Final Project - Biliteracy Development and Instructional Plan

Elizabeth’s Biliteracy Development

Elizabeth is a junior at Mount Horeb High school. She is currently taking my Spanish IV class. Elizabeth has studied Spanish for 5 years. Her family has lived in Wisconsin for generations. Some of her ancestors are originally from Germany and Switzerland. Her primarily language of instruction had been English until 7^th grade when she started to take Spanish. This year is the first time that Elizabeth is learning content such as history, literature and art in Spanish. Elizabeth’s behaviors reflect the description of a sequential bilingual. She has been exposed to English growing up and only later in life, starting in 7^th grade, she was exposed to Spanish for the first time as part of learning a foreign language. She uses English to communicate with peers and family members, except with her sister with whom she occasionally communicates in Spanish. English is her first language of exposure and communication and it is also her dominant language. When compared to her fellow Spanish IV classmates, Elizabeth is at a similar level than her peers. According to information that I gathered from a survey that Elizabeth completed in March 2012, she feels that her areas of strengths and where she has made the most improvement so far this year are listening and writing while reading and speaking are the areas that she feels need more improvement.

English Development

In oral and written communication Elizabeth is able to express and defend her points of view and can justify her responses. Elizabeth’s discourse shows signs of facility with needed vocabulary. She does not struggle to find the words she needs to communicate her message and can easily use specific and technical vocabulary. In her writing, she uses idioms and a variety of sentences in varying complexity with ease. Using Rubin and Carlan's stages of writing development to assess Elizabeth, in both Spanish and English, Elizabeth is at the conventional stage, since her writing is generally correct and her vocabulary and sentences structure is more complex (Rubin & Carlan 2005). She can also read fluently and comprehend a variety of texts. As an 11^th grader, she is completely literate in the English language and has fully developed her abilities as an English writer, reader and speaker. After assessing Elizabeth’s English development in all three domains (oral communication, writing and reading), I can confidently say that Elizabeth has fully acquired literacy in her primary language. As a sequential bilingual, Elizabeth has relied on her solid base in her native language to develop literacy in Spanish later in life.

Spanish Development

Elizabeth is a sequential bilingual; she learned Spanish and English separately and, also, she grew up using English in her household and at school and only using Spanish in Spanish class. Elizabeth’ Spanish language development is at the developing stage (Rubric for WIDA Consortium). She can communicate a message in both oral and written form. When she attempts to use more complex sentences, she relies on her linguistic resources in English to pull her through. I believe that Elizabeth’s solid base in English and her understanding of discourse in her native tongue facilitates her ability to communicate simple and more complex ideas in Spanish. However, that solid base in English also gets in the way creating errors, particularly in the areas of code-switching, semantic expressions and copying since in both speaking and writing Elizabeth relies heavily on English, her dominant language, to communicate in Spanish.

Speaking and writing

Elizabeth presents similar patterns of miscues across the 3 domains, especially in writing and speaking. Elizabeth’s most prevalent errors in oral and written communication are related to syntax. Through copying, Elizabeth used words from Spanish with the syntax of English, her dominant language when she said “la ciudad influencia” when she was trying to say “the city’s influence” o “la influencia de la ciudad.” Most of her other syntax errors in both her oral and written communication had to do with subject-verb agreement. Since verb conjugation in English is simpler when compared to Spanish’ complex verb endings, Elizabeth frequently missed verb subject agreement and article-noun-adjective agreement. Examples include “un buen inmunidad,” “mucho comida,” “los personas” and “una tiempo larga” “mi hermana iban,” “yo ve,” and “nosotros vieron películas.” In her oral communication, I also noticed oral approximations in the pronunciation of certain words that are cognates. For instance, Elizabeth applied the pronunciation of her dominant language when attempting to pronounce the word “comercial” in Spanish.  Semantic expressions were sporadic in her oral communication for instance saying “temas” for “teams” instead of “equipos” or “no estoy positiva” when she was thinking of “I am not positive” instead of “no estoy segura.” Clearly, Elizabeth is heavily relying on English to produce language in Spanish.

