An Empirical Rationale for Foreign Languages in Elementary Schools Harvey J. Ginsburg; Ingeborg H. McCoy The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 65, No. 1. (Spring, 1981), pp. 36-42. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-7902%28198121%2965%3A1%3C36%3AAERFFL%3E2.0.CO%3B2-N The Modern Language Journal is currently published by National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations.
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An Empirical Rationale for Foreign
Languages in Elementary Schools
HARVEY J. GINSBURG and INGEBORG H. MCCOY
"STRENGTH T HROUGH WISDOM* EMPHASIZES the need for teaching foreign languages in the nation's elementary schools (FLES).Thus, the President's commission reiterates longstanding recommendations by the foreign language teaching profession for FLES program^.^ The facility for acquisition of a second language by young children is described by Lenneberg as a consequence of biological maturation of the brain and supports the idea of a FLES curriculum.3 The goal has been to advance the bilingualism of U.S. children. Community and parental support for such elementary programs, however, has been lacking. Research by Lambert and Cummins in bilingualism provides important reasons for establishing elementary second language c ~ r r i c u l a .In ~ addition, the study "Acquisition of Piaget's Reversible Thought in Mexican-American Children: A Test of the Bilingual Balance Hypothesis," by Ginsburg, McCoy and Talamantes, although primarily developed as an investigation of the interrelationship between cognitive development and the bilingualism of Mexican-American children, demonstrates significant support for FLES program^.^ The effect of bilingual training on levels of cognitive functioning has been a source of scientific inquiry for more than six decades (dating to Ronjat, 1913), yet research in this area has yielded few clear results.6 We have almost as many investigations that demonstrate various negative consequences of bilingualism as we do studies that report an enhancement of intellectual development. Cummins provides an excellent review of recent research in this area.7 Leopold was an early advocate of teaching children more than one language.8 He argued that bilinguals have greater flexibility of thought than monolinguals because bilinguals Modern Language Journal, 65 (Spring 1981):36-42
do not have form and meaning rigidly identified with each other. Other early research, however, found that learning of dual language systems had an adverse impact on cognitive development.9 A frequent explanation for the deficiencies was that bilinguals must think in one language and speak in another, thereby experiencing uncertainty and confusion. O n the other hand, many early studies failed to demonstrate an impairment of the bilingual child's cognitive functioning.10 The controversy about the merits of bilingual education continues even today. l 1 Recently, several researchers have pointed out a number of reasons why past studies have produced such disparate findings; e.g., lack of adequate control groups, no control for initial language proficiency, no control for socio-economic status, inadequate samples, and inadequacy of reported data are listed among other reasons. l 2 Since 1970, a growing body of evidence has confirmed the research findings of Peal and Lambert, who determined that ten-year-old middle class EnglishIFrench bilingual children in Montreal schools showed significantly more diversified and flexible thought than did their monolingual counterparts.13 Other studies confirm the finding that access to two languages in early childhood can positively influence the structure and function of thought.14 Although many recent studies suggest the positive impact of the acquisition of a second language in childhood, McLaughlin warns that questions in the area of bilingualism far outnumber answers. l 5 Two concerns are of special significance for the consideration of FLES curricula: Lambert has explored the concept of "additive" or "subtractive" bilingual learning conditions, and Cummins has hypothesized a "threshold level of bilingual competence" or bilingual balance as a mediating factor for cognitive advancement.16
An Empirical Rationalefor FLES Lambert explores the language acquisition contexts and conditions of a number of previous studies in order to explain the distinguishing features of recent research that reports a positive relationship between bilingualism and cognitive abilities. Thus, he is able to differentiate positive studies from earlier research that demonstrates a negative relationship. He has suggested that "positive" and "negative" reports can be distinguished in terms of the "additiveness" and "subtractiveness" of the bilingual language learning conditions under which the research subjects acquired their languages. The early negative studies involved minority group bilinguals whose original language (L1) was being gradually replaced by a second language (L2) which is usually culturally dominant and more prestigious than L1. Lambert named this context "subtractive" because at any point in time, the competence in the two languages is likely to reflect some subtraction from Ll and its replacement by L2. That is, in a "subtractive" context, a bilingual pays for his L2 competency by a lowering of L1 competence. Thus, lower levels of verbal intelligence shown in earlier studies probably reflected the fact that bilingual subjects had less than native-like competence in either of their languages. Recent "positive" studies, in