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Equipping Hispanic Immigrants for an
Effective Social IntegrationErnesto De la Hoz
ESL & Foreign Languages DepartmentMiami Dade College
Innovations Conference 2012Philadelphia, PA – March 4-7, 2012
Presentation Abstract
This session presents the plans for recruitment and retention of immigrant students with strong academic backgrounds and the design of a specialized curriculum created to serve this population. This model has been named Project ACE.
Also, the presenters will explain methods of program evaluation used to determine the effectiveness of the model.
Agenda
1. How are you doing?
2. Title V – Project ACE
3. Recruitment, Retention and Service Plan
4. Content-based, Corpus-Informed Instruction
5. Strategies for curriculum and faculty development
Background of Title V-Project ACE
1. Help students with strong academic
backgrounds to learn English for
Academic Purposes (EAP) in an efficient
and effective way
2. Increase retention and matriculation
rates of EAP students
3. Enhance collaboration
4. Disseminate research findings and
curricular practices to other campuses
and colleges
Title V-Project ACE
ACE stands for Accelerated Content-based English Program for EAP (English for Academic Purposes) at Miami Dade College
Year 4 of $1.9 million dollar grant from the US DOE
Two activities• Create accelerated curriculum• Document outcomes
Review of the Literature
High level of literacy in L1 predicts ease of learning L2.
Programmatic isolation and unrelated coursework decrease motivation.
Content-based instruction promotes efficient language learning.
Immigration trends indicate need.
Profile of Current ACE students
Profile of Current ACE students
Female Male0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70 73% (249)
27% (126)
Project ACE 2009-1 to 2011-1 percentage of students by gender
Perc
en
tag
e o
f stu
den
ts
Total number of students=375
Profile of Current ACE students
Arabi
c
Creol
e
Creol
e/F.
..
Fren
ch
Portu
g...
Russia
n
Span
ish
Turk
ish0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
0.8% (3)
8.0% (24)3.7% (14) 1.0% (3) 1.3% (5) 0.7% (2)
80.8% (303)
0.3% (1)
Project ACE 2009-1 to 2011-1 percentage of students by native language
Pe
rce
nta
ge
of
na
tive
la
ng
ua
ge
s
rep
ort
ed
by s
tud
en
ts
Total number of students=375
Argentina
Brazil
China
Colombia
Cuba
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Haiti
Honduras
Mexico
Nicaragua
Peru
Venezuela
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
2.9
2.9
2.9
8.8
48.5
2.9
1.5
10.3
1.5
1.5
7.4
2.9
6
Countries of Origin
Percent
Profile of Current ACE students
Profile of Current ACE students
AS BA BS Certification College Doctorate HS JD MD Some College0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
1.0% (3)
6.6% (25)2.0% (6) 0.5% (1) 0.7% (2) 1.3% (4)
70.4% (264)
0.3% (1) 1.3% (5)
7.4% (28)
Project ACE 2009-1 to 2011-1 percentage of students by level of education prior to the program
Perc
enta
ge o
f stu
dents
Total number of students=375
Outreach Advertisement
Learning how to reach foreign professionals Liaisons
Consulates
Chambers of Commerce
Professional Associations
School Boards Community
Restaurants and Bars
Sports leagues
Facilitating Access: Stories behind the data
Documents Issues 16%Job/Family Schedule 15%Unknown 5%Financial Issues 4%Overqualified 1%Enroll in ACE 37%Enroll in regular EAP 22%
Most frequent obstacles to access higher education
Facilitating Access: Stories behind the data
Document IssuesImmigration StatusFCAT vs. CPT
Job/ Family ScheduleHealth and familyWorking 9 to 5 x 2
Financial IssuesFAFSA and unemployment statusFAFSA and foreign professionals
Facilitating Access: Stories behind the data
Promohttp://prezi.com/5kgacxqbjbm6/project-ace/
Retention
Cohort N %
2009-1 55 100%
2009-2 34 61.80%
2009-3 31 56.40%2010-1 30 54.50%
2010-2 27 49.09%
Cohort N %
2009-2 50 100.00%
2009-3 27 54.00%
2010-1 40 80.00%2010-2
38 77.00%
Content-Based InstructionMore than just a hunch…
Instruction can no longer be based on mere assumptions.
These assumptions must be tested.
Corpus work assures that what we are teaching in our “natural reserves” is what is happening out in the “wild.”
Cute!
Scary!
Content-Based Instruction
What is content-based instruction? Learning about something, while learning a language
Why used content-based instruction? Language teaching and learning has no natural
content. Research shows that learning through sustained
content helps students by recycling vocabulary and ideas.
Students are better able to expand on the content and negotiate meaning when the context is consistent.
Content-Based Instruction
Content-based instruction and EAP are natural partners. Students are preparing for academic
careers. Teaching language through content
gives students repeated exposure to academic topics and language.