Furthermore, I observed a few instances of code switching, when she could not think of the word in Spanish. For instance she said “ella está en el stage” o “yo estaba muy bumped que no tenía más tiempo con ella”. Therefore, primarily her code-switching was “tag-switching” or “intra-sentential” to fill in the gaps of missing vocabulary words. As explained by Beeman (2009) in her article Code-Switching: A problem to Solve or Normal Behavior?, this behavior is not only normal but expected for all students that have knowledge of more than one language. Because of the thought process involved in writing when compared to speaking, Elizabeth shows fewer code-switching instances when compared to her speaking. Like most of my other students, Elizabeth can more easily remain consistent in the usage of Spanish when given more time to process and given the opportunity to use other resources such as dictionaries to fill in the gaps in her vocabulary. In her writing, most instances of copying were in punctuation. She used capital letters and punctuation correctly for the most part, expect when placing a comma in front of the connecting word “y” which is more commonly used in English. Another example of copying in punctuation includes the lack of the initial question mark that is required in Spanish and non-existent in English. A final example of copying related to syntax includes the usage of a gerund after a preposition instead of an infinitive after a preposition as it is the norm in Spanish. For instance Elizabeth wrote “lugares para viviviendo” (incorrect) instead of “lugares para vivir”. Some of these errors in copying are expected considering the fact that Elizabeth has not be explicitly taught side by side some of the conventional differences between English and Spanish writing. Regarding Elizabeth’s spelling, I did notice some cases of spelling approximations reflecting cross-language transfer. Since Elizabeth’s dominant language is English, she uses the English code to spell Spanish words (and not vice versa). Examples include writing “technología” for “tecnología”, and “Europe” for “Europa.”

Reading

Elizabeth is at a developmental stage when it comes to reading (CAN DO Descriptors for the Levels of English Language Proficiency, PreK-12). She relies heavily on her dominant language, English, and for instance, applies her knowledge of English reading strategies when reading in Spanish. As expected and considering that Elizabeth’s dominant language is English, she often applies the phonetic code of English when reading in Spanish. Words like “Virginidad” were pronounced following the phonemes of English, pronouncing the “g” and the “v” like the “g” and “v” in the English word “Virgin.” Also, Elizabeth sometimes doesn’t rely on accents marks in Spanish to guide her pronunciation. She pronounced the words “árboles” as arboles” and “acercó as “acerco.” Therefore, her accuracy in word pronunciation is clearly much higher in English than in Spanish.

Elizabeth understands that reading “es un proceso de construcción de significado” that requires more than word recognition and accurate pronunciation (La enseñanza de la lectura y la escritura en español y en inglés, Freeman & Freeman 2009, p.60). As explained by Potowski (2006), “si el alumno enfoca su atención únicamente en la pronunciación correcta de las palabras, suprimiendo sus propias invenciones de significado, la lectura pierde valor”. Elizabeth can read Spanish but struggles to comprehend what she is reading. While reading in Spanish, Elizabeth also relies on her knowledge of English. However, the process is certainly more difficult and different in Spanish. Being exposed to English for her whole life, she has learned to predict what the next word will be even before she reads it. In her dominant language, as an advanced English reader, Elizabeth can tackle all 5 essential components of reading which include phonemic conscience, the phono-orthographic rules, fluidity, vocabulary and comprehension (Freeman & Freeman 2009). Even when she does not understand a word or two in English, she can more easily predict the meaning of those tougher words by relying on context, her previous knowledge and knowledge of other related words. As explained by Freeman & Freeman (2009), “los lectores basan sus predicciones en las claves ligústicas, su conocimiento previo y en las deducciones que hacen” (p. 62).  In Spanish, however, the process of decoding a text is harder especially in the areas of vocabulary and comprehension. While reading, she may encounter several words she does not know all within one sentence, so she must therefore rely heavily on previous knowledge and on any visual clues provided by the textbook. As explained by Freeman and Freeman (2005) in Dual language essentials for teachers and administrators, “In addition to cues from graphonics, syntax and semantics, readers use background knowledge to construct meaning from texts” (156). Previous knowledge becomes essential for Elizabeth to successfully read and comprehend text in Spanish. Moreover, since she may be limited on the amount of words she can recognize, when reading in Spanish Elizabeth needs to focus her attention on understanding the big ideas and picturing in her head what she is reading instead of trying to figure the meaning of each individual word. Her solid base in English allows her to apply similar strategies when reading in Spanish such as utilizing previous knowledge and linguistic clues to comprehend text. Helping Elizabeth to expand her vocabulary and providing opportunities to connect new knowledge to previous knowledge will assist her in text comprehension.

