Addressing English Language Learner Issues in Teacher Education ProgramsGeorge Padavil, Diana Weekes, Susan Krusemark,

Kathy Mountjoy Illinois State University

Current English Language Learners

● There has been an unprecedented increase in the number of English language learners (ELLs) acquiring an education in U.S. schools.

● The exponential growth in the number of these students calls for radical measures to ensure that these students are served.

ELL Enrollment in U.S. SchoolsMINORITY ENROLLMENT: Percentage distribution of the race/ethnicity of public school

students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade, by region: October 1986 - 2006

NOTE: Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Estimates include all public school students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade. See supplemental note 2 for more information on the Current Population Survey. See supplemental note 1 for the states in each region.

1"Other" includes all students who did not identify themselves as White, Black, or Hispanic.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), October Supplement, 1986–2006.

Vietnamese Refugee Experience: Lessons Learned

Former Refugee Students Share Their Views

● Principals had virtually no knowledge of testing and placement of ELLs.

● Teachers had limited knowledge of how to work with ELLs.

● No or limited ESL support was available.

● This resulted in “double the work” for the students.

Refugee Views (continued)

● Students had little knowledge of U.S. schooling and felt “overwhelmed” at the amount of homework every night.

● Students placed a high priority on vocabulary learning.

● Students required the help of a foster parent or tutor for 1 to 2 years to complete their homework. Those who did not get this support did poorly in classes.

Refugee Views (continued)

● No two students had the same educational background, access to education, or rate of English language acquisition; all were inappropriately placed because of the lack of ESL resources available.

● Students felt they had trouble fitting in.

● The oldest students had to race frantically to finish high school in time, leaving little time for anything but studying.

Are These Problems Still Evident?

● Today, ELLs are overrepresented in special education programs and underrepresented in gifted programs.

● ELLs still experience disproportionate underachievement because access to quality programs is limited.

● Trained personnel are lacking.

Are These Problems Still Evident?

• Many school districts lack the commitment to implement effective programs.

• Under the No Child Left Behind Act, emphasis shifted toward high-stakes testing.

When Students Are Underserved…

Look for these “red flags”:

● Misplacement of ELLs with strong basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS) but weak or no cognitive-academic language proficiency (CALP).

● Teachers who feel their ELLs cannot access the content until they can speak, read, and write in English.

When Students Are Underserved…

More red flags:

● Teachers who feel an ELL cannot access the content because he or she is an ELL.

● Content teachers who feel that it is the ESL teacher’s job, not theirs, to teach English. For the ELL, this will create a “sink or swim” situation.

Teacher Expectations, Beliefs, and Attitudes about the ELLs

● Teacher expectations work to make or break the ELLs.

● High expectations help ELLs.

● Lowering expectations hurts the ELLs.

● Teacher expectations work as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

ELLs and Mainstream Teachers

● Teacher attitudes and beliefs about the ELLs also are critical factors.

● Negative attitudes and beliefs about the ELLs would be detrimental to the ELLs.

● Positive attitudes of mainstream teachers can help ELLs succeed in schools.

ELLs and Mainstream Teachers

● Negative attitudes and beliefs about the ELLs stem from societal attitudes toward the ELLs.

● Media bias and right wing propaganda campaigns have given rise to “English Only” and “English for Children” movements.

● Some states have passed legislation banning bilingual instruction (California – Proposition 227.)

Mainstream Teachers’ Resistance to Helping the ELLs

● Some teachers do not want to adjust and adapt the curriculum and instructional strategies to help ELLs.

● They think, “Why should we make it ‘easy’ for the ELLs?”

Positive Attitudes of Mainstream Teachers Toward ELLs

Positive attitudes of mainstream teachers are connected with:

a. Experience with learning a foreign language.

b. Lived experience in another culture.

c. Experience of working with diverse populations.

Schools Have a Legal Obligation Towards ELL in U.S.

•Federal legislation Unless ELL have special needs, ELL must be

mainstreamed (put into regular classes with native English speakers).

Any action by school or district that has effect of denying access to free public education to an undocumented student can be deemed unconstitutional.

•State of Illinois legislation Placement of ELLs must be in non-restrictive

environments which provide for integration with non-disabled peers in bilingual classrooms.

Project ELL: Training All Teachers to Help ELLs Succeed in Schools

● The project was designed to train teachers at the pre-service and in-service levels.

● Project ELL was supported by a grant from the Illinois Board of Higher Education for fiscal year 2007–2008.

Integrating ELL Issues into Teacher Training Programs

Four primary goals:

1.Infuse ELL issues throughout professional educator curricula;

2.Implement infusion strategies and then pilot test them in the classrooms;

3.Formalize the infusion of ELL issues in teacher education curricula and teaching approaches developed for ELLs;

4.Extend the training model to teachers in local and partner school districts.

Integrating ELL Issues into Teacher Training Programs

Four phases:

1.Infuse ELL issues and effective teaching strategies into the core curricula of educator training;

2.Provide hands-on experience with the infusion;

3.Institutionalize the infusion of ELL issues and teaching approaches into the teacher education curricula;

4.Extend the training model to teachers at local and partner schools.

Project ELL

● Illinois State University and Northeastern Illinois University participated in a project focusing on strategies for working with ELLs.

● Selected faculty and K-12 teachers received training through Illinois Resource Center (IRC) and Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL).

● The faculty members then used infusion strategies to include ELL issues in their classes for pre-service teachers.

