Running head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 1

Annotated Bibliography

Minyuan Chu

500809329

Ryerson University

CLD 464 – Senior Internship

Instructor: Lisa Johnston

Due Date: March 8th, 2021

Annotated Bibliography

1. Ostorga, A. N., & Farruggio, P. (2020;2018;). Preparing bilingual teachers on the U.S./Mexico

border: Including the voices of emergent bilinguals.International Journal of Bilingual

Education and Bilingualism, 23(10), 1225-1237.

https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2018.1438348

The research conducted by Ostorga and Farruggio has examined on the current bilingual

education practices through preservice teachers’ voices in order to address the contemporary

issues in bilingual education models. While the majority of studies have focused on the benefits

of bilingual education and its impacts on children’s development, a few studies have considered

educators’ perspectives under the established policies and frameworks. The focus in this study

embraced the educators’ childhood experience as emergent bilinguals and their perspectives on

the current bilingual education in practices. In this study, the researchers have used a mixed

method by interviewing 26 preservice educators in Mexico who participated in modified

curriculums. The findings of this research suggested that these bilingual preservice educators

experienced challenges in practices in terms of established language policies and their childhood

experience as language minorities.

In this research, there are some limitations in terms of using qualitative research method.

These limitations include the highly-subjective data from personal interviews; a limited amount

of participants within similar age ranges; specific demography which is not statistically

representative. The subjective data collected through personal discussions may mislead the

reliability of this research. In addition, the study particularly chose participants who are

identified as former bilinguals which excluded voices from educators who speak one language.

Although there are some limitations to this research, the study have paved ways for future
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 3

researchers in recognizing the voice from educators. More importantly, this study is highly

relevant to my chosen topic since the research addressed the existing gaps between established

pedagogies and educators’ actual practices in curriculum. The conclusion of this research also

aligns with my central thesis in emphasizing educators’ voices in educational practices.

2. Dubiner, D., Deeb, I., & Schwartz, M. (2018). 'we are creating a reality': Teacher agency in

early bilingual education. Language, Culture, and Curriculum, 31(3), 255-

271. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2018.1504399

In this article, the scholars sought to examine the relationship between educators’

perceptions of their roles and children’s language practices in a bilingual education program..

The crucial component of this study emphasized the importance of teachers’ agency and their

roles in constructing language models in the curriculums. The research was conducted with a

qualitative research method by using video recorded observations from the classroom and

periodic interviews with teachers. During the study, a classroom of 24 children with three

educators was chosen as the targeted participants for this project which implemented a modified

programme in this classroom. The data of this study showed an evident correlation between

teachers’ agency and children’s acquisition of languages and, furthermore, the result categorized

teachers’ agentic behaviours into different domains including self-reflection, adaption in teaching

method, behaviour modelling, and strategies used in the study.

While this study used the qualitative research method, the data collected from the project

was limited to its participants and the embedded context. Therefore, the authenticity of this

research may not be transferred into further researches. However, the in-depth interviews and

outcomes from this project have revealed potential challenges of balanced bilingual input in
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general bilingual curriculums, which is an important factor in considering educators’ challenges

in bilingual education. Furthermore, this study provides insights into strategies in supporting the

bilingual curriculum and the essential elements in a language modification process. The study

also emphasized on the educators’ role in a language model and benefits of teachers’ consistent

critical reflections in supporting the classroom. This is significant to my research field as it pays

attention to the educators’ role and provides several strategies in enhancing the bilingual

program.

3. Schwartz, M., Wee Koh, P., Xi Chen, B., Sinke, M., & Geva, E. (2016). Through the lens of

teachers in two bilingual programmes: A look at early bilingual education. Language,

Culture, and Curriculum, 29(2), 141-

168. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2015.1103250

This study scaffolded on the current existing bilingual education programmes and

examined educators’ experience in bilingual curriculums through a case study of two distinct

bilingual programs in Canada and Israel. The study laid emphasis on educators’ influence to the

bilingual curriculum through their construction and modifications. In this research, scholars used

qualitative research method to indicate the similarities and differences between two bilingual

programmes in order to find patterns in educators’ challenges and strategies in enhancing

bilingual education. The result of this study revealed a general pattern of educators’ roles in

constructing the bilingual environment and viewed educators’ position as complex and

challenging. The study concluded that consistent change is essential to align with children’s

progress and interest, and the request of program modification should be flexible and based on

the continual monitoring of the curriculum.