contrast, have involved middle or upper class children whose first language (L1) is prestigious and culturally dominant and is not in danger of being replaced by the second language (L2). These children retain skills in L1 while adding another language. Put simply, the language acquisition in an "additive" context allows the child to attain high levels of L2 competence without harm to their original Ll. Recent studies by the two Finnish researchers, Skutnabb-Kangas and Toukomaa centered on the achievement of Finnish immigrant children in Sweden and presents strong evidence for Lambert's theory of "additive" versus "subtractive" second language acquisition context.17 The findings of the research suggest that if children are submersed in the acquisition of a second, more culturally dominant, language before the age of ten, they experience a destabilizing effect on the development of their native language. Further, in such "subtractive" bilingual contexts, the children may fail to acquire the ability to use the
second language for cognitive organization, thereby becoming semilingual and not being able to perform higher-level cognitive operations in either their first or second language. Clearly, the Finnish immigrant children who were of pre-school or primary-level age were exposed to a "subtractive" bilingual experience. The considerations concerning "additive" versus "subtractive" bilingualism suggest the conclusion that qualitative differences exist in the linguistic competence attained by the bilingual subjects in each of the two types of studies. According to Cummins, the level of competence that a bilingual child achieves in two languages may influence the effects of bilingualism on cognition.l8 In developing this bilingual balance hypothesis, Cummins assumes a threshold level of linguistic competence, which a bilingual child must attain, both in order to avoid cognitive deficits and to allow the potentially beneficial aspects of becoming bilingual to influence cognitive growth. The threshold hypothesis was developed during research of the effects of bilingual immersion education programs in Edmonton, Canada, on students in three grade six classes. '9 The study investigated the relationship between cognitive processes and the attainment of balanced bilingual skills for three groups of children who achieved their English-French bilingualism under very different conditions. Using the basis of the language or languages spoken at home by their parents, the students were divided into: 1) a group from homes where both parents spoke English; 2) a second group from homes where both parents spoke French; and 3) a group from homes where the parents spoke both French and English. Since Edmonton is a nearly monolingual English speaking city, group one obviously falls into the category of an "additive" bilingual learning context. The students learned French as a second language in addition to, but not as a replacement for English, the culturally dominant idiom. Sixtyone students were selected on the basis of three measures of linguistic balance. Non-balanced and unilingual students served as control groups. The students were in a bilingual program where both languages were used for instruction, but different subject areas were taught through each language. Several cogni-
Harvey J. Ginsburg and Zngeborg H . McCoy tive measures tested verbal ability, general reasoning, verbal divergence, and nonverbal divergence. The results showed that students who had remained very dominant in L1, despite six years of immersion schooling (i.e., they were non-balanced bilinguals), performed at a lower level than a unilingual con) fluency trol group (matched on IQ and s ~ son and flexibility measures of divergent thinking while balanced bilinguals performed at a higher level than the unilinguals on the originality scale. Previous studies had already confirmed a positive relationship between bilingualism and divergent thinking, a special type of cognitive flexibility.20 Cummins raises the question how the interrelation between balanced bilingualism and greater flexibility of thought is to be interpreted; i.e., does the association reflect a general relationship between balance and intelligence or is divergent thought related to bilingual balance independently of intelligence?21 This concern was clearly answered only by results from group one, the students with an "additive" context: for the English group, the level of French-English balance was "significantly related to verbal divergence independently of intelligence." Students who did not attain balance between French and English performed poorly on verbal measures of divergent thinking; however, those who had attained balance exhibited high levels of verbal divergence. Cummins' study in Edmonton validates other data in regard to the threshold hypothesis; in fact, there seem to be two thresholds.22 If a student attains a lower threshold level of bilingual competence, that would be sufficient to avoid any negative cognitive effects, but it seems that a second, higher level of bilingual competence is necessary to produce accelerated cognitive development. Lambert's "additive" versus "subtractive" context, as well as Cummins' "bilingual balance" or "threshold hypothesis" are valid explanations for the differences in the studies reporting positive associations between bilingualism and accelerated cognitive growth and those studies describing negative relationships. Lambert's and Cummins' concepts also support the development of FLES programs leading to successful bilingualism.
