Reflections on Efraín's Biliteracy Development

      I classified Efraín as a level 2 (beginning) on the Speaking Rubric of the WIDA Consortium for both English and Spanish although he has more control in the former and is rapidly improving his oral language skills in this language. In English he occasionally code-switches—a common, natural and a true sign of bilinguals (Beeman, 2009), but in his Spanish language usage blending is much more prevalent with the three types of code-switching (Beeman, 2009) evident in his Spanish oral discourse. An example of Efraín’s tag-switching is seen in his answer to the question “¿Que hizo la mujer con los perros. Explícame lo que hace ella.” (The woman worked at a veterinarian’s office). “She's got those thingies here (indicating a stethoscope) and she want to check to see if los perros respiran.” An illustration of his use of inter-sentential is seen in his answer to what types of jobs there are at school: “Hay trabajos como maestros, la principal, and the man who works in the library y la mujer en la oficina.” Finally, intra-sentential code-switching is obvious when he answers a question about his father’s employment: “El trabaja en el centro y hace wings de pollo and nachos. He works en un restaurante during the nighttime.”

     Efraín's English writing sample best matches the description of the phonetic stage of writing development in contrast to his Spanish written discourse that I classified as in the semiphonetic stage (Rubin and Carlan, 2005). I did not see any evidence of code-switching in Efraín’s writing when compared to his speaking, most likely because he had much more time to plan, write and edit his narrative example I analyzed for this class. His writing sample exhibited some spelling approximations to reflect cross-language transfer by recording sounds using limited knowledge of the language code: “pepl” (people), “bech” (beach), “voleball” (volleyball), “bords” (boards), and“lif” (life).

     Writing in Spanish is a struggle for Efraín due to his lack of practice and he seemed confused when I asked him to write a short paragraph of five sentences. It took him nearly thirty minutes to complete it. He used English code to spell Spanish words (but not vice versa) in the case of “me” for “mi,” “is” for “es,” and “pader” (padre) for “father.

     Efraín’s reading skills in English have improved greatly since the beginning of the year but he continues to struggle with comprehension. He can answer one word questions, (e.g., “Where do birds build their nests? What animal on the farm gives milk?”), but stumbles when asked to summarize what he has read. As an emergent reader he is in the early stages of developing his ability to infer meaning from the text. He waits for my prompts to comment on his reading and he does not make spontaneous comments while he goes through the text.

     His Spanish language reading skills are much less developed. He told me his mother will occasionally read to him in Spanish at home but he himself does not like to do so. This is understandable since his exposure to Spanish texts is limited. At the beginning of the year I would ask comprehension questions in Spanish (after reading a text in English) to verify if he understood what I asked, but I never used a text in Spanish as part of our guided reading group.

     As a simultaneous bilingual student born in the US of immigrant Mexican parents, Efraín retains his Spanish-language oral skills through communication at home with his family while developing and rapidly improving his English language skills through his schooling in an English-medium classroom and conversations with his older brother and friends. Due to a limited exposure to written text in Spanish and no instruction in writing Efraín’s Spanish language skills are weak when compared to his English language abilities. Since he is currently not enrolled in a bilingual or dual-immersion educational program it is unlikely that his reading and writing skills in Spanish will improve unless there is a change of programming at his current school to include Spanish language literacy skills or a concerted effort by his family or others to assist him in developing further his Spanish-language reading and writing skills. Another possibility might be a Spanish language class for native speakers in either middle or high school although those programs that intend to develop technologies and resources for Spanish-speaking students’ learning of reading and writing in their home language—critical skills for these students’ general education—are few in number (Potowski, 2006). Nonetheless, as the number of simultaneous bilinguals increase it is reasonable to expect an increased interest and desire for these types of language classes geared toward bilingual students.

Instructional Plan

      I work with Efraín primarily during two segments of the Balanced Literary curriculum: the reading workshop (guided reading) and the writing workshop. Research has shown that as students increase their oral language proficiency they simultaneously increase reading and writing proficiency and conversely as they increase their reading and writing proficiency, there is a similar increase in oral language proficiency (Barone & Xu, 2008).

