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October 1995

Fostering Second Language Development in Young Children

National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and

Second Language Learning

This Digest is based on a report published by the National Center

for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning,
Fostering Second Language Development in Young Children:
Principles and Practices (1995), by Barry McLaughlin. Copies of the
report are available for $4.00 from Center for Applied Linguistics,
NCRDSLL, 4646 40th Street NW, Washington, DC 20016-1859.
As the number of linguistically and culturally diverse students
entering American schools increases, more and more teachers are
faced with the challenge of educating children with limited English
skills. Many of these teachers, however, have had little or no
training in second language development and need guidelines to
help them understand the process young children undergo as they
learn a second language. Teachers also need to be aware of how to
help their students maintain their home language.
This Digest outlines eight principles, drawn from theory and
research on second language acquisition and culturally sensitive
instruction, to guide educators working with linguistically diverse
students and to help them recognize that bilingualism is a process
that occurs in stages.
Principle #1: Bilingualism is an asset and should be fostered.

Research increasingly shows the cognitive, cultural, and economic

advantages of bilingualism (Hakuta & Pease-Alvarez, 1992).
Children who have the opportunity to speak two languages should
be encouraged to maintain both, so they can enjoy the benefits that
may accompany bilingual status. Children from homes where
English is not the native language should be encouraged to cultivate
their home language as well as English. In some cases, the parents
of these children are unable to speak English. If the children do not
maintain their home language, they risk losing the ability to
communicate well with their family members (Wong Fillmore,
1991). Additional support for the home language can come from
after school and Saturday classes.
Principle #2: There is an ebb and flow to children's
bilingualism; it is rare for both languages to be perfectly
balanced.

The false argument is sometimes made that encouraging the native

language at home prevents children from developing either
language well. It is important to realize, rather, that as a child is
learning a second language, one language may predominate
because the child is using that language more than the other at a
given time. Children showing a lack of proficiency in both languages
are most likely undergoing a developmental phase in which limited
use causes proficiency in the home language to decline, while the
second language has not yet reached an age-appropriate level.
Teachers should view this as a period of temporary language
imbalance during which the child may not perform as well as native
speakers in either language. This should be considered healthy and
normal. It is rare for bilinguals to have both languages in balance.
Yet, most bilingual children will reach age-level proficiency in their
dominant language given adequate exposure and opportunities for
use.
Principle #3: There are different use cultural patterns in
language use.

Language minority children from different cultural backgrounds may

experience culture conflict in school because their ways of learning
and communicating are different from the routines of the
classroom. Teachers can identify these differences through
classroom communication patterns. For example, some children
may not participate verbally in classroom activities because in their
home culture calling attention to oneself and showing one's
knowledge are regarded as overly assertive and even arrogant
forms of behavior (Philips, 1972). Likewise, some children might be
embarrassed by a teacher saying, "You should be proud of
yourself"; more effective praise for them might be, "Your family will
be proud of you." By validating the students' cultures and using
communication patterns familiar to them, teachers provide a much
richer and more effective approach to culturally sensitive instruction
than by focusing on occasional celebrations of the history and
traditions of different ethnic groups. Children will feel validated in
the classroom if they are encouraged to acclimate gradually through
daily affirmation of their learning styles and communication
patterns.
Principle #4: For some bilingual children, code-switching is a
normal language phenomenon.

While some children acquiring a second language appear at first to

confuse the two languages, code-switching is, in fact, a normal
aspect of second language acquisition. Young bilingual children tend
to insert single items from one language into the other (McClure,
1977), primarily to resolve ambiguities and clarify statements.
Children over nine and adults, however, tend to switch languages at
the phrase or sentence level, typically to convey social meanings.
Studies of code-switching in adults show it to be a sophisticated,
rule-governed communicative device used to achieve goals such as
conveying emphasis or establishing cultural identity. Children
acquiring a second language are learning to switch languages in the
sophisticated manner they hear in their homes and communities.
Teachers should not hesitate to switch languages to accommodate
the language and culture of their students. The goal must always be
to communicate, rather than adhere to rigid rules about which
language can be used in a given circumstance or at a given time.
Principle #5: Children come to learn second languages in
many different ways.

