The Academic English Mastery Program (AEMP) Essay

For the Purpose of this study EAL will be used to describe any child with English as an Additional Language. Information from the January 2012 schools census found that over one million children in the United Kingdom now speak another language in addition to English. It also found that there are over three hundred and sixty languages spoken in primary schools. These children can range from beginner speakers of English, such as refugees or asylum seekers, to those who are advanced speakers of English who have grown up at home with both English and another language being spoken (Webster, 2011)

The all too familiar situation of English language learners (ELLs) struggling in a classroom that is not meeting their needs is the theme of this short film. ELL’s present unique challenges for teachers given how the California educational system calls for only one year of English language development (EDL). After this time, English language development goals rest on the shoulders of the general education teacher with the additional requirement of infusing SADIE strategies into their daily lessons.

Many of their learning needs are similar to those of other children and young people learning in our schools. However, these learners also have distinct and different needs from other learners by virtue of the fact that they are learning in and through another language, and that they come from cultural backgrounds and communities with different understandings and expectations of education, language and learning”. (NALDIC, 1999).

“What it takes for English Learners to Succeed?” is an article written by Jana Echevarria, Nancy Frey, and Doug Fisher that illustrate concepts that will allow English Learners to become fluent in English. The purpose of this article is to discuss four accessible teaching practices that will allow English Learners in U.S. classroom to become academically successful and attain fluency in English. To clarify, the authors use access, climate, expectations, and language instruction as the practices that will eliminate education inequality and enable students to be able to fully participate in rigorous course work without excluding English Learners. Ultimately this provides an approachable school reform, creates additive integration of multicultural perspective and approach and lastly brings a way for language diversity to be seen in the classroom.

Recently, as the schools in the United States become more diverse in cultures, the needs for new English learners to learn the basic of English and grow in fluency has expanded. Nevertheless, a major of English learners receive insufficient education and have low achievement at school. Therefore, the approach of the schools for English learners might not be sufficient for them to unchain themselves from the boundary of differences in language and culture. As a result, the article “What It Takes for English Learners to Succeed” from Jana Echevarria, Nancy Frey, and Doug Fisher provides a guideline for teachers to help their English learners by using the four practices of “Access, Climate, Expectation, and Language Instruction.” The four practices can be divided into two categories. Access, climate, and expectations focus on educational settings, while language instruction focuses on teaching contents.

This practice allows teachers the opportunity to gauge how much practice ELL students actually receive with speaking English in “real life”. Teachers who have participated in Shadowing programs have noted an oral deficiency in ELLs’, but have also noted that ELLs sit silently through their classes, not interacting with other students or with their teachers. Soto, an associate professor of education at Whittier College in California indicates that English-language learners spend less than 2 percent of the school day improving their academic oral language, even though it’s a critical foundation of literacy (Soto, 2014). As indicated, based on the results of this pilot program, participating teachers will plan together, how to provide more opportunities for “academic talk”, to include ELL students, during classroom activities. School administrators will also tailor, teacher development training programs to instruct teachers on how to be more inclusive of all of their students during classroom discussions and to be sensitive as to whether ELL students would benefit most by practicing the language relating to particular content areas or whether the focus should be placed more on conversational English skills (Heitin, Liana 2011). Additionally, teachers will be instructed to ensure that needed practice occurs in settings which will best facilitate ELL learner’s individual needs (e.g., some ELLs may learn better in small group discussions and others may

Under the Civil Rights Act, schools are responsible for ensuring that all students receive equal access to education, including English Language Learners (ELLs). Merely, providing the same educational resources for all students does not constitute educational equality. Students such as ELLs, need an English Language Development (ELD) program that accommodates their specific language needs in order to legitimately offer equal educational opportunities. Based on research findings, districts need to implement and developing ELD programs that have had proven success rates of making adequate yearly progress for ELLs. For years, psychologists and linguistic theorists have speculated on the acquisition of language and educators have studied these research findings to enhance their teaching pedagogy to accommodate their ELLs.