Research conducted by Ginsburg, McCoy and Talamantes to explore the relationship between bilingual and cognitive abilities of Mexican-American children establishes further evidence for "additive" versus "subtractive" bilingualism and provides a cogent argument for considering the implications of the "bilingual balance" and "threshold hypothesis" in the establishment of FLES prog r a m ~ The . ~ ~ investigation was designed to test the relationship between language dominance in Mexican-American bilingual children and their cognitive ability to solve Piagetian Conservation Tasks. In order to perform such tasks children have to use reversible thought which involves cognitive flexibility. If Cummins' hypothesis of bilingual balance is correct, linguistically balanced bilingual Mexican-American children would be more likely to demonstrate accelerated levels of thinking about solutions to conservation tasks than Spanish dominant, English dominant, or monolingual (English only) Mexican-American children, or Anglo-American children. There are two reasons for selecting conservation and reversible thought for evaluation of cognitive growth. First, the ability to understand that one may reverse an operation in order to return a transformed system to its original state demonstrates a great deal of cognitive flexibility or, as Piaget calls it, a "mobility of thinking." Such mobility serves to distinguish pre-operational from operational thought and also is related to the divergent thinking previously determined as a positive outcome of balanced bilingualism. Second, the use of a Piagetian approach in measuring cognitive ability substitutes for traditional IQ measure and for the most part avoids the problem of socio-economic or cultural bias since world-wide research has documented this aspect of Piaget's measures of cognitive abilities. The subjects were 106 five- and six-yearold Mexican-American and twenty randomly selected Anglo-American kindergarten children. The Mexican-American children were subdivided into four categories of language competency based upon their scores on the Language Assessment Scales (LAS)developed by DeAvila and Duncan.24 An EnglishSpanish difference score derived from their performance on this test determined the de-
A n Empirical Rationale for FLES gree of language dominance or balance. Mexican-American children were defined as very English dominant (N = 25) if their raw English-Spanish difference score was greater than + 50; English dominant children (N = 25) were defined by difference scores of + 20 to + 49. Balanced bilinguals (N = 40) were defined by scores in the range of + 10 to -10. Spanish dominant children (N = 16) were defined by difference scores of -20 to -49. Very Spanish dominant children were defined by difference scores of less than -50; however, none of the subjects' difference scores fell in this range. The Texas Home Parental Language Survey was also used. This survey determines what primary and secondary languages are spoken in the home environments of public school children. Four different Piagetian Conservation tasks were used to measure reversible thought. Each of the tasks was presented three times to approximate a Piagetian clinical method of evaluation. The responses of the children were quantified on a point scale from 0-6. The scores on the four conservation tasks were summed together as an overall index of conservation ability. The children were individually tested. The Anglo-American children were tested in English. Mexican-American children were tested in either English or Spanish depending upon their LAS test scores. Children classified as very English dominant or English dominant were tested in English. The balanced bilinguals were randomly divided; one-half were tested in English, and one-half were tested in Spanish. Spanish dominant children were presented the conservation tasks in Spanish. The examiners were not aware of the LAS difference scores of the children. They were instructed simply to test each child in the assigned language; thus, any potential expectancy bias which would favor the bilingual balance hypothesis was avoided in this study. The following results were obtained: Spanish dominant children had a mean conservation score of 6.43. Balanced bilinguals tested in Spanish scored an average of 8.47; those tested in English had a mean score of 9.9. The Mexican-American children classified as English dominant scored 12.20. The very English dominant sample scored 6.19, while English speaking monolingual Anglo-
