Catherine E. Snow

Last updated
Catherine Elizabeth Snow
BornDecember 14, 1945
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Educational psychologist, applied linguist
SpouseMichael Baum

Catherine Elizabeth Snow (born December 14, 1945) is an educational psychologist and applied linguist. In 2009 Snow was appointed to the Patricia Albjerg Graham Professorship in the Harvard Graduate School of Education, having previously held the Henry Lee Shattuck Professorship also in the Harvard Graduate School of Education. [1] [2] Snow is past president of the American Educational Research Association (2000-2001). [3] She chaired the RAND Corporation 'reading study group' from 1999. [4]

Contents

Snow has contributed to theories of bilingualism and language acquisition through parent-child interaction. [5] With Brian MacWhinney, Snow founded the Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES) database, a corpus of children's speech used by numerous language acquisition researchers. [5] More recently, Snow's research has focused on early childhood literacy, investigating linguistic and social factors that contribute to or detract from literacy.[ citation needed ] With Anat Ninio, Snow published extensively on pragmatic development. [6]

She is also on the advisory board of FFIPP-USA (Faculty for Israeli-Palestinian Peace-USA), a network of Palestinian, Israeli, and International faculty, and students, working for an end of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and for just peace. [7]

Bilingualism research

Home factors

Snow was interested in the relationship of individual home conditions and the ability to become proficient in two languages. In order to determine the role of vocabulary in the bilingual population a series of experiments were conducted analyzing the consequences of the socio economic status (SES) of individuals as well as language predictors in both of the languages in question—Spanish and English. [8] The sample was a group of 96 fifth-grade Latino English language learners of varying SES. [8] In order to determine what the SES was for the sample the following factors were considered—mother's education and individual income per household. [8] Vocabulary development was found to be linked to the literacy practices of the individual as well as the family which varies across the SES of the households. [8] Environmental factors played a role in the literacy of individuals. The number of books in the household as well as the amount that the parents read accounted for 51% of the variability in literacy. [8] Personal factors—help from guardians in areas such as homework, reading with the child, and telling stories—accounted for 65% variation in both languages. The statistics had an internal reliability of .71 for Spanish and .72 for English indicating that the results are relatively consistent. [8] Analysis of parental language showed that the maternal preference for English explained about 59% of variation in literacy with a reliability of .9 indicating that the factor was relatively consistent. Another factor that was considered to explain parental preference explained only 13% of variability of literacy among individuals with an internal reliability of .85. [8] The high correlation between these factors led to the conclusion that multiple resources are necessary for a child to become proficient in both their first and second languages. It was also found that parental language preference relates to the proficiency of the child in both languages. [8] Children in homes that used mainly English tended to have a higher proficiency in English, and predominantly Spanish speakers tended to have a higher proficiency in Spanish. [8] For parental preference when Spanish was the first language, it was found that the father's language preference was more predictive of the child's proficiency in that particular language. For preference in the English language, both maternal and paternal preference were significant factors in predicting the proficiency of a particular language. Even if Spanish was preferred in an initially English speaking home, the child had a higher proficiency in the Spanish language. [8]

Snow took part in research where the focus was to see if home factors such as family characteristics and home language use had an influence on a child's English and Spanish vocabulary. The study was conducted with Latino children where Spanish was most commonly spoken in the home. They administered a questionnaire to the families that were going to participate in the study. The questions included information of the family's background, home-language use and home literacy environment. The home factors that were looked at included parental education, parental English proficiency, previous school attendance, mothers working status, literacy resources in the home and number of books at home, along with other factors. The study found that family income did not have an impact on the child's vocabulary and that children in low-income households were more expressive during book sharing activities having a positive impact on the child's vocabulary. [9] Spanish did become less dominant in the home compared to English because home factors. One home factor that decreased the child's vocabulary in Spanish is that many of the books that are resourced are in English rather than Spanish causing book sharing time at home with the child to be mainly in English than in Spanish. English is introduced to minority children through factors inside and outside of the home, resulting in a child's increase in English vocabulary which demonstrates how English holds a higher status in society. [9] The study also noted how the more exposure a child had to either a parent, relative or sibling read to them the better it impacted the child's vocabulary. [9] In the home, the more exposure a child has to language the richer their vocabulary.