Elizabeth clearly demonstrates a stronger ability to write, speak and read in English due to receiving most of her education in this language. I strongly believe that her solid base in English and her ability to communicate ideas effectively and clearly in one language has helped her develop her skills in all three domains in Spanish. However, since she may not have been explicitly taught the differences between English and Spanish, cross language transfer is not only common for a sequential bilingual learner like Elizabeth, but expected. Elizabeth presents similar patterns of miscues across the three domains, especially in writing and speaking. Cross language transfer from English to Spanish is evident in her speaking through code switching, semantic expressions and copying and in her writing through more copying of syntax and punctuation and spelling approximations. In reading, she struggles to comprehend text when complex vocabulary gets in the way and when she tries to predict meaning like she is used to doing in English, she realizes that she needs to rely more heavily on previous knowledge. Elizabeth needs to be taught more explicitly the differences in grammar, punctuation, pronunciation and syntax to improve her speaking and writing and she also needs to be taught more vocabulary and reading strategies to become more proficient in Spanish. The following instructional plan outlines how to do just that.

Instructional Plan

After analyzing Elizabeth’s biliteracy development considering all three domains, I recommend the following instructional strategies and assessments.

Writing and Reading Strategies

Vocabulary development – improving her vocabulary will assist her in increasing her reading comprehension, enhancing her pronunciation, and adding complexity to her verbal and written sentences. In order to help students like Elizabeth to develop more vocabulary in Spanish, I need to integrate language content and culture. The usage of authentic songs, poems, literature and artifacts assists in the process of teaching both language and culture. To assist Elizabeth I will continue to expose her to several means of authentic language. So far this year, we have read "El Cid" and "El Burlador de Sevilla" in addition to several short original stories. The amount of exposure that Elizabeth has received so far this year of authentic language is unparallel to previous years. Moreover, since Elizabeth is primarily learning language though content (through literature, art and history), she has many more opportunities to learn the vocabulary and use it in context. Every new set of vocabulary words is first introduced and discussed. Once students have a good understanding of these words and can recognize them and create sentences with them, they can read these words in authentic literature. After reading the new vocabulary in authentic context, they are prompt to use this new vocabulary to explain the story in oral and written forms.

To explicitly teach the vocabulary I use visual aids, definitions, body language, synonyms and interactive word walls. I also encourage students to write all of their definitions in Spanish only too to get used to relying more on their Spanish knowledge and synonyms than on their English to communicate a word that they may not know. A way to introduce new vocabulary that I can use more often to benefit Elizabeth is to give my students the opportunity to negotiate meaning. For instance, I can develop activities where students need to categorize a certain set of words in four categories (I’ve never seen or heard this word before, I recognize it but I am not sure what it means, I think I can define it, I can definite it and use correctly in a sentence) and discuss what they think these words mean. Alternatively, I can prompt students to select a word they do not know from a given set of words, use a dictionary to learn its multiple meanings and present the word to their peers. This presentation should include a definition, synonyms, a drawing or physical representation using body language, and a sentence using the word in context. Teaching vocabulary is a great way for students like Elizabeth to truly internalize new knowledge.

Follow up activities should include collaborative-creative writing activities such as those proposed by Fortune & Fernández del Rey, (2003) in their article Maximizing Language Growth Through Collaborative-Creative Writing. To capitalize on Elizabeth’s oral language development, I can create opportunities for students to jointly negotiate words and forms through creative collaborative writing. In this type of activities, students will be assessed in language, word choice and content (See appendix A for an example of this kind of collaborative writing activity). To reinforce vocabulary learning in addition to exposing students to authentic text that uses these words and having peer discussions using these words, assessment should also include vocabulary. For instance, I can assess Elizabeth’s new vocabulary knowledge by prompting her to use these words in a writing assessment that evaluates content and vocabulary separately (See appendix A for a writing exercise rubric including vocabulary as part of the assessment). By expanding Elizabeth’s vocabulary, her abilities to write and read will consequently be enhanced.

