227 Does Not Deserve Credit

Michael Howard's article on bilingual education ("Bilingual education faces ballot box challenge," ALR, Sept/Oct 2000, p.32) is well balanced but deserves some commentary. Contrary to Ron Unz' claims, Prop. 227 does not deserve the credit for increases in SAT9 scores in California.
As Unz pointed out, test scores for limited English proficient children did in fact go up in Oceanside, a district that dropped bilingual education. But Oceanside had a poorly conceived bilingual program, one in which instruction was only in Spanish until grade six. Properly organized bilingual programs introduce English on the first day, and begin subject matter teaching in English as soon as it can be made comprehensible.
Unz did not discuss other districts in Cali-fornia. Stanford professor Kenji Hakuta found that test scores rose in districts that kept bilingual education, as well as in districts that never had bilingual education. Also, for the last three years, limited English proficient students in Arizona who were in bilingual education have outscored those in all-English programs on tests of English
reading.
Test score comparisons are, however, imprecise, as so many factors are uncontrolled. As Dr. Michael Peralta noted in his letter to the editor in the same issue (p.8), Mr. Unz has ignored the results of properly conducted research on the effectiveness of bilingual education. Controlled studies consistently show that children in properly organized bilingual classes acquire at least as much English as those in all-English classes and usually acquire more. The most recent review of this research was done by Prof. Jay Greene of the University of Texas at Austin, using statistical tools far more precise than those used in previous reviews. Greene concluded that the use of the native language in instructing limited English proficient children has "moderate beneficial effects" and that "efforts to eliminate the use of the native language in instruction...harm children by denying them access to beneficial
approaches."

Stephen Krashen
School of Education, USC
Los Angeles, California

A Note on Bennett-Kew

The ALR's article on Nancy Ichinaga (Sept/Oct 2000, p.58 ) reports on the increased test scores at the Bennett-Kew school in Inglewood, California. It should be pointed out that the Bennett-Kew school has a policy of retaining low achieving kindergarten children for an extra year. According to an article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel on February 9, 2000, 18% of Bennett-Kew first graders are in this category and attend a special all-day "junior first" program "designed to shore up their basic skills." Also, exam preparation is intense at Bennett-Kew. Bennett-Kew children, according to the Sentinel, are tested constantly on small-scale versions of the fill-in-the-bubble standardized exams. One wonders if they are really increasing the temperature in the room, or simply lighting a match under the thermometer. Scores in Bennett-Kew drop regularly with each year. Second graders in 1998 scored 60 on SAT9 reading, then fell to 58 the next year, and to 52 the next. Third graders in 1998 also scored 60 on SAT9 reading, and fell to 57 the next year and 49 the next. This pattern is true for all of Bennett-Kew's test results since the SAT9 was introduced. The lowest scores are still very good for a school with Bennett-Kew's profile, but the decline is of concern.

Stephen Krashen
School of Education, USC

Adjusting the Radical Middle

Charles Glenn's article on the "radical middle" (ALR, Sept/Oct 2000, p. 19) contains some good common sense suggestions, but I must comment on some inaccuracies. Glenn suggests that bilingual programs keep language minority children separate from language majority children for five to seven years. Not so. In properly organized bilingual programs, children are together for mainstream instruction as soon as it can be made comprehensible, beginning with those subjects that are more easily contextualized, such as math and science. This does not take five to seven years. Glenn also notes that in many countries, children are placed in special programs using the child's primary language for only one year before entering the mainstream. This may be the practice, but this doesn't mean it is a good idea.
Glenn also includes Israel among the countries that do not do bilingual education. Unfortunately, no evidence is available on the success of Hebrew-only programs, but it is interesting that the Israeli government is now setting up bilingual programs for Ethiopian and Russian immigrants.
Glenn concludes that parents should be able to "opt for a school which supports their own education goals," including bilingual education. I agree completely. Unfortun-ately, Propositions 227 (California) and 203 (Arizona) remove the option of choice.

Stephen Krashen
School of Education, USC

A Debt of Gratitude

I am writing to express my gratitude to the author of “The Web’ster”, Lin Lougheed. I have regularly read Mr. Lougheed’s column and the information and resources it has directed me to, have been invaluable to my students and me.
I am somewhat a “web novice” and his tutorial on email in an earlier column really helped me out. The latest Web’ster column opened another “internet” door, explaining ALI, or Apple Learning Interchange, which I have since used in classroom exercises.
For teachers such as myself, the Web’ster is helping to make my transition into the “internet age” much easier. Thanks

Barbara Mitchell,
Pinewood Elementary School
Santa Fe, New Mexico

Bedazzled by ALR!

Thank you for the July/August 2000 issue of ALR. I am still dazzled by the quality of your publication: the thorough research on the role of court interpreters, the accurate and balanced description of the revival of minority languages in Europe, the enlightening articles on electronic education by Gordon Rich and Randall Davis, the imagination and commitment of David Williams... I have even enjoyed the advertising you carry! I am enjoying your magazine so much that I would like to subscribe to it.
Sincerely,
J. Ignacio Bermejo
Zaragoza, Spain

When Is English Official In the U.S?

When is “English” official and when is it not here in the United States, “Two More States Attempt to Adopt English As Official Language” (ALR, September/October 2000, pp 10). The last time I communicated with someone here in the U.S., they spoke to me in English, my hardware store salesman spoke to me in English, the guy at at the ticket booth when I bought my tickets to see the movie “Meet The Parents”, which by the way was a pretty funny movie, coincidently it was in English, without English subtitles! The whole concept of a U.S state officially naming English as its official language is as ridiculous as a pizza naming pepperoni as its official meat!
And it all comes back to Proposition 227, California’s “Abolish Bilingual Edu-cation” legislation. Maybe if we spent as much time writing this legislation as we did actually teaching the students that need language education we’d be a little better off. Why don’t you take the money spent on drafting your “Let’s Make English this state’s official language” legislation and fix a school with it or build a playground. It’ll definitely be put to better use.
Sincerely
Rex Hawthorn
Humboldt County,
California

A Court Interpreter Is In A Difficult Position

Often it is easy to forget how difficult some jobs could be. After reading “Making the Right Interpretation” (ALR, July/August 2000, p.18), I have a greater understanding of the difficulties involved in giving non-English speakers a fair trial in our judicial system.
The court interpreters role in such cases is the only one that stands between an acquital or a guilty verdict. The wrong emphasis on a word and the whole context of the testimony is compromised. I was perplexed by the example given during the O.J. Simpson trial when his Spanish-speaking witness Rosa Lopez questioned about different dates and whether she could remember when particular events occurred__and the difference between her answers and the one provided by the interpretation. It is a very interesting situation indeed.
Sincerely
Rochelle Hunter
Baltimore, Maryland

I Just Can’t Do It!

I can’t for the life of me come up with a 26-letter pangram. Thanks Richard Lederer for causing me a great deal of frustation and fun.

Michael Black, Port St Lucie, Florida