Background variables considered in this study are:
1. Parent’s schooling
2. Parental socioeconomic status
3. Father’s presence or absence from the home
4. The child’s bilingual language exposure
5. The number of years the child lived in the old country prior to coming to the mainland
6. The child’s academic grade point average
7. Behavioral non academic variables
8. The child’s intelligence quotient
These variables have been included for the following reasons. Observations of associations between any of these variables and second language scores, and/or existing patterns of intercorrelated variables in association with second language scores may yield a broader profile of a child’s linguistic and non-linguistic characteristics within the framework of second language competence. Intelligence, a presume intervening variable significantly involved in changes on language proficiency scores, will be covaried with second language scores and critically analyzed for its effects.
A home language survey (Appendix III) was conducted to obtain a measure of the child’s use of both languages (English and Spanish) in the home and in the community. This section of the survey served primarily to estimate the degree of oral bilingualism the child possessed by calculating the time the child was exposed to either language. The relative time the child spent speaking and hearing either language was roughly measured.
The home language survey contained questions regarding the following:
a. length of time in years and months the child has spent on the mainland, and time the child has lived in his homeland.
b. parents’s income
c. parents’ education
d. parents’ occupation
e. composition of household (number of children, single or two parent household, etc.
f. parents’ use of language as described above for the child.
g. The child’s chronological age, and years of schooling were also obtained for the full sample
Operational definitions of each variable and the ways they have been measured follow:
1. Parents’ schooling
Mothers’s schooling is defined as the number of years the natural mother of the child attended and completed school. A grade equivalency was counted as a completed year in school.
Fathers’s schooling is defined the same way as is the mothers’. When the natural father was not living the home, the mother was asked to provide information about the natural father of the child.
Socioeconomic Status is defined in terms of three distinct categories. An average two digit score was computed by adding the scores computed at each level (either 1, 2 or 3) for each one of 6 status levels. The status levels are described below:
2. Socioeconomic Status is defined in terms of three distinct categories. An average two digit score was computed by adding the scores computed at each level (either 1, 2 or 3) for each one of 6 status levels. The status levels are described below:
1. Parent's employment status
(3) income above $15,000
SES_____ (2) income between $ 5,000 and $ 15, 000
(1) income under $ 5,000
2. Household status
(3) own a house
SES______ (2) rent apartment
(1) share house or apartment
3. Ownership status
(3) own property
SES_____ (2) own automobile
(1) no ownership
4. Dependency status
(1) substantial economic dependency on government
SES_____ (3) minimal or no dependency on government
5. Fathers’ Education Status
(3) high school diploma (or equivalency) & beyond
SES_____ (2) from 8th to 11th grade
(1) from 0 to 7th grade
6. Mothers’ Education Status
(3) high school diploma (or equivalency) & beyond
SES_____ (2)from 8th to 11th grade
(1) from 0 to 7th grade
AVERAGE SCORE -- SES: ______
The previous categorical socioeconomic assignment of subjects was made to conform as much as possible to a normal curve, the majority falling in the middle socioeconomic status and both sides of the curve (the tails) adding up to a smaller proportion of the sample.
TABLE 3
FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION OF SUBJETS BY SOCIOECONOMIC LEVELS
N = 60; Mean Score = 1.6; Standard Deviation = 2.8
3. Father’s presence or absence from he home was computed in terms of whether the child’s father lived in the house or not at the time the interview took place. To assure reliability of responses during the interviewing of parents in the home, the investigator visited the home either on a Saturday or on a Sunday, with his wife and daughter. This assured the interviewees that the investigator was not a government agent inquiring whether mothers with dependent children qualify for economic and health benefits from state or federal sources.
4. The child’s bilingual language exposure was defined in terms of his or her exposure to language from the following sources:
a. home
b. neighborhood
c. media
Parents interviewed were asked to answer six questions about their child’s language use habits in both English and Spanish. The following is a list of the questions asked:
1. Language (s) spoken at home (among adults)
2. Language (s) spoken by parents (adults) to child
3. Language (s) spoken by child to parents
4. Language (s) spoken by child with sibling
5. Language (s) spoken by child in he neighborhood
6. Language (s) heard by child on TV and radio
After each question asked by the interviewer, the parent is asked to select from a set of responses. The following are the multiple choice answers two of which the parent must choose, one for Spanish and one for English:
An Average score is computed for each language by adding to partial scores and dividing by the number of items responded by the parent.
