Biliteracy and Language Development
As the Latino outreach coordinator and Spanish teacher at the high school, I am always trying to find activities and events that can offer culturally relevant experiences. It has been my experience as a teacher that when a student learns a second language integrated with culture there is a more integral approach that prepares a student not only to speak the language but also to interact with the people who speak it with more ease. This is consistent with the recent release of the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages whose goal is to integrate the five C’s (communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities) and prepare global citizens with a wider understanding of the world we live in.
In the same context, the Seal of Biliteracy (SOB), according to its website, is an award given by a school, district, or state in recognition of students who have studied and attained proficiency in two or more languages by high school graduation. Most states in the United States have passed legislation to adopt the seal, and Illinois adopted it in 2017. Since my work is teaching languages and finding meaningful opportunities for minority students and prepare global citizens, I brought up the SOB to my administration. Luckily for my students, the school year 2020 has been the third year my school has awarded this recognition. Currently, my high school only has Spanish as a foreign language, therefore, my focus is on this language.
Implementing the SOB in my school has been rewarding, but not without challenges. It has opened my eyes to the different bumps that prevent students from learning a second language on many levels. The first one, and most obvious, was at the instructional level. The need to revise the foreign language program at my high school presented itself. It emerged as a first step to strengthen classroom instruction and make it consistent across the years in high school. It was also one of the first steps to connect and work with the feeding elementary districts in the area. The largest elementary district showed a stronger commitment to add a year of Spanish in 8th grade. Since then, the 8th Spanish teacher has been closely working with the foreign language high school teachers.
The challenges to strengthen curriculum and instruction have naturally emerged. Planning, committing, staying consistent, and remaining patient are some of the strategies to work through these in the long run. However, one area that I did not expect was how the philosophical biases for language learning in school leaders has an impact in how language learning programming is developed across the school years and the impact it has when students’ finish their academic career at the end of 12th grade.
As I mentioned before, part of my full time position is as the Latino Outreach Coordinator in a semirural high school district of about 665 students according to the Illinois Report Card for school year 2018-2019. For this specific year, the Hispanic population represented over 19% of the student body. I initially brought the Seal of Biliteracy to my school to open an opportunity to Hispanic students to support creating an educational system that values their Spanish skills and sees them as an asset. As a Spanish teacher, the SOB has helped to promote learning a second language for nonnative speakers of Spanish. Overall, the SOB creates a more inclusive culture through academic gains which I consider a win-win for everyone.
In general terms, I feel that I have laid out the scenario, and current circumstances of my work. Therefore, for the purpose of narrowing down this conversation, I will focus my writing only on the Heritage speakers of Spanish. I hope that it is clear through the explanation before that both native and nonnative speakers of Spanish are considered in the efforts to gain language attainment and cultural competence and awareness, but I have found that native speakers of Spanish are impacted by the way the educational system works for (or against) them.
The largest elementary district (and the one we closely work with) runs partial to non-bilingual instruction. Students mainly use English as the primary language of instruction, and there are ESL teachers and general education teachers who are ESL endorsed who are mainly used for compliance with state regulations. There is no language programming for students to strengthen their Spanish skills or to celebrate it as an asset. When Hispanic students come to high school, their Spanish skills are mostly social (Cummins, 1999) as the trends in the results of the Advanced Placement Test Spanish Language and Culture show: Out of 15 students taking the AP test only two have scored a 4 while the rest of them have scored a 3 in the three years that it has been awarded. Even though a small number is represented here, the pattern is clear that Hispanic students that have Spanish speaking home language are not performing as good as many people may think. According to the Illinois State Board of Education, in the list of language assessments with correspondence to American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) proficiency levels, a 3 score on the Advanced Placement (AP) Test of Spanish Culture and Language is equivalent to an intermediate low proficiency level and in accordance with state rules, this scores award students with the Commendation Towards Biliteracy Award. A score 4 which is a high intermediate proficiency level according to the ACTFL levels, on the AP test can award the Seal of Biliteracy. When I first thought about implementing the Seal I thought that many more students would be able to get it, it just has not been the case.
As I take a step back to try to understand what why the trend indicates that students with Spanish as a home language are barely scoring a three in the AP Spanish test, I do not only consider the fact that there is no culture for language development other than English, but also a common understanding among teachers that they are to immerse students in English regardless of their home language when they start their schooling in the district. From my experience as a Latino outreach working with this specific school district I know that parents are encouraged to abandon their efforts to speak to their kids in their home language, and there are no efforts to modify language for instruction. Many bilingual teachers are used to this scenario where the struggles of power are entangled in the language programming of a school creating a diminishing environment for one of the languages (Cummins, 2017).
Having been a language teacher for many years now, I have read and understood this concept, however, seeing students who are half somewhere in the language proficiency continuum is disheartening. Looking beyond awarding the Seal of Biliteracy, this kind of dynamic is a clear example, in my view, of how systems continue to negatively impact students in minority groups.
In my perspective, as an educator, I continue to commit to learn and understand how to create an inclusive environment where these coercive relations of power, as Jim Cummins (2017) puts it, are not there. All educators should have that same commitment, and all school leaders should strive to end this kind of inequalities.
References
Cummins, J. (1999). BICS and CALP: Clarifying the Distinction.
Cummins, J. (2017). Teaching Minoritized Students: Are Additive Approaches Legitimate? Harvard Educational Review, 87(3), 404–425. https://doi.org/10.17763/1943-5045-87.3.404
(n.d.). Illinois State Info - Seal Of Biliteracy States | The Seal of Biliteracy. Retrieved from https://sealofbiliteracy.org/state/il/
(n.d.). List of Language Proficiency Assessments. Retrieved from https://www.isbe.net/Documents/language-proficiency-assessment-list.pdf
(n.d.). ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines 2012 | ACTFL. Retrieved from https://www.actfl.org/resources/actfl-proficiency-guidelines-2012
(n.d.). world-readiness standards for learning languages - ACTFL. Retrieved August 3, 2020, from https://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/publications/standards/World-ReadinessStandardsforLearningLanguages.pdf