Writing strategies

Copying – Another prevalent issue with Elizabeth especially in her writing and speaking is the cross-language transfer from English to Spanish. Copying occurs predominantly in syntax. To deal with these errors that occur from cross-language transfer, Potowski (2006) in her article El desarrollo de la lectoescritura en español entre los alumnos hispanohablantes en los Estados Unidos, recommends that “en vez de tachar lo que escribe el alumno y anotar al lado otra forma más apropiada, sería más útil subrayar lo que el alumno debería cambiar, para que él mismo reflexione sobre las alternativas. También es buena idea calificar el contenido y la escritura/gramática por separado” (Potowski 2006). Based on these ideas by Potowski some suggestions to assist Elizabeth include a) provide students with opportunities to peer-review their work, b) give feedback to students pointing out main errors and giving them a chance to make corrections using a corrections key (see Appendix B), and c) create a list of common errors from students’ writing samples and give students a chance to work in small groups to figure out errors and later discuss these common errors as a class (see Appendix C).

Spelling approximations – To deal with Elizabeth’s spelling errors due to her usage of the English phonetic code, she needs to use word processors with spelling correctors to her advantage. A full day of instruction can be dedicated to teach students like Elizabeth how to use this useful tool. According to Potowski (2006), “una herramienta muy útil para los alumnos [son] los programas que revisan la ortografía, que vienen con varios procesadores de texto. La gran mayoría de alumnos universitarios estadounidenses utilizan tales programas para revisar sus trabajos escritos en inglés, pero muchos desconocen que también hay revisadores en español.” Elizabeth can greatly benefit from learning how to set Spanish as the language of preference in a word processor and how to check for spelling errors. Spelling errors in Spanish also have to do with missing accents. Students like Elizabeth need to be explicitly taught and shown how to add accents to a word processor (see appendix D for handout on accent marks). The more opportunities I can provide my students to write using a word professor, the fewer errors and spelling approximations Elizabeth will have in her writing.
           Semantic expressions – Other common errors in Elizabeth’s writing and oral communication have to do with semantic expressions. In order to assist her in making more accurate choices in the process of writing and selecting the right word, Elizabeth needs to know how to use a dictionary appropriately. Schwartz recommends that “los maestros enseñen estrategias específicas para que la falta de una palabra no frene el proceso de redactar y para que el uso del diccionario sea más eficiente” (cited in Potowski 2006). For instance to write “I got back from Mexico yesterday”, if they do not know how to say “get back” students need to determine what part of speech “get back” is first (a phrasal verb). If they incorrectly search for the word “back” and look under noun they will find the word “espalda” creating the funny phrase “Yo obtengo espalda de México.” Students also need to determine the context of the word so that they can select the right word when a certain word has multiple meanings such as the word “time” in English that has multiple meanings in Spanish (momento/ocasión; hora; vez). Cross-language activities strategies such as “Así Se Dice” in Achieving Literacy Success with English Language Learners encourage students like Elizabeth to improve her ability to use accurate semantic expressions by practicing how to effectively use a dictionary and negotiate meaning with her peers (Escamilla, Geisler, Hopewell, Sparrow & Butilofsky 2007). Some of the strategies from “Así Se Dice” that would benefit Elizabeth include “recognizing cognates, judiciously using translations, and drawing upon background knowledge acquired across languages” (Escamilla et al. 2007). (See Appendix E for handouts and worksheets to teach students how to use a dictionary effectively and work with a partner to negotiate meaning).
            Code switching – the next issue to address in Elizabeth’s language development is code switching. Even though Elizabeth has full control of her writing and can stay in Spanish the whole time, she still relies on English in her oral communication. A way to help her stay in Spanish and be less dependent on English is to practice and teach her to paraphrase complex ideas in English to later express them in Spanish. The more she can paraphrase, the easier it will be to communicate her thoughts without getting stuck to think of the exact equivalent in English. For instance, Schwartz suggests that teachers should do activities “cuya meta es el parafrasear los textos orales y escritos, para reducir la dependencia en la traduccion directa” cited in Potowski 2006).  Using strategies like the ones listed above to expand Elizabeth’s vocabulary will aid to improve her ability to think more in Spanish only and become less dependent on English for every word she doesn’t know in Spanish. Furthermore, it is important that Elizabeth learns that word by word translations do not work and paraphrasing is always an alternative to get the message across (See Appendix E pages 1 & 2 for information and exercises to teach students the importance of paraphrasing and the effective use of a dictionary). 

