Date

2004

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Department

Teacher Education

Abstract

his action research study examines the development of a Spanish/English bilingual preschool program with an anti-bias approach to education. Based on anti-bias education goals, the stated mission and goals of the bilingual program served as the underpinning structure for the research questions. The study addressed the research questions grounded on critical, ontological and hermeneutic participatory protocols, and examined the road blocks that prevent the realization of the program's goals and mission through classroom observations, interviews and professional conversations with members of the Bilingual Program Advisory Committee. The data findings demonstrated inequity in learning outcomes for Spanish speaking preschoolers and adult Early Childhood Education students. In an English dominant environment, Spanish speakers become aware of the minority status of their home language and quickly replace it with English. At the same time, the linguistic and cultural experience of English speakers is enriched by being exposed to Spanish. Interview participants exposed both incidents of linguistic bias and the lack of intervention to correct them. In collaboration with the Bilingual Program Advisory Committee, recommendations were made to address the dominance of the English language in the classrooms and the concomitant loss of the home language for Spanish-speakers. Recommendations included a concerted effort to "overcompensate" the dominance of English through the active recruitment of Spanish-speaking families, improving the bilingual skills of English-speaking teachers and continuing the process of self assessment and critique that began with this study.

Comments

Thesis (M.A.) School of Education

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