A discussion of the cognitive development of bilingual children and its implications for early childhood education for this population begins with a review of recent research on bilingual development. It looks at the forms and results of research projects on dual language acquisition processes, the interactive influence of multiple language…

Traces the Bilingual Education Act's (BEA) evolution from its inception (1968) through its most recent reauthorization (1994) as the primary federal legislative effort to provide equal educational opportunity to language minorities. Discusses assimilation versus multiculturalism as a philosophical basis for education reforms, litigation preceding…

Traces the United States Bilingual Education Act (BEA) from its inception in 1968 through its most recent reauthorization in 1994 as the primary federal legislative effort to provide equal educational opportunity to language minority students in the United States. (Author/VWL)

A 5-year followup study was conducted of Spanish/English bilingual children and their families who had participated in a previous study of early bilingual acquisition when the children were 3 to 4 years old. Language use and interaction patterns by parents, children, and siblings were observed at home. School achievement information and interview…

Spanish-English bilingual and monolingual English children aged 3-5 years were recorded in interaction with their mothers. Bilingual children were recorded twice each month, once in Spanish and once in English, and were also observed in a home situation. An analysis of the recorded language was done using selected morphological and syntactic…

Language minority students can be served effectively by schools that are organized to develop educational structures and processes that take into consideration both the broader attributes of effective schooling practices and the specific attributes relevant to language minority students. Effective classrooms exemplify instructional strategies that…

Major concepts and findings related to the acquisition of early childhood bilingualism among Mexican American children are examined. Results are reported for empirical studies of bilingual acquisition, bilingual mother-child discourse, contextual and input parameters, interlanguage transfer, interactional language switching, and bilingual…

Six hundred, 4-, 5-, and 6-year-old bilingual, rural, and urban children from southwestern, midwestern, eastern, and southern United States participated in a national study of Spanish/English bilingual development. Half of these children completed the English version of CIRCO (1980) sub-test 10-C, a productive language measure that requires…

Spanish/English bilingual kindergarten teachers and parents serving as instructional aides in the same bilingual education classrooms served as subjects in a study on classroom interaction. Audio/video recordings of small-group instruction sessions of teachers and parents were subjected to discourse analysis. A point of interest was the…

In light of growing numbers of Mexican immigrants and other Spanish speakers in the United States, public schools must deal with shortages of certified bilingual teachers. This chapter describes efforts to address such shortages by the Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Language Affairs (OBEMLA) and other agencies of the U.S. Department of…

Hispanics are the largest and youngest ethnic group in the United States. Moreover, young Hispanic children make up approximately 80 percent of the U.S. English language learner population. They are a heterogeneous group, born both inside and outside the United States and having origins in Mexico, Cuba, Central America, South America, and the…

Several issues are explored regarding child care in a bilingual setting, including dismissing myths regarding the supposed negative effects of bilingualism; understanding what caregivers can do to ensure a positive and responsive environment in which communication thrives; and communicating with the family and understanding its general social…

Examines instructional interaction in kindergarten, third, and fifth grade classrooms chosen for their academic success with Hispanic students. Looks at instructional discourse and language use. Confirms previous findings about the possibility of successful bilingual instruction. (DE)

The study involved (1) a sociolinguistic description of Spanish/English use by 10 children (ages two to three) and eight mothers in two different bilingual preschool contexts (instruction and freeplay), and (2) an experimental attempt to encourage the use of Spanish, using Spanish "immersion" in a freeplay setting. (Author/DS)

Early education of language-minority students has considered linguistic, cognitive, and social attributes of children and schooling contexts. Although far from comprehensive, language-minority education has a broader theoretical and empirical foundation for which present educational practice can be judged and future research can be designed.…