This study chose to use a qualitative method to gain a deep understanding on educators’

perspective towards bilingual education. Although this method provides detailed analysis on

educators’ aspect, it limited to the numbers of participants and their diverse backgrounds. The

quantitative data is missing in this study to prove the efficiency of adopted strategies.

Meanwhile, the case study form in this research also limited its demography so that it may not be

representative to other regions or programmes. Nevertheless, this study is highly relevant to my

chosen topic in terms of the educators’ role and their facing challenges in teaching bilingual

education. The study viewed educators as active policy-maker while it found gaps between

actual language practices and established language policies in the programs. The study also

provides an insight to different teaching approaches in bilingual education. Lastly, this study

emerges the essentiality of conducting cross-cultural research in this field.

4. Tekin, A. K. (2016). Attitudes of omani early childhood preservice teachers toward bilingual

early childhood education: Benefits, challenges, and solutions. Child & Youth

Services, 37(1), 78-91. https://doi.org/10.1080/0145935X.2015.1052137

The study focused on addressing the current bilingual English-Arabic education in Omani

in terms of the educators’ perspective and challenge towards implementing bilingual early

childhood education. This research was a breakthrough to examine bilingual education from

educators’ standpoint, which aligns with the aim of present studies as well. The study was

accomplished with a qualitative research method through interviewing 64 female teacher

candidates who age from 22 to 24. After analyzing the responses from participants, the result of

this study was categorized into three domains: benefit of bilingual education; educators’

challenge in implementation; possible solutions to barriers. The findings revealed some general
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 6

challenges in bilingual education including lack of professional training, unaccomplished

curriculums that focus on quantity rathe than quality, disconnection between educators and

parents, etc. More importantly, this study have shown a complex network in bilingual education

which involves the government, policy makers, educators, and even parents.

As has been stated, this study focuses mainly on one specific region—Omani. The highly

reliance on the ethnography means that findings from other regions could be differed from the

findings in this study so that this study may not be generalized. Besides, the chosen participants

in this study are limited to preservice teachers which neglects other potential study groups such

as school faculties. Despite the limitations of this study, the general ideas evoked from the

research are highly relevant to my study as it provides us with the case of potential challenges

which educators may experience in bilingual education and recommendations to these challenges

could help us rethink the current ideology of bilingual education. Additionally, drawing from the

suggested solutions in this study, we recognize that the model of bilingual education is consist of

different departments and changing the current bilingual education would be difficult only if all

departments involved are contributing to the shared target.

5. Oattes, H., Oostdam, R., de Graaff, R., & Wilschut, A. (2018). The challenge of balancing

content and language: Perceptions of dutch bilingual education history

teachers. Teaching

and Teacher Education, 70, 165-174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.11.022

In this research, the authors studied educators’ perception of Dutch bilingual history

education under the content and language learning methodology. Although many studies have

focused on students’ performances in bilingual curriculums, the roles of educators in bilingual

education are paid with little attention. This study conducted a mixed research method in which

the quantitative data was presented through questionnaires and the qualitative data collected as

supplementary through follow-up interviews with educators. As a result, the research found that

participated teachers emerged a pattern in expressing their challenges in teaching, especially in

respect of the balance between language and subject content. Furthermore, the conclusion of this

study suggested translanguaging as an effective strategy in developing children’s secondary

language proficiency.

Since this study is largely based on data from self-reported interviews, the veracity of

responses could be doubt and in consequence, leading to ambiguous analysis. On the other hand,

students’ performance could be influenced by multiple factors; therefore, in-depth discussions

with students on their perception of bilingual education could be implemented. In general, this

study acknowledged bilingual teachers’ challenge as uncertainty and insecurity in teaching with

dual language. The findings from this study is useful to my research as it indicated balancing

between language and subject content as one of the major challenges other than balancing

between majority-minority language. The study also provided me with the case in how bilingual

educators deal with their challenges.