0. NO SPANISH
1. SOME SPANISH
2. BOTH ABOUT EQUAL
3. MOSTLY SPANISH
4. ALL SPANISH
0. NO ENGLISH
1. SOME ENGLISH
2. BOTH ABOUT EQUAL
3. MOSTLY ENGLISH
. 4. ALL ENGLISH
5. The number of years the child lived in the old country is determined from the parents’s interview. The father or mother is asked how many years the child lived in his or her country of origin. The answer is rounded to nearest whole.
6. The child’s academic grade point average is derived from Appendix D. This academic information sheet is completed from the student’s cumulative record submitted to the investigator by principal, after parental consent was given for this specific purpose. Subjects for which grades are provided are: 1. Reading, 2. Language, 3. Arithmetic, 4. Social Studies, 5. Science, and 6. Health and Safety Habits. The following information Form was utilized to collect students’ grades:
STUDENTS GRADES BY SCHOOL SUBJECTS
7. The behavioral non academic variables were collected from the same source as grades. These include grades on personality and citizenship development such as 1. Social and Emotional Development, 2. Work Habits, and 3. Health and Safety Habits.
8. The child’s intelligence quotient was was obtained from the administration of the Spanish version of the WISC. The Verbal and Performance scales were treated as independent variables for the Factor Analysis.
Appendix I contains several documents. The first is a copy of a Memorandum approved by Dr. Anthony D’Agostino, Assistant Executive Superintendent for elementary Programs. It was written by the Director of the office of Bilingual Education of the Newark District, Miss Iris Martinez-Arroyo, and concerned the approval of this study. Each principal received a copy of this letter.
Appendix I also includes the parental consent letters delivered to all parents of children of the study. Spanish and English versions were forwarded on one sheet of paper (back to back). The principal of each one of the participating schools was asked to sign the letter and request the classroom teachers to have the children deliver the letters to their parents and return them to the teacher the following day. All except one of the parents of the children eligible for the study refused to participate.
Appendix II is the information gathering sheet for the core variables of the study (language tests). Language tests scores were gathered at the central office of he NewarkBoard of Education. Print-out sheets containing the results of all language tests administered to bilingual students beginning in 1982 were made available. It was the responsibility of the researcher to examine and organize the material in order to allow for the transferral of all pertinent information on children that conformed to the selecting criteria described above.
Appendix III contains the guided interview utilized to obtain language use data as well as background information on the family of each of the subjects of the study.
Appendix IV provides the form used to transfer information from the school records. The grades and basic demographic information were collected for each one of the children. These were made available at each of the participating schools, either from the Office of the Principal or from the home classroom teacher.
8. The child’s intelligence quotient was was obtained from the administration of the Spanish version of the WISC. The Verbal and Performance scales were treated as independent variables for the Factor Analysis.
Appendix I contains several documents. The first is a copy of a Memorandum approved by Dr. Anthony D’Agostino, Assistant Executive Superintendent for elementary Programs. It was written by the Director of the office of Bilingual Education of the Newark District, Miss Iris Martinez-Arroyo, and concerned the approval of this study. Each principal received a copy of this letter.
Appendix I also includes the parental consent letters delivered to all parents of children of the study. Spanish and English versions were forwarded on one sheet of paper (back to back). The principal of each one of the participating schools was asked to sign the letter and request the classroom teachers to have the children deliver the letters to their parents and return them to the teacher the following day. All except one of the parents of the children eligible for the study refused to participate.
Appendix II is the information gathering sheet for the core variables of the study (language tests). Language tests scores were gathered at the central office of he NewarkBoard of Education. Print-out sheets containing the results of all language tests administered to bilingual students beginning in 1982 were made available. It was the responsibility of the researcher to examine and organize the material in order to allow for the transferral of all pertinent information on children that conformed to the selecting criteria described above.
Appendix III contains the guided interview utilized to obtain language use data as well as background information on the family of each of the subjects of the study.
Appendix IV provides the form used to transfer information from the school records. The grades and basic demographic information were collected for each one of the children. These were made available at each of the participating schools, either from the Office of the Principal or from the home classroom teacher.
Statistical Analyses
The t Test
result by dividing the scores at the median. Normal curve equivalent scores will be used on this
operation. A t test was performed for the two groups of the dependent variable, English Proficiency, on each consecutive year from 1982 to 1984.
