The Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism written by Colin Baker and Wayne E. Wright provide crucial and thorough understanding of Bilingualism at an individual, group, and global level, offer insight in regards to what Bilingualism is, the development of Bilingualism, the impact of the educational system on promoting or obstruct Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. The authors introduce language revitalization, types of effective schools and classrooms for Bilingual students, Biliteracy and Multiliteracy, assessment measures for Special Needs and Exceptional Bilingual students, and Deaf people. The authors also address issues surrounding Bilingual Education and Bilingualism through a sociocultural perspective which incorporates
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43-44). When language[s] fall silent [that] [is] when the world loses an irredeemable repository of human knowledge (McCarty, 2003). This stance on language revitalization through status, acquisition, and corpus planning, clearly illustrates their biases throughout the book. The authors state the need for interconnected language planning approach will ensure the spread of language by reaching the family, home, workplace, communities, and any activities that impact the individual life. Though they claim that not all language planning may be effective, there is need for language planning to be a part of a broader economic, social, and political policies. It is important to consider the different strengths and weaknesses of language planning and the authors inform the readers how essential it is to understand the impacts each type of language planning has on language policy. Baker and Wright’s solution to construct a multidisciplinary approach to language policy may produce a drastic impact than using one type of language planning. Their support for Bilingualism, Bilingual Education, and other minority languages …show more content…
Baker and Wright inform readers of the different types of deaf individuals, their way of communicating can be bimodal and bilingual. A lot of language policies do not take into account how these policies are positively or negatively impacting the Deaf community and deaf individuals. Individuals and families that speak a minority language may not want to utilize ASL and instead, use their own version of Sign Language to communicate with the deaf individual. The authors urge the need for recognizing the hundreds of different Sign Languages used for communication. Baker and Wright delve into educational efforts to assist deaf individuals and suggest that Bilingual/Bicultural Approach may be more appropriate for deaf students. They proceed to claim that Translanguaging maximizes learning rather than focusing on which language should be used. The effort should be on increasing student learning the best way possible. This learning style will allow deaf students to fully comprehend the curriculum using their language skills. Though the authors state a very applicable and appropriate claim, there is still need of research do be done to determine the effects of this type of
43-44). When language[s] fall silent [that] [is] when the world loses an irredeemable repository of human knowledge (McCarty, 2003). This stance on language revitalization through status, acquisition, and corpus planning, clearly illustrates their biases throughout the book. The authors state the need for interconnected language planning approach will ensure the spread of language by reaching the family, home, workplace, communities, and any activities that impact the individual life. Though they claim that not all language planning may be effective, there is need for language planning to be a part of a broader economic, social, and political policies. It is important to consider the different strengths and weaknesses of language planning and the authors inform the readers how essential it is to understand the impacts each type of language planning has on language policy. Baker and Wright’s solution to construct a multidisciplinary approach to language policy may produce a drastic impact than using one type of language planning. Their support for Bilingualism, Bilingual Education, and other minority languages …show more content…
Baker and Wright inform readers of the different types of deaf individuals, their way of communicating can be bimodal and bilingual. A lot of language policies do not take into account how these policies are positively or negatively impacting the Deaf community and deaf individuals. Individuals and families that speak a minority language may not want to utilize ASL and instead, use their own version of Sign Language to communicate with the deaf individual. The authors urge the need for recognizing the hundreds of different Sign Languages used for communication. Baker and Wright delve into educational efforts to assist deaf individuals and suggest that Bilingual/Bicultural Approach may be more appropriate for deaf students. They proceed to claim that Translanguaging maximizes learning rather than focusing on which language should be used. The effort should be on increasing student learning the best way possible. This learning style will allow deaf students to fully comprehend the curriculum using their language skills. Though the authors state a very applicable and appropriate claim, there is still need of research do be done to determine the effects of this type of