Maternal factors

Snow's research studied if the mother's interaction had an impact on the child's vocabulary in both English and Spanish. The study looked at a sample of Latino children where Spanish was the predominant language. The research used home visits as a way to collect data on maternal factors. The home visits involved parental interviews, observing book sharing between the mother and the child and the mothers also had to complete a vocabulary test. Some questions that came up in the parental interview was the differences between their culture and the United States and also their beliefs of language acquisition and literacy. The book that was used to examine the mothers interaction with the child during book sharing time was Frog Where Are You? a picture book without words, by Mercer Mayer. The objective of this was because this book provided the tools for a child to create narratives if the mother encouraged this response during the activity. [9] The study found that when mother's used labeling questions during book sharing time, it had a positive impact on the child's vocabulary. [9] When the mother used labeling questions it also had a strong a positive connection with Spanish vocabulary while it also had a weaker and positive connection with English vocabulary. [9] The study also found how Spanish culture may have an effect in having their children have open ended responses with their mothers. [9] The more the mother spoke in English the negative result it had in the child's Spanish vocabulary but positively impacted the child's English vocabulary. [9] Mother and child interaction has a positive influence on cognitive skills and lexical development.

Perspectives

Snow participated in a guide in 1992 called Educational Researcher, published by American Educational Research Association to answer some questions and explain the research behind second language development. The following are many common questions that have been presented to her and the others writing the guide: what are the consequences of bilingualism, why might someone have more trouble than others learning an addition language, what are the individual differences in bilingualism and many more. Snow's section was called Perspectives on Second-Language Development: Implication for Bilingual Education which described 4 different approaches of studying, recording the history of and the research of bilingualism to answer these common questions. The 4 based approaches are foreign, L1, psycho linguistic and social linguistic approach. Each method views learning and developing language in different ways and takes into account different circumstances, situations, disadvantages and advantages. [10]

Snow began with the first basic bilingual approach, The Foreign Language which is a simplistic approach because it focuses on the idea that the best way to learn a second language is to be in the native and social environment of that language. This can affect older and younger learners in different ways. She states that under this approach, young learners such as children will learn a second language better in a social environment of that foreign language. For older learners, being taught by a tutor who is proficient in that foreign language will allow older learners to learn and develop their second language better. This approach does not support the idea that there is a certain critical age where someone needs to learn a second or third language. It also does not support the idea that innate cognitive ability has any emphasis on learning a second language. [10] As a result of this, the Foreign Based approach was later challenged by a L1 Based Approach. Snow states that this approach researches and supports what the Foreign-based model didn't. [10] It explains that many of the characteristics of a first language are part of learning a second language. Which supports their claim that how quickly and adequately a learner learns his/her first language affects how fast and efficiently they can learn a second language. How learners master their language is explained by different methods of learning—what strategies they use, how they're taught by their parents—carry onto their second language acquisition which could be an advantage or disadvantage. However some children or people are not given good learning strategies or are raised by parents that don't particularly speak their own language well which could hinder a children's second language development, let alone first language. [10]

Following the development of two of the four basic bilingual approaches, two more arose—a psycho-linguistic and social linguistic. Snow explains that a psycho-linguistic approach perceives second language development as a special kind of information process. It is understood that the concept of learning and understanding a language is no different from one another. Analytic and auditory skills were utilized allowing learners to develop their second language to the best of their ability. The focus was on the raw cognition and development skills of learners and how these aspects give advantages to them in learning other languages. This approach supports the claim that learners that already know more than one language will be more successful in learning other languages than learners who have only ever understood one language. This approach focuses a lot on the cognitive factors such as the L1 based approach but does not look into other factors that affect learning like the social aspect. [10] This is why Snow brings up the social linguistic research. This approach emphasizes the idea of social context on second language development. This method also supports that learning a second language is tied to personal identity, culture, nation, ethnic pride and many other factors like those given. This also ties into the L1 based approach—learning a second language has the same characteristics of a first language learner—however more strategies and social habits are exploited within their second language environment to get a better understanding of it. This approach has findings which show that more children grow up learning two languages rather than just one which results in a higher probability of developing another language. However this approach could imply that within a social environment where only one language is spoken, it can be very difficult to learn another language—especially when a language learner is in an environment where there is more than one common language. [10]

