Promoting minority children's L1 raises L1 achievement at no cost to L2 achievement¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · theoretical r2–r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 1979 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? In Hébert's Manitoba study, percentage of instruction in French (L1) was unrelated to English achievement but strongly related to French achievement. → Cummins 1979 q2 i? Ramírez and Politzer found Spanish use at home raised Spanish skills with no English cost, while English use at home deteriorated Spanish without improving English. → Cummins 1979 (2)

Evidence¶

Cummins 1979¶

Cummins, James. (1979). Linguistic interdependence and the educational development of bilingual children. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED257312. doi:10.3102/00346543049002222

q2 · i? · theoretical · r3

The review reports Hébert's (1976) study of academic achievement of minority francophone children in Manitoba. It found promoting children's L1 "resulted in higher levels of Ll achievement at no cost to achievement in L2."

"the percentage of instruction received in French (L1) hadno influence on English achievement but was strongly related to French achievement."

Cummins 1979 (2)¶

Cummins, James. (1979). Linguistic interdependence and the educational development of bilingual children. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED257312. doi:10.3102/00346543049002222

q2 · i? · theoretical · r2

A theoretical paper (the developmental-interdependence and threshold hypotheses), not an empirical review; as evidence for its interdependence hypothesis it cites Ramírez and Politzer's (1976) finding on home language use among Spanish-English children. In both studies, "a loss in LI did not result inany gains in L2 despite the increased interaction through L2."

"use of Spanish at home resulted in higher levels of Spanish skills atno cost to English achievement while the use of English at home resulted in a deterioration of Spanish skills but no improvement in English."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Preserving a bilingual student's heritage language supports rather than hinders English acquisition — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
• High L2 achievers in immersion programs show IQ gains, consistent with a higher threshold of bilingual competence — related
• L1 and L2 CALP are interdependent: strong promotion of L1 literacy in the early grades entails no adverse consequences for English — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Semilingualism — less than native-like skill in both languages — is associated with detrimental cognitive and academic consequences — reports the opposite
• Contrary to program guidelines, English acquisition was given priority over Spanish acquisition in practice — related
• Spanish use at home does not limit English learning: young Spanish–English bilinguals with more Spanish at school entry show higher English skills by year's end — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Strategic use of MLs' L1 during decoding instruction was effective: shared letter-sound correspondences did not have to be retaught, and Spanish CVC segmentation instruction increased English decoding — related
• Children's language use in writing tasks differs by instructional program, with English immersion students often writing in English when prompted to write in Spanish — a narrower finding that bears on this claim