Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Policies, Programs, and Practices for English Learners

Language and Literacy

by Ofelia García, Jo Anne Kleifgen (With)

Now available in a revised and expanded edition, this accessible guide introduces readers to the issues and controversies surrounding the education of language minority students in the United States. What makes this book a perennial favorite are the succinct descriptions of alternative practices for transforming our schools and students’ futures, such as building on students’ home languages and literacy practices, incorporating curricular and pedagogical innovations, using proven-effective approaches to parent engagement, and employing alternative assessment tools. The authors have updated their bestseller to reflect recent shifts in policies, programs, and practices due to globalization and the changing economy; demographic trends; and new research on EL pedagogy. A totally new chapter highlights multimedia and multimodal instructional possibilities for engaging EL students. This Second Edition is essential reading for all teachers of language-minority students, as well as principals, superintendents, and policymakers. Book

Genres: Education, Teaching, Linguistics, Professional Development

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 29, 2010

About the author

Ofelia García is Professor in the Ph.D. programs of Urban Education and of Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Languages at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA. She is the Associate General Editor of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language.

Reviews

[Baki Bozyel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Educating Emergent Bilinguals offers different perspectives on how the education of this group of students is. First authors tell us how inappropriate most of the terms used for these students are. They have a deficit perspective of students who cannot speak English rather than focusing on their bilingualism as an asset. I think the book gives ENL teachers a different perspective, presenting the idea of using home languages as a tool to teach English and content simultaneously. They also tell us what kind of policies, programs, and practices are in place for Emergent Bilinguals. It clearly shows us how the education policies of the USA shifted from bilingualism to "English deficiency". What I like most about this book is that it shares research-related information about why we should create bilingual education settings for English Learners. However, it does not touch on the limitations such as the feasibility of this for a variety of speakers of languages. I believe the authors offer that for the speakers of languages such as Spanish, Arabic, and maybe Chinese as there would be enough students to create bilingual schools.

Overall, it is a reader-friendly book, even though there were some points with too much historical information. I would recommend it to people who would like to learn about how they could support their students' bilingualism.

[Jacquie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was one of our book review choices in a graduate level TESOL course I am currently taking. I found this book to be very insightful and something that should be on your bookshelf especially if you are or will be an educator of English Language Learners or as the authors coined Emergent Bilinguals. The authors do an excellent job of advocating for a shift in perspectives about how Emergent Bilinguals are to be viewed and educated in U.S. classrooms. Ofelia Gracia's translanguaging philosophy / pedagogy really brings awareness to the importance and necessity of embracing and leveraging EB's home language in the classroom. I found this to be the most interesting, useful and overarching theme in the book. Also, there is much in the book related to linguistics, advocacy, past legal court cases, and statistics regarding EB's educational progress and related outcomes. My only caveat, as I read this most recent edition (2018), is a good amount of research cited is very old and additionally I had a preconceived notion it was going to be a tool for everyday classroom strategies which it was not. It is still a great resource to read or own especially if you are in the TESOL field.

[Clare Mcnally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Policies, Programs, and Practices for English Language Learners by Ofelia Garcia and Jo Anne Kleifgen offers perspectives on how educators and society can support the development of language skills for emergent bilinguals. Although the book’s beginning was heavy on court cases, initiatives, and policies, the authors had a distinct purpose in presenting bilingualism in this way. This policy discussion serves as a reminder of the importance of promoting bilingualism in our homes, schools, and communities. The authors informed the reader that, sadly, there had been a decrease in bilingual programs in American schools in recent decades. After describing who emergent bilinguals are, they urge us to advocate for increased opportunities to learn in this way because of the cognitive benefits for the children and the sound educational theories that support bilingualism. They also encourage educators to focus on a rigorous curriculum, community and family support, access to technology, and fair assessment practices so emergent bilinguals develop English language skills more efficiently. As a result, when teaching emergent bilinguals, it is essential to take an asset-based approach and celebrate their heritage and encourage language learning in their home languages to develop English language proficiency.

