Research investigates how children interact with bilingual books

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A dual language book (DLB) is a book whose story is told in two languages. You may find both languages on the same page, or you may have a two-page spread with your primary language on one page and your secondary language on the other.
In dual language programs where students learn in more than one language, some teachers do not use these books because they believe that students only read texts written in their primary language.
To better understand how children read and understand DLB, Assistant Professor Lisa Domke uses bilingual Spanish-English third-grade students enrolled in dual language programs at two different schools. The study was conducted on 63 fifth grade students.
In the first part of the study, she asked participating students to select a DLB, read it, and answer questions about their experience with the book. What language did they choose to read this book and why? What language did they speak at home? Have they read DLB before?
In the second part of the study, Domke asked students to read aloud two preselected DLBs, translate eight specific words (four in Spanish, four in English), and We asked them to discuss how they translated the words. Students also had to retell four pages from each book and explain which elements of each page helped them retell.
Her research, published in The Reading Teacher, found that over 52% of students do not only read in the language in which they are more proficient, demonstrating the utility of DLB in dual language programs. It addresses educators’ concerns about sexuality.
“Children made intentional language choices based on notions of language proficiency, interest, and comprehension,” she wrote. “They also took into account the fact that they were enrolled in a bilingual program aimed at developing bilingualism and bilingual literacy.”
Students used several different strategies to translate words from one language to another. Third graders tend to focus on where the words line up on the page in one language compared to the other, and where the punctuation marks in each sentence or paragraph are, which can lead to mistranslations. It was. In contrast, fifth graders were more likely to use prior knowledge about translations of nearby words or to use what they already knew of a particular word in a non-mainstream language.
In the read-aloud and retelling portions of the study, students’ oral reading accuracy scores were higher in English than in Spanish, and less than 20% of students used Spanish text in retelling.
These results indicate that students in dual language programs need more specific, guided exercises to make connections between languages, and that DLB can be an important part of the curriculum. .
“Teachers cannot just hand students a DLB and assume they will reap all the benefits of its design, but when combined with instruction, the DLB remains a powerful tool that helps children compare and contrast language and “It helps teach students to fully utilize their knowledge, rather than relying solely on general page position and word placement,” Domke writes.
“DLBs can be guided and help students bridge languages, which is important in bilingual classrooms and any classroom with multilingual learners.”
Further information: Lisa M. Domke, Biliteracy in Bilingual Programs: Understanding How Children Read Bilingual Books, The Reading Teacher (2023). DOI: 10.1002/trtr.2271
Provided by Georgia State University
Citation: Study investigates how children engage with bilingual books (October 16, 2024) https://phys.org/news/2024-10-explores-children- Retrieved October 16, 2024 from engage-dual- language.html
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