Russian-speaking children and material needs in the reformist context: an ecological study of curriculum development

Abstract

This study examines the process for gaining Russian instructional materials at a dual language immersion program for school children in the Western USA. The ethnographic approach to the bilingual and multilingual setting draws on Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory to explore how the context impedes or supports the instructional need for appropriate language materials in the reformist period: a period marked by standardized testing and managed schools under a business model. This transdisciplinary approach crossing linguistic, anthropological, and psychological fields was selected to explore the cultural–historical implications in the USA where bilingual education was aggressively dismantled with the onset of the World Wars. The findings demonstrate organizational leadership that was resistant to the needs of the Russian teachers and families, and is lacking in knowledge of languages, translation, and pedagogy. Findings also show how a community worked together for the benefit of young learners. Implications include the need for the US Government to better support immigrant communities and schools to achieve the multilingual workforce initiative. A protocol for selecting instructional materials from abroad is provided to assist with curriculum development.

Keywords:

• language learning
• ecological systems
• Russian
• curriculum
• immigrants
• reformism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Margaret A. Berg

Margaret A. Berg has been a teacher for over 30 years. She has taught English and Teacher Education courses at the secondary and tertiary levels in Ukraine, Russia, and China, and in the inner-city and on the Mexican border of the United States. Her research interests include bilingual education and the integration of language and content to better instruct students who speak a non dominant language in the home (and community).