TABLE I
A Comparison of Conservation Scores for
Various Linguistic Groups
Group Spanish Dominant Balanced Bilingual Balanced Bilingual English Dominant Very English Dominant Anglo-American Monolingual
Language Used Mean Scores on Conservation to Test for Conservation Tasks Spanish Spanish English English
6.43 8.47 9.90 12.20
English
6.19
English
6.75
American children scored 6.75. A KruskalWallis one-way analysis of variance was used to analyze the data statistically. A significant difference between groups was observed ( p s .002, two-tailed, H = 28.98, df = 5). The results indicate that a balance of bilingual competencies influences the ability to conserve in the direction predicted by Cummins' hypothesis. Balanced bilingu-alstested in Spanish performed better on conservation tasks than Spanish dominant children. Balanced bilinguals tested in English performed better than Mexican-American children classified as very English dominant or Anglo-American monolingual~.It is also apparent from the data, however, that Mexican-American children who were English dominant accounted for the statistical significance achieved in this study. They demonstrated nearly twice the ability to employ the cognitive skills necessary to answer conservation tasks when compared with Spanish dominant, very English dominant, or Anglo-American monolingual children. This finding conflicts with Cummins' bilingual balance hypothesis. Some variable other than bilingual balance influenced these data. The data accumulated from the home language survey may account for the unexpected results. According to the survey, the sixteen Spanish dominant children spoke Spanish as the primary home language, three of them also being exposed to English as a secondary home language. Of the forty balanced bilingual children, thirty-three grew up in homes listing Spanish as a primary language while seven students were from homes with English as a primary language. In this group, nine-
Haruey J. Ginsburg and Ingeborg H. McCoy TABLE I1 A Comparison of Primary and Secondary Languages Used at Home by Various Linguistic Groups Primary Home Language Linguistic Group Spanish Dominant Balanced Bilingual English Dominant Very English Dominant Monolingual Anglo-American
Secondary Home Language
English
Spanish
English
Spanish
0 7 20 25 20
16 33 5 0 0
3 19 4 0 0
0 6 18 0 0
teen children came from homes where English was used as a secondary language, and six homes indicated the use of Spanish as a secondary language. The group of twenty-five very English dominant students came from homes indicating English as the only home language. Concerning the group of twentyfive English dominant bilingual children, the survey indicated that twenty were from homes where English constitutes the primary language while Spanish was the primary language in five homes. In this group, four homes listed English as a secondary language and eighteen homes use Spanish as a secondary language. The last group is of major interest to this study: the children classed as English dominant typically came from homes where English was spoken as the primary lanp a g e and Spanish was spoken as a secondary language. The group differs from the Spanish dominant and balanced bilingual groups that typically use Spanish as a predominant home language and English as a secondary home language. This group of Mexican-American children also differs from the very English dominant children who almost exclusively use English at home without Spanish as a secondary language. The relationship between cognitive ability and home language usage fits the "additive" model described by Lambert. These Mexican-American children use primarily the dominant language of the culture (English) at home and, to a somewhat lesser extent, have acquired the language of their Spanish-speaking subculture as a second language. Their bilingual learning environment, therefore, has provided an "additive" context. The results of this investigation establish two facts: 1) the cognitive growth of young children is greatly enhanced if a bilingual competence, approximating bilingual balance, has been achieved from an "additivenbi-
