. The Flip Side • There do appear to be some disadvantages to bilingualism , most notably in terms of vocabulary development (Bialystok, et al., 2009). • What happens outside of the laboratory? • In schools and families • Influences on identity and cultural competence • Citizenship and civic participation

10. Shift and Maintenance • Studies seem to indicate that once language shift has begun, it is incredibly hard to reverse (e.g., Fishman, 2001) • In the U.S., historically and currently, we expect to see shift from the mother tongue to English as the preferred/dominant language with formal schooling (Bayley, et al, 1996) and total loss of productive abilities in the mother tongue in the 2nd generation (Portes & Hao, 1998)***

11. The U.S. Case

12. Doubly Damned • Neuromyth One: Critical periods • What does this mean for what “we” expect ELLs to be able to do in school? • Neuromyth Two: Cognitive Load Limits • How does this affect overall attitudes towards bilingual language development?

13. Definitions Matter • Confound between ELL & Bilinguals • Education • SES • Prior linguistic experience

14. So What?