Successful Practices in the Teaching of English to Bilingual Children in Hawaii. Project in Research in Universities. Bulletin, 1937, No. 14

Office of Education, United States Department of the Interior.

N

170

Cultural Differences; Minority Group Students; Bilingualism; English (Second Language); Second Language Instruction; Bilingual Students; Error Patterns; Rural Schools; Elementary School Teachers; Secondary School Teachers; Elementary Schools; Junior High Schools; Language Skills; Oral Language; Written Language; Native Language

The educational welfare of children of native and minority groups in continental United States and its outlying parts involves instructional procedures which in recent years are becoming more and more recognized as constituting specialized problems in education. Bilingualism is generally recognized as offering serious instructional difficulties among minority groups, while social and economic adjustment in the homes from which the majority of bilingual children come are necessarily reflected in the conduct and attitudes as well as in progress in the school studies of the children concerned. The language situation in Hawaii is unique. The population is made up of many races, speaking distinctly different language. Sometimes more than one foreign tongue is spoken within a single home. This bulletin is a report on two studies, the first of which is concerned with the type of errors commonly found among school children in Hawaii and, in some instances, the evidence accounting for their prevalence. The other is an account of successful practices in teaching English followed by teachers of bilingual children in Hawaii. Both sections are suggestive to school officials dealing with similar problems and will, it is believed, be of value to the large number of school officials to whom the education of bilingual children is entrusted. This bulletin is one of a series reporting the findings of investigations undertaken during 1936-37 under the Project in Research in Universities of the Office of Education. The project was financed under the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935, and conducted in accordance with administrative regulations of the Works Progress Administration. Appended are: (1) Master Outline of Elements in the Problem; (2) Copy of Preliminary Letter Sent to Cooperating Teachers; (3) Bibliography of Books Helpful in Teaching English to Bilingual Children; and (4) Frequency and Type of Errors in Oral and Written English. Individual sections contain footnotes. (Contains 26 tables.) [This bulletin was written with the assistance of Jitsuichi Masuoka. Best copy available has been provided.]

ERIC

2013

ED542573