Summary: The Literacy Achievement Of Latino English Learners

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.

She maintains this will allow them to generate cognitive and linguistic progress that nurtures their transition to English (Stover, 2015). Therefore, according to Dr. Vonderlack-Navarro, the “English only” approach can be detrimental to learning English (Stover, 2015). Vonderlack-Navarro contends school board members need to endorse specific strategies and support multilingual classrooms in response to the question, “How does the school board make these literacy gains in a classroom with English language learners who speak different languages?” (Stover, 2015).

“Successful program models for promoting the academic achievement of language minority students are those that enable these students to develop academic skills while learning English. The best program organization is one that is tailored to meet the linguistic, academic, and emotional needs of students; provides language minority students with the instruction necessary to allow them to progress through school at a rate commensurate with their native-English-speaking peers; and makes the best use of district and community resources.” (Colorin Colorado, 2014)

From the data, one theme that was deduced from repeating data was discrimination. Marissa’s school sent a letter to her parent’s saying she needed to be evaluated for ESL, when English is the official language of her home country. Because she uses a dialect and pronounces her words differently from the mainstream American society, they assume she is English deficient, a language bias because she is an immigrant. As stated by P. Rudy Mattai in the article ‘Rethinking the Nature of Multicultural Education: Has it Lost its Focus or is it Being Misused?’ “…the affirmation of minority culture in various bilingual, bicultural and ethnic programs represent a direct challenge to the centrality of Anglo values in the school curriculum and the notion that minority culture and language are “naturally” deficient…” (p. 69).

An impressive 16.2% of students in the Federal Way public school system self-identify as Hispanic (U.S. Census, 2013) [primary]. Of these students, 23.9% are foreign born (U.S. Census, 2013) [primary]. These students are often multilingual, switching to Spanish when home. In fact, 32.4 percent of students speak a different language at home (U.S. Census, 2013) [primary]. It should not come as a surprise that language is a major component of one’s culture. Most American schools place a heavy emphasis on

Doctors Ana Iddings and Mary Combs are Associate Professors from the University of Arizona who conducted research on how to help English language learners become successful in grades Kindergarten through 12 along with Dr. Luis Moll who is a Professor Emeritus from the named university. Dr. Iddings has conducted individual research on many topics, one being the education and professional development of teachers to work with English language learners (ELLs) and their families. Dr. Combs currently teaches courses in bilingual and English as a Second Language (ESL) courses on the graduate and undergraduate levels. Dr. Moll’s main research was conducted in education of Latino children in the United States.

English language learners (ELL) consisted of 22.3 percent of the total enrollment in California public schools (Facts about English Learners in California - CalEdFacts, 2015). Tends to be ignored or receives not quite the equality in education as their Native English speakers (NES) counter parts. Over the past few years there has been a surge in dual language immersion (DLI) programs (also known two-way immersion), which have resulted in much success (Lindholm-Leary, 2012, p. 256). It has been found that students in DLI programs show a high level of bilingualism and by biliteracy as well as academic achievement and cross-cultural competence (Lindholm-Leary, 2012, p. 256). Since the population of ELL students in California is so high it would appear that the best way for ELL students to get an education that is equal to their NES counterparts more DLI classes should be implemented. By applying more DLI programs California can benefit both their ELL and NES students in academic development and cross-cultural competence, which will help reduce prejudice and racism in the state.

Literacy: a simple word that rolls of your tongue, but it cannot be contained by one definition. It is traditionally the ability to read and write with the ability of language, numbers, and technology. The world may be constantly changing for the better or for worse, but society should be, especially, when it comes down to teaching literacy to students. About a majority of the generation in schools contain Latino and Latina students, who are natives or inhabitants of Latin America. Therefore, how come Latino and Latina Literacy is repressed and in need of schooling? How can society itself change to help Latins? Discourses are a major part in how Latino andLatina literacy can be improved to teach Latin students as well as including Latino literature in school curriculum and integrating

In a study by Martínez (2013) the attitudes of Mexican American students towards learning English as a second language in a structured immersion program was investigated. It also analyzed the extent to which these attitudes differed in relation to the variables of gender and performance in English.