Snow finishes her section of the article in Educational Researcher with stating that each perspective of bilingualism researchers answers each common question differently. She implies that there is no one research more correct than the other because language development has many different factors and they all can't be expressed in one research approach. This explains why there are multiple bilingual approaches. Each one has their own studies and findings which support their claim, so it's a matter of what kind of parameters are required by researchers who are looking into specific language development experiments. [10]

Literacy development in elementary school second-language learners

Snow was a part of a series of studies that collected data on the language development of bilingual students. This study focused on elementary students who are second-language learners and the relationship between literacy in their first language which translates into literacy into their second language. The research involved in this study was a combination of assessments, data collected on home-language, and school records that determined students' reading ability. The overall project examined cross-language relationships in the classroom and at home. Parents were asked to fill out questionnaires about home language and family reading practices for a better insight. Researchers controlled a variation in teaching methods by studying children only in schools that employed Success for All. [11] Lastly, the reading skills had to be carefully assessed to track the first and second language development and their relations to each other. Researchers examined the student's phonological segmentation, word reading skills, word recognition, and listening and reading comprehension in both Spanish and English. The research concluded that being orally proficient in a first-language will not be enough to develop second-language skills. [11] The work suggested that children need to be literate in their first language to build second-language skills and having instructions in their first language will only be beneficial to their success. On top of first language instructions, teachers need to incorporate English instructions as well to build on to their student's vocabulary and spelling.

Personal

Catherine Snow married Michael Baum from Cedar Falls, Iowa, and they have a son, Nathaniel Baum-Snow. She lives in Brookline, Massachusetts with her husband.

Related Research Articles

Language education – the process and practice of teaching a second or foreign language – is primarily a branch of applied linguistics, but can be an interdisciplinary field. There are four main learning categories for language education: communicative competencies, proficiencies, cross-cultural experiences, and multiple literacies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vocabulary</span> Body of words used in a particular language

A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the largest challenges in learning a second language.

A heritage language is a minority language learned by its speakers at home as children, and difficult to be fully developed because of insufficient input from the social environment. The speakers grow up with a different dominant language in which they become more competent. Polinsky and Kagan label it as a continuum that ranges from fluent speakers to barely speaking individuals of the home language. In some countries or cultures which determine a person's mother tongue by the ethnic group they belong to, a heritage language would be linked to the native language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English as a second or foreign language</span> Use of English by speakers with different native languages

English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EFL), English as an additional language (EAL), English as a New Language (ENL), or English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). The aspect in which ESL is taught is referred to as teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL), teaching English as a second language (TESL) or teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). Technically, TEFL refers to English language teaching in a country where English is not the official language, TESL refers to teaching English to non-native English speakers in a native English-speaking country and TESOL covers both. In practice, however, each of these terms tends to be used more generically across the full field. TEFL is more widely used in the UK and TESL or TESOL in the US.

Language transfer is the application of linguistic features from one language to another by a bilingual or multilingual speaker. Language transfer may occur across both languages in the acquisition of a simultaneous bilingual, from a mature speaker's first language (L1) to a second language (L2) they are acquiring, or from an L2 back to the L1. Language transfer is most commonly discussed in the context of English language learning and teaching, but it can occur in any situation when someone does not have a native-level command of a language, as when translating into a second language. Language transfer is also a common topic in bilingual child language acquisition as it occurs frequently in bilingual children especially when one language is dominant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Language immersion</span> Use of two languages across a variety of educational subjects

Language immersion, or simply immersion, is a technique used in bilingual language education in which two languages are used for instruction in a variety of topics, including math, science, or social studies. The languages used for instruction are referred to as the L1 and the L2 for each student, with L1 being the student's native language and L2 being the second language to be acquired through immersion programs and techniques. There are different types of language immersion that depend on the age of the students, the classtime spent in L2, the subjects that are taught, and the level of participation by the speakers of L1.

