Interview with Deborah Chitester, CCC-SLP, Second Language, Literacy, & Learning Connection
Linda Schreiber: This morning I’m interviewing Deborah Chitester, who is the author of Language Development in the Young Second Language Learner of English. Good morning Deborah. Deborah Chitester: Good morning Linda.
Linda: Thank you for being here today to tell us about your work and this new book. Deborah, you are a speech-language pathologist. How did you become so knowledgeable about second language learning?
Deborah: I’ve been practicing speech language pathology for about 15 years, and for most of those years I was working with children who are culturally and linguistically diverse. I’ve always been intrigued by the misunderstandings among parents and educators regarding linguistically diverse children. I do have additional training as a bilingual speech-language pathologist in the form of a formal certificate—a bilingual extension that is only available in the state of New York.
I began looking at what the research says about second language learners and correlating what I found with my professional and practical experiences. Then I began to address what appeared to be gaps in knowledge. Misinformation about second language learning results in poor educational outcomes for these children and overrepresentation of minority learners in special education.
Linda: So you wrote a book addressing some of your experiences in working with children who are second language learners.
Deborah: Yes, the book is about second language development and dual language development in younger children, specifically children up to 6 years of age.
Linda: And you are defining second language learners as those children whose native language is other than English and who may be learning a different language in the home versus at school?
Deborah: Yes. A second language learner could be a child born in a family where another language is spoken, where a first language is learned with no English influences and school is the only environment where the child is hearing English. However, even a child who understands the second language but does not express the new language is a second language learner. Receptive language is a domain of language and a very important one to assess for all language learners, including second language learners.
Linda: You mentioned that some issues about second language learners are misunderstood.
Deborah: Yes, there are unique strategies educators need to use when working with a child who may not be speaking—for example at age 3½—whether the child goes to a Montessori preschool in Madison, WI, or a preschool in New York City. The second language learner has unique linguistic and educational needs and there are strategies that teachers can benefit from knowing more about.
Linda: In the book, you describe your approach, which you refer to as the Linguistic Features Approach. Tell me more.
Deborah: The Linguistic Features Approach allows you to use the features of the first language and your knowledge of the second language to predict what might happen as the second language develops. It allows you to conduct an accurate analysis of the second language.
Linda: You feel that language development is different in a second language learner.
Deborah: Yes, as an example, a child who has been brought up with one language until age 3 and then is introduced to a second language, may appear to have delayed vocabulary acquisition in that first language upon entering school at age 5. If I don’t know enough about second language acquisition, I might mistake the typical aspects of second language learning as problematic or disordered. As a speech-language pathologist, I’m trained to look for a disorder.
As another example, I could be a nursery school teacher who has a 4-year-old child in my class. The child has been attending nursery school for 9 months. This child isn’t speaking a lot but he appears to understand English. He’s not asking for the juice and cookies; he’s only gesturing. Is this behavior typical? What are the stages of second language learning for younger children, and how are those behaviors different from the behaviors a child with a disorder would demonstrate?
Linda: If you didn’t know the typical stages of second language learning, you might identify that child for special education services?
Deborah: Yes, and that’s happening currently across the country—teachers may see this child as having a deficiency. The book addresses this. Direction and advice is provided to parents and educators to help clarify the difference between a language problem and aspects of the second language learning process in young children.
Linda: You discuss other issues too.
Deborah: One of the other issues I address in the book is that parents do not have access to adequate information about second language learning and need training from professionals on what’s typical to expect in learning a second language. What is the silent period when their child doesn’t speak but understands? When should they refer their child for more help? Should they continue to speak the native language in the home? Parents need to know that using the native language at home is an asset and not a problem.
Linda: But first, educators need to know this information in order to inform their parents.
Deborah: Yes. Until we have the information as professionals we can’t possibly empower the parent community to effectively partner with us and support the education of their children. We need to implement training initiatives that help educators understand the differences among a child who has adequate exposure who isn’t integrating language, versus a child who doesn’t have enough English to ask the teacher for cookies and juice, versus a child who hasn’t formed enough of a base in that first language (maybe because the parents have abandoned use of that first language at home thinking they’re helping their child).
Linda: What is your purpose in writing the book?
Deborah: My goal in writing this book is to provide a practical approach for parents and educators—one that is void of too many technicalities. I’ve used scenarios I’ve seen in my professional experience to explain my concepts. I’ve given the reader an opportunity to understand the perspective of the children and to appreciate the second language acquisition process. Knowing this will help the professional and parent use appropriate strategies to support the child’s learning. English as a second language learners (ELLs) are as quick to learn as children without a second language, so long as they’re properly educated. The research clearly indicates that bilingual children experience enhanced cognitive potential. But very often, we require children to give up their native languages rather than help them maintain those languages and at the same time be English literate and educated. And that is what this book addresses in terms of the younger second language learner.
Linda: You also talk about dual language learning.
Deborah: Yes, the book addresses typical language and cognitive characteristics of a dual language learner—these children have unique language characteristics. For instance, lexical or vocabulary development of the dual language learner typically is slow for the first couple of years—so parents wonder why their child is not speaking in English and is just imitating and using some general utterances. Well, dual language learners typically experience lags in expressive development but they can wind up surpassing the monolinguals of either language. This is based on research and I’ve seen this happen as well.
Linda: So the book gives educators enough information so they ultimately can educate parents and others using solid research and practical strategies.
Deborah: Yes and I point out the difference between a child who struggles with English, yet exhibits typical language learning potential with the first language, and the child who’s truly disordered and has evidenced disorder in the first language (assuming the child has been exposed adequately to that first language). The book covers concepts like:
- second language acquisition,
- pre-referral,
- assessment, and
- discovering the child’s ethnography or the home language background.
Linda: Deborah, you include a CD with the book and that CD contains very useful reproducible materials. Readers can learn more about the book or order it at the Second Language, Literacy, and Learning Connection website: www.slllc.org/
Linda: Deborah, thank you for sharing your time with me this morning. Best wishes in your work with second language learners and in the success of this book.