Language needs of minority group children By June Derrick (review)

776 LANGUAGE, VOLUME 54, NUMBER 3 (1978) A survey ofthe materials in this book shows that legislatures and courts have become infinitely more sensitive—and sensible—since the days of the Meyer act in Nebraska, when any teaching of foreign languages (let alone classroom instruction in a language other than English) was expressly forbidden until the ninth grade. However, considerable confusion and overlapping aims and concepts still remain in thereported legislation. Does bilingual education mean providing native speakers of English with second-language abilities ? Does it mean providing non-English-speaking students (whether immigrants or native-born)with compensatory aid in English ? Does it mean providing instruction in the student's native language in subjects other than language? All these definitions show up in the laws and court decisions reproduced in this publication. In recent years, however, bilingual education has come more and more to mean using the students' first language—the language of the home—as the medium of instruction for part or most of the curriculum, particularly in the early grades. It is easy to see how such a pattern can make some people uneasy. By providing, e.g., instruction in basic mathematics in Chinese or Spanish, are we contributing to divisive forces in our society ? Would we not be better employed increasing the students' skill in English, since sooner or later they must face the fact that the United States is essentially a monolingual culture? Are we fostering feelings of security at the expense of development ? The various states' responses to these problems vary widely. Arizona, with its large Spanish-speaking population, reiterates firmly that all instruction shall be carried out in English—with the exception of special classes in the early grades designed for nonnative speakers of English, 'to improve or accelerate the comprehension and speech of the English language by such students'. California, however, has a complex of regulations intended to permit students to receive instruction in their native language, as well as instruction in English as a second language. Alaska has an interesting law: ? state-operated school which is attended by at least 15 pupils whose primary language is other than English shall have at least one teacher who is fluent in the native language of the area where the school is located.' One wonders what the teacher would be able to do with 15 immigrant Cantonese speakers! This kind of implicit understanding, that the laws governing bilingual education apply to speakers of certain languages and not others, underlies legislation all around the nation: Spanish is favored in the Southwest and New York City, Chinese in California, Native American languages in the West and in Alaska. This apparently dry compilation of laws and regulations thus provides a valuable view of the attitudes of the nation and the various states toward speakers of languages other than English, and reinforces the impression that immigrant children who do not fit into accepted patterns or categories will be expected to survive linguistically as their grandparents did—on their own efforts! [Phyllis Brooks, Berkeley.] Language needs of minority group children. By June Derrick. Windsor, England: National Foundation for Educational Research Publishing Co., 1977. Pp. 59. In this short, lucid, delightfully written pamphlet, Derrick summarizes responses to the problem of the entry of large numbers of non-English-speaking students into the British school system over the past few decadessurveying different viewpoints on the problems faced by students, teachers, and parents, as they come to grips with the learning of a new language in an alien cultural setting. As D reviews the literature in the field, she tries to clarify problems rather than provide solutions. She balances her discussion of the teaching of English to children from 'families of overseas origin' with a presentation of the 'complex question ofthe cultural and linguistic identity of children of minority groups'. D also describes current practices in various schools in Britain, and desiderata in the teaching of English as a second language. Her exposition strikes a responsive chord in any American teacher who is faced with the problem of fostering the linguistic skills of immigrant or native-born speakers of languages other than English. Students in all remedial courses (especially those who have...