Roadblocks to Bilingualism

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Author(s): John Evar Strid (Northern Illinois University, USA), James A. Cohen (Northern Illinois University, USA), Autumn Gathings (Northern Illinois University, USA), Raven Stepter (Northern Illinois University, USA)and Amor Taylor (Northern Illinois University, USA)
Copyright: 2019
Pages: 25
Source title: Handbook of Research on Engaging Immigrant Families and Promoting Academic Success for English Language Learners
Source Author(s)/Editor(s): Grace Onchwari (University of North Dakota, USA)and Jared Keengwe (University of North Dakota, USA)
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-8283-0.ch004

Keywords: Curriculum Development and Instructional Design / Information Science Reference / Literacy and Language Studies / Media & Communications

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Abstract

Most teacher candidates have little experience with learning other languages. They therefore become cogs in the assimilationist machine that causes immigrants to lose native languages and become monolingual in English (Rumbaut, Massey, & Bean, 2006). In a time of devaluing immigrants (and their languages) and failure on the part of most Americans to learn other languages, educators need to focus on the role of other languages in promoting multicultural understanding and to increase language learning in the US. This chapter examines bilingual teacher candidates' experiences with language learning. For four years, students studying for ESL/bilingual licensure were asked to rate their language abilities, finding that 30% rated themselves as bilingual, with 70.43% of bilinguals describing themselves as heritage speakers. The authors report the overall findings as well as the bilingual heritage speaker candidates' own words on their experiences with language learning and maintaining their bilingualism.

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