This timeline was completed as an assignment for EDUC 504 (Language Acquisition for Secondary Students) taught by Marisol Rexach at Chapman University.
Spanish Immigrants settle in Florida, Texas and New Mexico
Settlers arrive from Europe. Approximately 21,000 settlers exist in New England (1/3 are from Britain).
Massachusetts Bay Colony decrees that every town of fifty families or more should establish an elementary schools to instill Puritan values in children and teach children how to read the Bible.
Ben Franklin writes of concern that Pennsylvania will become a German colony. He states, “instead of learning our language, we must learn theirs, or live as in a foreign country.”
Declaration of Independence indirectly supports recruitment of new settlers by charging the king of England with obstruction of migration to New England. Settlers welcome, even woo, new migrants
Over 10 million immigrants arrive from northern and western Europe (primarily British, Irish and German).
Ohio issues ordinance allowing for school to be taught in German, English or both
Louisiana passes law to authorize instruction in French, English or both.
Treaty of Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American War. US aquires CO, AZ, NM, TX and CA as well as parts of UT and NV from Mexico. Mexican citizens are allowed to remain in these territories, and allowed to continue speaking Spanish, but are subjected to discrimination.
New Mexico authorizes Spanish-English bilingual education.
In a true bilingual education classroom, students receive instruction in two different languages. In the next century, this will take forms as different models. One model for bilingual education is Early-Exit. This serves to mainstream English Learners to English-only classes, typically lasting a few years at most. These do not support students in academic language proficiency. The maintenance(or Late-Exit) model of bilingual education, on the other hand, serves to maintain the student’s primary language and heritage.
Congress Prohibits Native-American children from being taught in their native languages in schools.
“All persons both or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States…nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law”
William Harris, the superintendent for St. Louis schools, argues for bilingual education to preserve traditions of native country. He opened up kindergartens taught in German.
Immigrants from Germany, Sweden, Norway and Denmark arrive to United States.
First immigration prohibition bans Chinese migration to the United States.
Wisconsin passes Bennett Law (becoming a model for other states) which requires schools to teach in English only for at least 16 weeks a year.
No provisions are made for English Learners. This is an all-English, mono-linguistic, 'sink-or-swim' approach to English language acquisition.
Over 8 million immigrants arrive to US in this decade. These include Italian, Russian and other eastern and southeastern Europeans. This was the largest influx on record at this point in time
WWI halts immigration stream to US and stirs serious anti-immigration sentiment.
Piaget puts forth theories of cognitive development. He states that children at various stages of development interpret the world differently than adults. Language development is a critical milestone of cognitive development.
Congress passes National Origin Act, reducing the number of immigrants to 300,000 per year.
The Lemon Grove school in Lemon Grove, CA decides to open a separate school for Mexican children, making Lemon Grove a segregated, all-white school. Parents were not informed, and later refused the policy, leading to a boycott.
Vygotsky pioneered social learning theory. Applied to language, his theory stated that language (and other subjects) were learned through social context (such as hearing other people around us speaking). He put forth the theory of the "zone of proximal development." This stated that this zone was the level between the student's own developmental level and the level of potential development. The zone of proximal development must be considered for second language learners. While Vygotsky developed his theories in the 1930s, they did not gain popularity in the US until the 1970s
The Bureau of Indian Affairs rescinds the ban on Native American language in schools.
Young Navajo men played critical role in WWII as code talkers to transmit secret communications. Native language and knowledge of foreign language regains value.
The state of CA rules that segregating students into separate white or Mexican schools was unconstitutional. Schools are desegregated.
Supreme Court rules that separate is inherently unequal and calls for desegregation of schools. Sets the stage for equal rights and anti-discrimination policies.
Skinner promotes behaviorism, the idea that people learn through positive or negative reinforcements which mold behavioral patterns. This influences language education, promoting teaching through repitition, timing and reward. Approaches also use oral practice drills and direct teaching combined with immediate feedback and reward.
Provides funding to education at all levels, and promotes foreign language programs for English speakers.