I would recommend reading this book. It’s an excellent tool to gain historical perspectives on bilingualism and best practices for supporting bilingual education in your home, school, and community. I finished the book with many thoughts about how bilingualism should be encouraged when teaching English language learners. I would only suggest the authors add more practical ways to advocate for these programs locally and federally. Perhaps, they will if they write the third edition. Overall, it is a very good read and an excellent reference resource to use time and again.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Educating Emergent Bilinguals provides educators, researchers, and policymakers with a vast amount of knowledge about the intricacies of educating bilingual learners. Not only does it point out the discrepancies between research and policy as it pertains to educating bilingual learners, but it also highlights the disconnection between what we know as best practices from research and the education these students are currently receiving in US classrooms. The authors believe that it is this disconnection between research, policy, and practice that prevents emergent bilinguals from thriving in US schools. Throughout the book, the authors provide a great deal of research and evidence to support this claim. I particularly appreciated the recommendations for educators as they were the most tangible part of the book that I felt like I could implement in my own teaching as a future ENL teacher. I would have appreciated more information about how to implement some of the practices into classroom teaching, but I understand that this may have been outside of the main goal of the book. Overall, I think it’s a valuable book for educators, principals, school board members, policymakers, and anyone else who contributes to the education of bilingual or multilingual students.

[Lindsey Taber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Policies, Programs, and Practices for English Learners by Ofelia García and Jo Anne Kleifgen is an in-depth look at the current challenges that emergent bilinguals face (namely emergent bilinguals in the Latinx population residing in the US) and offers a host of solutions that can remedy these issues. These solutions mainly exist on the policy and systemic levels, but provide a few at the individual instructor-student level, such as utilizing students’ funds of knowledge in daily classroom instruction. In terms of language instruction for emergent bilinguals, the authors emphasize the importance of implementing new linguistic pedagogies, specifically translanguaging pedagogy, heteroglossic bilingual practices, critical multilingual awareness, and complex literacy/language use. The main quality that each of these pedagogies share is leveraging students’ home language practices not only in daily classroom learning, but also in policy procedures. Overall, much of the book’s content resonated with me, despite my own challenges in deciphering which statistics and concepts to focus on the most.

[Meg Petersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ineed to read the more updated version of this book, but this was what was in the library. It was so affirming of all I had been noticing and thinking in my recent work with emergent bilingual students as well as with my own, ongoing language practices.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A readable textbook that wasn't too wordy and had good examples of steps that educators can take to be better, more inclusive educators.

[Kerry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, I thought Educating Emergent Bilinguals provided great insight as to the challenges that emergent bilinguals face within the school setting, which seems to be the "residual message". It brought to light many of the issues that arise for educators as well. I felt as if this book were more of a "call to action" instead of providing "tools" or "best practices," for educators. As a future educator of emergent bilinguals, I was hoping to be provided more strategies to dealing with these issues. As the authors portray, many of these issues would need the support of someone higher on the "totem pole," so to speak, or the support of the community. I do agree with this notion. However, I am not sure the right way to go about bringing attention to these matters in a professional manner and I do not feel the book provided those strategies for the readers. In essence, it seemed to point out all of the negative issues without supplying too many solutions. Therefore, I gave this book a 2.5 rating. If you are looking to understand enduring issues related to educating emergent bilinguals, or you want someone else to understand them (like an administrator) then this book is for you (or them). Otherwise, you may want to look for other books that incorporate more "teacher tools."

[Yuwan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, the authors advocate teachers, policymakers, and society to provide and pay more attention to bilingual education to minority students. It gives amply researches, data, and studies on the importance and effectiveness of leveraging home-language practices. It stands out to me that bilingual education is dynamic, which means the students develop and apply their language skills synchronically. It tells us that we should not either provide English-only practices, or separate home language from English. The book also points out that, all teacher, even teachers who do not speak the home languages, should leverage home language practices by providing texts in both languages, and giving the students opportunities to show their literacy skills in home languages. Unfortunately, the authors usually stop at providing literature reviews and alternative approaches, but they mention little about how to implement their suggestions and approaches. Moreover, the authors meant to advocate the use of "emergent bilinguals" than "English language learners"; however, they fail to provide clear definition of this term in the first two chapters, and do not clearly echo their advocation in the rest of the book.