Second-language acquisition (SLA), sometimes called second-language learning — otherwise referred to as L2acquisition, is the process by which people learn a second language. Second-language acquisition is also the scientific discipline devoted to studying that process. The field of second-language acquisition is regarded by some but not everybody as a sub-discipline of applied linguistics but also receives research attention from a variety of other disciplines, such as psychology and education.

Simultaneous bilingualism is a form of bilingualism that takes place when a child becomes bilingual by learning two languages from birth. According to Annick De Houwer, in an article in The Handbook of Child Language, simultaneous bilingualism takes place in "children who are regularly addressed in two spoken languages from before the age of two and who continue to be regularly addressed in those languages up until the final stages" of language development. Both languages are acquired as first languages. This is in contrast to sequential bilingualism, in which the second language is learned not as a native language but a foreign language.

Bilingualism, a subset of multilingualism, means having proficiency in two or more languages. A bilingual individual is traditionally defined as someone who understands and produces two or more languages on a regular basis. A bilingual individual's initial exposure to both languages may start in early childhood, e.g. before age 3, but exposure may also begin later in life, in monolingual or bilingual education. Equal proficiency in a bilingual individuals' languages is rarely seen as it typically varies by domain. For example, a bilingual individual may have greater proficiency for work-related terms in one language, and family-related terms in another language.

Bimodal bilingualism is an individual or community's bilingual competency in at least one oral language and at least one sign language, which utilize two different modalities. An oral language consists of an vocal-aural modality versus a signed language which consists of a visual-spatial modality. A substantial number of bimodal bilinguals are children of deaf adults (CODA) or other hearing people who learn sign language for various reasons. Deaf people as a group have their own sign language(s) and culture that is referred to as Deaf, but invariably live within a larger hearing culture with its own oral language. Thus, "most deaf people are bilingual to some extent in [an oral] language in some form" In discussions of multilingualism in the United States, bimodal bilingualism and bimodal bilinguals have often not been mentioned or even considered, in part because American Sign Language, the predominant sign language used in the U.S., only began to be acknowledged as a natural language in the 1960s. However, bimodal bilinguals share many of the same traits as traditional bilinguals, as well as differing in some interesting ways, due to the unique characteristics of the Deaf community. Bimodal bilinguals also experience similar neurological benefits as do unimodal bilinguals, with significantly increased grey matter in various brain areas and evidence of increased plasticity as well as neuroprotective advantages that can help slow or even prevent the onset of age-related cognitive diseases, such as Alzheimer's and dementia.

Bilingual–Bicultural or Bi-Bi deaf education programs use sign language as the native, or first, language of Deaf children. In the United States, for example, Bi-Bi proponents claim that American Sign Language (ASL) should be the natural first language for deaf children in the United States, although the majority of deaf and hard of hearing being born to hearing parents. In this same vein, the spoken or written language used by the majority of the population is viewed as a secondary language to be acquired either after or at the same time as the native language.

English-Language Learner is a term used in some English-speaking countries such as the US and Canada to describe a person who is learning the English language and has a native language that is not English. Some educational advocates, especially in the United States, classify these students as non-native English speakers or emergent bilinguals. Various other terms are also used to refer to students who are not proficient in English, such as English as a Second Language (ESL), English as an Additional Language (EAL), limited English proficient (LEP), Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD), non-native English speaker, bilingual students, heritage language, emergent bilingual, and language-minority students. The legal term that is used in federal legislation is 'limited English proficient'. The instruction and assessment of students, their cultural background, and the attitudes of classroom teachers towards ELLs have all been found to be factors in the achievement of these students. Several methods have been suggested to effectively teach ELLs, including integrating their home cultures into the classroom, involving them in language-appropriate content-area instruction early on, and integrating literature into their learning programs.

The critical period hypothesis or sensitive period hypothesis claims that there is an ideal time window of brain development to acquire language in a linguistically rich environment, after which further language acquisition becomes much more difficult and effortful. It is the subject of a long-standing debate in linguistics and language acquisition over the extent to which the ability to acquire language is biologically linked to age. The critical period hypothesis was first proposed by Montreal neurologist Wilder Penfield and co-author Lamar Roberts in their 1959 book Speech and Brain Mechanisms, and was popularized by Eric Lenneberg in 1967 with Biological Foundations of Language.

