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but who were judged to be the most advanced in English,received reading
instruction in English only. Students who had little English ability
and who were also less fluent than the rest in Spanish received in
struction in Spanish only. By the end of the school year, third-grade
students who received reading instruction in both languages were
achieving at the same level as those who received instruction in
English only, even though they began the school year at a significantly
lower level of English achievement.
The relationship of language and intelligence/academic achievement
The body of research on the theoretical perspective of the re
lationship of language acquisition and cognitive development is reviewed
by Rice (1980), who places the research findings on a continuum. At
one extreme she finds language and cognition independent of each other,
in the mid area there is agreement that language development is inter
dependent on cognitive development, and at the opposite end that
cognition is dependent on language development. She concludes that each
theory seems to explain some phenomena of language acquisition, but that
no one theory accounts for all the complexities of children's language
performance or the relationship of language and intelligence.
Language, according to Hal 1iday (1578),performs four basic functions.
It interprets the entirety of human experience, expresses logical re
lationships, identifies speakers and societal roles, and relates what
is being said to the context of the speech event. In reviewing the work
of Bernstein, Halliday finds that the process of becoming educated re
quires that meaning must develop along certain lines of cultural content,