[Shaina Degroult-Elias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Educating emergent bilinguals was a well-written and insightful text that gave a variety of insights on problems facing English Language Learners (ELLs) as well as solutions/strategies to support these students. Although the text is very data-driven, I think it accentuates the obstacles ELLs face. The authors concisely presented court cases, initiatives, and various studies done on Educating ELLs using readable language. These brought issues on how educators, parents, and, more importantly, how anyone can advocate for ELLs.
One of my favorite parts is that the authors Ofilia Garcia and Joanne Klefigen are always giving solutions and strategies to the issues of ELLs. From using technology in the classroom to changing the curriculum to be culturally sustainable. This allowed me to reflect on what I have learned about teaching ELLs and how to adapt more strategies into my pedagogy, thus allowing me to be a better educator.
My only qualm with the book was using "study questions" at the end of each chapter. I would prefer "closing thoughts" about what they want the reader to get out of the text. Although the authors present insightful questions, it usually left me having more questions about what I have read.

[Jacqueline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ofelia Garcia and Jo Anne Kleifgen give a wealth of information on what exactly is an Emergent Bilingual with recommendations and solutions to support students that have been falsely labeled and limited by a primitive educational system. The authors are also advocates for children of all types that are educated in a monolingual classroom environment. Ofelia Garcia, especially, speaks of the advantages of additive bilingualism and the disadvantages of subtractive bilingualism. Furthermore, the authors give clarity to the benefits of translanguaging. The concept of translanguaging was broken down in a way that was easy for new teachers of ENL programs to understand. They encourage teachers to teach in a bilingual-classroom climate while asking important questions so that teachers of English Speakers of other languages will not limit or label children that bring funds of knowledge and/or many assets to the classroom. Their approach to the acquisition of language for Emergent Bilingual students is culturally responsive and relevant.

[Allison Ng · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book aims to coin the term "emergent bilinguals" to a national level and makes some strong points in doing so (provides equity for student's home language and focuses on the advantages of being bilingual/multilingual). Although some topics may have an overlap, the book is geared towards bilingual education and less helpful for teachers who are studying in ENL. The term "emergent bilingual" can be confused with ELs who are at an emerging English proficiency level. However, it is used to reference bilingual students who are minoritized.

The authors highlight issues and inequalities that students may encounter in each topic of the text. It references a variety of research and studies. Alternative approaches are generally introduced and lacked concrete teaching suggestions and strategies. It would have benefitted from the use of more diagrams, graphs, and visuals to help cement the learning.

[Celestina Rivera · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author, Ofelia Garcia, addresses the disconnect between theories and inequitable practices to educating English language learners. Current teaching practices do not value English learners native language although research shows a connection between bilingualism and academic success. The author provides suggestions for advocates, policymakers, and educators for improving educational programs for the increasing English learner student population.

[Misty Epperson · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some pretty bold statements that are thoroughly supported with 43 pages of quoted researchers. The authors maintain that many practices, policies and organizational structures our current multilingual learn in is not grounded in research and what is best for their learning potential. Great summary of steps that needed to be taken however, you’ll find that this is a steppingstone for much more research that needs to take place to change classroom.

[Seth Hobson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty good. The research on bilingual education is miles ahead of where the us pedagogy is and most people don't really think about emergent bilingual to begin with. The book does a good job of outlining first steps on what will surely be a long road.

[Vanessa]

Read 2nd edition (2018). Excellent

[Diana Valdivia-Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book involves the history of ELD practices in schools and the use of educating emergent bilingual learners.

[Sam Spero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite read.

[Cori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Foundations of ESL and Bilingual Education Textbook

Great overview on the topic, repetitive in some parts.

[rosemary paulson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this book for a class that went towards getting my ESL endorsement. I appreciated all the research references and overall the way the book was structured. It explained teaching strategies grounded in research in easy to understand language. So many books for these endorsement classes have such hard vocabulary and the research aspect is so dense. This was a good read and had a nice SPED angle that most ESL books are missing. Very informative and focused on progressive teaching strategies.