Developmental linguistics is the study of the development of linguistic ability in an individual, particularly the acquisition of language in childhood. It involves research into the different stages in language acquisition, language retention, and language loss in both first and second languages, in addition to the area of bilingualism. Before infants can speak, the neural circuits in their brains are constantly being influenced by exposure to language. Developmental linguistics supports the idea that linguistic analysis is not timeless, as claimed in other approaches, but time-sensitive, and is not autonomous – social-communicative as well as bio-neurological aspects have to be taken into account in determining the causes of linguistic developments.

LOTE or Languages Other Than English is the name given to language subjects besides English in Australia, New York City, and other schools. The name evolved from 'heritage language', a term first used to refer to languages other than French and English in Canada. Later modified in relation to Australia to refer to languages other than English. LOTEs have often historically been related to the policy of multiculturalism, and tend to reflect the predominant non-English languages spoken in a school's local area, the idea being to play a part in the maintenance of cultural identities in local communities.

Metalinguistic awareness, also known as metalinguistic ability, refers to the ability to consciously reflect on the nature of language. The concept of metalinguistic awareness is helpful in explaining the execution and transfer of linguistic knowledge across languages. Metalinguistics expresses itself in ways such as:

Heritage language learning, or heritage language acquisition, is the act of learning a heritage language from an ethnolinguistic group that traditionally speaks the language, or from those whose family historically spoke the language. According to a commonly accepted definition by Valdés, heritage languages are generally minority languages in society and are typically learned at home during childhood. When a heritage language learner grows up in an environment with a dominant language that is different from their heritage language, the learner appears to be more competent in the dominant language and often feels more comfortable speaking in that language. "Heritage language" may also be referred to as "community language," "home language," and "ancestral language".

Emergent literacy is a term that is used to explain a child's knowledge of reading and writing skills before they learn how to read and write words. It signals a belief that, in literate society, young children—even one- and two-year-olds—are in the process of becoming literate. Through the support of parents, caregivers, and educators, a child can successfully progress from emergent to conventional reading.

Anat Ninio is a professor emeritus of psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. She specializes in the interactive context of language acquisition, the communicative functions of speech, pragmatic development, and syntactic development.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to second-language acquisition:

References

  1. ↑ "Harvard bio page" . Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  2. ↑ "Named chair appointment". 2009. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  3. ↑ "AERA past presidents list". AERA. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  4. ↑ Snow, Elizabeth (2002). Reading for Understanding Toward an R&D Program in Reading Comprehension. RAND Corporation.
  5. 1 2 Burns, M. Susan; Arieh Sherris (2013). Snow, Catherine. The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. doi:10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal1075. ISBN   9781405194730.
  6. ↑ Ninio, A. & Snow, E. C. (1996). Pragmatic development. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
  7. ↑ "FFIPP-USA". Archived from the original on 8 June 2010. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Duursma, E., Romero-Contreras, S., Szuber, A., Proctor, P., Snow, C., August, D., & Calderón, M. (2007). The role of home literacy and language environment on bilinguals English and Spanish vocabulary development. Applied Psycholinguistics, 28(01). doi:10.1017/s0142716407070099
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Quiroz, B. G., Snow, C. E., & Zhao, J. (2010). Vocabulary skills of Spanish—English bilinguals: Impact of mother—child language interactions and home language and literacy support. International Journal of Bilingualism, 14(4), 379-399. doi:10.1177/1367006910370919
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Snow, C. E. (1992). Perspectives on Second-Language Development: Implications for Bilingual Education. Educational Researcher, 21(2), 16-19. doi:10.3102/0013189x021002016
  11. 1 2 August, D., Snow, C., Carlo, M., Proctor, C. P., Francisco, A. R., Duursma, E., & Szuber, A. (2006). Literacy Development in Elementary School Second-Language Learners. Topics in Language Disorders
Educational offices
Preceded by President of the

American Educational Research Association
2000-2001

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