Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Communication Between Early Educators and Parents who Speak English as a Second Language A Semantic and Pragmatic Perspective

  • Published:
Early Childhood Education Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this article, we discuss communication between early educators speaking their native language and parents who speak English as a second language. Parents who may have a limited proficiency in the second language face challenges to understanding semantic and pragmatic aspects of English. Actual early childhood conference talk in which parents were speaking English as a second language will illustrate potential difficulties to listening comprehension and communication. Additionally, semantics and pragmatics will be used as a framework for recommending strategies to facilitate these parents’ ability to comprehend and communicate during discussions with early educators.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Austin, J. L. (1962). How to do things with words. London, UK: Oxford University.

  • Archibald, A. (1994). The acquisition of discourse proficiency. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bachman, L. (1990). Fundamental considerations in language testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker, C., & Keogh, J. (1995). Accounting for achievement in parent-teacher interviews. Human Studies, 18, 263–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bonk, W. J. (2000). Second language lexical knowledge and listening comprehension. International Journal of Listening, 14, 14–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bouton, L. F. (1994). Conversational implicature in a second language: Learned slowly when not deliberately taught. Journal of Pragmatics, 22, 157–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Callis, M. (2009). Information highlighting in advanced learner English. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1, 1–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang, A. C., & Read, J. (2006). The effects of listening support on the listening performance of EFL learners. TESOL Quarterly, 40, 375–397.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheatham, G. A. (2007). Teacher communication with native English and native Spanish speaking parents during Head Start parent-teacher conferences (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana.

  • Cheatham, G. A. (in press). Language interpretation, parent participation and young children with disabilities. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education. doi:10.1177/0271121410377120.

  • Cheatham, G. A., & Ostrosky, M. M. (2009). Listening for details of talk: Early childhood parent-teacher conference communication facilitators. Young Exceptional Children, 13, 36–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheatham, G. A., & Ostrosky, M. M. (2011). Partnerships in Head Start parent-teacher conference goal setting: A comparison of three groups of parents. Manuscript submitted for publication.

  • Cheatham, G. A.., & Ro, Y. E. (in press). A linguistic perspective on communication with parents who speak English as a second language: Phonology, morphology, and syntax: Early Child Development and Care. doi:10.1080/03004430.2010.523785.

  • Cohen, A. D. (2005). Strategies for learning and performing L2 speech acts. Intercultural Pragmatics, 2, 275–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conrad, L. (1985). Semantic versus syntactic cues in listening comprehension. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 7, 59–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cutrone, P. (2005). A case study examining backchannels in conversations between Japanese-British dyads. Multilingua, 24, 237–274.

    Google Scholar 

  • Division for Early Childhood. (2007). Promoting positive outcomes for children with disabilities: Recommendations for curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation. Retrieved from http://www.dec-sped.org/uploads/docs/about_dec/position_concept_papers/Prmtg_Pos_Outcomes_Companion_Paper.pdf.

  • Ellis, R. (1986). Understanding second language acquisition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Field, J. (2008). Listening in the language classroom. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Flowerdew, J., & Miller, L. (2005). Second language listening: Theory and practice. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ginther, A. (2002). Context and content visuals and performance on listening comprehension stimuli. Language Testing, 19, 133–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goh, C. (2005). Second language listening expertise. In K. Johnson (Ed.), Expertise in second language learning and teaching (pp. 64–84). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2006). Diversity in early care and education. Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenfield, P. M., Quiroz, B., & Raeff, C. (2000). Cross-cultural conflict and harmony in the social construction of the child. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 87, 93–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harry, B. (2008). Collaboration with culturally and linguistically diverse families: Ideal versus reality. Exceptional Children, 74, 372–388.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heritage, J. (2005). Conversation analysis and institutional talk. In K. L. Fitch & R. E. Sanders (Eds.), Handbook of language and social interaction (pp. 103–148). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herron, C., Cole, S., York, H., & Linden, P. (1998). A comparison study of student retention of foreign language video: Declarative versus interrogative advance organizers. Modern Language Journal, 82, 237–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang, C.-T. (2010). Between syntax and semantics. New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levinson, S. C. (2000). Presumptive meanings: The theory of generalized conversational implicature. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levinson, S. C. (2001). Pragmatics. In N. J. Smelser & P. Baltes (Eds.), International encyclopedia of social and behavioral sciences (Vol. 17, pp. 11948–11954). Oxford: Pergamon.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Long, M. H. (1983). Linguistic and conversational adjustments to non-native speakers. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 5, 177–193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lopez, E. C., & Rooney, M. (1997). A preliminary investigation of the roles and backgrounds of school interpreters: Implications for training and recruiting. Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, 6, 161–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, E. W., & Hanson, M. J. (Eds.). (2004). Developing cross-cultural competence: A guide for working with children and their families. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.

