The U.S. educational community is now more aware of the benefits of bilingualism. In the past, especially prior to 1960, bilingualism was thought to be an educational handicap. It was believed that children could not learn a second language while still maintaining and refining their first language. Thus, children were strongly discouraged from speaking their first language and in many instances were made to feel ashamed of speaking a different language than English {Cummins, 1995).

Classroom teachers play a critical role in encouraging students to acquire academic English (Wong Fillmore, 1999). Throughout the early childhood years, developmentally appropriate language activities can gradually foster children's awareness of the lan-guage forms used in school settings.

Children's language competencies influence their educational opportunities and achievements. Educational activities involve specific types of communication and interaction. To be successful in aca-demic settings, children must learn how to communicate effectively in those set-tings.

Repetition is on aspect of linguistic scaffolding. In the previous example, the adult's repetition of specific key words (shoes, blue, K-1vfarl) used by the child served to reinforce pronunciation and to confirm the meaning of what the child said.

While initially this might seem to indicate that communica-tion is less beneficial when fathers and older siblings are involved, young children's communicative competence mighl bo enhanced in this type of selling, where they must respond or adapt to the communicative demands of others rather than having the style of communication always adapted lo them

\Ve know that selecting appropriate picture books and welcoming the toddler's questions and comments can actively engage the toddler in the book sharing.

For example, at the family dinner table, an oral request lo pass a serving bowl of salad is likely follO\oved by tho response of passing the bowl to the person who requested it. This demonstrates how language can function to servo a particular purpose or moot a specific need.

Cambourne's work and the role of the environment fn focllltatlng oral language development. The role of the environment in supporting and facilitating children's language development has been further described by Cnmbourne (1988, 1995)

\.t\1hen adults are teaching n child to say "bye-bye," the child's al tempts are often followed by positive reinforcement such as a hug, an embrace, or verbal praise.