lingual learning context; 2) the study supports Cummins' bilingual balance hypothesis to a degree, as indicated by the scores for the balanced Mexican-American children. The equally or possibly more important mediator for greater cognitive growth, however, was provided by the "additive" language context. This study did not investigate the hypothesis of the two thresholds: a longitudinal analysis of the language acquisition process would be necessary to determine these factors. The test results from the balanced as well as from the more English dominant children would indicate the existence of such thresholds; the greater cognitive advancement associated with the second threshold would seem to be mediated by the "additive" context. The above three studies present the following important factors in support of FLES curricula. l) The average American kindergarten or first grade student enrolled in a FLES program learns the second language in an "additive" language learning context. English is the culturally dominant and prestigious language and the second language would be learned as an additional, non-substitutive language; therefore, the important criterion of learning a second language in an "additive" context is met by most American students. 2) The bilingual balance as well as the two-threshold hypothesis mandate a solid, continuous FLES program leading to continued second language learning on junior and senior high school levels. Since Cummins' study in Edmonton indicates that the non-balanced bilinguals performed at a lower level than the unilingual group, school districts must provide strong, successive second language programs; else, students may be better off remaining unilingual in their culturally dominant language. 3) I f both factors of "additive" context and "bilingual balance" are met by FLES and subsequent programs, the
A n Empirical Rationalefor F L E S students will advance in their cognitive abilities more rapid@ than unilingual children. It should be recalled from the Cummins' study in Edmonton that the results from the first group indicated
NOTES
'"Strength through Wisdom: A Critique of U.S. Capability, A Report to the President from the President's Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies," Modern Language Journal, 64 (1980), pp. 14, 15, 19,21. %ee Theodore Anderson, The Teaching of Foreign Languages in the Elementary School (Boston: Heath, 1953); "Foreign Languages in the Elementary School: A Statement of Policy" (New York: MLA,1961); Virginia G. Allen & F. Andrt Paquette, New Dimensions in the Teaching of FLES (Bloomington, IN: Indiana Univ. Press, 1968). SEric H . Lenneberg, Biological Foundations of Language (New York: Wiley, 1967). 4Wallace E . Lambert, "Culture and Language as Factors in Learning and Education," Education of Immigrant Students, ed. Aaron Wolfgang (Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 1975), pp. 55-83; James Cummins, "Cognitive Factors Associated with the Attainment of Intermediate Levels of Bilingual Skills," Modern LanguageJournal, 61 (1977), pp. 3-12. 51ngeborg H. McCoy, "Acquisition of Piaget's Reversible Thought in Mexican American Children: A Test of the Bilingual Balance Hypothesis," Eighth Annual International Bilingual Bicultural Education Conference, Seattle, May 1979; research was conducted by Harvey J. Ginsburg, Ingeborg H. McCoy & Alonzo Talamantes and was funded by a grant from the Education Opportunity Equity program of the National Institute of Education. 6Jules Ronjat, Le Deueloppement du Langage observe chez un enfant bilingue (Paris: Champion, 1913). 'James Cummins, "The Cognitive Development of Bilingual Children: A Review of Recent Research" (ERICED 145 727, 1977). sWerner F. Leopold, Speech Development of a Bilingual Child, 111 (Evanston, rL: Northwestern Univ. Press, 1949). gSee Hershel T . Manuel & Alvin E. Wright, "The Language Difficulty of Mexican Children," Journal of Genetic Psychology, 36 (1929), pp. 458-66; Melvin Rigg, "Some Further Data on the Language Handicap," Journal ofEducationa1 Psychology, 19 (1928), pp. 252-56; Madorah E. Smith, "Some Light on the Problem of Bilingualism as Found from a Study of the Progress in Mastery of English among Preschool Children of Non-American Ancestry in Hawaii," Genetic Psychology Monographs, 21 (1939), pp. 121284. l0See Anne Anastasi & Cruz de Jesus, "Language Development and Non-Verbal IQ of Puerto Rican Preschool Children in New York City,"Journal ofAbnorma1 andSocial Psychology, 48 (1953), pp. 357-66; Seth Arsenian, Bilin-
41
