Dr. Jan Dormer Messiah College

Transcription

1 The Impossibility of meeting the needs of all ELLs in the Regular Classroom: Our Ethical Responsibility to Teachers and ELLs (Or: Getting our heads out of the sand!) Dr. Jan Dormer Messiah College

2 My background

3 Today s Session 1. Scenario and ethical implications 2. The Perfect Storm: intersecting realities creating ineffective practice 3. Result 4. Discussion questions 5. Ways forward

4 Scenario A tenth grade English literature class on the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Directive to teach beginning ELL the words jail and mockingbird How many principles of effective instruction are ignored? What are the ethical implications?

5 Ethical implications 1. The ELL s English-learning needs are not met. 2. The ELL s content-learning needs are not met (learning these words is not the curricular objective here) 3. The ELL s affective needs are not considered. 4. The native English speakers are not getting the full lesson. 5. The more advanced ELLs are not receiving the cultural and linguistic instruction that would be possible through this novel. 6. The teacher is not allowed to teach literature as it should be taught.

6 Perfect Storm Government mandates Inclusion policies Expectations of ESL Specialists Financial Constraints in schools Lack of understanding of SLA among administrators (and in general) Overly generalized strategies

7 Government Mandate EL students must have access to their grade-level curricula so that they can meet promotion and graduation requirements This reinforces the misconception in some schools that all ELLs should be placed in general education classes for the vast majority of the time.

8 Inclusion Policies Requirements for general education teachers are almost reaching absurd proportions. The belief that all teachers should be able to meet all students needs, at all times, is very unrealistic. We should not be surprised if we soon face a dire shortage of teachers.

9 Expectations of ESL Specialists Expectations of ESL teachers/specialists have already reached absurd proportions in many places. (Monitoring 100+ students? Simplifying tests about specialized content? Teaching all English levels during the same pull-out period?) The belief that all ESL teachers should be able to meet all ELL students needs, at all times, is very unrealistic. We already have a shortage of ESL teachers.

10 Financial Constraints Why hire ESL teachers if classroom teachers can meet all the needs?

11 Lack of understanding of SLA Lack of understanding that 1. ELLs need comprehensible input, and sheltered opportunities for leveled output. 2. ELLs become just as stressed as anyone else would when they can t understand what s going on around them. (ELLs already have many stressors, and this piles on one more.) 3. Pre-English speakers are losing hours of sorely needed language development time unengaged in regular classrooms. 4. More advanced ELLs need instruction that is unlike either beginning ELL or native speaker instruction. 5. Much more!

12 Overly generalized strategies Target ELLs as homogeneous group. Even when strategy books do tackle proficiency level differences, they often fail to provide realistic exemplars dealing with beginning language learners. Example from Classroom Instruction that Works with English Language Learners (Hill & Flynn, 2006) Context: first grade teachers using the Three Little Pigs to teach summarizing. Instruction for Pre-Production students: Students can point to a picture in the book as the teacher says or asks: Show me the wolf. Where is the house? Problems: 1. Assumes an already existing English vocabulary base, and already developing comprehension skills. 2. Is not teaching summarizing! It is not meeting the curricular goal. 3. Can a teacher really teach beginning ELLs words while also teaching everyone else summarizing skills?

13 Result? Lack of effective programming for ELLs at each end of the language proficiency spectrum. Especially concerning for older beginners.

14 The question we should be asking Where can ELLs at each level of proficiency receive the language and content learning that they need?

15 Discussion Questions 1. Do beginning ELLs have the same right as other students to always be in classroom environments in which they can learn? 2. Should beginning ELLs be able to learn in all regular classrooms? 3. Might other students be disadvantaged to the extent that beginning ELLs are being taught? 4. Can we really expect all teachers to meet the needs of beginning level ELLs?

16 Ways Forward 1. Classroom teachers cannot, humanly, do it all. 2. Classroom teachers could address the needs of ELLs at intermediate levels and above. 3. ESL teachers need to be able to use their expertise to actually teach ESL. 4. ESL teachers should also be able to train classroom teachers to meet the needs of ELLs at intermediate levels and above.

17 References Hill, J. & Flynn, K. (2006). Classroom instruction that works with English language learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Lightbown, P.M. & Spada, N. (2013). How languages are learned. 4th. Ed. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Nation, I.S.P. & Newton, J. (2008). Teaching ESL/EFL listening and speaking (ESL & Applied Linguistics Professional Series). NY: Routledge.