In a one-way dual language program students receive instruction in their first language (Spanish) and that knowledge is bridged to English. Research shows that building skills in the first language will allow students to learn English more quickly and at a higher level. In a developmental program eighty to ninety percent of instruction occurs in the first language in Kindergarten and the ratio of first language to English decreases until it reaches fifty/fifty by fourth grade. The school began rolling this program out on a year by year basis beginning with two of five homerooms in kindergarten only in the first year. It was then moved up to first grade in the second year. The school had several administrative changes during this period and the program was plagued by implementation issues and was struggling for existence.

We learn primarily through language, and use language to express our understanding. In order for English learners to have access to core content, they need academic language and literacy skills (Echevarria, Vogt and Short). Academic language is used to succeed in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Often English learner students enter school with limited to no exposure to academic language. These students are from homes in which English is rarely spoken. They are bright students who would excel in classrooms whose academic language was the same as their native language. The task No Child Left Behind has given to researchers and teachers is to educate the increased number of immigrants in English speaking classes. It is important to realize that there are approximately 180 native languages among the student body population. Spanish by far surpasses other language groups.

Furthermore, sometimes educators may be challenged in recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of Latino English language learner student’s due to a lack of relationship between them. As stated by Campos et al (2011) that “collaboration with parents comes easy when they know you are genuinely interested in being a part of their community” (p. 102). For example, educators need to find ways to show their students and parents that they care about them outside of the school. Campos et al suggested two organizations and programs that are designed to promote student and family learning, specifically Latino English language learner. They are as following:

Since the 1960s, two-way immersion (TWI) education programs have existed in the United States and have recently seen a surge in growth in the last two decades. Consistent research results have caused many educators, administrators and parents to recognize the benefits associated for all students involved in these programs, which has encouraged the expansion and implementation of these types of programs across the US. In addition to the need to educate the vast growing minority language demographic in the US, bilingual education leads to academic achievement for all involved (Lindhold-Leary 2004). If the research clearly shows that TWI programs not only help the language-minority groups but also the language-majority groups to achieve at or above-average grade level academic success in two languages, then why aren’t all parents urging their school administrators to implement programs in their kids schools? Although the number of TWI schools has grown significantly since the first one opened in Coral Gables, FL in 1963, the lack of common knowledge of the existence and success of these programs is one of the main factors to blame for the slow evolution of our schools into TWI based schools.

Based on the information presented by Rhodes, Ochoa, Ortiz’s “Assessing Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students a practical guide” I would develop a Two Way Dual language immersion K-12 program involving a Late Exit Transitional Bilingual Education element. I visualize a Dual Language Immersion as program that provides education in two languages for English speakers and non-native speakers of English. In a Two-Way ninety-ten system or program in which monolingual English-speaking students acquire the school curriculum together with non-native speakers of English; a portion of the instructional day is taught in English and another portion is in Spanish. In a One-Way – ninety-ten system or model it will follow the same model as the Two-Way with the only difference being the classroom structure. Classroom structure consists primarily of non-native speakers of English. The ultimate goal of this model aims for additive bilingualism, biliteracy, above average academic achievement in two languages, and multiculturalism for all students in grades K-12th.

The primary focus of the article was to consider diverse literacy practices in detail and also to look at approaches to inquiry, learning, and meaning making. In order to do this, Villalve took a case study approach to look at two 17 year-old bilingual Latina students during their last year of high school. These students were involved in an ongoing senior writing project that entailed collecting information from a diverse set of resources, collaborating with other students and school faculty, and finally submitting a thesis and making a final presentation. From this it is clear that one of the primary ways that this article differs from much of what our class has read so far is the age of the students involved. Relatively little data seems to exist on literacy practices of high school bilinguals and