more advanced divergent thinking independent of IQ; therefore, the cognitive advancement in a solid FLES program could be expected for most students. gualism and Mental Deuelopment (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1937); George I. Sanchez, "Bilingualism and Mental Measures," Journal of Applied Psychology, 18 (1934), pp. 765-72; William A. Stark, "The Effect of Bilingualism on General Intelligence: An Investigation Cai-ried Out in Certain Dublin Primary Schools," British Journal ofEducational Psychology, 10 (1940), pp. 78-79. "See for positive reports: Mary A. Carrow, "Linguistic Functioning of Bilingual and Monolingual Children," Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 22 (,1957), pp. 37 180; Einar Haugen, Bilingualism in the Americas (Tuscaloosa, AL: Univ. of Alabama Press, 1956); William R. Jones, Bilingualism in Welsh Education (Cardiff, Wales: Univ. of Wales Press, 1966); Elizabeth Peal &Wallace E. Lambert, "The Relation of Bilingualism to Intelligence," Psychological Monographs, 76 (1962), pp. 1-23; L.S. Tireman, "The Bilingual Child and His Reading Vocabulary," Elementary English, 32 (1955), pp. 33-35; Rudolph C. Troike, "Research Evidence for the Effectiveness of Bilingual Education," ~ ~ B ~ J o u r n 3a (1978), l, pp. 13-24. See for negative reports: E. Jacques Brazeau, "Language Differences and Occupational Experience," Canadian Journal of Economic and Political Science, 24 (1958), pp. 532-40; Bernard Berelson & Gary A. Steiner, Human Behauior: An Inventory ofScientfic Findings (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1963); James McNamara, "The Effect of Instruction in a Weaker Language," Journal ofSocial Issues, 23 (1967), pp. 121-35. IZSeeAndrew D. Cohen & Luis M . Laosa, "Second Language Instruction: Some Research Considerations," Curriculum Studies, 8 (1976), pp. 149-65; Heidi Dulay & Marina K. Burt, Why Bilingual Education?, 2nd ed. (San Francisco: Bloomsbury West, 1978); Patricia Lee Engle, The Use of Vernacular Languages in Education: Language Medium in Early School Yearsfor Minority Groups, Papers in Applied Linguistics, Bilingual Education Series, 3 (Arlington, VA: CAL, 1975); Barry McLaughlin, "Second Language Learning in Children," Psychological Bulletin, 84 (1977), pp. 438-59. Ispeal& Lambert, "Relation." 14See Bruce C. Bain, "Toward an Integration of Piaget and Vygotsky: Bilingual Considerations," Linguistics, 160 (1975), pp. 5-20; Lewis Balkan, Les Effets du Bilinguisme Francais-Anglais sur les Aptitudes Zntellectualles (Brussels: AIMAV, 1970); Henry Barik & Merril Swain, "A Longitudinal Study of Bilingual and Cognitive Development," International Journal of Psycholou, 11 (1976), pp. 251-63; Sandra BenZeev, "The Influence of Bilingualism on Cognitive Development and Cognitive Strategy," Diss. Univ. of Chicago, 1972; Andrew D. Cohen, "The Culver City Spanish Immersion Project: The First Two Years," Modern Language Journal, 58 (1974), pp. 95-103; James Cummins & M. Gulutsan, "Bilingual Education and Cognition," Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 20
HamtyJ. Ginsburg and Ingeborg H. McCoy (1974), pp. 259-66; Wallace Lambert & G. Richard Tucker, Bilingual Education of Children: The St. Lambert Experiment (Rowley, M A : Newbury House, 1972); Wallace Lambert, G . Richard Tucker & Alison D'Anglejan, "Cognitive and Attitudinal Consequences of Bilingual Schooling: The St. Lambert Project Through Grade Five," Journal ofEducationa1 psycho lo^, 65 (1973), pp. 14159; Werner W. Liedke & L. Doyle Nelson, "Concept Formation and Bilingualism," Alberta Journal ofEducationa1Research, 14 (1968), pp. 225-32; Sheridan Scott, "The Relation of Divergent Thinking to Bilingualism: Cause or Effect," unpublished research report, McGill Univ., 1973. IsBarry McLaughlin, Second-Language Acquisition i n Childhood (New York: Wiley, 1978). pp. 163-65. 16Lambert, "Culturen; Cummins, Cognitiue Deuelopment. 17Tove Skutnabb-Kangas & Pertti Toukomaa, Teaching Migrant Children? Mother Tongue and Learning the Language of the Host Country in the Context of the Socio-Cultural
-
Situation of the M k r a n t Family (Helsinki: Finnish National Commission for UNESCO, 1976); Pertti Toukomaa & Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, The Intensive Teaching of the Mother Tongue to Migrant Children of Re-School Age, Research Reports, 26 (Tampere, Finland: Department of Socio1o.q and Social Psychology, Univ. of Tampere, 1977). l8Cummins, Cognitive Development. lgCummins,"Cognitive Factors." 20Cummins & Gulutsan, "Bilingual Educationn; Edward P. Torrance, John C. Gowan, James M. Wu & Nicholas C. Aliotti, "Creative Functioning of Monolingual and Bilingual Children in Singapore,"Journal ofEducationalPsychology, 61 (1970), pp. 72-75. 21Cummins,"Cognitive Factors," p. 9. 2ZCummins,C ognitive Development, p. 7. ?3Ginsburg, McCoy & Talamantes, "Acquisition." Z4EdwardA. DeAvila & Sharon Duncan, Language Assessment Scales: LASI; 2nd ed. (n.p.: Linguametrics Group, 1977).