One of the major misconceptions of ELL students is that once children from non-English speaking backgrounds are able to speak English, they are ready to be mainstreamed. Educators often choose to “mainstream” children who are capable of conversational English into an all-English classroom too quickly. Proficiency in oral communication skills does not mean that a child has the complex academic language skills needed for classroom activities. However, teachers often assume that children who converse relatively fluently in English are in full command of the language, and transfer students who demonstrate oral proficiency out of ELL programs after 1 or 2 years (Grant and Wong, 2003). Teachers should be aware that mainstreaming a child based on

This article highlights the overwhelming need to address English Language Learner disaffection within the challenging circumstances that many teachers and students face. Eley (2012) argues that teachers in the United States are highly discouraged and have a low level of job satisfaction. A primary source of teacher discouragement is cutbacks in spending for education coupled with unfunded mandated changes in curriculum. Students hardest hit by a lack of sufficient school funding tend to be located in inner city schools. The student bodies of inner city schools consist of predominately of minorities with a sizable population of recent immigrants, including numerous English Language Learners. English Language Learners, whose teachers are disaffected,

Freeman and Freeman (2003) addressed the different types of ELLs and the differences in language experiences related to cultural background. The first two types of students have both recently arrived from another country; however, one has experienced adequate formal schooling in their native language, and one has experienced limited formal schooling. The ELL student with adequate formal schooling in the native language may find it easier to acquire the English language due to a strong foundation in their first language or native language, while the ELL student with inadequate schooling in their native language may struggle with acquiring the English language. A third type of ELL is one exposed to two languages, which may have caused a lack of academic literacy in either language (Freeman & Freeman, 2003). Finally, there is the long-term ELL, although exposed to English-speaking classes for more than five years, requires ongoing language support. The long-term ELL may have literacy skills that are below grade level using their first language as well. As indicated by the diverse groups, teachers should understand that the label of ELL does not indicate homogeneity within the group. “Teachers should never assume that students who share the same language will observe the same cultural practices or understand the same types of

Table Three examines the SBAC data by analyzing English Learners (EL) versus non –EL. Some of the data has been suppressed by Edsight however there is enough data to form an opinion about how the impact of the ELA curriculum on the EL population. Following grade three cohort from 2014-2017 shows that this group of students had no significant crease in their ELA scores. On the 2015 assessment only 5.1 percent were proficient or above, 13.8 percent in 2016 and the number drops back down to 5.6 in 2017. Based on the data provided the EL population never cross 18 percent of students who are proficient. This demonstrates that the ELA curriculum is not serving the population. It can also show that the scaffolds and strategies that are embedded

Carol Woodard, Guy Haskins, Grace Schaefer, and Linda Smolen address the issue of bridging the gap between fluent speakers and non-fluent speakers of English in classrooms in the United States. The article explains how an urban school had tested the children in “kindergarten” and the results of the test “showed a nearly two-year lag in oral language development” (2004, p.92). The large gap in oral language development of the less fluent speakers can be detrimental to their education. The school has to try to bridge the gap quickly in the early years of the student’s education; in order to catch the students up to the developmentally appropriate level of oral language before it’s too late. If the school is unable to bridge the gap the less fluent speakers may be delayed in their reading and writing skills.

Many immigrants and refugees have come to the United States over the years. To put that into perspective, in the past thirty years, the foreign-born population of the United States has tripled, more than 14 million has moved here in the 1990’s, and another 14 million expected to arrive between 2000 and 2010. (James R, Stire). As you can imagine how much the numbers have continued to grow immigrants over the past ten years. Some would say that they are the new homogenous or indistinguishable population. Most English language learners (ELLs) are immigrants from many different countries speaking many different languages and equipped with a variety of gifts, talents, educational needs, goals, and backgrounds. Given that how has our education system helped support those who are ELLs academically based on the fact that most of our curriculum is taught in english following our culture's standards?

A students ability to speak fluently, particularly in a social setting does not guarantee that the student will have properly developed the ability to use language in an academic environment (Samway & McKeon, 2007).

The two dates of my observations were conducted on Tuesday on the 13th and Thursday on the 15th from 12:10-1:10 pm, total for 120 minutes. I observed EIL 320 students, which is an advanced level academic EIL class at BYUH. There were 19 international students who are learning English as their second language. The classroom was a stair like arrangement where a teacher can easily can tell what students are doing. Students had their group previously, so they sat besides their group members when they arrived. (They knew where to sit.) One of the important aspect in this classroom was students were required to bring their own laptops, so everyone had their laptops on the table.