Examining multidirectional flows of language and knowledge for equitable access to STEM and biliteracy education

Abstract

Long ago, François Gouin chronicled his journey abroad to Germany and his attempt to learn a new language by memorizing an entire dictionary. He self-imposed a “quarantine and prohibited every walk and every dialogue which was not an absolute necessity” (1892, p. 29). Coming out of his isolation, he felt ready to interact with the folks in his new environment and learn at a university. Alas, he found that he could not form intelligible sentences and so was unable to interact with locals or understand the lectures he had deprived himself of all month long. With each failed attempt, he returned to his room to memorize more reference tools. At one time he became temporarily blind yet, he returned to his process. Finally, he gave up. Returning home after an absence of nearly a year, he found that his nephew of three years was now speaking with a very well-developed vocabulary. Intrigued by the magical process of language acquisition, he set out to observe his nephew’s language skills. He noticed how his nephew learned by engaging in multimodal activities, pausing to ask questions, and revoicing what the adults had explained. His nephew’s world of interacting with new content knowledge and language was a stark contrast to his dependency on memorization. Gouin realized the importance of observing, practicing, and learning language in a meaningful context. Similarly, Emergent Bilinguals are poised to acquire both content and language when the classroom is set up to build on the foundation learners already bring to the classroom and provides socioculturally rich, context-embedded opportunities to continue to develop their native language skills and to acquire new content. Surely, Gouin had a wealth of knowledge that he could have used to make connections in his new environment. Today, bilingual education classes provide children with opportunities to experience language across the content areas like mathematics, science, social studies, music, and art to name a few. Learning is dynamic, a stark contrast to learning in isolation and through memorization.