Reading:

According to Goodman, the process of reading adequately includes the following six steps: 1) decide the purpose of the text, 2) use phonetic, syntactic and semantic clues 3) make inferences, 4) make predictions, 5) confirm or reject the predictions and 6) integrate the new knowledge with previous knowledge (1996, cited in Potowski 2006). When reading in Spanish, Elizabeth relies on text clues and previous knowledge just like she does in English. Opportunities to improve her abilities to decide the purpose of a text and more practice making predictions and inferences by making connections between prior and new knowledge will help Elizabeth to become a better reader.

In terms of specific strategies to improve Elizabeth’s reading skills, vocabulary building will assist in the process of becoming a better reader and increasing her comprehension. This is why prior vocabulary building is particularly key when it is taught prior to a specific reading where the student will later recognize the new words in context. Vocabulary building, however, is only part of the process. Students like Elizabeth need to learn to focus her attention on the most relevant information. Different kinds of information can be relevant depending on the objective for reading that particular piece. Therefore, students like Elizabeth need to be given a purpose for reading. As cited in the article by Elizabeth Knutson Reading with a Purpose: Communicative Reading Tasks for the Foreign Language Classroom, a task activity such as reading for a purpose is a “piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing, or interacting in the target language while their attention is focused on meaning rather than form” (Nunan 1993, cited in Knutson 1998). Elizabeth can benefit from “reading with a purpose” activities to help her focus her attention on meaning and relevant information.

Another important strategy to improve Elizabeth’s ability to read is through meaningful pre-reading activities. These pre-reading activities will help Elizabeth to make predictions and inferences as she is reading by making explicit connections to prior knowledge. As explained by Potwoski, “Antes de que lean cualquier texto, hay que darles a los alumnos un par de actividades de prelectura. Éstas sirven para activar conocimientos previos relacionados con el tema, lo cual llevará a una mejor comprensión del texto” (2006). For instance, prior to reading a story about the independence of Latin American countries, a discussion about what independence is and prior knowledge, such as the United States independence and Revolutionary War, will aid Elizabeth while she is reading in Spanish to make inferences and predictions tying her new knowledge to previous knowledge and consequently enhancing her reading comprehension.  As argued by Knutson (1998), “A reader’s background knowledge with respect to text topic and genre is recognized as a significant factor in text comprehension” (p.3). By providing Elizabeth with opportunities to determine the purpose of a reading and by activating her previous knowledge to make predictions and inferences the better reader she will become and her comprehension will increase.

Final reflection

As a final thought, analyzing Elizabeth’s biliteracy development has broadened my understanding of the importance of cross-language explicit teaching for students that are bilingual or are in the process of becoming bilingual. The assessments provided to Elizabeth in all three domains aid me in creating a more throughout picture of her abilities. Additional information that I have gathered from Elizabeth includes her beginning of the year survey where I gathered information regarding her decision to take Spanish IV, her difficulties in learning, her strengths and linguistic and general interests.  In January 2012, Elizabeth also completed a Reflection and Action plan to synthesize her thoughts on her first semester progress and areas of improvement. In March 2012, students filled out a 5 question survey regarding their progress. In order to continue monitoring my students’ progress, in addition to formal assessments in the 3 domains, I plan to continue to gather information from surveys and informal conversation with students like Elizabeth to continue to tailor my teaching to the needs of my students.