6. Yeh, C. J., Chen, J., Kwong, A., Chiang, L., Wang, Y., & Pu-Folkes, F. (2002). Educators of

asian bilingual students: Pedagogical techniques, strategies and challenges. Journal of

Multilingual and Multicultural Development,  23(4), 296-

315. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434630208666471

This study chose to examine educators’ perceptions of practical bilingual education by

focusing on one specific ethnic group (Asian bilingual students). With the increasing awareness
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 8

of foreign immigration in connection to education programs, the authors decided to address

Asian bilingual students as one of the minority groups in multicultural societies such as New

York. This study is distinct because no previous research has investigated the specific challenges

that teachers of Asian bilingual students are facing. A quantitative method was adopted in this

research through close ended questionnaire and survey with 133 participants. The result of this

study was concluded into a general pattern of pedagogical challenges and strategies in which

educators are experiencing. As most of the participants expressed the lack of culturally

appropriate materials and reported their preparation level as low, this study suggested that staff

development program is demanded to increase educators’ efficiency. Moreover, this study

highlighted educators’ role as not only teaching students knowledge, but also extends beyond this

role.

Since this study exclusively focused on Asian ethnic group, the generalizability of the

data collected is limited. In addition, the questions provided in questionaries and survey are

mostly close-ended which means that in-depth explanation of these responses are absent. The

overall self-reported scores on the individual challenges and strengths may also lead to a false

analysis. However, I found this study significant to my topic as the context provided in this study

is highly similar to the social context in Canada. The study used a quantitative method to gain an

overall view on bilingual educators’ challenges and weaknesses, which also fits in my study field

of bilingual educators’ challenges. It should also be noted that the implication of this study has

given suggestions on how to improve the quality of bilingual education and increase educators’

competency in general. Further, the authors of this research gave insights to the need of

considering each culture with their specific needs when implementing bilingual education.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 9

7. Dorner, L. M., & Cervantes‐Soon, C. G. (2020). Equity for students learning english in dual

language bilingual education: Persistent challenges and promising practices. TESOL

Quarterly, 54(3), 535-547. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.599

The study looked at the macro level of bilingual education and challenged the issue of

equity for students who are learning English in bilingual education spaces. Although many

studies have emphasized the benefits of well-implemented bilingual programs, little was

addressed in terms of equity in bilingual education. This study raised a special issue on the equity

in bilingual programs through examining the current language models and established policies.

Drawing on 10 articles which emerged the related issue on equity in bilingual education, this

study summarized these articles and analyzed them in a series of related topics. As a result, this

article concluded with the inseparable relationship between bilingual education and children’s

diverse cultures. The study questioned on the current gaps between language policies and actual

practices in curriculums. Furthermore, this study urges bilingual education teachers and policy

makers to recognize the importance of understanding bilingual children’s families and cultures.

As this article was conducted with a special issue, the article mainly drew on other

scholarly resources in this field. Therefore, the limitation of this article in terms of its

methodology and approaches could not be addressed. However, a potential limitation of this

article may be confined to the focus on English related bilingual programs. This study decided to

address the equity problem among specifically learners of English, and therefore neglected other

social groups that are also presenting bilingual programs. Overall, this article brought out many

insightful questions on the current bilingual education model. As my topic is related to bilingual

education, it is essential to address the existing dilemmas of bilingual education on a macro

level. The outcome of this study also applies to educators in bilingual programs since educators

are people who directly connect with children and their families.

8. Schwartz, M., Mor-Sommerfeld, A., & Leikin, M. (2010). Facing bilingual education:

Kindergarten teachers' attitudes, strategies and challenges.Language Awareness,  19(3),

187-203. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2010.491919

This study aimed to examine majority-language educators’ attitudes towards bilingual

education in Russian-Hebrew kindergartens in Israel. The study is significant as little researches

have been done to analyze majority-language educators’ perception of the bilingual education

and cultural diversity in the region. An ethnographic approach was adopted in this study through

observations, interviews, and life histories of two specific contexts. As the result showed that

teachers’ attitudes towards bilingual education are linked to their perception of their own role in a

bilingual education program and the relationship between two languages, the study further

highlighted on the similarities and distinctions of different approaches used by educators in

bilingual education. In consequence, personality and personal experiences are factors that

influences one’s approaches. More importantly, patterns from the findings emphasized the

necessity in professional training for bilingual educators.

