Exploring The language Barrier in Early Childhood Education

Photo Courtesy of EuroTalk.com

In my doctoral class I am currently in, The Influences of Family Culture and Society in Early Childhood,  I discovered that linguistics is a real dilemma in my community.  I was surprised as this is an issue that I perceived impacted children and education elsewhere, but not in the central Midwest.  I assumed complications with language barriers would surface namely in the southern region, such as Georgia and Florida,  or out west, in California and Nevada (Wilson & Singer, 2011).  Articles like that of Wilson and Singer (2011) only served to strengthen this absolution.

What changed my belief?  Research on a simple discussion post on microagressions posted
a few weeks ago revealed an article written in our local newspaper about the number of English as Second Language (ESL) students.  The number has doubled in recent years and the challenges that families and schools face due to the language barrier (Hogan, 2012) has come home to roost.  I was completely blind and oblivious to this struggle taking place in my own back yard.

I suppose that my naivete is, in part, due to homeschooling my own children and having the daycare in my home as opposed to working in a center-based environment.  In that sense, I have been sheltered as we are not in the mainstream of education.  I have decided to research the language barrier in my community as it relates to early childhood for my summer project (as this course ends in August, 2016).  As such, I have several questions and each answer, I anticipate, will  inspires several more.  I have thus begun to analyze these questions and place them in a crude, but utilitarian and sensible order.

First, I would like to know both perspectives of this issue: the families’ and the educators’ struggles.  How are they unique?  How are they similar?  And, how do their experiences and attitudes impact the issue?  What is being done now and what is planned to be done in the future?  How are decisions involving the language barrier made?  By whom?  When and how?  How are the families involved in the decision-making process?  How is mutual understanding and comprehension ensured?  The list goes on and on and seems to build by the day.

One primary concern I have is that, due to cultural differences, what the families understand and what the speaker/educator/professional meant to convey may be two completely different, and even opposing, interpretations.  During this course, I have gained an acute awareness that what another person says they understand and what we believe they understand can be polar.  How can we, as professionals, ensure that the understanding is (in mathematical terms) linear and not exponential where cultural differences become an unpredicted variable?

A foreseeable challenge in exploring the language barrier in early childhood in my community is that the school district has already released for summer break.  I am looking into ways that I can still reach educators with experience on this issue.  Fortunately, I am the president of a professional association of educators with a membership base of long, tenured members.  While they may not be in my community, they will be accessible until I can reach educators in my area.