syllabus

Course Objectives: This course has three main goals: (1) to examine legal and policy issues related to the education of language minority student in the United States, with a particular emphasis on California; (2) to survey research on common school practices and research on their effectiveness; and (3) to survey theory and research on second language acquisition.

Course Format and Requirements: For each meeting, students are required to come to class having done the readings for that date. The grading for this course is pass/no pass. A passing grade requires the student to: (1) complete ALL problem based units by the DUE DATES (submission of more than two assignments late will result in a no passing grade); (2) participate in class discussions; and (3) be timely to class.

Problem based units should be written in a clear and concise language appropriate to a graduate level course. Problem based units should integrate course readings, discussions, and relevant classroom teaching experiences. Responses to problem based units may be submitted either electronically as an attachment to Albert or delivered in class directly to Albert. Students may be asked to resubmit assignments to achieve a passing grade.

Assigned Texts:

Crawford, James (1999). Bilingual Education: History, Politics, Theory and Practice. Fourth Edition. Los Angeles: Bilingual Education Services.

Lightbown, Patsy M. and Nina Spada (1998). How Languages are Learned. Oxford University Press.

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Additional Internet Resources (click on to go the website):

Kenji Hakuta's LAU website

California Department of Education. Resources for English Learners: California Department of Education web page that focuses on the education of English learners

California Department of Education. English Language Development Standards page.

U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights

National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education

National Center for Education Statistics

James Crawford's Language Policy Website

Center for Applied Linguistics

Center for Equal Opportunity

Last Updated: Tuesday, September 2, 2003
Email the webmaster: teresa.cameron@stanford.edu

Oct. 1	Introduction to Course
Oct. 8	Policy Readings: 1) Crawford, J. (1999). Bilingual education: History, Politics, Theory and Practice (4^th edition). Chapters 1-2 2) Lau vs. Nichols 3) Revisiting the Lau Decision: 20 Years After. ARC Associates. Reflections by Ling-Chi Wang, Edward Steinman, and Edward De Avila. 4) Key Policy Milestones and Directions in the Education of English Language Learners. Paper prepared for the Rockefeller Foundation, 2001. Hakuta, K. PBU #1: Letter to the School Board Additional Resources: 1) Some key concepts (from the Office for Civil Rights website). 2) Castaneda v. Pickard (This is dense reading. The case is succinctly covered in Crawford, but is supplied here as reference because of the importance and elegance of the decision. Downloadable as a Word document only.) 3) OCR Website on LEP Resources.
Oct.15	Linguistics and Language Acquisition Readings: 1) Searchinger, G. (n.d.) The Human Language Series. (See video on CD#1) Part 1: Colorless Green Ideas: Discovering the Human Language. (Course CD #1) Part 2: Playing the Language Game: Acquiring the Human Language. (Course CD #1) 2) Krashen, S.(1984). Bilingual education and second language acquisition theory. In. C. F. Leyba (ed.), Schooling and Language Minority Students: A Theoretical Framework. Los Angeles: CSU Los Angeles and the California State Department of Education. (Course CD #1) 3) Lightbown & Spada: Chapters 1 – 3. PBU #2: Human Language Series on Second Language Acquisition
Oct. 22	Second Language Acquisition Readings: 1) Video segments of Linda Tong's classroom. (Course CD #1 -- cd w/ white sleeve Linda Tong Classroom.mov and Linda Tong Reflection.mov All other cds go to EL1/EL01_CH3.mov and EL1/EL01_TONGREFL.mov ) 2) Wong Fillmore, L. & Snow, C. (2000). What teachers need to know about language. Washington, DC: ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics. 3) Valdes’ Chapters 6. PBU: How Important is the Native Language?
Oct. 29	Vocabulary Development PBU: Vocabulary
Nov. 5	Phonology Readings: 1) Lightbown & Spada, Chapter 4. 2) Tomkins, G. E., Abramson, S., & Pritchard R. H. (1999). A multilingual perspective on spelling development in third grade. Multicultural Education, 6(3), 12-18. 3) Fashola, O. S., Drum, P. A., Mayer, R. E., & Kang, S. -J. (1996). A cognitive theory of orthographic transitioning: predictable errors in how Spanish-speaking children spell English words. American Educational Research Journal, 33(4), 825-843. PBU: Analyzing students’ spelling
Nov. 12	The Bilingual Education Debate Readings: 1) Crawford, Chaps 3-5, 15 2) Mary T. Cazabon, Elena Nicoladis, and Wallace E. Lambert (1998). Becoming Bilingual in the Amigos Two-Way Immersion Program. University of California, Santa Cruz, CREDE. PBU: An e-mail from Boston: Unz is coming to Town
Nov. 19	Standards-based Reform Readings: 1) Crawford, Chap 12. 2) Massell, D., Kirst, M. & Hoppe, M. (1997). Persistence and Change: Standards-Based Reform in Nine States. Univ. of Pennsylvania: Consortium for Policy Research in Education. 3) A Map for Teaching and Assessing California's English Language Development (ELD) and English-Language Arts (ELA) Standards for English Learners. WestEd. PBU: Texas or California?
Nov. 26	Assessment Readings: Abedi, J. Assessment and Accomodations for English Language Learners: Issues and Recommendations. UCLA: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing. Summer 2001. Kober, Nancy. What Tests Can and Cannot Tell Us. Center on Education Policy, TestTalk for Leaders, Issue 2, October 2002. pdf version or html version PBU: Dear Teacher, What's Best for My Child About Testing?
Dec. 3	Wrap-up Readings: Selected chapters from 'Con Respeto' by G. Valdes. Discussion: Synthesis of Course 1 and introduction to web based culture assignment for Course 2 & 3.