As claimed that this research used an ethnographic approach in data collection, the data

in this study is closely reliable on the given context. Therefore, the result in this study may be

only applicable to the specific setting and not able to be generalized to other research fields. On

the other hand, the study only unfolded in-depth interviews with two educators from a chosen

setting, so that the perspectives from the two participants could be conceivably unpersuasive.

Nonetheless, the critical analysis from this study provides powerful support to my topic as the
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 11

findings in this study has revealed several challenges that educators may face in general bilingual

education. The study also conducted on different factors that could affect an educators’

perception towards bilingual education, which is important for me when addressing educators’

perspectives.

9. Wu, M. (2017). Examining mandarin chinese teachers’ cultural knowledge in relation to their

capacity as successful teachers in the united states.Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and

Foreign Language Education, 2(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-017-0034-y

The study examined on the cultural knowledge of education in which Mandarin teachers

in the U.S. context held. In this study, the author focused on the sociocultural aspect of educators

in bilingual education and sought to link their perceptions to the actual curriculum practices. The

study adopted the qualitative method through observations and in-depth interviews with two

Mandarin teachers in a bilingual education program. The result of this study underlines not only

the reciprocal relationship between educators’ cultural knowledge of education and their actual

practices in curriculums, but also hints the challenges and difficulties for Mandarin teachers in a

bilingual program. Drawing from the analysis of data, the author suggested in effective use of

educators’ own culture as a tool to facilitate students’ understandings of cultures. Lastly, the

study concluded with the importance of providing professional training program to educators

who participate in bilingual programs.

While this study used an ethnographic approach to conduct a case study in chosen

settings, this approach also brought up with some limitations including geography limitation and

generalizability to transfer the findings into other contexts. Overall, this study speaks to the

cultural awareness and addressed the current situations of educators whose first language is not
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 12

English. The study is helpful to my topic in terms of its recognition of diverse teaching

approaches in bilingual education and influence of different cultural scripts in education. The

study also appreciated diverse cultures and views educators’ cultural values as a tool to promote

bilingual curriculums. Moreover, suggestions on critical reflection and training program are

provided in this study as potential solutions to educators’ challenge in bilingual education.

References

Ostorga, A. N., & Farruggio, P. (2020;2018;). Preparing bilingual teachers on the U.S./Mexico

border: Including the voices of emergent bilinguals.International Journal of Bilingual

Education and Bilingualism, 23(10), 1225-1237.

https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2018.1438348

Dubiner, D., Deeb, I., & Schwartz, M. (2018). 'we are creating a reality': Teacher agency in

early bilingual education. Language, Culture, and Curriculum, 31(3), 255-

271. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2018.1504399

Schwartz, M., Wee Koh, P., Xi Chen, B., Sinke, M., & Geva, E. (2016). Through the lens of

teachers in two bilingual programmes: A look at early bilingual education. Language,

Culture, and Curriculum, 29(2), 141-

168. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2015.1103250

Tekin, A. K. (2016). Attitudes of omani early childhood preservice teachers toward bilingual

early childhood education: Benefits, challenges, and solutions. Child & Youth

Services, 37(1), 78-91. https://doi.org/10.1080/0145935X.2015.1052137

Oattes, H., Oostdam, R., de Graaff, R., & Wilschut, A. (2018). The challenge of balancing

content and language: Perceptions of dutch bilingual education history

teachers. Teaching

and Teacher Education, 70, 165-174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.11.022

Yeh, C. J., Chen, J., Kwong, A., Chiang, L., Wang, Y., & Pu-Folkes, F. (2002). Educators of

asian bilingual students: Pedagogical techniques, strategies and challenges. Journal of

Multilingual and Multicultural Development,  23(4), 296-

315. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434630208666471
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 14

Dorner, L. M., & Cervantes‐Soon, C. G. (2020). Equity for students learning english in dual

language bilingual education: Persistent challenges and promising practices. TESOL

Quarterly, 54(3), 535-547. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.599

Schwartz, M., Mor-Sommerfeld, A., & Leikin, M. (2010). Facing bilingual education:

Kindergarten teachers' attitudes, strategies and challenges.Language Awareness,  19(3),

187-203. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658416.2010.491919

Wu, M. (2017). Examining mandarin chinese teachers’ cultural knowledge in relation to their

capacity as successful teachers in the united states.Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and

Foreign Language Education, 2(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-017-0034-y