Children become bilingual in different ways, the two most common

being simultaneous acquisition of two languages and successive
acquisition of a second language. A child under the age of three who
is exposed to two languages usually experiences simultaneous
acquisition. If the child is exposed to the second language at an
older age, successive acquisition usually occurs. The rate of
acquisition varies depending on the amount of exposure and
support the child receives as well as on individual differences. Four
types of bilingualism that fall into the two ways of learning
languages have been identified.
For types 1 and 2, children have had high exposure to both
languages at an early age.

• Type 1, Simultaneous Bilingualism, refers to children who

have early exposure to both languages and are given ample
opportunities to use both.
 • Type 2, Receptive Bilingualism, refers to children who have
high exposure to a second language but have little opportunity to
use or practice it.

For types 3 and 4, children are learning the second language

sequentially, after they have learned their first language.

• Type 3, Rapid Successive Bilingualism, refers to children who

have had little exposure to a second language before entering
school but have ample opportunity to use it once they enter.
• Type 4, Slow Successive Bilingualism, refers to children who
have had little exposure to a second language and who have or
avail themselves of few opportunities and have low motivation to
use it.

While these four generally describe the second language acquisition

process, the complexity of bilingualism can produce other variances.

Principle #6: Language is used to communicate meaning.

Children will internalize a second language more readily if they are

asked to engage in meaningful activities that require using the
language. For children who are learning English as a second
language, it is important that the teacher gauge which aspects of
the language the child has acquired and which ones are still to be
mastered. Wong Fillmore (1985) recommends a number of steps
that teachers can use to engage their students:

• Use demonstrations, modeling, role-playing.

• Present new information in the context of known information.
• Paraphrase often.
• Use simple structures, avoid complex structures.
• Repeat the same sentence patterns and routines.
• Tailor questions for different levels of language competence
and participation.

Principle #7: Language flourishes best in a language-rich

environment.

Teachers of children with limited English proficiency need to be

good models of language use. In particular, they should encourage
children to practice English as much as possible and provide
reinforcement by expanding on the children's vocabulary repertoire
and by speaking coherently. It is important for children learning
English to interact with others in the classroom as much as possible.
Speaking with their peers will give them a stronger reason for
communicating. Second language learners also need to be exposed
to meaningful literacy activities. This is especially important for
children from homes where literacy activities may be rare. It is vital
for teachers to make reading and writing appealing and significant
to the children. They should encourage students to write about
people, places, or activities that are important to them. Such topics
will motivate students to take risks with the language that they
might not take with artificial or meaningless subjects.
Principle #8: Children should be encouraged to experiment
with language.

Learning a second language is similar to learning a first language in

that a child needs to experiment and produce utterances that may
be inaccurate yet reflect normal language development. In this way,
the child is attempting to figure out the patterns and rules that
govern the language. To correct the child's speech, teachers should
rephrase or expand on what the child has already said. Feedback
from peers will also help the children determine which phrases are
right and wrong. While children may appear to be making more
mistakes during experimentation, they are actually learning to
internalize chunks of appropriate speech. They test these chunks of
language by using them in situations that may or may not be
appropriate. The feedback they receive helps them determine
whether they have guessed correctly.
Conclusion

If current demographic trends continue, more teachers will face

culturally and linguistically diverse students in their classrooms.
These teachers need to understand the process of second language
acquisition and how to alter their instructional styles to meet their
students' needs. Adjustments in instruction, however, should not
include a lowering of standards for these children. Instead, teachers
should be encouraged to keep their standards high and to develop
methods that will promote the achievement of all their students as
they become competent, literate adults.
References
Hakuta, K., & Pease-Alvarez, L. (1992). Enriching our views of
bilingualism and bilingual education. Educational Researcher, 21, 4-
6.
McClure, E. F. (1977). Aspects of code-switching in the discourse of
bilingual Mexican-American children (Tech. Rep. No. 44).
Cambridge, MA: Berancek and Newman.
Philips, S. (1972). Participant structures and communicative
competence: Warm Springs children in community and the
classroom. In C. B. Cazden, V. P. John, & D. Hymes (Eds.),
Functions of language in the classroom. New York: Teachers College
Press.
Wong Fillmore, L. (1985). Second language learning in children: A
proposed model. In R. Eshch & J. Provinzano (Eds.), Issues in
English language development. Rosslyn, VA: National Clearinghouse
for Bilingual Education.
Wong Fillmore, L. (1991). When learning a second language means
losing the first. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 6, 323-347.
This report was prepared with funding from the Office of Educational
Research and Improvement, U.S. Dept. of Education, under contract
no. RR93002010. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect
the positions or policies of OERI or ED.