Expected Outcome
Two distinct populations of children may be shown by this linguistic profile: students whose
bilingualism is interactive and positive, and students whose bilingualism is interactively negative.
The underlying paradigm would then be that Spanish proficiency, as it progresses, will equip the
child with a developmentally essential language process allowing for the similarly paced growth of
the second language.
A poorly developed (or developing) first language system would consequently delay progress in the
second language. The paradigm of bilingual development as a ´psychosocial process contingent upon first language status (affective and social) in the context of a specific socioeconomic setting may be
reflected if the experimental outcome is as describe above.
Alternate Outcomes
Other alternatives are possible
1. High scores in English for the low Spanish proficient group, and poor scores in English for
the high Spanish proficient group.
Explanation:
A. Spanish proficiency subtracts from English proficiency, and vice versa. This has been
called the balance effect or subtractive bilingualism (Macnamara, 1966): The more one learns one
language, the less one may know of the other.
B. Languages become mutually exclusive when sharing the same societal domain. Knowing and speaking two languages for the same purpose is useless. Bilingual children would then tend to
choose between either of the two languages of their societal-linguistic ambience. Those inclined
toward English, the majority language, will progress in English and regress in Spanish, and vice
versa.
2. No observed differences between the two groups (the low and high Spanish proficient) in their
English proficiency. Knowledge of Spanish would have no effect whatsoever on the knowledge of
English for these children, and vice versa.
Explanation:
A. Each language may grow independently, neither hindering nor helping each other.
Knowledge of either language may reflect only linguistically compartmentalized ambiences of little
influence on each other. A diglossic cognitive-linguistic background may prevail if such were the
case. A random distribution of language test scores will result; therefore, some children will be good
in both languages, some will be poor in both, and some will be good in one and poor in the other,
with no specific pattern observed.
Independent variables affecting dominant Spanish speakers (specifically Hispanic children under
study):
1. Living in their countries of origin until recent entrance into theschool system or relative isolation
from the majority culture in spite of living on the mainland.
2. Parents’ limiting English speaking ability in oppositional attachment to homeland values.
3. Teachers’ provision of strong support to Spanish.
Independent variables affecting dominant English speakers:
1. Better exposure to that language and culture via parental influence, and/or their immediate
contacts in the neighbourhood.
2. Rapid school assimilation of English and the mainstream culture which supports it.
Independent variables affecting equal language fluency:
1. Balanced rich or scarce family, language and societal resources from which to develop language
skills at home and in school.
Analysis of Covariance
(groupings were formed by dividing the samples scores at the median). English
Statistical Design
Scores of the CTBS administered in 1982 will serve as the grouping variable. Two groups will result by dividing the scores at the median. Normal curve equivalent scores will be used on this
operation. A t test was performed for the two groups of the dependent variable, English Proficiency, on each consecutive year from 1982 to 1984.
Expected Outcome
It is assumed that these children who yield higher scores in Spanish (the high Spanish proficient
group) will also score higher on the English proficiency tests. additionally it is expected that those
children with lower proficiency n Spanish will also yield poorer scores on the English proficiency
tests, if Cummins; hypothesis is verified for these children.
Two distinct populations of children may be shown by this linguistic profile: students whose
bilingualism is interactive and positive, and students whose bilingualism is interactively negative.
The underlying paradigm would then be that Spanish proficiency, as it progresses, will equip the
child with a developmentally essential language process allowing for the similarly paced growth of
the second language.
A poorly developed (or developing) first language system would consequently delay progress in the
second language. The paradigm of bilingual development as a ´psychosocial process contingent upon first language status (affective and social) in the context of a specific socioeconomic setting may be
reflected if the experimental outcome is as describe above.
Alternate Outcomes
Other alternatives are possible
1. High scores in English for the low Spanish proficient group, and poor scores in English for
the high Spanish proficient group.
Explanation:
A. Spanish proficiency subtracts from English proficiency, and vice versa. This has been
called the balance effect or subtractive bilingualism (Macnamara, 1966): The more one learns one
language, the less one may know of the other.
B. Languages become mutually exclusive when sharing the same societal domain. Knowing and speaking two languages for the same purpose is useless. Bilingual children would then tend to
choose between either of the two languages of their societal-linguistic ambience. Those inclined
toward English, the majority language, will progress in English and regress in Spanish, and vice
versa.
