English Language Learning

This article investigates the use of the Response Protocol - a framework developed to help teachers elicit and support the oral interactions of ELL students - and provides classroom examples of each type of response category. The article also includes a list of general language development guidelines that the authors suggest can improve classroom talk and support the social, emotional, language, and academic growth of English-language learners.

This article uses two scenarios involving high-stakes tests to illustrate the complex interactions between culture, language, and mathematical learning for English language learners (ELLs). The article focuses on aspects of the problems that potentially increase cognitive demands for second-language learners, and includes an analytical framework designed to enable mathematics teachers to identify critical elements in problems and the learning environment that contribute to increased cognitive demands for students of ELLs.

This study investigated the relation of teacher characteristics, including ratings of teacher quality, to classroom instructional variables and to bilingual students' literacy and oral language outcomes at the end of the kindergarten year. Teacher characteristics included observational measures of oral language proficiency, quality, and classroom activity structure, as well as surveys of knowledge of reading-related skills. Student outcomes in both languages included letter naming, word reading, and phonological awareness and oral language composites. The study involved 141 teachers from a multisite project who were observed up to 3 times at the beginning, middle, and end of the year during their reading/language arts block while teaching English language learners to read in their primary language (Spanish) and/or in English. Teacher quality, but not teacher knowledge, was related positively to student engagement and negatively to time spent in noninstructional activities. Initial student and classroom performance, language of instruction and of outcomes, and teacher oral language proficiency in both Spanish and English predicted outcomes, whereas teacher quality was less related, and teacher content knowledge was consistently not related to student outcomes.

Judie Haynes' book Getting Started with English Language Learners: How Educators Can Meet the Challenge offers numerous strategies for boosting the achievement of English language learners. According to the publisher, Haynes, a teacher with 26 years of experience, uses scenarios from actual classrooms to illustrate ideas and advice readers can use right away, including:

• six key concepts and six common myths of second language acquisition;
• five stages of language acquisition and what to do at each;
• four stages of culture shock that newcomers go through before they become comfortable with the language;
• how to know when an ELL student is ready to speak;
• how to match instruction to ELL learning styles and thinking skills;
• main challenges that ELL students face in learning reading, writing, math, science, and social studies;
• how to use differentiated instruction, flexible grouping, and other essential practices for ELL students; and
• what to do for ELL students during the first weeks of school.

Citation: Haynes, J. (2007). Getting started with English language learners: How educators can meet the challenge. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.