Illinois Resource Center Survey

Survey results from ISU faculty and K-12 teachers

Illinois State University Teacher Education Survey

● A teacher education student survey was conducted in May 2008.

● 199 teacher education students responded.

● Questions addressed their own perceived readiness to teach ELLs, and how they perceived the importance of ELLs acquiring English skills.

Teacher Readiness for ELLs

Teacher Readiness for ELLs (continued)

Teacher Education Students’ Learning Priorities

Teacher Education Students’ Learning Priorities (Continued)

Teacher Readiness for ELLs (continued)

Teacher Readiness for ELLs (continued)

Teacher Readiness for ELLs (continued)

Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS)

● BICS describes the social, conversational language used for oral communication.

● This type of communication offers many cues to the listener and is context-embedded language.

● Usually it takes about two years for students from different linguistic backgrounds to comprehend context-embedded social language readily.

Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS)

ELLs can comprehend social language by:

•Observing speakers’ non-verbal behavior (gestures, facial expressions, and eye actions);

•Observing others’ reactions;

•Using voice cues such as phrasing, intonation, and stress;

•Observing pictures, concrete objects, and other contextual cues which are present; and

•Asking for statements to be repeated and/or clarified.

Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP)

● CALP is the context-reduced language of the academic classroom.

● It takes five to seven years for English language learners to become proficient in the language of the classroom.

● Proficiency in CALP is gained through academic instruction.

Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP)

Proficiency in CALP is gained more slowly because:

●Non-verbal clues are absent;

●There is less face-to-face interaction;

●Academic language is often abstract;

●Literacy demands are high (narrative and expository text and textbooks are written beyond the language proficiency of the students); and

●Cultural/linguistic knowledge is often needed to comprehend fully.

Aspects of Language Proficiency

BICS

Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills

6 months to 2 years

CALPCognitive Academic Language

Proficiency

Integrating ELL Issues into Teacher Training Programs

• Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE)

• Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP)

• Lesson Study meets SIOP

Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE) or Sheltered Instruction

• Method that can be used with non-native English speakers.

• Strategic ways are found to teach content to English language learners so that they can understand subject matter at same time they are developing their English language skills.

• Helps them develop academic language skills at the same time they are developing English language skills.

Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP)

● Developed by Echevarria, Short, and Vogt.

● Uses a research-based instructional approach.

● Theory is that language acquisition is enhanced through meaningful use and interaction.

● Combines good teaching practice and instruction specially designed for ELLs.

Features of SIOP

● Cooperative learning activities.

● Focus on academic language as well as key content vocabulary.

● Use of ELLs’ first language as a tool.

● Hands-on activities.

● Incorporates students’ background knowledge into classroom lessons.

● High level of student engagement and interaction leads to more discourse and critical thinking.

SIOP Components

● Lesson Preparation

● Building Background

● Comprehensible Input

● Strategies

● Interaction

● Practice/Application

● Lesson Delivery

● Review and Assessment

Lesson Preparation

● Content objectives – Clearly define what the students will be able to do; write them on the board.

● Language objectives – Clearly define the language objectives; write them on the board.

● Concepts should be appropriate for the age and educational background of students.

● Materials – What can you use to promote comprehension? Pictures? Multimedia? Demonstration?

● Find ways to integrate the content with language practice – Listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Building Background

● New concepts should be linked to students’ background.

● Past learning and new concepts should be tied together.

● Emphasize key vocabulary

Create a word wall; leaving it up during the lesson for students to see.

Comprehensible Input

● Teach the lesson

Use appropriate speech at student’s proficiency level.

Clearly explain academic tasks.

Use a variety of techniques to make concepts clear.

Strategies

● The key is to teach students strategies so that they can be empowered to learn; make them independent learners.

● Scaffolding – break concept down into manageable pieces; guide students through process; help students move to higher levels of expertise.

● Use different question types.

Interaction

● Provide lots of interaction.● Group work that supports language &

content objectives.Cooperative groupsSame language buddiesPairsLarge & small groups

● Give students time to respond.● If possible, clarify using native language.

Practice/Application

● Hands-on activities, models, blocks, tools, etc.

● Activities that allow students to apply both content and language knowledge.

● Integration of all language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Lesson Delivery

● Support content and language objectives.

● Engage students at least 90% of the time.

● Pace the lesson; gear it to the students’ ability levels.

Review & Assessment

● Review vocabulary & content concepts.Teach, review, assess, teach . . .

● Give regular feedback to students on their output.

● Assess student comprehension and learning.

Survey SIOP Workshop Part I

Survey results ISU faculty and K-12 teachers

Lesson Study Approach

● Began in Japan.

● Experienced in-service teachers examine their teaching practices. Teachers form teams

Collaboratively plan lessons Observe each other teaching lessons

Discuss observations

Lesson Study Meets SIOP

● Study done by Honigsfeld and Cohan.

● Linked two successful professional development models.

Lesson Study Fused with SIOP

● Teachers:Collaboratively planned content-based

lessons using SIOP Model

Observed each other teaching

Discussed observations

Reflected on SIOP techniques and their impact on student learning

Prepared lesson study reports

Conclusion of Lesson Study Meets SIOP

● Combination of lesson study and SIOP models will greatly benefit ELLs.

● Collaboration among teachers is key factor in teacher development.

● Reflection is important in both the lesson study model and the SIOP model.

Addressing English Language Learner Issues in Teacher Education Programs