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 certificatea 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 speakingfor example at age 3