    Google Scholar 

  • MaClure, M., & Walker, B. M. (2000). Disenchanted evenings: The social organization of talk in parent-teacher consultations in UK secondary schools. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 21, 5–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martinez-Flor, A., & Uso-Juan, E. (2010). Pragmatics and speech act performance. In A. Martinez-Flor & E. Uso-Juan (Eds.), Speech act performance: Theoretical, empirical, and methodological issues (pp. 3–22). Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mehan, H., Hertweck, A., & Meihls, J. L. (1986). Handicapping the handicapped: Decision making in students’ educational careers. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Association for the Education of Young Children. (1995). Responding to linguistic and cultural diversity: Recommendations for effective early childhood education. Washington, DC: NAEYC. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/positionstatements/linguistic.

  • Ochoa, S. H., Gonzalez, D., Galarza, A., & Guillemard, L. (1996). The training and use of interpreters in bilingual psychoeducational assessment: An alternative in need of study. Diagnostique, 21(3), 19–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ohtake, Y., Santos, R. M., & Fowler, S. (2000). It’s a three-way conversation: Family, service providers, and interpreters working together. Young Exceptional Children, 4, 12–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pillet-Shore, D. (2003). Doing “okay”: On the multiple metrics of an assessment. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 36, 285–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Portner, P. (2006). Meaning. In R. Fasold & J. Conner-Linton (Eds.), An introduction to language and linguistics (pp. 137–168). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pylkkänen, L., & McElree, B. (2006). The syntax-semantics interface: On-line composition of sentence meaning. In M. Traxler & M. A. Gernsbacher (Eds.), Handbook of psycholinguistics (pp. 537–577). New York, NY: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richards, J. (2005). Second thoughts on teaching listening. Regional English Language Centre Journal, 36, 85–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richards, J. (2008). Teaching listening and speaking: From theory to practice. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A., & Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language, 50, 696–734.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salas, L. (2004). Individualized education plan (IEP) meetings and Mexican–American parents: Let’s talk about it. Journal of Latinos in Education, 3(3), 181–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shameem, N. (1998). Validating self-reported language proficiency by testing performance in an immigrant community: The Wellington Indo-Fijians. Language Testing, 15, 86–108.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silverman, D., Baker, C., & Keogh, J. (1998). The case of the silent child: Advice-giving and advice reception in parent-teacher interviews. In I. Hutchby & J. Moran-Ellis (Eds.), Children and social competence: Arenas for action (pp. 222–240). London, UK: Falmer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, J., Stern, K., & Shatrova, Z. (2008). Factors inhibiting Hispanic parents’ school involvement. Rural Educator, 29, 8–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Staehr, L. S. (2009). Vocabulary knowledge and advanced listening comprehension in English as a foreign language. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 31, 577–607.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turnbull, K. K., & Hughes, D. L. (1987). A pragmatic analysis of speech and language IEP conferences. Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools, 18, 275–286.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vandergrift, L. (2004). Listening to learn or learning to listen? Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 24, 3–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vandergrift, L. (2007). Recent developments in second and foreign language listening comprehension research. Language Teaching, 40, 191–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vanlancker-Sidtis, D. (2003). Auditory recognition of idioms by native and non-native speakers of English: It takes one to know one. Applied Psycholinguistics, 24, 45–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walters, F. S. (2009). A conversation analysis-informed test of L2 aural pragmatic comprehension. TESOL Quarterly, 43, 29–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Webb, S. (2007). The effects on repetition on vocabulary knowledge. Applied Linguistics, 28, 46–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xudong, D. (2008). The use of listener responses in Mandarin Chinese and Australian English conversations. Pragmatics, 18, 303–328.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Special Education, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    Gregory A. Cheatham

  2. College of Education, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, 38152, USA

    Yeonsun Ellie Ro

Authors
  1. Gregory A. Cheatham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yeonsun Ellie Ro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gregory A. Cheatham.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Cheatham, G.A., Ro, Y.E. Communication Between Early Educators and Parents who Speak English as a Second Language A Semantic and Pragmatic Perspective. Early Childhood Educ J 39, 249–256 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-011-0467-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-011-0467-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation