Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency

As the population of English Language Learners , otherwise known as ELLs, has been increasing over the past few decades, so has their disproportionate representation in special education. Too many of our ELLs are often disproportionately placed in special education programs, which may be considered a challenge faced by both general and special educators. But what about the underrepresentation of ELLs in the gifted and talented programs? It seems as though general educators struggle to provide these

English language learners are students who are unable to communicate fluently or learn effectively in English. They require specialized or modified instruction in both the English language and in their academic courses. As a future teacher I have the responsibility to provide adequate instruction that help build on students’ education, cognitive abilities and English proficiency. I will recognize and understand that ELL students come with their own language and culture. This is a benefit to their

English Language Learners (ELL) constituted 9.5% of the students in the United States in the school year 2012-2013. That is equivalent to 4.4 million students and the number seems to be growing. These statistics call for special training for educators in the United States so they can tackle any problem due to language barriers. It is important for teachers to understand the difference between Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) to better

different age groups coming from the diverse socio-economic background. The variation in their L1 and L2 language proficiency made me more interested in this area. My interactions with them helped me to gather some fascinating data about bilingual phenomenon i.e. attitudes of parents towards bilingualism, what factors contribute to subtractive and additive bilingualism, how age affects language variation and so

In concern to English language acquisition, there are several methods for the most effective way English Language Learners (ELLs) understand and retain new information. The two main camps concerning language acquisition are the sociocultural perspective and the cognitive perspective. From there, there have been many frameworks and theories that have stemmed from these two perspectives: The Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP), Krashen’s input (comprehension) and monitor approach, Vygotsky’s

Bilingual language is beneficial for the child’s first language and English development “Language constitutes us, it gives us meaning and allows us to make meaning, and it develops and abolishes spaces.” (Benjamin, 2002). Critiques of bilingual education continually claim that children can only learn one language at a time after which they are taught a second language (Krashen, 2000). They assert that bilingual education cause confusion among children and limit their intelligence capabilities;

secondary language such as English, drastically changes those discriminating statistics. The argument is that learning a secondary language indeed supports literacy development from an early age, by reading aloud to children, making them participants of a learning incentive, and family literacy practices. A development in literacy significantly increases reading achievement test scores, helps students become better at grammatical judgment and word recognition, and improves their cognitive development

(Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2012). It is a responsibility of all teachers to educate their students in the language and literacy demands of their subject area. Specific support is necessary for students who have English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) to build the language skills required to understand subject-specific language structures and vocabulary. This student profile will discuss in detail the learning characteristics, strengths and

What do we know about the effects bilingualism has on cognitive development? Our world is becoming progressively bilingual; in the US 21% of school age children between the ages of 5-17 years old can speak other than English at home and this number is expected to increase in the coming years. On top of social reasons, the positive effects to the cognitive development of the brain when introduced to a second language are of many. The age of acquisition is vital due to the plasticity of the brain,

possibility of fulfilling a negative stereotype. Some of the effects of stereotype threat include anxiety, low academic standards and low test scores. (Steele,