Corpus-Informed instruction What is corpus-informed instruction?
Teaching with authentic language selected from a large corpus
Corpus = “body” Written materials (textbook chapters, syllabi,
handouts, web-sites)
Transcriptions of class discourse (lectures , questions , discussion )
Corpus linguistics Step 1: Using computers to analyze the “body of
materials”
Step 2: Analyzing the results to see language frequency patterns
Corpus-Informed instruction
Why use corpus-based instruction?
To design a syllabus based on word frequencies and student needs
To create materials and activities based on real examples of language as it is used in different contexts
To teach students to conduct their own investigations based on specific language needs, purposes, or problems
Corpus Collection Process
Conducted from March-June 2009 Language samples from general
education classes CLP 1006 – Psychology of Personal
Effectiveness HUM 1020 – Humanities BSC 1005 – General Education Biology ENC 1101 – Freshman Composition
Survey of general education faculty
Sample Corpus Finding
How many words are found in the psychology text used in CLP 1006?
200,00
0
Vocabulary Knowledge and Academic Performance
Words matter. Efficient readers have a vocabulary
of at least 20,000 words. Vocabulary words have their own
grammar. Knowing a word means knowing its
meaning and use.
Project ACE Spoken Corpus
Discipline Number of words
Biology 28,262Psychology 25, 365English 1101 43,498Humanities 36, 984Total 134, 109
Project ACE spoken corpus
Word Frequency
1. the 56552. you 44363. to 35504. that 33165. and 3187
6. of 26867. a 26328. is 21369. it 185310. so 1822
10 most frequent words in the corpus
Project ACE spoken corpus
Cluster Frequency1. a lot of 1122. you have to 973. you want to 934. a little bit 765. are going to 726. we’re going to 717. going to be 708. I’m going to 689. I want to 6610. you’re going to 63
10 most frequent multi-word clusters
Project ACE spoken corpus
Word Frequency1. Right 14102. Know 9263. Like 5974. Say 4535. See 4456. People 4327. Want 3908. Think 3519. Go 35010. Good 303
10 most frequent content words
Differences between courses
Humanities and Biology Lecture format Not highly interactive
What does this mean for students? Professors ask questions and often
answer themselves. Key content words are not frequently
repeated. Frequent use of discourse organizers to
signal a topic change or important information
Differences between courses
Psychology and Freshman Composition More interactive ▪ Class discussions, group work, presentations▪ Psychology blends lectures in as well
What does this mean for students? Stronger need to participate Be able to answer questions
Top 10 content words in ENC 1101
Word Freq Concordance example
Logic 145 I’m going to ask you to analyze the logic of each statement.
Essay 92 We’re actually going to write a persuasive essay, but not just that, we’re going to debate an issue, together in class
Argument 89 So what I want to do is I want I want to give you some principles for how you make somebody believe you. Right? eh uh h- how you can be persuasive, you know. We call this an argument. An argument does not mean a fight. It doesn't mean screaming at each other, it doesn't mean fighting. It doesn't mean, in in the sense that we're talking about, an argument is a persuasion.
Debate 65 You know, and there's and there's a good argument on either side. If there was not a good argument on either side it would not be a debate
Point 55 Which is what you do in the body, you develop the main point. That point is going to have different parts, right?
Findings: Academic Language in Project ACE written corpus
Findings: Academic Language in Project ACE written corpus
•For these four courses combined, students are expected to read approximately ____________ words in the semester.
•The total of 770,000 is created by the recycling of 29,000 different individual words.
• The words ‘the” and “of” make up 10% of all the words in the written materials in ACE.
Project ACE written corpus• Some of the 29,000 are used frequently such as
life, time, people, art , cells.
• Almost half of these 29,000 are used infrequently.
• 4,100 words are only used twice, and 10,000 words are used just one time.
• Many words come in two or more word sets that have to be learned and used together: self-esteem, at the end of, at the same time
Strategies for Learning
Students need to:
have strategies for sorting out the essential from the rest because they are handling 100,000’s of words and phrases.
recognize that some words are in set phrases and that certain set terms are used for basic concepts.
have strategies to handle these different language genres even in a single source such as their textbooks.
know the different names for academic tasks (research paper vs reaction or reflection paper, an online academic journal vs. an online journal entry)
Strategies for Teaching
Learning Communities: When possible, couch EAP within a greater Gen Ed context
Performance and task-based instruction: What can they now do?
Technology: Use those tools that will bring language to life
Let’s get real: Use authentic samples and select topics accordingly (traditional grammar lessons vs. corpus-based lessons)
Strategies for Managing Change
Provide professional development
for faculty and staff
Get innovator buy-in
Support transitions in increments
Plan for replication
Expect backsliding
ACE Students in Action
39
Thank you!
Ernesto De la HozESL & Foreign Languages Department
Miami Dade College
