on learning from abdallah: a case study of an arabic-speaking child in a u.s. school

8/10/2019 On Learning from Abdallah: A Case Study of an Arabic-Speaking Child in a U.S. School

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Basa, Maria Angelica R. Dr. Melchor A. TatlonghariMA Ed Reading Linguistics 599

On Learning from Abdallah: A Case Study of an Arabic-Speaking Child in a U.S. School

Bilingualism was once seen as a threat to the language development o children. !onetheless it

is now em"raced widel# "# man# as a result o the countless num"er o researches and studies that

prove "ilinguals to "e as competent as monolinguals $%enesee, &''(). *n some cases, however, it is

important or #oung English Language Learners $ELL) to have a strong oundation in their irst language

as is seen in the case o #oung A"dallah $+almer et al., &'').

A"dallah is a 9-#ear-old +alestinian "o# whose amil# transerred to America, orcing him to stud#

in the said countr# as well. owever, his teacher /ara 0hang, noticed that A"dallah1s perormance was

not at par when compared with other ELL students li2e him. *n act, even with the scaolding techni3ues

such as the Rosetta /tone techni3ue that the ELL teachers emplo#, there has "een little improvement in

A"dallah1s English language learning. 4hat "othered 0hang the most was the act that there were two

more Ara"ic-spea2ing children o approimatel# the same age rom 6ordan stud#ing with A"dallah who

were, progressing more than he is.

0hang o"served that the +alestinian "o# 7could read and write some words in Ara"ic8 however,

his Ara"ic oral reading was d#sluent $+almer et al., &''). The# reported that while A"dallah could


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recite the English alpha"et, decoding was another thing and spelling and constructing sentences were

torturous or the "o#. *n an interview with A"dallah1s parents, the# said that the# wanted the "o# to 7gain

acilit# in English or academic purposes and or the social environment in which he was now living, "ut

did not want him to eperience language attrition in Ara"ic $+almer et al., &'').

A"dallah then underwent a series o tests or his teachers to 2now what was going awr#. e was

irst as2ed to read an Ara"ic reading tet or second graders entitled 7The Bee is a Beneicial *nsect. *t

was o"served that the "o# read the singular orm o plural words & out o : times and even ignored the

diacritical mar2s which were important i one was to understand the sound and the meaning o the Ara"ic

word read aloud. Moreover, according to +almer et al. $&''), 7his reading re3uired a high degree o

phonological mediation. *n other words, his oral reading in Ara"ic is compara"le to that o an earl#

childhood learner o Ara"ic.

*n the succeeding test where he was as2ed to read a passage entitled 7Than2 ;ou, the teachersnoticed that when as2ed to echo read $read ater the mentor), A"dallah could read luentl#, and his

comprehension o the passage, as relected in the result o direct 3uestioning, was high.


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which assessed master# o the material studied the previous session, %uided Reading where ater our

months, A"dallah improved rom using second-grade to ourth-grade materials, /2ills /trategies $direct

instruction), and Ela"orations and Etensions, where the main goal is to help the "o# en@o# the language,

thereore encouraging him to read and write more within and "e#ond the tutoring time.


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3. $he spelling of wath indicates that he is attending to the visual patterns of words

though he still has an unconventional spelling for a sight word.

%. &e is representing the verb to be'absent in Arabic( in some sentences although it was

still missing in the first sentence.

Lastl#, A"dallah once again too2 the +ea"od# +icture =oca"ular# Test *** in Ara"ic translation,

and the teachers ound that 7the tutoring had not aected A"dallah1s high initial score $+almer et al.,

&'') and thus the tutoring sessions came to an end.

* an#thing, this case stud# on A"dallah1s progress all "ut veriies and demonstrates 0ummin1s

0ommon nderl#ing +roicienc# or 0+. +earson $7Theories o 0ummins, n.d.) descri"ed 0+ as

"eing 7"ased on the idea that language undamentals or the L> esta"lish a oundation on which to "uild

additional languages. This means that whatever 2nowledge or metalanguage o the irst language that a

learner has, heshe ma# use it to learn another language. Cne1 language s2ills in the irst language can"e transerred to the second language to help one learn and use the second language "etter. 0ummins

in /hoe"ottom $&'>), sa#s, 70onceptual 2nowledge developed in one language helps to ma2e input in

the other language comprehensi"le. * the child is alread# ac3uainted with the concepts o the words hot

and sunn# in hisher irst language, all she has to do is to learn its e3uivalent la"el in the second

language heshe is tr#ing to learn. *n A"dallah1s case, his oundations in his irst language were

insuicient, causing him to have diicult# in learning the English language. This eplains the need o the

teachers to have the "o# tutored in Ara"ic simultaneousl# with his instruction in the English language.


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*n the advent o the Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education $MTB-MLE) that the

Department o Education is advocating, it is ver# important that the teachers understand the relationship

"etween their pupils1 oundations in their mother tongue and their ac3uisition andor learning o the

English language. More importantl#, teachers, especiall# the ones teaching in ver# culturall# diverse

classrooms $i.e. consisting o pupils rom dierent places in the countr# li2e +ampanga, *locos, *loilo,

Manila, Bicol, /urigao, etc.), need to 2now their pupils. The# need to "e aware o the pupils1 irst

language and provide even @ust a little "it o scaolding. * "elieve that in this wa#, we will "e helping

more A"dallahs "ecome "etter readers, writers, spea2ers, and listeners o the English and .

on learning from abdallah: a case study of an arabic-speaking child in a u.s. school

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