-
National Council on Foreign Language and International Studies Announces Priorities SOON AFTER THE PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON
Foreign Language and International Studies closed its doors, interested leaders from business, labor, education, and the media formed the National Council on Foreign Language and International Studies (see MLJ, 64 [1980], p. 302). Recently the Council identified priorities concerning its initial approach to K-12 and early undergraduate education. They include improvement in the: competency of teachers and administrators involved in international education and curricular development; quality of instructional materials available to educators and students; quality and effectiveness of instruction in modern languages, social sciences, and related areas. The Council will appoint a task force to increase cooperation among university international and area studies programs, teacher training institutions, and practicing educators at the K-12 and early undergraduate levels. The task force will enlist specialists drawn from global education, international and for-
eign area studies, modern language instruction, curricular development and teacher preparation. It will take into account models of successful cooperation and programming, encourage their wider utilization, and make specific recommendations for substantive changes in current practices. In addition, the task force will review progress made on such matters as: 1) designating in each state department of public instruction at least one person with full-time responsibility for international education and for increasing the resources available to schools, colleges and universities; 2) establishing explicit mandates for international and language training in pre- and inservice teacher education; 3) using rationally those federal funds and programs currently available at the state level but not generally utilized for the purpose of international education and foreign language instruction. For additional information contact the Council at 605 Third Avenue (17th Floor), New York City 10016.
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Cognitive Factors Associated with the Attainment of Intermediate Levels of Bilingual Skills James Cummins The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 61, No. 1/2. (Jan. - Feb., 1977), pp. 3-12. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-7902%28197701%2F02%2961%3A1%2F2%3C3%3ACFAWTA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M 11
Language Differences and Occupational Experience E. Jacques Brazeau The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science / Revue canadienne d'Economique et de Science politique, Vol. 24, No. 4. (Nov., 1958), pp. 532-540. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0315-4890%28195811%2924%3A4%3C532%3ALDAOE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-C 14
The Culver City Spanish Immersion Program: The First Two Years Andrew D. Cohen The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 58, No. 3. (Mar., 1974), pp. 95-103. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-7902%28197403%2958%3A3%3C95%3ATCCSIP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-I 19
Cognitive Factors Associated with the Attainment of Intermediate Levels of Bilingual Skills James Cummins The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 61, No. 1/2. (Jan. - Feb., 1977), pp. 3-12. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-7902%28197701%2F02%2961%3A1%2F2%3C3%3ACFAWTA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M
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Cognitive Factors Associated with the Attainment of Intermediate Levels of Bilingual Skills James Cummins The Modern Language Journal, Vol. 61, No. 1/2. (Jan. - Feb., 1977), pp. 3-12. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-7902%28197701%2F02%2961%3A1%2F2%3C3%3ACFAWTA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M
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