Appendix A

      Después de estudiar sobre la independencia de muchos de los países de Latinoamérica, especialmente Sudamérica y México, completa la siguiente actividad. Imagina que eres un criollo que va a establecer el país por primera vez. Necesitas crear 10 leyes nuevas para tu país. Una ley da o quita derechos a un grupo específico de personas.

1. Elige un país de Sudamérica o México. 
2. Elige los grupos de personas que van a recibir los derechos. Tus grupos pueden ser reales o locos. (ejemplos: los mestizos, los indígenas, los mulatos, los abuelos, los animales, las personas altas, los maestros) 
3.  Sigue el modelo para escribir tus 10 leyes. Tus leyes pueden ser reales, exageradas o locas, tú decides. Necesitas utilizar la siguiente estructura para escribir tus 10 leyes:

Modelo:

a.       Loco: “Los hispanohablantes recibirán muchos dulces” o “Todas las personas que hablan español recibirán muchos dulces”

b.      Real: “Los peninsulares saldrán de Argentina y nunca regresarán”

Estructura: Grupo o sujeto (+ que + verbo en el presente) + verbo en el futuro + palabras extras. 

          4. En tus leyes, necesitas utilizar mínimo 5 verbos nuevos de lista de verbos nuevos. Haz una línea en tus leyes para indicar tus verbos nuevos.

          5. Por último presentarás las 10 leyes a tus compañeros.

Rúbrica:

	5-4	3-2	1
Gramática	Utilizas el futuro correctamente en todos o casi todos los casos	Utilizas el futuro correctamente a veces	No utilizas correctamente el futuro
Contenido	Eliges un país y tienes 10 leyes que dan o quitan derechos a grupos específicos.	No tienes un país y tienes menos de 10 leyes que dan o quitan derechos a grupos específicos.	No tienes un país y tus frases no son leyes que dan o quitan derechos a grupos específicos.
Vocabulario	Utilizas minimo 5 o 4 verbos nuevos correctamente.	Utilizas 3-2 verbos nuevos correctamente.	Utilizas uno o ningún  verbo nuevo correctamente.

Appendix B

CORRECTIONS KEY

AA- Adjective Agreement

VT- Verb Tense (present, preterit, imperfect, etc.)

VF- Verb Form (yo, tú, él/ella/ud., etc)

WW- Wrong Word

M/F- Masculine/Feminine

S/P- Singular/Plural

sp- Spelling

S/E- Ser/Estar

st- Stem-change

WO- Word Order

??- No Entiendo

Appendix C

        ERRORES COMUNES

       1)      Escribe una frase utilizando la palabra correcta

MODELO: Él (he) vs. el (the, masculino singular).  Él tiene muchos amigos. El amigo se llama  Juan.

a.       Mí (me) vs. Mi (my)

b.      Primer (followed by a noun) vs. Primero (not followed by a noun)

c.       Por qué  vs porque (no tiene acento)

d.      Bien vs. bueno

e.      Tú vs tu

f.        Sé vs. se

       2)      Otros: ¿Por qué estas frases son incorrectas? ¿Puedes corregirlas?

a.       Cultura y historia

b.      En principio (at the beginning)

c.       Después que tiempo pasado

       3)      Partes de la frase - Parts of speech: ¿Por qué estas frases son incorrectas? ¿Puedes corregirlas?

a.       Nosotros practicamos católica

b.      No nos gusta esclavo (slavery)

c.       La Yaqui quiso disimular su hermosa

       4)      Gramática: Corrige el error y explica por qué.

a.       Los españoles tienen mucha  tierra por el gobierno.

b.      Trabajar por ellos es terrible.

c.       Yo voy a ser muy triste.

d.      Nosotros estábamos curiosos.

e.      Ellos no les gustan la esclavitud.

       5)      ¿Femenino o masculino? Si no estás seguro, busca las palabras en un diccionario. Recuerda que la “f”   indica que palabra es femenina y “m” que es una palabra masculina.

a.       ______ razón

b.      ______ opiniones

c.       ______acciones

d.      ______disfraces

e.      ______religión

Appendix D

 

Appendix E