Review of Hamayan, Genesee & Cloud (2013): Dual Language Instruction from A to Z

A survey of American paired teachers in dual language Chinese immersion programs

“…Administrators can ensure that the building as a whole is represented in the press, afterschool programming, and extracurricular events. School leaders can also focus all teachers, immersion, partner, and traditional, on the creation of lessons and curriculum together, without specific differentiation between the program they are in (Hood et al, 2009). Further, if there are special funding allocations, it is important that other teachers do not feel as if they or their students are disenfranchised.…”

“…Contrarily, some studies have indicated that building level disagreements among staff were not a concern. In a rural Spanish immersion program in Oregon, Hood et al (2009) reported that immersion and traditional teachers collaborated together to create elementary curricular units and felt respected by their administration and community. Likewise, the immersion teachers had the support of the nonimmersion teachers and the intentional collaboration created an inclusive building and workplace.…”

“…Because many international teachers are limited in regard to the length of their teaching assignment in the United States (Chen et al, 2017; Jacobs, 2019), part of the responsibility for program success and continuity falls on the American paired teachers and the building administrators. Similarly, effective professional development opportunities that provide sustained engagement may also be presented to language and immersion teachers (Chen et al, 2017; Haley et al, 2013), but also to teacher dyads in immersion schools, incorporating both the immersion teacher and the English‐language teachers as they work together on the same lessons and units (Calderon, 1995; Chen et al, 2017; Green et al, 2013; Hood et al, 2009). As international teachers acclimate to the educational system and culture of the United States, these professional development experiences and team‐ or grade‐level groupings of immersion and traditional teachers provide valuable mentoring for novice teachers.…”

Similarities and dissimilarities in the teaching of English and French in a dual language instructional setting

“…There is much recent research on the extent to which literacy-relevant linguistic subprocesses that are impacted by teaching such as phonological awareness, decoding and listening comprehension, overlap or predict first language (L1) and second language (L2) in dual language contexts (August & Shanahan, 2006;Genesee, Geva, Dressler, & Kamil, 2006;Melby-Lervag & Lervag, 2012;Savage & Pace, 2017). In terms of research on L1 oral language skills, analyses of processes such as the use of cognates shared across languages, or the use of 'bootstrapping' skills of L1 competencies on L2 comprehension suggests they are important aids to effective language teaching (August & Shanahan, 2006;Hamayan, Genesee, & Cloud, 2000).…”