Chomsky believes that language is learned through a unconcious process (using an active language processor in the brain), not solely through memorization and repetitive drills.
After the Cuban Revolution, Cubans migrate to US from 1960-1979.
As a linguist and anthropolgist, Hymes believes that language cannot be taught only through memorization, but must be learned through context in social settings. He developed a model called SPEAKING, in which learners use language in social contexts.
The Coral Way Elementary school in Dade County, FL begins a two-way Spanish-English Bilingual education program where both native English and native Spanish speaker attend school and have instruction in both languages. Several reports indicate that these students made academic progress in both languages.
Following the assassination of John. F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson assumes presidency. As a young man, Johnson paused his college career to teach Mexican-American children at a segregated school. He then graduated to become a teacher, then later a politician. As president, he signs laws such as Civil Rights Act, Immigration Act, Medicare, Medicaid, Environmental Protection, War on Poverty and Aid to Education.
Immersion model promotes academic development in two languages. The goal is for students to achieve additive bilingualism (not losing their native language, but gaining a new one). The goal is different from submersion, which aims for mono-lingualism. Two-way,or dual immersion, programs elevates the status of the students’ first language by also delivering instruction in that language to native English speakers. In this way, both English learners and native English speakers learn a second language and help each other on an equal basis.
Signed by Johnson, this law outlaws major forms of discrimination, such as racial, national, religious or sexist discrimination.
Signed by Johnson, this act abolished the existing formula for granting citizenship. Old “quota-based” formula favored Northern and Western Europeans, and disfavored Latino immigrants as well as Southern and Eastern Europeans. The law placed new favor on granting citizenship to those with skills or family ties to the US.
ESEA was passed as part of Johnson’s “War on Poverty.” The act provides funds for K12 education and emphasizes equal access to education to close achievement gaps for students of low-income households. Title VII of ESEA, called the Bilingual Education Act, provides assistance to meet needs of limited-English students.
Describes that culture underlies language, along with uses of the language.
US Department of Health, Education and Welfare Memorandum of May 25, 1970 states that, “where inability to speak and understand the English language excludes national origin minority group children from effective participation in the educational program offered by a school district, the district must take steps to rectify the language deficiency”
Starting in the early 1970s, the current wave of immigration (made up primarily of Latinos, Asian and some European immigrants) continues today.
Describes subtractive and additive bilingualism. In subtractive, students lose proficiency in one language as they develop the second. This may be a result of immersion or all-English classrooms. Additive bilingualism, on the other hand, means students add proficiency in a second language, though not losing their first. This can be achieved through dual immersion or late-exit bilingual education.
This case resulted in the ruling that, when students with limited English make up a substantial portion of students, bilingual education is required.
Rules that providing same (English) textbooks and materials to limited-English students is unequal because those students do not understand the materials, thus making education inaccessible. It found the practice of not providing linguistically-appropriate materials to be discriminatory.
This advocacy group promotes bilingual education and gives voice to students learning English as a second language.
In this court ruling, Patchogue-Medford School District of New York was charged with providing inadequate bilingual education, and thus not providing equal access to education. The children were protected under the “Lau v. Nichols” guidelines.
Developed the systemic functional linguistic model for language. He described 7 different functions of language: instrumental (getting needs met); regulatory (controlling other’s behavior), informative, interactional, personal, heuristic (acquiring knowledge), and imaginative. Providing English learners with engagement in these 7 functions is key for language development.
The same county that pioneered successful bilingual education now bans it.
Roy Castaneda sued Raymondville Independent School District (RISD) of Texas for discriminating against his children and segregating the classroom based on racial and ethnic designation and failing to provide bilingual education based on the Lau guidelines. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rules in favor of Castaneda and establishes a set of criteria that must be met by bilingual education programs in schools. They are: •The bilingual education program must be “based on sound educational theory.” •The program must be “implemented effectively with resources for personnel, instructional materials, and space.” •After a trial period, the program must be proven effective in overcoming language barriers/handicaps.
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