     For Efraín’s reading instruction in reading I plan on continuing to build his vocabulary and phonemic awareness skills. Since he is in my reading group (one of two students) I have the discretion to choose the texts. I try to use at least fifty percent nonfiction texts. His last assessment rated him at level 10 but I am certain he has increased at least one level. Although he is behind his most of classmates in reading, this is not unusual for an ELL. Teachers should anticipate that learning to read in a language still being acquired will take longer than for students learning to read in their maternal language (Steinhoff, 2008).

     During the guided reading group, about 30 minutes, I break down the time segment into the following ways: Daily sight-word review, introduction of new text (1^st day) and new vocabulary from the book, teaching point, word-solving strategies, word study, and guided writing (2^nd day).

     For the daily sight-word review, I take about 2-3 minutes to review high-frequency words. I found that using whiteboards is quicker than magnetic letters. The students write down 3-5 words as I say them and use them in a sentence. I provide a visual link with a known word when appropriate (“Where has here in it. They has the in it”). I intervene if Efraín writes the word incorrectly.

     For the next few minutes I introduce the new text that includes the names of the characters and brief description of the problem. For any words that he might have trouble decoding I write them on a whiteboard so he can see the unusual spelling. (“This word may be difficult for you. The word is special. Repeat it now.”). At this time Efraín also does a quick picture walk through the book.

     For the next ten minutes or so, Efraín reads independently and softly to himself. I use appropriate prompts and coaching as necessary. This moves nicely into a teaching point where I have to continually ask myself “What does Efraín need to learn next?” whether it be self-monitoring, decoding, fluency or comprehension. Efraín needs particular help with the latter. Strategies that seem to work particularly well with him include beginning-middle-end, making predictions, problem-solution and character feelings.

     The last ten minutes of day one are spent on word study. I focus on blends and the silent e rule by using magnetic letters and analogy charts.

     The last activity of day 2 is guided writing. The two procedures used are (B-M-E) Beginning-Middle-End (B-M-E) and Somebody-Wanted-But-So (S-W-B-S). In B-M-E I have Efraín write 3-5 sentences describing something that happened at the beginning of the text, the next sentence or two describes something that happened in the middle, and the last sentence describes what happened at the end. I have Efraín orally rehearse his sentences with me before he writes them down. With S-W-B-S he uses a one-sentence summary for each of the following: Somebody—who is the story about? Wanted—what did the character want? But—what happened? So—how did it end? What happened next?

      During the writing block, I focus on the following areas with Efraín: writing behavior, composing, comprehension, and conventions. For writing behavior Efraín will work on writing more complex high frequency words (because, once, knew), break multi-syllabic words into parts and record new words in parts, and use transitional and/or conventional spelling for most words. For composing we will work on using the rereading strategy (phrases, words, word) as needed to help with writing a meaningful narrative or fictional story. This step is particularly important because I am working with Efraín to continually edit his work by reminding him to ask himself “Does this make sense to me?” Comprehension involves making certain that his writing reflects understanding of the prompt, incorporating a writing vocabulary that reflects attention to reading, and using vocabulary appropriate for the topic. Finally, with conventions, I will work with Efraín on rereading his writing (again!) and thinking about his end punctuation along with capitalizing sentence beginnings and proper names.

     If during writing time he gets “writer's block,” what I have found to be helpful is to ask him what he wants to write about and have him tell me orally. I tell him to use either English or Spanish, whichever he feels most comfortable using. I retell him what I heard and then say “That sounds great. Write that down.” I have found this to be particularly helpful with ELLs. Although his writing skills in Spanish are not very developed I also encourage him to write any words in Spanish if he does not know their English equivalents in order to keep his writing moving. Early writing among bilingual children provides many insights to teachers on their understanding of language and the writing process (Rubin & Carlan, 2005).

     I anticipate that Efraín will continue to approve in all areas of literacy as has been the case since I started working with him in September. A little “aha moment” occurred the other day when he looked over at his classmate's writing (a native English speaker) and politely informed him “that's not how you spell thin. It is spelled t-h-e-n.” I have seen his confidence grow as his language skills develop and I look forward to continuing to work with him.

