-
Academic Standards and assessment:
Teachers generally need to become familiar with the standards of the content areas they teach and with standards specific to ELL
A Nation at Risk - national report funded by the u.s. congress that called for improvements in education across the county....
resulted in NAEP - National assessment of education progress
-
World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) Consortium involving 15 states.....
developed English Language proficiency standards that served as the basis for TESOL's preK-12 English Language Proficiency Standards which address social language and academic language development in the content areas, including performance expectations for listening, speaking, reading, and writing. forms to parents in 19 languages on their website....
-
Standards documents are generally structured to include:
- 1) content standards that delineate what students should know and be able to do
- 2) benchmarks that specify expected knowledge and skills for each content standard at different grade levels
- 3) progress indicators that describe how well students need to do to meet a given content standard
-
High stakes testing:
NCLB - reauthorized the ESEA act passed in 1965
students in grades 3-8
socioeconomic status has been proven to be one of the stongest predictors of standardized test performance.
-
High stakes testing and NCLB pose a special problem to students new in english....
Engish Proficiency affects student performance and may render test results inaccurate if not totally invalid. low performance could be Limited english knowledge, insufficient content knowledge or both.
accerlerated learning pace required by NCLB to close the achievement gap - language acquisition takes time - cannot be rushed!
-
with the passage of NCLB - the bilingual education provisions of ESEA have NOT been reauthorized for the first time in history.....the current reauthorization of the ESEA thus effectively elimiates federal support for (but does not prohibit ) bilingual instructional programs....
NCLB places heavy emphasis on English Language proficiency for students and teachers......the act requires them to use instructional methods that research has proven effective.....
-
so English language learners are subject to both general education policy and to policy specific to their EL status.
-
What kinds of programs exist to meet the needs of english learners?
federal law requires that all english learners be provided with an educational program that provides them
- 1) access to the core curriculum
- 2) opportunities for English Language Development
State laws govern program requirements at a more specific level.
-
program 1: bilingual education programs
are defined as educational programs that use two languages, one of which must be English, for teaching purposes.
two goals: 1. to teach English / 2. to provide access to the core curriculum through the home language while students are gaining English Language Proficiency.
-
bilingual education: language minority students:
are those who speak a language other than English at home.
-
bilingual education: language majority students:
are those whose primary language is English, the predeominant national language or majority language.....
-
bilingual programs: (5)
1. Transitional bilingual education - language minority students who are LEP. goal is to develop English language proficiency for LEP students as soon as possible. (primary language instruction for 1-3 years)
2. maintenance bilingual education - language minority students who are LEP. primarly language instruction throughout elementary grades (difference from transitional) - purpose is to help language minority sutdents develop and maintain their primary language and become fully proficient in oral and written english.....program goals....full bilingualism and biliteracy for english learners.
3. immersion education - to teach a minority language to language majority students. goal full bilingualism and biliteracy in english and the minority langauge for native english-speaking students.
4. two-way immersion programs..pg 25 description....the goal if full bilingualism and biliteracy for both language minority and language majority students....both groups develop and maintain their home languages.
5. newcomer programs - are designed to support the initial adjustment of immigrant students to the language, culture, and schooling of their new country. - short term....often only one year.
-
English Language Instructional Programs: (more common) (4)
1. SDAIE: students are taught subject matter entirely in english....special teaching techniques are used. sheltered instruction is used and is most effective for students who have already achieved intermediate English language proficiency.
2. ESL Pullout: pulled out of classroom on a regular basis to receive additional help.
3. English Language Development (ELD): taught all subject matter using English as the language of instruction in a class taught by a teacher with special knowledge of second language development....
4. Structered English Immersion: eL are taught all content through English using sheltering techniques to make instruction understandable.....does not promote primary language literacy....
-
Effective literacy and English language instruction for English learners in the elementary grades: Five major recommendations:
- 1. formative assessments of EL reading should be carried out to identify students who may need extra help learning to read.
- 2. small group interventions are then recommended to provide focused instruciton in areas of assessed need.
- 3. vocabulary instruction is highlighted. essential content words should be taught in depth along with instruction on common words, phrases, and expression not yet learned.
- 4. academic english instruction should be provided to develop students ability to use English for academis discourse, reading and writing text and formal argument.
- 5. peer-assisted learning opporunities should be provided frequently. in particular, students should work in pairs to complete structured, academic tasks.....
|
|
