Abstract of

No Half Measures: Reading Instruction for Young Second-Language Learners

Kimberly Lenters

Consideration of literacy practices that ensure success for young second-language learners has become crucial for educators, given the growing linguistic diversity in an ever-increasing number of regions, the limited resources of school systems, and the swirling public debate on bilingual education. This article explores principles regarding bilingualism and the young child as a means of untangling the occasionally conflicting interpretations found in the research. The picture that emerges from the discussion is that children experience important cognitive (in addition to affective) gains through bilingualism. These gains, however, are experienced only when both languages are developed to a point of proficiency so that transfer can take place between the two. It is this dual proficiency that we must keep in mind when we consider reading instruction for young second-language learners. In general, the development of this proficiency dictates that throughout their primary school years, bilingual children should receive dual-language instruction, with no half measures in either language. These specific findings also provide some guidelines for undertaking second-language reading instruction with young children.

Abstract from Lenters, K. (2004, December). No Half Measures: Reading Instruction for Young Second-Language Learners. The Reading Teacher, 58(4), 328–336. doi: 10.1598/RT.58.4.2