Efraín's Reading Analysis

When I asked Efraín “What do good readers do?” he responded “they understand the stories they read; they know what the words mean.” “What about when you come to words you don't understand—what do you do?” He responded “I look at the pictures and try to stretch the word out.” He stated he enjoys reading about animals and sports, especially soccer and baseball. I observed him reading alone and he tends to be less of a careful reading than when he is in a guided reading group with me. At home his mother will occasionally read to him in Spanish but he himself does not like to do so.

I use about a 3:1 ratio of nonfiction to fiction text with Efraín in his small reading group in order to assist him with his comprehension skills and build his vocabulary. Nonetheless he still struggles with the former. He can usually answer simple, one-word answers (e.g., “Where do birds build their nests? What animal on the farm gives milk?”) but stumbles and often guesses when asked to summarize what he has read (“tell me what happened first, then in the middle, and what happened last”). Like many early readers his is just beginning to develop his ability to infer meaning from the text. He waits for my prompts to comment on his reading and he does not make spontaneous comments while he goes through the text. Due to his less developed Spanish vocabulary and lack of formal instruction in Spanish Efraín's reading comprehension skills in this language are much less developed than those in English.

Efraín's reading is somewhat monotone. He is working on recognizing different end punctuation marks (? and !) and how the reading of these sentences differ from those that end in a period. He is also learning how to interpret bold print. His last reading assessment rated him instructional at level 10 with 92% accuracy. For his expressive reading in English I would rate Efraín a 2/3—he reads primarily in three and four word phrase groups but occasionally changes the author's syntax (“have” for “had,” “three girl” for “three girls,”). He generally reads at the appropriate rate but slows or stops to decode unfamiliar text. In Spanish I rated him a 3 at the instructional level but his expressive reading scores drops to a 1 because he primarily reads word-by-word, he reads with little or no expression, and reads very slowly. This gap between the two scores is not surprising since Efraín has received all of his formal schooling in English (beginning in pre-K).

Efraín's Writing Analysis

I consider English to be Efraín's L1 when discussing written language development because he has only attended an English-medium school. His English writing sample best matches the description of the phonetic stage of writing development as described by Gentry. The phonetic stage is where children represent most of the sounds with letters. He wrote using both consonants and vowels to describe the sounds that he hears owing to his exposure to the English language and his English-only medium of instruction. For a how-to book on the topic of swimming, the table of contents had four sections: 1) what you nede; 2) plas (places) to swim; 3) games to play; and 4) bech (beach) safty (safety).

For his L2 (Spanish) I would classify his writing development as in the semiphonetic stage. This stage is described as when children understand that letters represent sound but do represent all sounds in words. I asked him to write a short paragraph about himself. A few examples of the words he wrote were tgo (tengo), clr (color), ol (azul).

Efraín was able to hear and record many more sounds in English than in Spanish most likely due is receiving instruction in English with little exposure to Spanish at school.

Without a doubt Efraín understands that writing conveys ideas and words have meaning. His English language structures are far more complex than those he wrote in Spanish. In English he is able to expand on ideas when prompted. Although he still struggles with a few particular sounds in English, Efraín has made tremendous strides this year.

I did not see any evidence of code-switching in Efraín’s writing when compared to his speaking. The writing sample I analyzed was written over a period of many days with several opportunities to revise and edit. He had a lot of time to think about his writing whereas when he speaks it is much more spontaneous with less time to think about what he is saying. He exhibited some spelling approximations to reflect cross-language transfer by recording sounds using limited knowledge of the language code: “pepl” (people), “bech” (beach), “voleball” (volleyball), “bords” (boards), and“lif” (life). As I wrote earlier I believe Efrain’s dominant or L1 language to be English. He used English code to spell Spanish words (but not vice versa) in the case of “me” for “mi,” “is” for “es,” and “pader” (padre) for “father.

Efraín struggled to write in Spanish. In fact, he seemed confused. It took him nearly 30 minutes to write five short sentences and many of the letters he wrote did not correspond to the sounds he made when discussing his writing. I would guess that he may have written very little--if anything—in Spanish previously. I think this is most likely due to his use of Spanish as primarily an oral language used with his family at home while English is the language of schooling and social relationships.

