Considering Students ' Language Background On Higher Education Assessment Outcomes

3). Some ELL students may start school without any English language skills, while others may have “limited language proficiency or dual language deficiency in both their native language and English” (p. 3). Just as native English speakers, ELL students also have different levels of intellectual abilities; however, their struggle with school in English may be related to background knowledge and not solely on intellectual abilities (Short & Echevarria, 2004). Samson and Collins (2012), purposes if school districts, administrations, and teachers want to see improvements in achievement for ELLs, “greater continuity in how general education teachers are prepared by teacher-education programs, certified by states and evaluated by local education agencies, or LEAs, is essential. By making sure that the special needs of ELLs are addressed at multiple stages of the teacher preparation process, schools may gain higher quality

In the case of ELLs their culture and identity are considered constraining factors with respect to academic challenges, but scholars feel that these are due to non-recognition of native cultural dynamics (Gay, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 1995). However, if these aspects are utilized it can contribute to a better learning experience in terms of language and other academic areas. The native cultural background and its linkage has the capacity to motivate and ignite interest in ELLs and it can provide the platform which would facilitate learning new skills and academic content. Research has also shown that measures to improve language skills of ELLs often neglect the interconnected dimensions of the culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) student biography. In particular, understanding the sociocultural, linguistic, academic, and cognitive dimensions of ELLs is helpful for educators in order to attain higher standards of language proficiency and academic success (Perez and Holmes 2010). For instance, a teacher reflects on her personal experience in these words:

As our nation shifts towards a more culturally diverse population both educators and families have to find a common ground to ensure that English Language Learners are academically successful. All stakeholders must carefully consider the social cultural impact on an ELL education. The process of raising bilingual learners take more than a language a school and a language learned at home. The transition must have a purpose and a goal.

The proposed research is designed to analyze one of the major issues in contemporary education which is the educational achievement gap between ESL (English as a Second Language) students and native English speakers. The research is designed to study the lack of effort from school officials to integrate cultural needs of minorities in their education which enables them to succeed as much as others. The focus of this study is to compare the academic opportunities between ESL students and native English speaker students and said opportunities affect their academic success. Participants will be 100 siena students 50 ESL and 50 native English speakers. Participants will take a survey in which they will provide information about their educational experience in middle school and high school and how said experiences affected their educational achievements in a negative and/or positive way.

The fact that ELL student’s are given the exact same educational services provided to native English speaker, seem to be very unfair for the ELL student’s and instead of helping the ELL students to succeed academically we are preventing them from succeeding in their classes. When I was reading this section I couldn’t stop thinking about the video that we saw in class, the student was very smart but the fact that he couldn’t understand the material being taught, this was preventing him from showing how brilliant and smart he is. Just imagine how many brilliant ELL students can’t succeed in class because they don’t understand the language of the instruction.

English learners are currently the fastest developing student population in schools today. This makes it extremely important to provide these students with the programs and services they deserve. Providing a strong education for ELL students is what I personally believe to be an asset in America’s future. Today there are many challenges I believe teachers and students face when it comes to instruction and assessments.

• Test scores comparing ELL students and native speakers of English as well as number of ELL students identified as requiring special education services

The school system do not take in consideration that ELL students not only have a language barrier that prevent them from performing on the standardized tests, but that they are transitioning from a completely different learning environment. ELL students are also classified as poor academic performers because of their language barrier. This language barrier explain the academic achievement gaps between ELL students and native english-speaking students. The test scores are not sufficient proof to argue that ELL students have a gap in academic achievement. This is questionable to the validity of the standardized tests on ELL students.(Youth)

Also, since objective testing cannot measure understanding and application on real-life situations, all assessments will be take-home, essay type with a rubric that teachers will provide while they explain about the homework assignment after the lecture (Woolfolk, 2015, p. 579). This is for easing students’ anxiety on assessment, especially since ELL students have language issues and the content of this seminar can be seen as harder for them than what they have experienced in any other regular ELL classes. Furthermore, the assessment on the mock conference will be considered as a performance assessment that requires students to lead the activity and produce outcomes that demonstrate their understanding on the material (p.

Teachers must have high expectations for all of the students and should give a variety of supports for the different learners in their classrooms. English Language Learners are a group of learners who equity, not equality, makes a difference to. If a teacher taught all students equally, the ELL students would still struggle with the language barrier and probably would not learn to their full capacity. On the other hand, a teacher is equitable in her teaching could help teach these students to their fullest capacity. This would include using evidence-based strategies and supports to help bridge the gap of language for these students, so they can better understand the

Diverse cultures within the United States are rapidly developing and growing and the educational sector is the number one target to ensure that English –learners are receiving adequate education. Within the educational sector there are administrators and teachers who are involved in students lives on a daily basis to ensure that education is equal. In order to achieve the vital objective of equality, socio-cultural influences on ELL students, bilingualism and home language use, parental and community resources, and partnerships between families and schools all have to be considered to provide an opportunity for equal education.

The ESL scales have been developed to help teachers clearly understand the level at which each non- English background student is working in all of the language skills; listening, speaking, reading and writing. These skills develop differently, at different stages and the role of the ESL scales is to identify the level and strategies needed to improve the student’s proficiency. “A knowledge of the ESL scales supports all learning areas and enables those involved in education to cater more effectively for students whose first language is not English.”(ESL scales,)

The article Principles and Practices of Sociocultural Assessment: Foundations for Effective Strategies for Linguistically Diverse Classrooms, is written to inform the readers about different types of practices that teachers can take into action when working with ESL students. In this article, it mentions how different principals help to accommodate the ESL students. One of the principals that was mentioned was is that learning is social. In the article, it was mentioned that learning is social because it helps students to understand and use interaction with others to share meaning in a social setting (Smith, Teemant, & Pinnegar, 2004, P. 39). In the article, another principal that helps ESL students is that teaching is assisting. The meaning

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS: ESL INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS WITH LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY WILL HAVE A LOWER CUMULATIVE GPA THAN ENGLISH AS A NATIVE LANGUAGE, INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS.

ESL students are students that speak English as a second language. Presently, there is many different system to characterize this type of students (qtd in Shi, Steen 63). For example, they can be seen as “English Language Learners (ELL), English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), English Language Development (ELD), English Language Service (ELS), and