May/June
2008
Literacy experts emphasize that it’s especially
important to convey to non-English speaking parents the value of
talking with young children in their home language. Linda M. Espinosa,
professor of early childhood education at the University of Missouri-Columbia
and author of a January 2008 policy brief, Challenging
Common Myths About Young English Language Learners, says
immigrant parents often believe that they are helping their children
by speaking only English with them. But if parents are more comfortable
in another language, she says, the opposite is true. Language is
a tool for thinking, and children need to be exposed to concepts
and ideas through the use of rich language. If parents can’t
express these concepts and ideas fluently in English, she says,
speaking English only can “truncate [children’s] development.”
“When parents discourage the use of their
native language, what happens is the amount of language interaction
decreases,” Espinoza explains. “What we are really interested
in is rich language interaction—in any language.”
Early literacy skills learned at home in a child’s
first language do transfer to English later. Several studies show
that English language learners between three and eight who have
many learning opportunities in their native language will ultimately
perform better on middle school and high school tests of academic
achievement in English than those who grow up in English-only settings.
|