Oral Language Analysis

It appears that Efraín is a simultaneous bilingual. He was born in the US of immigrant Mexican parents. He speaks Spanish at home with them (confirmed by his older brother aged 9) but in English with his brother and his friends. I believe that English is his preferred language of communication since when given the chance to speak in Spanish he quickly reverts back into English. After analyzing his speech in both languages it appears he has a bit more control over his oral language in English, most likely due to receiving his formal education in a English-language medium.

In class he has little opportunity to speak Spanish. There are two other Spanish-speaking students—one with limited English skills like himself—and the other with a much higher level of English fluency. With all his classmates and the teacher he converses in English. He has known since the beginning of the school year that I speak Spanish but he has never once initiated any conversation in Spanish. When I ask questions about his reading and it appears he is thinking about the appropriate vocabulary to use I tell him to explain it to me in Spanish which he will do on an occasional basis.

In Efraín's English sample, he occasionally will engage in code-switching. I would classify him as a 2 (beginning) on the Speaking Rubric of the WIDA Consortium. There are a few single-word or set phrases but more short oral sentences in the are of linguistic complexity. His vocabulary usage is also a 2 because outside the highly familiar general content area (high frequency words) he gets stuck quite quickly and struggles to find the appropriate vocabulary. When discussing new ideas or unfamiliar concepts he shuts down pretty quickly and resorts to simple one-word refrains. I would classify his language control also as a 2. With simple discourse he is generally understandable and fluent; more complex discourse and unfamiliar content results in Efraín visibly struggling with sentence structure and vocabulary and makes many syntactic and semantic errors.

Language blending is much more prevalent when Efraín speaks Spanish. The three types of code-switching (tag-switching, inter-sentential, and intra-sentential code-switching were evident in Efraín's Spanish discourse. We began a discussion about a book that talked about various types of jobs in Spanish. I asked Efraín “¿Que hizo la mujer con los perros. Explícame lo que hace ella.” (The woman worked at a veterinarian’s office). He responded “She's got those thingies here (indicating a stethoscope) and she want to check to see if los perros respiran” (tag-switching). When I asked about what types of jobs are there at school he answered “Hay trabajos como maestros, la principal, and the man who works in the library y la mujer en la oficina (inter-sentential). And when discussing his father's employment “El trabaja en el centro y hace wings de pollo and nachos. He works en un restaurante during the nighttime.(intra-sentential).

I would classify Efraín's Spanish-language development as a level 2 beginning. He generally used phrases and short oral sentences in Spanish but also relied upon code-switching and his English language skills to express himself. His vocabulary usage ranks between a 1 and 2 since he struggles with moving beyond high frequency vocabulary for general conversation. His language control is between and 2 and 3. He is generally comprehensible and fluent in his Spanish discourse but struggles when attempting more complex oral communication.

Efraín is generally a very shy boy. It is only recently that I have seen him engage in conversation with his classmates and participate in the large-group discussions. The extended silence gaps have lessened considerably between us since the beginning of the school year. It is not easy to get him to talk. Even in a more comfortable setting such as the after-school homework club targeting Latino students he is visibly more at ease, but still limits his conversation. I have even observed his brother answering questions for him and at times translating. It would be interesting to observe his oral discourse skills when speaking to his mother in his home environment. I would assume he is more comfortable with her and speaks more freely and openly.

Efraín es un niño de siete años y es estudiante de primer grado en la escuela de Lowell.  El nació en los estados unidos de padres inmigrantes mexicanos.  Efraín es el segundo varón de tres hijos con un hermano mayor en tercer grado y uno más joven de un año.  Efraín le gusta jugar fútbol en el parque con sus amigitos del vencindario.  En su casa juega juegos videos con su hermano.  El es muy simpático y tranquilo.  Al principio del año era muy tímido y no hablaba mucho inglés pero poco a poco va aprendiendo y se nota que su confianza ha crecido con su capacidad aprobada para hablar inglés.  El participa más en discusiones del grupo y en conversaciones con sus compañeros de clase.  El habla español en la casa con sus padres y inglés con su hermano mayor.

Efraín está matriculado en un programa de puro inglés y es clasificado como un estudiante ELL.  El recibe servicios de maestros bilingües en el aula diariamente.  En relación a los otros alumnos del aula él está un poco atrasado en su lectoescritura.  Yo le conozco porque soy una de los maestros bilingües (BRT) que trabaja con Efraín todos los dias.