2. No observed differences between the two groups (the low and high Spanish proficient) in their
English proficiency. Knowledge of Spanish would have no effect whatsoever on the knowledge of
English for these children, and vice versa.
Explanation:
A. Each language may grow independently, neither hindering nor helping each other.
Knowledge of either language may reflect only linguistically compartmentalized ambiences of little
influence on each other. A diglossic cognitive-linguistic background may prevail if such were the
case. A random distribution of language test scores will result; therefore, some children will be good
in both languages, some will be poor in both, and some will be good in one and poor in the other,
with no specific pattern observed.
Independent variables affecting dominant Spanish speakers (specifically Hispanic children under
study):
1. Living in their countries of origin until recent entrance into theschool system or relative isolation
from the majority culture in spite of living on the mainland.
2. Parents’ limiting English speaking ability in oppositional attachment to homeland values.
3. Teachers’ provision of strong support to Spanish.
Independent variables affecting dominant English speakers:
1. Better exposure to that language and culture via parental influence, and/or their immediate
contacts in the neighbourhood.
2. Rapid school assimilation of English and the mainstream culture which supports it.
Independent variables affecting equal language fluency:
skills at home and in school.
Analysis of Covariance
Statistical Design
Scores obtained for the full sample on the CTBS Espanol 1982 will be used as the grouping variable (groupings were formed by dividing the samples scores at the median). English
proficiency scores of the sample (repeated measures) in 1982, 1983, and 1984) composed the dependent variables for the High Spanish and Low Spanish groups. Spanish proficiency (low and High) and year (1982, 1983 and 1984) will be the independent variables or factors. Full IQ scores of the Spanish version of the WISC will be covaried with the dependent variables to permit adjustments o the cell means, if necessary, on account of the influence of intelligence, the independent variables in this case. A two-way analysis of covariance will result.
Expected Outcomes
Main Effects
1. Level of Proficiency
There will be observed mean differences between the high and the low proficient groups. English language scores will be high for the high Spanish proficient group and low for the low Spanish proficient group.
2. Year
English language competence in general will increase. However, the low Spanish proficient group is not expected to improve in any significant way in English. Therefore, no significant main effect is expected across time.
Interaction
1. Year by Group
A possible interaction will ensue as the high Spanish proficient group may differentially increase its English competence across time as compared with the low Spanish proficient group.
Factor Analysis
A factor analysis will be run with all the core variables, background variables and IQ scores. A matrix will be generated from the scores of each variable. The result of this matrix will indicate which variables may be grouped together into a superordinate construct called a factor.
A factor includes those variables which appear to be highly correlated among each other. This procedure will indicate whether English scores and Spanish scores belong to the same factor (bilingual proficiency) or to separate factors. it will also indicate whether any of the other variables correlate with language proficiency, or if they form correlation clusters with little or no correlation with the language variables.
Expected Outcome
English and Spanish variables are expected to intercorrelate with each other,and not with intelligence. Intelligence, it has been hypothesized, may be a crucial intervening variable accounting for the variance in language variables. Discounting this possibility will increase support for Cummins’ hypothesis.
Multiple Linear Regression Analysis
In order to determine the contribution of the variables under study (the core variables, Spanish 1982, 1983, intelligence and the background variables) to the variance of the dependent variable, English proficiency in 1984, a multiple regression analysis has been designed.
The first goal is to observe the regression of Y (English proficiency 1984) on X, X2.... (Spanish 82, 83, and the background variables). A multiple regression coefficient (R) will be generated. The value of the coefficient R will indicate whether this correlation is significant.
The multiple regression coefficient (R) will be squared to provide information about how much of the variance of Y (the dependent variable) is accounted for by the variance of the combined independent variables.
The second step is to figure out statistically what role is played by the Spanish variables in the values observed for English-1984. In other words, what is in fact the contribution of Spanish proficiency to the child’s learning of English from first through third grade.
Any prediction about the probable learning rate in English of a bilingual third grader (enrolled in a bilingual education program), from the knowledge of Spanish he concurrently possesses, will be restricted by the percent of variance accounted for by Spanish on English as shown on a stepwise regression analysis.
Expected Outcome
It may be assumed that an undetermined number of factors contribute to the variance of another variable. Many of these factors, however, do not generate considerable change. Cummins’ (1979) linguistic developmental interdependence hypothesis affirms that Spanish proficiency will significantly contribute to these children’s learning of English in school.
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