I Want to Be a Bilingual Speech-Language Pathologist.
How Bilingual is Enough?
I often think about this question as I work with students who are diligently working toward Spanish proficiency. I get the whole gamut of students to train at New Mexico State University. Some students are proficient in Spanish and others are not and then there are all of the in between Spanish speakers. I'm a firm believer that anybody can become bilingual, but not everyone can be bicultural or a bilingual speech language pathologist. There's more to becoming a competent bilingual speech language pathologist than speaking another language other than English.
Bilingual individuals are heterogeneous as a group and have different levels of proficiency in the two languages. No two persons are similar in their abilities to speak the same two languages. Haugen (1953) stated that the only thing that bilinguals have in common is that they're not monolingual. The same is true of bilingual clinicians. Some are expecting perfection in fluency of themselves and the clients they serve and other clinicians are not aware of how much they need to learn to be truly competent in the Spanish language. Very few bilingual persons have equal abilities in the two languages. Many individuals believe that once bilingual always bilingual, but instead bilingual speakers do lose the ability to speak a second language that is not actively used with the native speakers of that language.
The linguistic competency in English and Spanish is important, but the clinician's cultural knowledge of both cultures is also important in the use of the two languages. The cultural rules include the rules for interactions, appropriate behaviors, and the regulation of interactions with individuals from different cultural backgrounds. Bilingual-bicultural clinicians have different levels of acculturation and assimilation. They have experiences that will make them appear either more traditional or very "Americanized," and then there are all of the bicultural individuals who are between these two cultural continuums. Biculturalism is something that is lived over a lifetime, from childhood, and not something that is acquired by living in a country for a semester or a year.
Clinicians must become sensitive to their own biculturalism and bilingualism. There may be behaviors or roles between speakers that are acceptable in one culture but are considered inappropriate in the second culture. There are sayings or phrases that may be acceptable in one culture but not the other.
But why the big deal about proficiency? Asha's definition of a bilingual speech-language pathologist or audiologist states=85."Speech-language pathologists or audiologists, who present themselves as bilingual for the purposes of providing clinical services, must be able to speak their primary language and to speak (or sign) at least one other language with native-or near-native proficiency in lexicon (vocabulary), semantics (meaning), phonology (pronunciation), morphology/syntax (grammar), and pragmatics (uses) during clinical management (p. 93)." This definition sets a standard for bilingualism in the professions of speech language pathology and audiology. ASHA-certified clinicians who identify themselves as bilingual are now bound by the ASHA code of ethics for practice. Clinicians who are not near native-like in the second language can be brought before the Board of Code of Ethics (ASHA, 1994) for practicing in the minority language when their linguistic skills are not adequate.
Language proficiency is also important because clinicians who do not have near-native like proficiency are limited by what s/he understands and can express. Children learn from the model that is presented to them. Children's English will develop to a level that is presented in the classroom. If the Spanish model is weak, then the child does not learn the language any better that the model presented in therapy. In testing, a child knows when the examiner is not proficient in the language. The child will use the language level that s/he believes that the examiner will understand. I've seen this pattern of interaction in children as young as 3 years of age. The child recognizes that the examiner isn't proficient in Spanish and will use a simplified form of Spanish to accommodate to the adult's language abilities.
But bilingualism isn't enough either. Five competencies for bilingual clinicians were identified as necessary for the assessment and remediation in the minority language (ASHA, 1985). These included:
- language proficiency: native or near native fluency in both the minority language and the English language;
- normative processes; the ability to describe the process of normal speech and language acquisition for both bilingual and monolingual individuals and how those processes are manifested in oral and written language;
- assessment: the ability to administer and interpret formal and informal assessment procedures to a distinguish between communication difference and communication disorders;
- intervention: the ability to apply intervention strategies for treatment of communicative disorders in the minority language; and
- cultural sensitivity: the ability to recognize cultural factors that affect the delivery of speech-language pathology and audiology services to the minority language speaking community.
Decisions are made on the basis of knowledge of what is typical and atypical, and the understanding of the literature as to what is best practices when assessing and providing treatment to Spanish speaking children and adults. I've worked with students who had excellent Spanish proficiency who just did not know how to apply the knowledge and theory that was presented in classes. I've also worked with minimally proficient students who could make decisions and excellent recommendations for Spanish speakers with communication impairments by working with an interpreter. Proficiency in Spanish is an excellent prerequisite but knowledge is a critical element to the making of a bilingual speech language pathologist.
The public schools have developed a model for children who are identified as speech and language impaired. Children are identified as having a problem in speech and language and then they're tested with a battery of instruments to determine the strengths and weaknesses. The child is then classified so that a program can be recommended. Goals and objectives are developed for the child so that those identified strengths and weaknesses are addressed. And then the child is monitored and progress is charted and eventually the school committee discusses at the end of the year the child's progress and goals met. In my opinion this is a pretty good model for developing and strengthening clinicians who want to become bilingual or those who do not yet have the abilities to evaluate and provide treatment to Spanish speakers. Definitely, accountability is good and clinicians who are not native to the language should have colleagues who can mentor, assess progress, and provide suggestions for improvement. It's not good for bilingual clinicians to doubt themselves. It'll show up in the meetings held with other professionals, decisions made, and recommendations given to clients and families.
References
- American Speech-Language-hearing Association (1985). Clinical management of communicatively handicapped minority language populations. Asha 17(6), 29-32.
- American Speech-Language-Hearing Asociation. (1989). Definition: Bilingual speech-language pathologists and audiologists. Asha, 31(3), 93.
- American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (1994). Code of Ethics. Asha, 36(Suppl. 13), 1-2.
- Haugen, E. (1953). The Norwegian Language in American: A Study in Bilingual Behavior. 2 vols. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
