Martha Bigelow, associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction (Second Languages in Cultures), and Karla Stone (photo far right), coordinator of DirecTrack to Teaching, are featured in a Minnesota Public Radio story on the rise of students learning English as a second language in Minnesota. Bigelow and Stone say that school districts are moving toward incorporating the home languages of students into their English instruction, which has been shown to improve performance.
“There is a very strong correlation between native language literacy and the ability to add English if that foundation is already there,” says Bigelow.
To read the full story and listen to the audio, please visit MPR’s website.