Educating Emergent Bilinguals

Now available in a revised and expanded edition, this accessible guide introduces readers to the issues and controversies surrounding the education of language minority students in the United States. What makes this book a perennial favorite are the succinct descriptions of alternative practices for transforming our schools and students’ futures, such as building on students’ home languages and literacy practices, incorporating curricular and pedagogical innovations, using proven-effective approaches to parent engagement, and employing alternative assessment tools.

The authors have updated their bestseller to reflect recent shifts in policies, programs, and practices due to globalization and the changing economy; demographic trends; and new research on EL pedagogy. A totally new chapter highlights multimedia and multimodal instructional possibilities for engaging EL students.

This Second Edition is essential reading for all teachers of language-minority students, as well as principals, superintendents, and policymakers.

Book Features:

• Uses the most up-to-date research findings to demonstrate how ignoring children’s bilingualism perpetuates inequities in their schooling.
• Points out the problems with current policies and practices and proposes more effective alternative methods.
• Contrasts the common view of bilingualism as either subtractive or additive with more current understandings of individual bilingualism in translanguaging theories.
• Highlights how multimodalities form part of students’ communicative repertoire and shows teachers how they can leverage this to engage students.

Ofelia García is a professor in the PhD programs in Urban Education and Latin American, Iberian, and Latino Cultures at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York. She received the 2024 Literacy Research Association (LRA) Distinguished Scholar Lifetime Achievement Award. Jo Anne Kleifgen is professor emerita of Linguistics and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University.

“This is a must-read not only for teachers of language-minority students, but also for school principals, policymakers, teacher educators, and researchers looking to promote socially-just, equitable education for emergent bilingual students.”

—International Journal of Multilingualism

"...we recommend this text without hesitation and with a particular nod to its call to action; rather than simply teaching the reader about inequities, this book prompts us to do something, inciting change for the good of all."

—Teachers College Record

"An excellent resource for policymakers, researchers, and educators who are interested in taking specific action to improve the education of English learners."

—Linguistics and Education (of first edition)

"This is the book that every educator in 21st-century USA should read. Few will not have students from other-than-English backgrounds at some point. García and Kleifgen explain in highly accessible prose both the why and how of instruction for emergent bilinguals (ELs) and why it matters so much that we get this right."
—Patricia Gándara, co-director, The Civil Rights Project at UCLA

“In the second edition of this important book, García and Kleifgen show the continued disconnect between research that points to the rich cultural and linguistic resources of minoritized emergent bilinguals and policies and practices that at best ignore these resources and at worst treats these resources as deficits in need of remediation. The authors further develop their blueprint for developing educational policies and practices that insists on the naming of the bilingualism of these students and treating this bilingualism as a resource for teaching and learning. This book is a must read for researchers, policymakers and practitioners interested in improving the education of minoritized emergent bilinguals.”
—Nelson L. Flores, University of Pennsylvania

Foreword by Jim Cummins

Acknowledgments

Preface

Chapter 1. Introduction
   Emergent Bilinguals
   What’s in a Name?
   This Book

Chapter 2. Who Are the Emergent Bilinguals?
   How Do We Know Who They Are?
   How Many Emergent Bilinguals Are There?
   How Are They Designated?
   How Are They Reclassified?
   Where Do They Live and Go to School?
   What Languages Do They Speak?
   What Are Their Demographic Characteristics?
   What is Their Use of Language?
   Who Are the Latinx Emergent Bilinguals?
   Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Knowing Who They Are

Chapter 3. Programs and Policies for Educating Emergent Bilinguals
   Educational Programs for Emergent Bilinguals
   A Brief History of Educational Policies for Emergent Bilinguals
   Programs and Policies for Emergent Bilinguals: Understanding the Shifts

Chapter 4. Bilingualism and Achievement: Theoretical Constructs and Empirical Evidence
   Theoretical Constructs
   Empirical Evidence on the Relationship Between Bilingualism and Achievement
   Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Building on Bilingualism for Academic Success

Chapter 5. Language and Bilingualism: Practices
   Inequitable Language/Literacy Practices
   Alternative Language/Literacy Practices
   Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Incorporating Multilingual Pedagogies

Chapter 6. Affordances of Technology
   Theoretical Underpinnings
   Inequitable Access to Digital Technologies
   How Digital Technologies Can Benefit Emergent Bilinguals
   Resourcing Emergent Bilinguals' Classrooms
   Educating Emergent Bilinguals: The Important Role of Technology

Chapter 7. Curriculum and Other Practices
   Theoretical Curricular and Pedagogical Constructs
   Inequitable Curricular Opportunities and Resources
   Alternative Curricular Practices and Preparing Caring Educators
   Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Embracing Challenge and Care

Chapter 8. Family and Community Engagement
   Research and Theories on Parental and Community Involvement
   Inequities in School and Family/Community Relations
   Alternative Approaches to Parent and Community Engagement
   Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Re-creating the School-Family-Community Connections

Chapter 9. Assessments
   Theoretical Constructs in Assessment
   Inequitable Assessment Practices
   Alternative Assessment Practices
   Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Accounting for Fair Assessment

Chapter 10. Signposts: Conclusion and Recommendations
   What Have We Learned?
   Signposts: Policy Recommendations
   Educating Emergent Bilinguals: Alternative Paths

Notes

References

Index

About the Authors

Ofelia García, winner of the 2024 Literacy Research Association Distinguished Scholar Lifetime Achievement Award