ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Strategies For English Language Learners

Strategies For English Language Learners

Introduction

Schools place ELL students in Special Education classes through inappropriate testing practices based on faulty assumptions about a students ability to speak English. Just because an ELL student can speak English fluently doesn't mean that he/she is literate in their understanding of the English language. One can see that ELL students are more willing to learn English on a social level rather than on an educational level. How does this misconception impede the academic progress of the language minority student? Schools would pull ELL students out of their classes too early. Thereby, these students suffer because they have not developed the ability to read and write adequately. As stated earlier, ELL students acquire age-appropriate conversational proficiency in about 2 years, while academic proficiency requires 5 to 7 years (Porter, 2003).

If ELL students are continued to be mainstreamed into regular classes too early, they will surely fall behind. Students shouldn't be placed into situations in which they must 'catch up' for the rest of their lives. Cummins concludes that "ELL students are acquiring skill in academic discourse, so too are native English speakers; thus, ELL learners must 'Catch up with a moving target' if they are to match the proficiency of native English speakers. Immersion of ELL students in mainstream classes has its advantages and disadvantages. Beginning with enrollment to testing through four levels of English comprehension to graduation, the potential obstacles are unique to ELL students (Porter, 2003).

Discussion

Having ELL students learn side-by-side American, English-speaking only students creates an environment of cultural diversity. Multiple beliefs, traditions, and allegiances add spice and enrichment to classroom interactions. ELL students bring a different perspective to the subject matter, and they teach American students to be accepting of different ideas. It also increases the likelihood that students will admire and befriend someone outside of their culture. Such a cooperative tribe is essential for effective classroom management. Without addressing sensitively the dynamics that cultural diversity brings to the classroom, destructive attitudes and misunderstandings can hinder the learning process (Amselle, 200).

Ethnocentrism, believing one's culture is superior to others, can isolate individuals, breed resentment between students, and damage teacher-student relations. Specifically for teachers, the Pygmalion effect follows from an instructor, consciously or not, expecting a certain level of performance from an individual of a specific culture or other identifiable label. Subtly those expectations are communicated through interactions with the student and emerge as consistent with the student's performance. There are five areas of misunderstanding that contribute to the student-teacher relationship. Verbal communication patterns such as speaking only when called on and interpreting corrective feedback is absent from some cultures.

In the ELL classroom, teachers usually primarily work on spelling, sentence structure, and grammatical lessons. The teachers stress appreciation for native cultures and discuss American social and cultural issues. They feel reinforcing the correct behaviors increases the ability to speak English more rapidly. Teaching techniques such as saying words slower and more enunciated, spelling or drawing information on the board, ...