English-Language Learners: Article Analysis

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.

When an educator walks into her classroom for the first time, she needs to be prepared to encounter students that come from a variety of backgrounds. The children will be in different stages of language development, and the educator must accommodate for each of these students. Magruder, Hayslip, Espinosa, and Matera (2013) state, “The US Census Bureau projects that by the 2030s, children whose home language is other than English will increase from roughly 22 percent to 40 percent of the school-age population” (p. 9). This increase in second language learners will cause the educator to accommodate for those needs. Second language learners “need teachers who welcome them and recognize their unique abilities, what they know, and what they need to learn” (Magruder, Hayslip, Espinosa, and Matera, 2013, p. 10).

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.

It is no secret that the debate over what is the best course of action to educate our non-native English language students across the country is a highly charged topic that runs from the classroom to Capitol Hill. There have been many shifts in direction and focus of educational programs for English Language Learning (ELL) students during the past century in our nation's history. In 1968, with the passage of the Bilingual Education Act (Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act) legislation was

So, what are the best types of instruction and assessment tools for teachers working with Ells? The journal article, titled “Culturally relevant texts and reading assessment for English Language Learners” by Ann E. Ebe a PhD. at Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, believes, that culturally relevant texts are an important key for teaching, and thus assessing ELLs per literacy comprehension (Ebe, 2010). Ebe believes that students who are English Language Learners have a higher level of comprehension when they are reading texts which are culturally relevant to them as opposed to reading texts that they have little cultural connection to (Ebe, 2010). Ebe’s research was focused on the belief that if ELLs are given texts which connect to them culturally, then they will improve their reading comprehension skills, because; they relate to a student’s background knowledge and thus enables the student to connect meaning to the information that is being presented (Ebe, 2010).

It is essential to understand English language learners’ needs because ELL students face the combined challenge of learning all the academic content as other students, while also learning the language of instruction. With the rapid growth in the size of the ELL student population in the U.S., teachers who are effective recognizes ELL students unique academic needs, unique background experience, culture, language, personality, interests and attitudes toward learning for the purpose to adjust, or differentiate, their instruction to meet students’ needs.

When it comes to teaching English Language Learners, math is often an under researched topic because it is thought to be a language of numbers (Janzen, 2008). A misconception that many educators share is that because math uses symbols it is not associated with language or culture (Bresser, Melanese &Sphar, 2009). Not all English Language Learners are the same, and often times ELLs enter a new classroom that requires proficiency on both mathematical and linguistic levels. ELLs come in with different levels of schooling, some come from a situation where they have been attending school regularly, so the transition is not as hard as it is for the students who really have not attended school on a regular

Social Studies is a very complex subject for educators to teach and for the students to be interested in learning, this is because it includes so many different disciplines. Not to mention, society is rapidly changing socially and technologically which affects what social studies content is being taught to our students( Passe,J 2002). In past years students were forced to learn at a relatively low cognitive levels, it lack the full meaning social studies that could be transferred into real life situations. It is because of this

The authors of the article explained how important it is to meet the needs of the students with limited English ability in the education system. One of the main point expresses about how frustrating it could be for these students, especially if they were never expose to this sort of environment or language before. Another point that was made in the article, explains how the educational system was not prepared for changes in this sort of population. In most cases, some of the curriculum that is being offered in school cannot be changed to accommodate English Limited Learners, also known as ELLs. Budget is also another issue, as schools are limited to hiring more ELL teachers.

With nearly 30 million immigrants crossing our borders in the last three decades, the United States education system has seen a dramatic increase in the number of English Language Learners (ELLs) entering the classroom (Migration Policy Institute website, n.d.). With this influx of non-native English speakers has come the need to find the best ways possible to meet them where they are academically and teach them accordingly. However, after years of research, education gurus are still divided on how to best meet the needs of ELLs. While there is no clear-cut approach, there are several strategies and programs that schools can implement in order to help immigrant learners and their families be successful in our school system.

S. school system despite speaking, reading and writing English. The classroom environment was foreign. Not only did I need to learn academic content, I had to learn the cultural nuances as well. I remember feeling overwhelmed and sometimes overburdened. The use of pictures, artifacts, diagrams and video clips during lessons help to some extent, even so, the study “suggests three ways that teachers can enhance knowledge construction of ELL students: (1) Teachers should take time to understand the cultures of their ELL students, (2) Teachers should be open to new possibilities of meaning, and (3) Teachers should take time to listen to the storylines each ELL student brings into the classroom learning environment” (Strickland, 2012, pp.

I think that it’s great that this man did something that he struggled with and persevered to learn how to read. So many people would have just called it good and never learned how to read, and it’s very encouraging that he did learn how to read. This article also makes me question our education system a little bit. I do not think that it’s a good sign that this man made it all the way through school not knowing how to read. Did teachers just not notice or did they just not care? Either way no student should attend school ant not learn how to read at some point. Over all, I think that it’s great that this man learned how to read. It is never to late to learn something new, no matter wat that might be.

With the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 came a requirement for local and state educational providers to be accountable for the academic progress of all children in their care including English language learners. This paper will examine two common assessments used by states and districts to meet the requirement of this legislation: WIDA's ACCESS for ELLs and Ballard and Tighe's IPT test. Both of these standard-based tests are used for similar purposes, but they have some differences too, namely that one tests BICS and general CALP, while the other tests a wider range of academic domain language.

The two students in the study were shown to be given limited exposure to content knowledge. Although they were in mainstream classrooms with native English speakers, these ELL students were missing out on a lot of classroom instruction due to being taken away from the classroom for intervention. The author found that both students would be pulled away during the middle of one lesson and returned in the middle of another. She also discussed the ELL teacher’s viewpoint that the student should be really exposed to content area in social studies for the first grade, not fifth as she needs to “…put the language with that she is doing” (Somé-Guiébré.)

Most classrooms across America are multilingual learning environments. It is important that educators make sure all students feel welcome in the classroom beginning the first day of school so they can thrive in their education. Having a welcome sign in different languages as the students enter the classroom on the first day of school can help the students to feel like they are welcomed. When a student feels comfortable in his or her environment their minds can be at ease giving them a better opportunity at learning. This is especially important for English language learners. They are already presented with multiple challenges as they work their way through the school system so feeling welcomed and comfortable in their learning environment can be beneficial. An educator who create a curriculum to reach all students develop more successful students. Although all teachers are not bilingual and equipped to teach ELL students educators can use teaching strategies to make sure all students are learning to their fullest potential. This paper will discuss some of the struggles English language learners have, the struggles teachers are faced with along with some techniques that can used, and the benefits of making a classroom for everyone.